Monday, June 21, 2010

Minor League Monday - Ron Meridith, 1987 ProCards.

Along with the 1986 ProCards set that we have already looked at, my Dad also bought me a 1987 ProCards Eighty-Niners set when I was younger. These two sets were my introduction to minor league cards and I was hooked.

Today we see pitcher Ron Meridith on card number 145 of the set. Unlike the previous year, in 1987 ProCards numbered their cards. Ron has a similar pose to the rest of the team set, the photo lineup look.

Meridith joined the Rangers organization in 1986 in a trade involving Rick Surhoff going to the Cubs. He had appeared in 35 games with the Cubs in 1984 and '85. He started the 1986 season at Triple A Iowa though before moving to Oklahoma City.

With the Eighty-Niners Ron would appear in 34 games, starting 17 of them. He pitched 118 innings and posted a 4.42 ERA. He allowed just six home runs and posted a win/loss record of 7-7. His WHIP was 1.5.

That was apparently good enough to get Ron a cup of coffee with the Rangers. He appeared in five games for the team and went a total of three innings. He responded favorably to the look and dropped his ERA to 3.00 and his WHIP to 1.00. Only two of the ten batters he faced got hits off him. For Texas pitching at the time those were some decent numbers.

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