Classic card of the week

Mike Perez, 1991 Topps

Mike Perez made Jim Abbott look like Harvey “Three Arms” Johnson. Abbott- the one-time Yankee who was born without a right hand – was content using his left hand to pitch, making him no different than, say, Lefty Grove, or even Lefty Gomez, if Abbott was Spanish. Perez, on the other hand contrary – who, by the way, lost his right hand while trying to retrieve his golf ball from the windmill hole on a miniature golf course – said, “Screw it. I’m pitching with the stump.” And did he ever. Perez had a standard fastball and changeup, but his “out pitch” was his renowned “Mr. Stumpy,” in which he rested the ball on his shoulder, and then performed a windmill motion with his partial arm, thus catapulting the ball to home plate, or backwards into the outfield. The irony of the windmill motion was not lost on Perez, who decided to embrace his misfortune rather than complain about it, like Abbott. But how did Mike Perez make it to the big leagues? The back of the card explains: Mike was signed for Cardinals by Scout Marty Maier. (A less confusing way of stating this would be, “Mike was signed by the Cardinals,” or “Mike was scouted by Marty Maier,” since scouts rarely double as GMs. But whatever.) Maier’s official scouting report looked like this:
Pros
Great work ethic, consistent, nice
Cons
Only has one hand, pitches with the stump, erratic

Did you know?
The Cardinals’ Willie McGee once charged the mound on Perez after being nailed by Mr. Stumpy in center field.