Classic card of the week

Orel Hershiser, 1989 Baseball Cards Magazine

Here is further proof of my mastery of a pair of scissors. Again, I don't remember cutting out this small slice of heaven -- apparently it's from Baseball Cards Magazine? Man, I am cool -- but Orel Hershiser himself seems pleased with my efforts. As do the fans. Let’s find out more about this fellow called Orel:



The hero of the 1988 World Series

Orel Hershiser was unreal in the 1988 World Series, pitching brilliantly during his two wins and earning MVP honors. That said: Kirk Gibson on line one.

(By the way, I’ve never used the “X is on line one” joke. How did it go? Did you laugh? No? Because your sense of humor is on line one. Ha! Take that.)

And the reigning king of the big contract and the multi-million dollar endorsement,

Yes, in his day Orel Hershiser was a lethal marketing hybrid of Peyton Manning mixed with Bob Villa mixed with a hilarious old woman inquiring as to the whereabouts of her beef. He could sell advertising space to a drowning man, as the saying goes. I mean, who can forget when the charismatic Hershiser pretended to like Pizza Hut and even claimed that he drank soda during games?

But…World Series hero that makes a lot of money and does commercials? Sounds like a dick.

Orel remains one of baseball’s nicest guys

Oh. Cool!

-- and one of its biggest baseball card collectors.

Wow, also…cool? Not really sure. Nevertheless, I look forward to finding out more about that as this tidbit continues.

He shattered Don Drysdale’s consecutive-scoreless-innings streak, led the league in innings pitched, complete games, shutouts and wins, and capped it off with an MVP award in the World Series. What can he do for an encore?

Almost the exact same thing with no run support and sans the WS appearance?

Sign a fat contract, for starters.

Geez. What is the obsession with what Orel Hershiser makes? So what if he capitalized off arguably the greatest season pitching-wise in MLB history? I would like to hear more about his dorky baseball card collection. Does he own any of this guy?

Orel played hockey in his youth.

Awesome. Did he play goalie? Because judging by the cartoon reenactment of Orel Hershiser’s hockey-playing youth, he wasn’t very good. Nice reaction time there, Orel.

Did you know?
Orel Hershiser's nickname was "Bulldog" because bulldogs are famously good baseball players. For dogs.