About the Back: Stieb is still the Jays' all-time leader in wins (175) and strikeouts (1,658), with Roy Halladay only reaching 148 W's and 1,495 K's before being traded to the Phillies.
Triple Play:
1. Stieb's 1990 no-hitter came after a number of painful near-misses. On September 24 and 30, 1988, he had two consecutive no-hit bids broken up by two-out singles in the ninth inning. Cleveland's Julio Franco and Baltimore's Jim Traber were the spoilers. He had to settle for finishing the season on a 31.2 inning scoreless streak. Overall, the righthander had five career one-hitters, and a record three potential no-nos that were lost with two outs in the ninth. (The third was a perfect game bid on August 4, 1989; it was undone by a double from Yankee Roberto Kelly.)
2. He led the league in hit batters five times in his career, suggesting that he wasn't afraid to pitch inside.
3. After four years away from baseball, Dave made a surprising comeback with Toronto at age 40 in 1998. He threw 50.1 innings in 19 games (three starts), compiling a 4.93 ERA (96 ERA+...yes, offense ruled the day back then).
11-Year-Old Kevin Says: I distinctly remember Stieb's 1988 Topps Big card from my childhood collection. Where else would you learn that one of the league's best pitchers was a guitar collector?
Bill James Said: "Has been plagued since 1990 by a herniated disk and sore elbow."
On This Date in 1993: October 7. Toni Morrison is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Her novels include "Song of Solomon", "Beloved", and "Jazz".
"My string bill is enormous!"
ReplyDeleteWho wrote those cartoons in the 80's for Topps?
Max - Topps Big always seemed to be marketed toward smaller children. Maybe they let them work on the product as well?
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