#396 Rich Sauveur (Gold)

About the Front: The piping down the sides of Rich Sauveur's pants is juuuuust a bit thinner than his stirrups, which is probably driving the type-A personalities among you crazy.

About the Back: If Topps' most recent career highlight for you is a seven-year-old minor league shutout, that strikes me as the definition of "damning with faint praise".

Triple Play:

1. He debuted with the Pirates on July 1, 1986, pitching into the seventh inning against the Phillies and allowing two runs on seven hits and three walks. Philly prevailed 5-4 in 12 innings.

2. Rich had a bizarre major league career. He pitched in six different seasons for six different teams, often years apart: Pirates (1986), Expos (1988), Mets (1991), Royals (1992), White Sox (1996), and Athletics (2000). He totaled 46 innings in 34 games with a 6.07 ERA, and had a record of 0-1. Of all of the winless pitchers in MLB history, the lefty holds the record for having pitched for the most teams.

3. He's been a minor league pitching coach since 2003, working for the Oakland and Boston organizations.

11-Year-Old Kevin Says: I never saw this card as a middle schooler, but I would've wondered why somebody who had debuted in 1986 couldn't get a rookie card until 1993.

Bill James Said: El Zilcho. Sauveur only pitched five games in 1993, all for Cincinnati's AAA Indianapolis club.

On This Date in 1993: March 25. The "Spring Break Quake", a 5.7 earthquake, hits the state of Oregon. The epicenter is just outside of Scotts Mills along the Mount Angel fault line.

Note: I'll return with the first post of Series Two on Tuesday, March 31. See you then!