#503 Buck Rodgers and Tony Perez

About the Front: Buck Rodgers is tired of putting up with your crap.

About the Back: The Reds had just hired Tony Perez as a rookie manager to replace Lou Piniella, who departed to manage the Mariners in 1993. They gave him all of 44 games before he was fired and replaced with Davey Johnson. Nobody ever said that Marge Schott was a patient woman.

Triple Play:

1. Bob "Buck" Rodgers spent parts of nine seasons (1961-1969) as a catcher for the Angels. He batted .232/.288/.312 with 31 homers and 288 RBI. He managed for 13 seasons in the big leagues with the Brewers, Expos, and Angels, with a record of 784-774. He led the Brewers to a first-place finish in the AL East in the second half of the strike-abbreviated 1981 season, but Milwaukee lost a playoff series to the Yankees, three games to two. He was also named NL Manager of the Year in 1987, when his Expos improved from 78-84 to 91-71, finishing in third place in the East.

2. Tony Perez spent most of his 23-year playing career with the Reds, with stints in Montreal, Boston, and Philadelphia to boot. He batted .279/.341/.463 with 505 doubles, 379 home runs, and 1,652 RBI. A seven-time All-Star, he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2000.

3. As mentioned already, Perez's Reds struggled to a 20-24 start in 1993 before he was sent walking. His only other managing experience came in 2001 as the interim skipper for the Marlins. John Boles was let go after a 22-26 start, and Florida finished 54-60 under Tony.

11-Year-Old Kevin Says: I loved that they had the new Angels logo on the back of this card.

On This Date in 1993: March 11. Canadian figure skater Kurt Browning won the men's World Championship in Prague.