Who is this man?
Collectors of sports cards from the eighties may find the face to the left very familiar. This week, the Mystery Man has slightly more significance, but only minimally so. As the astute of you may have guessed, Jeff Schneider is one of a legion of former ball players who have appeared on the multi-player rookie cards of more noteworthy stars. Schneider’s mug graces the 1982 Topps rookie card of recently inducted Hall of Famer, Cal Ripken, who played every game of his career with the Baltimore Orioles.
Jeff Schneider made his Major League debut on August 12, 1981. That year would be his one and only in the big leagues. Schneider was originally drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent in 1974. He had been drafted two earlier times, once by the Cubs in 1970, and then by the Rangers in 1973, both times out of the amateur draft (18th round and 2nd round, respectively), but did not sign.
Schneider’s career ended on October 2, 1981, when he had thrown in only 11 games, with a 4.88 ERA, no wins, and one save. I think frequently of players like Schneider — there are thousands of them who came through the majors for short stints in the 70s and 80s, only to be dealt a swift Darwinian hand of meritocracy. In that time period, salaries for beginning ballplayers were, by today’s standards, paltry. Even when not compared to today’s ballplayer salaries, the amounts paid to players before or shortly after the introduction of free agency, were low. All across the country, there are stories like Schneider’s to be told — of a brief flash in the MLB pan, to be followed by the ordinary career challenges that every other American faces out of high school or college.
Technorati Tags: baseball cards, sports cards, topps
November 27th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Nice post. This is my first time I’m visiting your blog and I’ve seen some of your earlier posts too. Interesting!