Billy Hatcher 1992 Upper Deck

On May 31, 2017 I received this card from the Baseball Card Bandit (BCB):

On Facebook I wrote: Hey, the BCB sent me another card last week and this time it's from Atlanta. (John Manasso? Christie Tuccillo Manasso?)

2019 Notes: I'm naming checking my brother and sister-in-law here who live in a suburb right outside of Atlanta. It's a great place to visit and honestly, I wouldn't mind living there. 

It's old friend Billy Hatcher! You may remember Hatcher as the guy who, when with Houston, hit a ball and his bat exploded with super balls. Or you may recall that he was on fire in the 1990 World Series as Cincinnati beat the heavily favored A's in five games. 

Or you might recall him as a spark plug for some truly awful Red Sox teams pre-Dan Duquette. In one of his first games in Boston, he stole home and people around here reacted as if he broke Hank Aaron's record while at the same time, cured cancer. 

It was a cool thing but man, we were desperate for something interesting from our baseball team. Congratulations Billy Hatcher, for a very short time you peed Dos Equis. You were the most interesting man on the Red Sox.

2019: After 1990, the Red Sox got very bad and very boring. I remember that it seemed if every acquisition was going to be the one that made Boston relevant again. Herm Winningham, Mike Marshall, Billy Hatcher, Danny Heep, Tom Brunansky. These were the hitters that were going to bring the Sox back from the dead and have them compete with the Torontos, the Oaklands, the Minnesotas. 

Not only that, but they were going to bring home the trophy and teach the kids a thing or two about playing hard and professionalism. It didn't happen. It never happened. 

Hatcher was a bit of tease though, because he did play really well his first two weeks in red socks. I mentioned that he stole home (which really was a big deal and was one of four that he had with the Sox that season) and he hit pretty well. At least I remember him hitting well, his final slash in 1992 was 238/283/311 and that's not very good. 

Even when the Sox stunk and slid back to last a few years ago, they were never boring. Or at least not as boring as they were in the early 90s. That's an era I hope that they never return to.