On February 14, 2017 I received this card from the Baseball Card Bandit (BCB):
On Facebook, I wrote: Look what came in the mail today? A valentine from the BCB, only this one is a little different than the other. For one thing, the envelope was taped up as if the BCB was all of a sudden worried of tampering. Second, no "Why can't we get guys like these?" note. Third, the envelope is red instead of white. BTW, it's postmarked Charlotte, NC.
Anyway, it's nice to see Bret Saberhagen. And I'm glad to see he's playfully holding an apple instead of a bottle of bleach, which is what he sprayed in NY writers in 1993. Seems like a peach (HA!) of a guy.
2019 Notes: Even though I wrote this two years ago, I forgot that Saberhagen did this. In the 90s, this was a pretty big scandal. But now, I'm sure that there would be a loud group of people who would love this sort of thing and hold Bret Saberhagen up as a hero. Those early 90s Mets teams were problematic. Saberhagen did this, Vince Coleman lit firecrackers near reporters, David Cone was accused of masturbating in the bullpen. Baseball players are idiots.
In other news, even though it wasn't used a lot, the joke-y baseball cards were some of my favorite. I like guys wearing big umbrella hats or walking around with a giant glove or blowing a ridiculous large bubble.
By the time Sabes showed up in Boston, he was older, more respected, his arm was hanging on by sinew and he was expected to be the number two behind Pedro. In all honesty, he should have pitched a game or two and called it a career. But he gutted out 175 innings with a sub-4.00 ERA, which is pretty decent all things being equal.
BTW, he joined the Sox staff when he was 33. I thought he was like 64. It just goes to show that a. he was around forever (jumping on the scene in 1984 at 20) and b. age is a relative.
That's the lesson today boys and girls, you're only as old as your rotator cuff.
2019: Saberhagen had a terrific career, if you took out the even numbered years. That's the one thing that I remember about him. He was lights out in the odd years but was very human in even years. He did win two Cy Young Awards and the 1985 World Series MVP (the latter and one of his Cys came when he was 21-years-old). I bet Kansas Citizens thought that Saberhagen was just going to keep cruising along to a Hall of Fame career after that. [narrator] He didn't. [/narrator]
I remember being stunned when the Royals traded him to the Mets and for former über-prospect Gregg Jefferies too! That was insane. Jefferies was supposed to lead the Mets into the new millennium. [narrator] He didn't. [/narrator]
Saberhagen ended up pitching for the Rockies (which I don't recall) before coming to the Sox after spending an entire year on the disabled list. His first year back was a bit of a wash-out but his second and third years weren't too bad. Then he went on the DL for the entirety of the 2000 season before hanging it up after a handful of games in 2001.
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