Otis Nixon 1992 Upper Deck and Mike Smithson 1990 Topps

Some time before September 5, 2017 I received these two cards from the Baseball Card Bandit (BCB):

2019 Notes: For some reason I didn't post either of these cards on Facebook. Though if you want to learn more about Otis Nixon, I just wrote a blog post on him. Click here for more! BTW, this is a much better card than the first one.

Since neither of these cards were ever shown on Facebook, and I'm not sure how I got them, I'm going back to writing with black text because it's easier on the eyes. When I think of Mike Smithson, I think of this guy:

I'm not sure why I get these two players confused. Stenhouse went to Harvard, which I thought was fascinating information when I was a kid ("There's a baseball team at Harvard? Wow!), Smithson did not. Both played for the Twins and then spent some time with the Sox, Stenhouse played 21 games for the 1986 team, Smithson appeared in 71. And that's another thing, Smithson was a pitcher, Stenhouse was an outfielder-DH. I will say that they both have pretty sweet mustaches, they're both Mikes and their last names begin with an "S". 

Now that I have that out of the way, Mike Smithson was the typical Red Sox pitcher for that era not named Roger Clemens. He didn't strike a lot of people out, he didn't seem to walk a ton of players, but man, did he give up a bunch of hits. He was a back of the rotation guy on a team filled with a lot of back of the rotation guys. 

There are a couple of interesting things about Mike Smithson:

• Although he didn't make his Sox debut until 1988, seven seasons into his career. He was drafted by Boston and sent to the Texas Rangers for the immortal John Henry Johnson. He hung around in Texas for two seasons before being shipped to the Minnesota Twins. 
• While with the Twins, he was on a lot of bad teams but once the team got good in 1987, he was still on the roster; making 20 starts. However, he was not added to the postseason roster and was released six weeks after the World Series. I assume he got a ring, but that still had to sting. Do you root for your team to win? I bet Smithson did because ...
• The only thing that I remember from his tenure as a Red Sox is that the team was playing someone (I can't recall which other team) and their pitcher was just beaning everyone in sight. So the pitcher dots another Sox player and Smithson comes running out of the dugout like he's leading the charge against this pitcher and the rest of the opposition. Only Smithson got about 20 steps out and realized that no one was behind him. He had to slink off the field. I bet that not only embarrassed the hell out of Smithson, but also probably made him want to punch his own teammates. That was a dick move by the Sox, which isn't surprising because it comes to find out, most of the players on those late 80s Red Sox teams were assholes. 

Anyway, he played two seasons for the Sox before being released in December, 1989. He signed with the Angels, but didn't get into a major league game in 1990. 

Otis Nixon 1990 Fleer

On April 17, 2017 I received this card from the Baseball Card Bandit (BCB):

On Facebook, I wrote: The BCB takes no holidays! I came home from my parents' house yesterday and found this waiting in my doorstop. And the BCB is so current too. 

You may remember that Otis Nixon was in the news last week because he went missing from his Atlanta home. He was found safe and sound a few days later. 

Home is an interesting concept to Nixon as he bounced around to nine different organizations in his 18-year career, including one year in Boston. It was the strike-shortened season of 1994 and he swiped 42 bags and was caught ten times. 

The Sox had no idea what to do with him (they batted him lead off because he was fast but his OBP was atrocious: .360) and was shipped to Texas as part of the Jose Canseco deal. 

Canseco was a dude the Sox knew and loved. A tall right handed power guy well past his prime. 

Nixon never won a World Series but played in three Fall Classics (all with Atlanta). He also made north of $19M in his career, though if he stayed away from the Bolivian marching powder he would have made more. But he was better than his brother Donnell and that's what matters.

2019 Notes: Despite playing for the Red Sox, Nixon was the type of player who didn't play for Boston a lot. Like I said above, he was fast, good defensively, no power and no arm. You can look through the years and the Red Sox don't have a lot of players like that. 

The thing about Nixon is that he looked older than he was. How old do you think he is in that baseball card above? Assuming that that photo was taken in 1989, he's 30-years-old. In any event, he played 17 seasons in the bigs, which is pretty impressive considering he made his money with his legs. And the legs are usually the first to go, see Ellsbury, Jacoby.  

I would've bet that he was an All-Star at least once, but he didn't. I realize that I'm hung up on who was and who wasn't an All-Star. I'm not sure why, but I am.