The Abstract on the Back of the Card

[Edgy MD]

This card come from 1985.

"______________ played for the NHL Flyers Junior Hockey Team."

Name that player.

[Frayed Knot]

Matt Stairs

[metirish]

Tug McGraw

[Bob Alpacadaca]

Tom Glavine

[Edgy MD]

Not Stairs, not McGraw, and not Glavine — none of whom were actually active big leaguers in 1985.

[metirish]

Ron Darling

[Edgy MD]

I like your thinking, with Ron growing up in hockey town like Millbury Massachusetts. You're using brain-thinking, but it's not Darling.

[Frayed Knot]

Carlton Fisk

[Edgy MD]

Not Pudge. Although he hails from Northern New England, I imagine his childhood took place before there was an NHL Flyers team, much less a junior version of such.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Obviously, it's Rafael Santana

[Benjamin Grimm]

I had thought that the Flyers were a forever team, but they were actually an expansion team from 1967.

Tom Glavine was the first name I thought of, but I suspect our answer here would be someone who grew up in the Philadelphia area.

Mike Piazza wouldn't have had a baseball card in 1985, so that rules him out.

[Edgy MD]

Not Santana, not Pudge.

Folks seem to be leaning Metsward with their guesses, so I'll concede that the guy did play for the Mets, though not most famously.

[Fman99]

Eddie Murray

[Chad ochoseis]

Rheal Cormier

Oops...never a Met. I could have sworn he was a late season waiver wire pickup one season.

[metsmarathon]

jeff reardon? he's got that hockey guy kinda look.

[Edgy MD]

He does. And he also came from Western Mass. But he's not our guy.

Hint one: Our guy was indeed born in a hockey town, but not in New England. Our guy first saw the light of day in Buffalo, New York.

[Fman99]

Orel Herscheiser ?

[Edgy MD]

OREL HERSHISER IS CORRECT!!!

Born in Buffalo, his family moved to Detroit when he was six, and Toronto when he was 12, before settling in Cherry Hill, NJ when he was in high school.

He's typically misidentified as a Mormon (I certainly thought so on and off), but his background is pretty unique. Despite his slight build, choirboy hair, and dorky ears, he had some success on the ice, and wore a hockey player's number. He was also something of a flake, drifting away from school after barely playing his frosh year and being declared academically ineligible as a sophomore, but was pushed back by his parents and found his way forward.

Our next abstract comes off of the back of the subject's 1992 SCORE card.

_________ didn't pitch get to pitch that much in '91 because of shoulder problems, but he was a tremendously positive influence on the Yankees. When he came off the DL for the first time in mid-May, he seemed to energize the team. A showman and buoyant personality, _________ kept everyone loose with his antics on the mound. Best of all, he had a winning attitude.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

OREL HERSHISER IS CORRECT!!!

Born in Buffalo, his family moved to Detroit when he was six, and Toronto when he was 12, before settling in Cherry Hill, NJ when he was in high school.

HHe's typically misidentified as a Mormon (I certainly thought so on and off), but his background is pretty unique. Despite his slight build, choirboy hair, and dorky ears, he had some success on the ice, and wore a hockey player's number. He was also something of a flake, drifting away from school after barely playing his frosh year and being declared academically ineligible as a sophomore, but was pushed back by his parents and found his way forward.

Our next abstract comes off of the back of the subject's 1992 SCORE card.

_________ didn't pitch get to pitch that much in '91 because of shoulder problems, but he was a tremendously positive influence on the Yankees. When he came off the DL for the first time in mid-May, he seemed to energize the team. A showman and buoyant personality, _________ kept everyone loose with his antics on the mound. Best of all, he had a winning attitude.

Gotta be Pascual Perez!

[Edgy MD]

PASCUAL PEREZ IS CORRECT!!!

It takes some serious skillz to spin the story of a guy frequently known to blow a gasket and melt down on the field as "tremendously positive influence" and "seemed to energize the team" and "showman and buoyant personality" and "kept everyone loose with his antics" and "had a winning attitude," but those 1992 Yankees stormed their way to 76 wins and fourth place, so what do I know?

Here's a 1995 Topps card with some exciting editorial that gives you a helpful tip on how to make it in Major League Baseball.

______'s fabulous season was documented by Baseball Weekly, which declared him the NL MVP runner-up. How tough is he? As a child he was critically mauled by a dog and rescued by a neighbor's gardener. Dad XXXXXX says little _______ didn't even cry.

[Chad ochoseis]

His neighbor could afford a gardener? I'm going to go with a son of a major leaguer. Pre-steroid Barry Bonds of the Pittsburgh Pirates?

[Edgy MD]

No, Barry Bonds was not mauled by a dog in his childhood. He had also moved on from the Pirates by 1995, but your earnest participation is appreciated!

[metirish]

Mike Piazza

[Edgy MD]

Little Mikey didn't even cry!! That is a great guess!! A dad who is his champion. A little mythmaking about manlinness. Coming in second for somebody's opinion of who should be MVP in 1995. That's all pretty Piazza-fied. I bet Norristown, PA, had some kickass gardeners back in the day.

Incorrect, however. Our subject, though, was again a Met, but not most famously.

[Chad ochoseis]

The 1995 card would have somebody's opinion about who should have been MVP in 1994, no? Not that I remember either of those seasons well enough to tell the difference.

I'll guess that they're referring to John Olerud, coming off that season when he flirted with .400 as a Blue Jay.