Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The Rick Stelmaszek Saga:Part 11

After a decent 1977 season at AAA Tucson in the Texas Rangers organization, Rick Stelmaszek joined the Wisconsin Rapids Twins (the single A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins) as a player-manager. At the age of 29, Stelmaszek's playing career was near the end, but his coaching career was just beginning.
Stelmaszek had 55 at-bats in 23 games for the Twins. More importantly, he guided them to a 62-76 record.
The WR Twins did not have a lot of promise. In fact, only Mark Funderburk ever even made it to the majors (and only for 31 games in parts of 2 seasons).
Stelmaszek's 1978 TCMA card (courtesy of TwinsCards.com) shows just how much things have changed in 30 years. Black and white pictures are generally only used in 'throwback' type cards now. Not only is the picture colorless, the card itself appears to be a simple black + 1 color (green). It is hard to tell from the scan, but this card has a non-glossy front.
One last thing to note is the very boring cap. Any good marketer knows you won't be selling many souvenir caps with WR block letters.
Rick Stelmaszek's 1978 TCMA Wisconsin Rapids Twins card.

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