Did someone say Hershiser looks 'bookish'?

This is an actual baseball card. It was a promo card issued to coincide with the release of Orel Hershiser's autobiography, titled "Out of the Blue," back in 1989.

After 1988, Hershiser was the biggest thing in baseball, so lots of people wanted to read his book. Right when it came out, I either bought it or someone gave it to me. I read it back then and haven't read it since (I don't re-read a lot of books). I still have it and was going to scan the book cover, but the book is actually propping up the shelf above it. If I removed the book, the whole shelving unit would come crashing down. Yeah, I'm a master craftsman.

For some reason, the photograph is of Hershiser back in his Albuquerque Dukes days. Maybe they couldn't get MLB approval or something.

Here is the back of the card:

That makes it official: it's an oddball card. And I love oddballs.

Even though I pounced on the book when it was released, I knew nothing about the promo card. But David of Can't Have Too Many Cards was nice enough to send me one. That's a super awesome thing to do.

I love my Hershiser cards. To me, Hershiser is the ultimate example of a player who doesn't look the part, then blows away everyone with his ability. And all the jocks stand around and say, "dude, where'd that come from?" Hershiser was like a walking after-school special.

I'm still waiting for him to sign and return the card I sent him. (Orel, please stop at your house once in a while). But meanwhile, I have cards like this to tide me over.

Oh, and one more thing:

Mark, I got you one.