Friday, September 18, 2015

Airbrushed Fridays: 1992 Topps #26


The end of an era.

Who is he? Mike Bielecki was a starting pitcher who spent 14 seasons in the major leagues, splitting time among five different franchises. Bielecki came up with the Pirates, drafted in the first round of the now defunct June secondary draft in 1979. After being dealt off to the Cubs for peanut shells, Bielecki would have his best career season in Chicago in 1989 when he won 18 games with 212 1/3 innings logged and a 3.14 ERA to show for it.


How did he get here? The Braves began their big run of the '90s in the 1991 season, and as the trade deadline approached they dealt for Bielecki, who unfortunately only lasted an inning and two-thirds before he was shut down for the rest of the season. He returned in 1992 with decent results, and before his career was done he would take three separate tours of Atlanta.

Repeat offender? No

Other versions of this card: None

Airbrushed Score: 3

Comments: You'd be hard pressed to find many airbrushed cards after 1990 and before whatever year it was that some Topps intern got Photoshop installed on his Windows 98 machine. This, however, appears to be one of them. It's hard to blame Topps for not being able to find a photo of one of the 2 fleeting appearances Bielecki made in a Braves uniform, but they could have gone with a "NOW WITH BRAVES" printing on the front instead of this. Someone did some quality work here, but the result is still a little too dreamy to be real.

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