Thursday, January 24, 2008

eiland's a nice place to visit


Player: David Eiland
Card: 1991 Fleer #661
Errors: Fixated stare. Player appears to be proposing to card's owner. Overabundance of yellow.
Comments: A first glance at David Eiland's career numbers (12 wins, 27 losses, 5.74 ERA) doesn't necessarily blow you away.
In 10 years, he never won more than four games in a single season, and never pitched more than 80 innings.
But David (never Dave!) Eiland's career was defined by one thing: his left leg. It was the only leg he had.
As seen above, David Eiland lost his right leg in a somewhat horrible bumper car accident. Did he let that tragedy stop him from achieving his big league dreams? For the most part, no.
Unfortunately, in 2000, after three seasons with the Devil Rays, Eiland retired. You can play baseball with one hand or one arm, but it's only a matter of time before Joe Girardi instructs every player on his team to bunt on a one-legged pitcher.
Though his time was brief, Americans will always remember his one shining moment in 1992. The country was still trying to come to grips with the difficult emotions that swirled around the acquittal of four officers who were videotaped beating Rodney King. Tensions were high. Hope was em-dashed.
Wearing his specially modified San Diego Padres uniform, David Eiland came up to the plate for the first time...and socked the only home run of his career.
Millions of Americans cried during David Eiland's home-run hop around the bases. We saw the potential in each of us. We learned that true greatness comes from our heart - not from the right ankle, knee cap or calf.
Three cheers to you, David Eiland. While statistics are temporary, one-legged pitchers are forever.
Scoring: E6

6 comments:

hartmanj said...

You are cracking me up. I am glad I found this blog. I will be checking back quite often.

dayf said...

He only has one leg, but he does have two knee joints, and that's almost better than an extra leg.

The '91 Fleer cards sure are bright, aren't they?

Steve Gierman said...

Oooo! Bright and shiny one legged pitcher. The second baseman must have to pull him back and let go in order for him to pitch.

Andy said...

I don't know what possessed Fleer to ever make an entire set bright yellow like that. It's such a ridiculously intense color, and it clashes with a lot of uniforms.

I only just found this blog, and I love it!

Steve Gierman said...

It's the evolution of Fleer. Silver in '85, dark blue in '86, light blue in '87, white with blue and red in '88, grey with white in '89, white in '90, yellow in '91, green in '92 and silver again in '93. It's like a technicolor rainbow.

Bart McClaughry said...

Hey you guys,I like the 1991 Fleer.
This is a great site