jimmy key through the mail success!

with apologies to fernando, jerry reuss, and frank tanana, my favorite left-handed pitcher of the mid 80's/early 90's was jimmy key.

i rooted for the blue jays as my american league team beginning around 1983 or so. a couple of years later, key was firmly established in the starting rotation, creating a formidable one-two, righty-lefty punch with dave steib.

i was happy when the blue jays won the series in 1992 (with key pitching really well), and sad that he decided to go to the yankees the following year. to make matters worse, he had two of his best seasons (though not his best) the next couple of years with the new york american league squad.

so, i recently sent a bunch of cards to mr. key - some to keep and maybe a couple to sign and return. he decided to sign and return all 7, much to my surprise.

here they are (notice that there will be no yankees (or orioles) cards included):

1985 donruss 1985 fleer

1985 toppsthat would be the rookie card trifecta, unless you count his 1984 topps traded and 1984 fleer update cards. what did beckett call those? xrc?

1986 o-pee-cheebecause a blue jay has to have at least one o-pee-chee card.

1987 fleerblue overload on this card. i find it funny that the blues don't match between the jersey and the pants. you can see it better on the 1985 topps card above. kind of like how the lakers purple (sorry, forum blue) never matched, but that was due to different knits used for the tops. anyway...

1991 o-pee-chee premier

another o-pee-chee, although not a topps design. why couldn't upper deck steal this design?

2004 topps all time fan favorites

which is an appropriate one to end with, as he was a favorite of this fan!

thanks jimmy!