check the date on that corndog

here's cory snyder's 1993 o-pee-chee card, complete with the 'now with' text designation.

o-pee-chee went off the deep end in 1993 and came up with their own design instead of using topps' layout.  they wound up with a poor man's version of a plain pacific issue.  anyway, closer inspection of the 'now with' diamond shows us that the corndog joined the dodgers on 12-5-92.  18 years ago today!

fred claire and company signed snyder as a free agent after he spent a single season in san francisco where he rebounded from a very bad 1991 season that was split between the white sox and blue jays.  snyder immediately became the dodgers starting right fielder, although he still made appearances all over the field.  in fact, during his dodger tenure, snyder did everything except pitch or catch.

now, i don't think anyone else is celebrating the 18th anniversary of cory snyder's signing with the dodgers today except maybe snyder himself since it was his last contract and it was for two years and $3 million.  still, i was happy with the signing as the dodgers had just completed their worst season ever and they needed to make some changes. 

i'm also celebrating because the corndog took some time to sign and return a few of the cards i sent him on a couple different occasions.  like his 1993 upper deck card

and his 1994 score card

both full of horizontal goodness.

then there was his 1994 fleer ultra card

with the catch-all position designation of 'of/if'.  how appropriate.

he also signed his 1994 topps card

with him kneeling at the altar of second base, and his 1994 upper deck card

on which gregg jefferies is getting a little fresh, no?

snyder finished the 1994 season (and his career) with the dodgers.  he spent this past summer as the manager of the na koa ikaika maui team of the golden league after previously managing the utah team in that league.  not a bad deal - utah for maui.  i sent these cards c/o na koa ikaika and was happy that the corndog took time away from the sun and the surf (and the baseball) to sign them.

thanks cory!