all hands on deck

this week's installment of the 1979 post raisin bran steve garvey's baseball tips is a little 'pie in the sky' if you ask me.  i never had a whole lot of time in the on deck circle to make a lot of observations.  guys i hit behind went up there hacking.  things must be different in the pros, i guess.

on deck images of players are fairly boring, so there aren't too many that i am aware of.  usually when you see someone on deck, it's because they are in the background of someone at the plate, like on this 1998 upper deck bobby bonilla card

 or this 1999 pacific matt luke card

but there are some on deck cards nonetheless. perhaps the best example is the 1972 topps/o-pee-chee willie davis card (this is the o-pee-chee version)

although willie doesn't seem to be following the game too intently.  to me, it looks like he's enjoying some down time in the sun.

here's mike piazza's 1998 topps gallery card

piazza is getting his bat ready as the garv suggests, but will he have time to study the pitcher?  well, in 1997 i remember he was hitting behind raul mondesi who wasn't the most patient hitter, so i will guess that the answer is 'no'.

only about 5 weeks until spring training!