big in japan

saturday's mail brought another ttm request fulfilled.  this time, ralph bryant signed and returned his trio of 1987 rookie cards.  here's his fleer card, on which he shares space with jose gonzalez

here's his donruss card

and this is his 1987 topps traded card

bryant made his big league debut in 1985 and played in 6 games that year.  he earned his place on cardboard with his 1986 performance for the dodgers over 27 games - a performance which included 12 of his 19 hits going for extra bases, six of which were home runs.  he appeared in 46 games for the blue in 1987, but had just two home runs in about the same number of at bats.

when the dodgers brought in kirk gibson and mike davis for the 1988 season, there wasn't much room in the outfield for bryant, and he wound up heading to japan.  although originally signed by the chunichi dragons, bryant played for the kintetsu buffaloes and won the pacific league mvp award in 1989.  he led the league in home runs that year with 49 (only the seventh player in history and the second american to reach that total), and also sat atop the leader board in two other seasons.  in all, bryant hit 259 home runs in japan in just eight seasons. following his retirement in 1995, he returned to the states and played in aa for the angels' affiliate.

bryant signed and returned the cards in 12 days.  thanks ralph!