Weird Card Wednesday: 1979 Matt Alexander

That card nestled in Ken Schulz’ fingers is Matt Alexander 1979 APBA published in last year. 

Alexander played for the Pirates in 1979 and if it wasn’t already apparent from his stats (16 runs scored and 13 steals but only 13 at-bats), his primary role was being a pinch runner. 

Alexander did hit when asked though.  He came to the plate sixteen times and collected seven hits including one triple for a .538 batting average.  Give him some credit as a base runner too.  He was only caught stealing once in fourteen times. 

Where do you start with this kind of card?  Well first of all, there’s the 53-17*, something I may have seen just a handful of times.  Not only that, he’s a .538 hitter with a 44-8.  That’s only because of the somewhat odd placement of the 11s.  Alexander has the normal 11s at 15, 25, 51 and 31.  He gets one at 55 too (I think I remember Maury Wills getting one there, too).  Then the 11 skips 44 and a 10 appears at 22 along with a 33-11.  And for good measure, he gets a 35-11 too. 

All told, Alexander got seven 11s and one 10 for his 1979 card.  He also received one 45-14* and one 53-17*.  Of course, the 45-14* is inaccurate since Alexander didn’t walk.  For that matter, the 11-4 is a bit puzzling since his only extra base hit was a triple. 

Note:  Alexander DID play one game at shortstop which is why he has the SS-6 fielding rating. 

A pinch runner throughout his career, Matt Alexander’s lifetime stats mirrored his 1979 season minus the great hitting (he only had a .214 lifetime average).  In 374 games, he only totaled 168 at-bats.  However, he scored 111 times and stole 103 bases… but only 4 rbis. 

Thanks Ken!