Terrible Card Tuesday: 1987 Frank Viola

Ok, disregard the pitching grade here.  There is obviously nothing “terrible” with 1987 Frank Viola’s AXZ grade.  In fact, his 17-10 record and 2.90 ERA for the Twins was good enough to rank sixth in the Cy Young voting. 

But now look at his hitting card.  Are there enough 13s for you?  I count only eight result numbers that are not strikeouts. 

Why?  Viola was an American League pitcher so he didn’t bat in the AL regular season so he might have gotten a template AL pitchers hitting card.    The answer lies in the Minnesota Twins’ postseason.  When the Twins’ went to the World Series, they were forced to bat their pitcher.  Frank Viola was among the starters who pitched in an away game. 

For the record, he batted once and struck out once.  Hence, the thirteen-laden APBA card. 

So what numbers did APBA consider “untouchable”?

Viola still got hit numbers 7-8-9 despite hitting .000.  That’s not surprising.  Most AL pitchers who don’t pick up a bat get that too.  He also gets the almighty 12 which in 1987 was at 14.  The error number 21 assigned to pitchers is at 22.  John Mikulas who suggested this card says Viola has taken advantage of this a couple times already. 

Viola received the two unusual numbers which pitchers normally get.  His 23 is at 44 and his 36 is at 45.  Finally, Viola get the automatic 65-35, good only if he’s facing a DW with runners on base.  Other than that, it all thirteens. 

As Twins fans will know, Viola went on to win the Cy Young in 1988 with a 24-7 record.  He didn’t bat that year so I’ll bet you he had a few fly outs and ground balls on his card too. 

thanks to John for passing this on!