"I was in Gastonia in 1990 and I think there were four different
companies that put out cards that year. There was some sort of mixup
with one of the companies, and the card they issued with my picture
carried the name of Randy Marshall who played first base for us that
year. I lived with Randy (aka Moose) and Craig Newkirk in Gastonia and
we were good friends so I didn't mind it. I actually thought it could
turn out to be a good thing if Randy or I made it to the big leagues --
you know it would be one of those error cards that turns up every now
and then. Unfortunately, neither of us did so it's not very valuable
after all!
When I was a kid I purchased packs of baseball cards every chance I could at the 7-11 near my house. They were all eventually lost, but when I was in college I visited my brother in Nashville and he took me to a card shop there. I was able to pick up cards of the players I liked when I was growing up, like Ron Guidry, Nolan Ryan, and Tug McGraw-- I think everybody in and around Philadelphia loved Tug because of the 1980 World Series.
The funny thing is Tug actually pitched a game for us in Gastonia in 1990. It was a one off sort of thing to attract fans, but it was a real game and as I recall Tug pitched about 6 innings and only gave up a couple of runs. Watching him pitch that night was a thrill for me. He was a competitor and I'm sure almost anyone could have learned something just by watching him go about his business. One thing i regret is not getting a picture or autograph that night."
Thanks! Here is a card of him from my collection.
I know this is an old post, but I just found one of the misprint Eric Bickhardt cards. I grew up around where Randy grew up, and I think our father's knew each other. My mom worked with Randy's wife at the time. Long of the short, is that I still have the misprint card, and Randy signed it for me, I was 6. I'm 36 now, and it's still as cool to me now as it was then!
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