Love Lost

One of the bright spots of 1977, this Doug Ault card is remarkably well-cut for 1978. Must have been an accident.

A Rob Belloir strikeout with the tying run on first has ended the great Love Vs Hate Play Ball Grudge Match over at Cardboard Gods.  Hate wins 7-5, thanks to Tom Paciorek of Hate (this is forevermore how I will think of him).

I do think I will now play out a game (of lesser stakes, Love vs Hate is too loaded) with 1978 OPC.  My quick scan of my pile shows a tendency towards a lot of offensive events, which might have something to do with the number of lesser lights dropped from the set.  Time to find out.

Doug Ault was one player I had scanned the other day that I didn’t use in the post.  I put him here because he deserves a spot on the blog (though I cheated and looked at his card back – he flies out, but at least he makes contact).  Doug was the hero of the Jays’ first game, nailing a pair of homers in a snowy 7-5 win over Chicago at the Ex.  As late as about 2003, I remember him coming back to the ball park and getting a resounding cheer.  He always seemed genuinely moved that so many years after the fact, the people here remembered him and cheered for him.

It wasn’t long after that that he came to a sad end by his own hand.  Cardboard Gods wrote it up well.  Love lost that day, too.  In that context, today’s loss doesn’t mean much.

Doug's stats. Would have been nice to have mentioned the two opening day homers.