Card Back Quotes and Facts Part 1 - Ryan Klesko

I'm starting a new series where I take a look at card backs in my collection and pull out interesting facts and quotes. I recently completed adding a list of all the Ryan Klesko cards in my collection to my What I Collect page. I'm at 98 different cards, oh so close to the 100 card milestone.

"When I'm healthy and playing every day, I can put up the numbers with the best of them."
- Ryan Klesko, Houston Chronicle, 10/1/97

From the man himself, once Klesko did get a chance to play every day by virtue of moving to left field, he did indeed produce and put up numbers. 

The Thunder brand for baseball looks like the Z-Force brand that I am familiar with on the basketball side of things.

"In the World Series, Ryan hit three HRs in three straight games."

All three of those home runs in the 1995 World Series were on the road at Jacobs Field. Here are the specifics courtesy of Baseball Reference.

Game 3, 7th Inning off Charles Nagy - Braves lose 7-6

Game 4, 6th Inning off Ken Hill - Braves win 5-2 

Game 5, 9th Inning off Jose Mesa - Braves lose 5-4

"The slam was the Braves' 12th of the season, an ML record."

The team record of 12 grand slams for Atlanta in 1997 has since been broken by the Oakland A's in 2000 and the Indians in 2006, each with 14 grand slams.

"Klesko's diving catch was a big play as the Braves beat the Reds 3-2 to take two of three in that series."

I've featured this card on the blog before and I really just wanted to show this one again for the photo on the front. The description above seems like a missed opportunity. What was the situation in the game when this catch was made? 

I tried to find this play in the box score for the game on Baseball Reference. There isn't a clear indication of which play this was. In fact, I don't see any plays that show a flyball to LF where Klesko would have clearly made the play. Here are the possible plays:

Bottom of the 4th, runners on 1st and 2nd for the Reds, 1 out. Flyball to CF.
Bottom of the 5th, runner on 3rd with 1 out. Flyball to CF/Sacrifice Fly, Hal Morris scores a run.

Bottom of the 5th, no one on with 2 outs. Lineout to CF.

The bottom of the 4th inning seems to be the most critical situation there, and maybe Klesko had to come over from left field to make the play. 

On this Bazooka card there's a Funny Fortune section on the bottom of the card. Let me flip that around so you can read it.

"May 22, 1996 - Ryan becomes the 1st slugger since 1971 to reach the upper level of Fulton County Stadium."

The home run in question happened in the 1st inning against Chicago Cubs pitcher Jim Bullinger, scoring Dwight Smith and Chipper Jones. I miss the Bazooka card brand, by the way. I'm a few cards away from completing a Bazooka Stamps insert set that I'll share in a future post.

"Led all big-league first basemen with 23 steals in 2001 to go along with a career-high 113 RBI, the highest total ever tallied by a Padres first sacker."

Here's the front of the card, which is pretty sweet by the way. Donruss originals, can these make a comeback? As for the 113 RBI, Adrian Gonzalez came along with 118 RBI in 2008, breaking this record. And you wouldn't think it, but Klesko could steal a base.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading some of the card backs and plan to make this a regular practice.