Card Cameos: 1988 Score Rookies & Traded Bud Black & Luis Salazar

How about a post for a travel day? The first card cameo post I did was fun, so why not another? Because these cameo cards often come from cards that aren't of Tigers in the first place, it's a little hard for a Tigers collector to find them. What am I to do? Why, turn to the blogs of course! The now defunct 88 Score Rookie & Traded Set blog highlighted this card last February:



That's #11T Bud Black from 1988 Score R&T...with former Tiger Luis Salazar lurking in the background. I wish that I could take credit for finding this out, but no. I only know this because the blog told me...twice. And looking hard I think I can buy it--AL Road Team, Detroit-esque color scheme, Mustache. Yeah, that could be Luis Salazar. I probably wouldn't have gotten it on my own, but I'm willing to accept it.

This card doesn't contain within it the drama of our inaugural card cameo, but I have a hunch that we can track down this game too, just for fun. You see, Bud Black was traded, which meant that he was wearing a shiny new Indians uniform in place of that dingy old Royals jersey he had been wearing. Traded sets usually feature in-season photos from the traded season, so a look at the 1988 Detroit Tigers' schedule is in order.

The Tigers played in Cleveland on two occasions: June 9-12 and September 26-28. According to the back of the card, Black was traded on June 3rd, putting all of these in play. Going game by game we find this: June 11th and September 26th. Those are the only two appearances that Bud Black made against the Tigers in that series. Taking the next step, it turns out that the September games was a 7:35 start, while the June game started at 2:35, which would explain the sunshine that is flooding our lovely card.

So we have a winner! This photo was taken on June 11th. The Play by Play confirms that it is, in fact, Luis Salazar on Second Base. With 2 outs in the top of the 6th and runners on the corners Salazar weakly singled off of starter John Farrell, scoring Chet Lemon and winding up on 1st base. When Dave Bergman singled to move Salazar to second Farrell got the hook...bringing in Bud Black.

There on second base stands Luis Salazar, some time before he is singled-in by Gary Pettis on Black's second pitch. The Tigers go up 4-2 in a game they end up winning 11-3.

All I can say is this: Thank goodness for Andy for creating his 88 Score R&T Set blog--he is the sole reason that I was able to highlight this classic Detroit Tigers moment in Card Cameos.