(As it’s been pointed out, the Mets’ official reporting date is five days from now, on Feb. 15, and I can’t read a calendar. Just pretend you’re reading the post below on Tuesday.)
In just four days, New York Mets’ pitchers and catchers will officially report for spring training in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Wilmer Flores is the latest Mets player to wear number 4, though hardly the most famous. (Hall of Famer Duke Snider – seen on last Monday’s Mets baseball card of the week – claims that honor. Rusty Staub, who was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame in 1986, is probably the best Met to wear number 4. And most Mets fans in my age group probably think first of Lenny Dykstra.)
Flores has his official rookie card in Series One of this year’s Topps flagship set, even though Topps first put him on cardboard back in 2008’s Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects set.
Topps designated Flores as a shortstop, to the amusement of some local media members and fans. This is either prescient or years out of date. (Flores last played shortstop in 2011 for the Single-A St. Lucie Mets in the Florida State League, but there is talk he could get a look at the position this spring.)
Flores’ 2014 Topps rookie card is unlikely to sell for more than 50 cents in the New York metropolitan area, and may be able to be found among the commons outside of this area.
(As usual, if you are seeing rounded corners on the baseball card image, it is just an artifact of my current blog theme.)
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