I'm featuring 1988 Topps Cards featuring members of my beloved Blue Jays that are featured on this blog.
Todd Stottlemyre was here for seven years and played a key role in our back-to-back titles. He was never the ace, but he was fairly solid, particularly in his later years here.
In 1990, my Jays were in a heated pennant race with the Boston Red Sox. Boston came to town for a crucial four game series in late August or early September, I can't quite recall that detail. I do remember we got swept and Todd Stottlemyre pitched one of those games and got pummelled.
The Saturday night after Stottlemyre laid an egg in that key game, I saw him walking with his wife by the game booth I was managing at the Canadian National Exhibition. I jumped out of the booth and introduced myself. I almost didn't, knowing that he had to be in a super foul mood, but I was a massive Jays fan so I went for it. He didn't smile and he didn't seem interested in small talk, but he did give me his autograph. I was actually happy to see he was in a shitty mood, because it told me he actually cared that he pitched like shit with the division leader in town. I think I would have been dismayed if he was jovial.
I can't find my Todd Stottlemyre autograph, but here's Todd Gill who I met that same summer when he was signing autographs outside the old Hockey Hall of Fame on the Exhibition grounds.
