1981 Topps Brian Kingman

 

The front: Not a whole lot going on here, but the green seats on an A's card are a nice touch.

The back: Kingman pitched for the Calgary Jimmies of the Alberta Major Baseball League in 1974. Kingman beat the Edmonton Tigers in both games of a doubleheader to give the Jimmies a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five finals. He pitched a complete game shutout (7 innings) in the opener, a 1-0 win, and the first five innings of the Jimmies' 4-3 triumph in the second game. After losing Game 3 the Jimmies came back to win the championship in Game 4 on a shutout by Ron Peterson.

The player: Brian Kingman pitched five years in the major leagues for the A's and Giants. In 1980 he lost 20 games despite a respectable 3.83 ERA, the last 20-game winner until 2003. Overall in 94 games he went 23-45 with a 4.13 ERA.

The man: For 23 years Kingman was the "last of the 20 game losers", and accepted the title with good humor, noting the elite company, including several Hall-of-Famers, he was in. Most recently, he was working for a regional distribution company. He shared his thoughts on baseball cards with this blog in 2012. At the time he sent me several pictures, not all of which are showing now, I'll have to check that out.

My collection: I have nine of his cards, from 1980 to 1983. I would be interested in trading for 1979 TCMA Ogden A's #13.