A quirky card

One of the best things about Topps cards from the mid- to late-1990s is that they often had some oddball blurbs about the players. One of the best is from Jamie Moyer's 1994 Topps card.

"Jamie was taught his effective 'circle change' pitch by the St. Joseph's U. mascot: Kevin Quirk, a former minor league pitcher."

When I saw that blurb I was picturing an older man who had pitched in the 1950s or something, and was now reduced to being a mascot, trying to find a young ballplayer who would listen to him. Someone kind of like Fortune in the movie Rudy. Actually, Quirk was only three years older than Moyer and had just come back to school after two years in the Yankees organization. The student who gets to be the St. Joseph's Hawk gets free tuition, so Quirk's three years in the role were worth the ridiculousness of being a mascot.