in november of 1982, the padres traded juan eichelberger to the indians in the deal that sent eddie whitson to san diego. here is his 1983 o-pee-chee card:
here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
i am guessing that there was some local joint in cleveland that immediately began serving an 'eichel' burger. eichelberger himself served up 23 home runs in his final year in san diego, but he cut that number to 10 in '83 for the tribe. he did have another losing season, though, going 4-11 in 28 games (15 starts).
eichelberger was released by the indians just before the start of the 1984 season, and he bounced around in the minors after that with milwaukee, pittsburgh, and atlanta. after 3 seasons in the braves' organization, he finally made it back to the bigs for 20 games in 1988, winning both of his decisions and posting a 3.86 era.
voici à vous, 1983 juan eichelberger!