Flan Appreciation Night Pin (SGA 9/30/89)

So as some of you may have noticed there has been very little non-link related posts on RJ’s Fro lately. Don’t worry that will all be changing next week. We’ve got a lot of things planned already. A HUGE interview, FRIARfest, our first ever Fro/Counter-Fro, giveaways and we are planning on making the trip to Spring Training. I forgot to mention I was on vacation last week. But while on vacation I came across numerous antique stores and found some Padres stuff and this was one of those items. It was a pin given away for Tim Flannery “FLAN” Appreciation Night. Tim Flannery was a Padre fan favorite for years. Not only did he play in San Diego from ’79 to ’89, but he also coached & was a radio voice after his playing career was over. This pin was given away on September 30th, 1989 and despite it being his appreciation night, he sat the bench the whole game. In fact he sat the bench the whole following game too (which was the last game of the season & his career). But he DID play the day before on September 29th. He had 2 plate appearances and went 0-2 with a foul ball flyout & a ground out to SS in his final AB against the Giants Mike LaCoss before being pulled for Bip Roberts the rest of the game. The game in which the pin was given away (on September 30th) saw the Padres beat the Giants 11-5 with Mark “Mud” Grant coming on in relief and throwing 5 innings of 1 run ball while striking out 6.

Bonus item:

Here is a card from the 1990 Classic Baseball set titled NL Hit Kings. This final series was also the series in which Tony Gwynn and Will Clark were fighting it out for the NL batting title. Will went into the series batting .333 & Tony went into it batting .332. Tony went 7 for 13 in the series & Will went 4 for 12 in the series. Tony finishes at .336 & Will finishes at .333. Hello NL batting title #4.