Friend and tournament organizer Darren Schulz sends this monster card suggestion and it’s an interesting one. Honestly, I had never heard of Rudy Pemberton though he certainly made his presence known in the time he played for three years he was in the majors.
In 1996 though, he did almost everything right at least for 45 plate appearances.
To be fair, Pemberton only played 13 games for the Red Sox in 1996 but in those games, he raked. Rudy went 21 for 45 with eight doubles and a homer. He stole three bases with a couple walks.
I noticed that Pemberton scored 11 runs in his 13 games which made me think he might have been used as a pinch runner. That was not the case. He played the field with no errors in all of his games.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 Totals | 13 | 45 | 41 | 11 | 21 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 4 | .512 | .556 | .781 |
These “monster cards” based on small sample sizes are always tricky.
One interesting thing about Pemberton’s 1996 card is his power numbers. While he clearly doesn’t have enough homers to get a single column one, APBA decided to give him two 5s and four 6s. The fives are very base-situation dependent so he may end up with a couple more.
In addition to Pemberton’s 5-5-6-6-6-6 power combination, he received a 31-7 and a 35-7. Plus, there are Rudy’s steal numbers. APBA had to replicate his three steals and to do so, they gave him two 11s and a 10.
I’m trying to wrap my head around the fact that Pemberton has a 26-9 and a 46-9. When I further study the card, it does make sense. In the 1996 APBA set, the 12 was set at play result 42 which I think is the “best” number it could be ever resided. Pemberton also had a 62-42 which affected that as well.
Whatever happened to Pemberton?
In 1997, Pemberton hit .238 over 27 games for the Sox. That was his last year in the majors finishing with a career .336 batting average. Pemberton played for nine more years in the minor leagues, Korea, Japan and Mexico. He collected a total of 101 homers in the minor leagues alone. Pemberton also represented the Dominican baseball team most notably in the 2003 Pan-American Games.
Thanks, Darren!!
Check out Trey Mancini’s 2016 card. It’s even more loaded than this one.
I’m partial to the 1998 Craig Wilson with the White Sox (.468 average, 1.256 OPS) because he can fill in at short, second, and third.