Mets Card of the Week: 2015 Lucas Duda

2015 TOPPS LUCAS DUDA

You can’t spell “mea culpa” without “Lucas Duda.” Well, maybe you can. Hell, I’m not exactly Cicero when it comes to Latin.

But I did give Duda all the respect of a dead language several years back, projecting a career path parallel to Dave Schneck, he of the minor-league muscle and the major-league struggle. And for that I owe Duda an apology.

Truth be told, though, this is not the first time that Card of the Week has done a poor job of prognosticating. Following are excerpts from some previous posts across the years…

6/1/1962
“Clearly, we have seen the Platonic ideal of Frank Thomases in this Frank Thomas. There will never be another Frank Thomas as good as him in the entire future history of the game. Bank on it.”

1/19/1963
“Steve Dillon or Bob Dylan? The nasally voiced folkie has nothing on our hard-throwing lefty! Dylan will still be passing the hat in the coffee house while Dillon is posing in his cap for a Hall-of-Fame plaque.”

2/16/1965
“National League pitchers have met their Waterloo and his name is Danny Napoleon!”

4/2/1969
“Sure, the pitching will be strong, but the infield offense is offensive. And that bench? Pfeil, Weis, Martin, Gaspar and the like don’t exactly inspire confidence. Sock it to me, fourth place!”

5/3/1975
“Cleon Jones is due back by the end of the month, and assuming he doesn’t get caught naked in a van with a 21-year old woman who is not his wife, he is sure to return to 1974 levels of productivity, and lead the Mets back to the playoffs.”

6/14/1977
“These are troubling times for a troubled team, but when I set my head on my pillow at night, I am comforted to know that at least we’ll always have Tom Seaver. And disco, too. Don’t forget disco.”

8/20/1981
“An ancient prophesy has foretold the End of Days if both players named Mike Marshall ever spend time with the Mets. So the signing of the enigmatic 38-year old reliever worries me a bit. But at least I know that the Dodgers will never part ways with their young, PCL-obliterating outfielder.”

12/21/1989
“Yesterday, the Mets traded Juan Samuel to the Dodgers for Alejandro Pena and washed-up slugger Mike Marshall. Aw, crap.”

6/22/1995
“Generation K is on its way, and the Mets will rule the rest of the ’90s on into the new millennium. Crack open a bottle of Fruitopia, crank up some Hootie, and enjoy the long ride!”

6/8/1999
“Bobby Valentine is a sexy, sexy man, but I think he’d look even better with a mustache.”

4/4/2006
“The Mets are sure to get lasting mileage out of Lastings Milledge!”

10/5/2010
“So Jerry Manuel is out, and we have the opportunity for a fresh start. And we know it’s not like the team is ultimately going to hire someone who hasn’t managed in the bigs for 11 years or something. I’ve got a very good feeling about the next four years!”