At the time of this writing, it's still breaking news, but the Showdown world has just lost another original. Scott Sauerbeck died of a heart attack at the age of 53. His 2000 Showdown card was pretty average across the board from his 3 Control to his 17+ baserunners allowed...which made him a solid option out of your bullpen when you barely had anyone else to call upon in your early days since he came in the starter deck on the NL side. On a personal note, in the first ever game of MLB Showdown I played against my dad, Scott Sauerbeck was the losing pitcher as his 3 control lost the advantage to Mike Sweeny (on-base of 9) and I hit a walk-off homer.
But today as the baseball world mourns, let us look back on Scott and the cards he would have had in his brief MLB career.
Sauerbeck was drafted by the Mets, but they lost him to the Pirates in the Rule 5 Draft. He debuted in 1999 for Pittsburgh, but that and his 2000 season are already covered by the original Showdown 2000 and 2001 sets. Despite getting lots of use in the following seasons, he never got another Showdown card, so here is what his 2001 season would have looked like in the 2002 Showdown set.
Scott's best card would no doubt be for the 2003 set if he was included. A similar chart at first glance, but you'll notice more strikeouts and no doubles, along with a control of 4.
2003 Sauerbeck would start with an even stingier chart that doesn't allow hits until 20. From what the Pirates saw, this was the peak time to trade an asset like Sauerbeck...
...to the Red Sox, where things didn't work out the same way as in Pittsburgh. Sure, now he doesn't allow hits on any natural rolls, but his control drops down to a 1, which is too much of a tradeoff.
It was here with Boston that Sauerback would get the only postseason play of his career; one appearance out of the bullpen in the ALCS that saw him go 1/3 of an inning.
Sauerbeck would sign on with Cleveland, but miss all of 2004 to injury. Upon his return in 2005, his card goes back to the classic 3 control average chart of his early days. (Probably in part from the return to the 00-01 card algorithm, but at least whatever that Boston card was is behind us)
2006 began with a similar card, but trending in a bad direction with him now allowing doubles on his own chart. The Indians felt that this trend could only get worse, and it didn't help that he had a recent run-in with the police, so they released Scott...
...and a few days later the A's would pick him up and give him a shot. No more doubles, but now he allows runners much sooner on his chart. Pick your poison I guess if you have to choose between the two '06 cards. At the end of the 2006 season, Oakland would release him. Over the next couple years he would sign minor league deals with a few teams, but he never again reached the majors.
