The Shoebox - Day 21

Steve Lake
C - Cubs
#198, Donruss, 1984

This isn't the card with the bird. No
holy spirit, no scoundrel's
counsel at your ear. Not a souvenir
of your fraction of glory in Saint
Louis, either, doing your damndest
as the dome smothered you in noise
like a giant chloroform hanky. This is
the one where CAREER HIGHLIGHTS says
you had the misfortune of playing behind
one of the best. Headshot of a perpetual
understudy, back in bokeh, as if
they needed the fastest lens to catch
the smile you were called up to give.