[Terry D]

I am a bug on the subject of getting guys in the right year, which often means in the right uniform. Lefthander Bill Wilkinson had a brief career with Seattle in the mid to late 80's, mostly in relief. He got a couple of games in 1985 as a starter, spent 1986 in the minors, and was recalled by Dick Williams in '87 to serve in the bullpen. The Mariners changed their uniforms twice between 1985 and 1987. In '85, they dispensed with the candystripe pale blue and adopted a gray road uniform, which served through the end of the '86 season. In '87 they got rid of the stars and tridents entirely and adopted a completely new outfit. Pictures of Wilkinson in the 1987 uniform are very common, but except for a couple of heavily watermarked black and white news photos I had never seen him in the 1985 uniform he wore during his brief call up that year. Well, autographsink has just posted an excellent color shot of Bill dating from '85 on ebay. Maybe that doesn't excite you, but it made my collecting day.