a moment for davey lopes

damn.

davey lopes passed away earlier today.

i heard he was in bad health just the other day thanks to a comment on night owl's excellent recent post. i went looking for an update on that news just about an hour ago and saw the announcement that he had passed away.

there aren't many words, so here is a retrospective of his primary topps cards from his playing days, each of which has a special place in my collection.

of course, lopes also featured prominently on topps record breaker and league leader cards throughout his career, as well as the 1978 topps 1977 nlcs retrospective card

and 1982 all-star and in action subset cards along with a traded set card that year. i even made a custom when he was left out of the 1984 and 1986 topps traded sets. he returned to topps flagship sets as the brewers' manager in 2001 and 2002

and has a ton of other cards from various releases due to his career as a player, coach, and manager.

i've written often about my love for the dodger infield, and that i played second base quite a bit. i was a big fan of lopes, and i wore his number 15 on a couple of different occasions in my babe ruth baseball playing days. i never really had the chance to interact with him other than a short recognition and simultaneous head nod and thumbs up from him at a nationals game in 2017 where he was the first base coach under dusty baker.

my most recent lopes additions to my collection come from that same year, as these 2017 topps rediscover topps buybacks

arrived in my mailbox just a week or so ago from a sportlots seller.

lopes is the eighth member of the 1978 topps dodgers to pass away, joining jerry grote, vic davalillo, don sutton, tom lasorda, lance rautzhan, johnny oates, and glenn burke. i am sad to have lost another member of the team of my youth, but happy that i was able to witness the majority of his career. 

rest in peace 15.

a moment for fernando valenzuela

i woke up this morning to the news that fernando valenzuela had passed away. it was surprising but not surprising at the same time, as the dodgers had announced late in the season that fernando was stepping away from his role with the club for health reasons, and the last time i saw him on screen (at dusty baker's legends of dodger baseball induction in august) he did not look well.

there have already been so many tribute pieces written and video compilations published so i won't say much other than fernando was one of those players that made me happy to be a dodger fan. growing up where i did i think it was perhaps the first time i saw the power of representation, without understanding what that meant.

i am glad i was able to see him pitch in person a couple of times, and i will never forget nearly running into him in the concourse at dodger stadium as he was being escorted to one of the pregame autograph tables in the early 1980's. as for my collection, he is one of the few dodgers not included in the 1978 topps set of whom i seek out their non-dodger cards, and there are a few of his cards that are also in my "favorite cards of the year" minicollection. his 1981 fleer card

is one of them. that card, along with his 1981 topps rookie card

were such hot commodities in my neighborhood that even the neighbors who were giant and yankee fans were coveting them.

i had these two 1982 o-pee-chee stickers 

in my scanned folder, and this is the newest valenzuela card in my collection

that is a 2017 panini donruss masters of the game insert that sluggo sent to me in our most recent trade.

rest in peace, fernando, but viva fernandomania!

my retired number collection - perfect 10s

this is the 11th post in a series that shares the cards i have in my retired number mini-collection. you can find the links to the previous posts down at the bottom of this post. if you're eager to learn more right now, you can check out the full list of retired numbers along with what this collection will entail over at my want list site.

without further ado, here are the ten people for whom the number 10 has been retired:

phil rizzuto (retired by the yankees in 1985) 2000 upper deck yankees legends

number 10 was retired by the yankees in honor of rizzuto on august 4, 1985 making him the 12th yankee to be so recognized. rizzuto played for the yankees for 13 years, 11 as their regular shortstop. he was the 1950 american league mvp and was a big part of nine pennant winning teams with seven world series titles. he missed three years due to military service so his counting stats were not as great as they might otherwise have been. as a result, rizzuto was not elected to the hall of fame until 1994 when it was up to the veteran's committee. 

rizzuto remained with the yankees as a broadcaster until 1996. several yankees wore number 10 after rizzuto retired, including dick howser (more on him in a moment) and chris chambliss, although rick cerone was the last to do so, giving up the number after the 1984 season. the 2000 upper deck yankees legends card was the best one i could find showing rizzuto's number, and it's a double play card to boot.

dick howser (retired by the royals in 1987) 1985 topps

i could not find a standard card for howser showing his number 10, so i went with his 1985 topps card which comes from the season in which he led the royals to their first world series title. howser's teams had been winless in the post season three times prior to 1985 (1980 yankees, 1981 royals, and 1984 royals) before they beat the blue jays and cardinals in the 1985 postseason, with both series going seven games.

no royal wore number 10 after howser, who stepped down from his role during the 1986 season following the all-star game due to a malignant brain tumor. while he attempted to return to managing during spring training the following year, he was unable to do so and passed away on june 17, 1987. the royals retired his number posthumously on july 3, 1987.

rusty staub (retired by the expos in 1993) 1994 ted williams

and andre dawson (retired by the expos in 1997) 1981 topps

this is the first instance of a team retiring a number for two different players at two different times. the expos retired the number of staub, an original expo, on may 15, 1993 just a couple of months before they bestowed the same honor on gary carter. it is fitting that they made staub the first in franchise history to receive the recognition as he was a fan favorite from the start of the franchise's first season, and was their first all-star representative.

nicknamed "le grand orange", staub played only three seasons in montreal, plus a late-career partial season in 1979, so he didn't accumulate a ton of stats as an expo. his ops is second only to vladimir guerrero's in expo history, however.

andre dawson came along a few years after staub was traded to the mets and promptly won the national league rookie of the year award in 1977. he won six gold gloves while with the expos and still shows up high on the franchise leader board in a number of categories, even factoring in nationals players. dawson left montreal after the 1986 season for the cubs, where he promptly won the mvp award. he was voted in to the hall of fame in 2010, although the expos retired his number on july 6, 1997 immediately following the end of his playing career.

obviously, staub was not the last expo to wear number 10, but dawson was. the nationals do not recognize the numbers retired by the expos, and so 10 has been in circulation with yan gomes wearing it most recently. while the nationals don't recognize the numbers, i do in terms of this collection if for no other reason that the expos need to be remembered. the 1994 ted williams staub card has long been a favorite of mine, and the 1981 topps dawson card is one of my favorites of the hawk. i am happy to be able to put both cards in this collection!

ron santo (retired by the cubs in 2003) 2005 topps all-time fan favorites

i continue to be thankful for teams who show uniform numbers on the front (and sleeves) as it makes it much more likely that the numbers will be visible on cards like this 2005 topps all-time fan favorites card. i am also thankful that card companies began making sets featuring retired players to increase the likelihood of a photo of guys like santo showing their number would be used as opposed to the old standard portrait images.

santo was the cubs' third baseman for 14 seasons, and he was a gold glover in five of those campaigns. being a cub in the 1960's and 70's meant that he never made the postseason, but he did turn in a number of strong offensive years and finished his cub career with 337 home runs. he was traded to the white sox after the 1973 season, which prevented him from being a lifelong cub like teammate ernie banks.

billy grabarkewitz wore number 10 immediately after santo's departure, but the team took it out of circulation in the late 1990's, making terrell lowery the last cub to wear the number before it was retired on september 28, 2003. unfortunately, santo passed away just over a year before he was elected to the hall of fame by the golden era committee in 2012.

sparky anderson (retired by the reds in 2005) 2001 topps archives

i didn't have a double of sparky's 1971 topps card, but this 2001 topps archives card does the trick just as well. anderson managed the reds from 1970 through 1978. he led them to four pennants and two world series titles - back to back championships in 1975 and 1976.

the team was stacked during those years with the "big red machine" in full display, featuring pete rose and future hall of famers johnny bench, joe morgan, and tony perez. anderson also received the call to the hall in 2000, thanks in large part to his tenure in cincinnati. even though he was a hall of famer, the reds did not immediately take sparky's number out of rotation, meaning that jason romano was the last red to wear it during the 2004 season.

tony larussa (retired by the cardinals in 2012) 2004 topps

larussa went out on top when he retired after the 2011 season. he had just led the cardinals to a world series title, his third as a manager and second in st. louis. the team responded by retiring his number on may 11, 2012. his 2004 topps card shows the number nicely, along with larussa in his managerial postgame handshake position, so it's a good fit for this collection.

as the cardinals' manager, larussa led the team to three pennants in 16 seasons, along with seven division titles. he was the last cardinal to wear number 10, and he was inducted in to the hall of fame as a manager in 2014.

tom kelly (retired by the twins in 2012) 1989 donruss all-stars

kelly led the twins to a world series title in 1987, his first full year as their manager. as a result, he got to manage the american league in the 1988 all-star game which is how he ended up on this 1989 donruss all-stars card. i am thankful for that, as it shows his number better than any other card i could find. i should note that while kelly wore 16 for the twins as a player, he chose 10 as 16 was being worn by frank viola in the 1980's. it turns out that kelly was the last to wear the number for the twins.

kelly also led the twins to the world series championship in 1991, and he was named the league's manager of the year that season as well. his other twin teams did not fare so well, never finishing atop the division or making the postseason, and after the 2001 campaign he was replaced by ron gardenhire. still, the twins inducted him in to their hall of fame and retired his number on september 12, 2012.

chipper jones (retired by the braves in 2013) 2004 donruss team heroes glossy

i like chipper in the throwback uniform on that 2004 donruss team heroes card, enough so that the chip on the bottom of the card doesn't bother me. jones played for the braves for the entirety of his career, hitting 468 home runs and amassing 2,726 hits. he was the 1999 nl mvp and was part of the dominant braves teams of the 1990's. 

jones was the last brave to wear number 10, as the team retired the number on june 8, 2013 - the year after he retired. he was elected to the hall of fame on his first ballot in 2018. 

michael young (retired by the rangers in 2019) 2004 donruss throwback threads

i don't believe that i've shown any cards from this set on this site before. this was one of the many donruss sets that flooded the market in the early 2000's, but it had some decent inserts that i chased down for my steve garvey collection. as for young, he finished his career as a dodger (and also spent time with the phillies that same season) but spent the rest of his career in texas.

in 13 years with the rangers, young put up 2,230 hits and a .301 batting average. he was a key component of their pennant winning teams in 2010 and 2011, and is the franchise's all-time leader in games, runs, hits, doubles, triples, and times on base. in recognition of his time with the franchise, the rangers retired his number on august 31, 2019, although no ranger had worn the number since young left the team after the 2012 season.

i am tracking a few things as we go, even though the information is already available elsewhere.

retired numbers by team (through the ten posts so far):

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

giants - 3, 4

pirates - 1, 4, 8, 9

guardians - 3, 5

red sox - 1, 4, 6, 8, 9

phillies - 1

cardinals - 1, 2, 6, 9, 10

reds - 1, 5, 8, 10

braves - 3, 6, 10

astros - 5, 7

mets

orioles - 4, 5, 8

dodgers - 1, 2, 4

twins - 3, 6, 7, 10

white sox - 2, 3, 4, 9

brewers - 1, 4

tigers - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6

cubs - 10

royals - 5, 10

padres - 6

athletics - 9

angels

expos - 8, 10

rangers - 7, 10

major league baseball

rays

diamondbacks

blue jays

rockies

mariners

retired number frequency:

1 - retired by 9 teams

2 - retired by 5 teams

3 - retired by 7 teams

4 - retired by 8 teams

5 - retired by 7 teams

6 - retired by 7 teams

7 - retired by 4 teams

8 - retired by 6 teams (retired by yankees for two players)

9 - retired by 6 teams

10 - retired by 9 teams (retired by expos for two players)

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 70

running total of non-hall of famers: 12

a slight return of manager cards!

well well well. i have been lamenting the loss of manager cards in topps heritage over the last few years as it has denied me cards of dusty baker and dave roberts to collect. thankfully, topps included roberts in a flagship insert set - "mlb awards" or some such thing - a few years ago, and both roberts and baker were part of the short printed "skippers" mini insert set in 2016 allen & ginter's (i still need to get a copy of baker's card, by the way).

then along came 2021 topps archives. when i saw that roberts and baker were on the autograph checklist, i figured it would be as fan favorite players, since both were definitely that during their playing careers. but no - they are managers!

i am pretty happy to have a new card of dusty as a non-dodger; especially one that features him in a new uniform. the aforementioned skippers card is the only one i know of from his time with the nationals, so i really do need to track one down.

as for roberts, it's great to have a certified autograph of him as the dodgers' manager. i already had a ttm auto from him on that aforementioned awards card which kept alive my string of autographed cards of dodger managers back to walter alston, but certified is preferred.

topps even went with the 1982 design even though there were no manager cards issued in that set. just great all around stuff that i was all too happy to track down on ebay. for the record, twins' manager rocco baldelli is also featured in the managerial subset which is nice to see, but the other highlight is kim ng's card - even if topps put "marlins" above her name rather than "general manager".

there were no steve garvey cards in archives this year which was a bit of a surprise given his appearance in a number of other topps releases. topps did recycle some of his old cards for their 2021 archives signature series retired players edition, and i dutifully picked up a few of them:

the first two were purchased from comc and i didn't notice that the seller had salvaged the one-touch holders. i put them in one-touches after they arrived though, although i have some uncaged autos from other releases (like 2004 topps originals) that i've left loose. i should work on my consistency. the last card there is the tiffany version of garvey's final topps card. this is the third or fourth year that garvey has been included in this set, and i really don't need to add another signed buyback of his 1987 card, that's for sure. i might be the only person around who would like to see a jim tracy card included in this set, however. more manager cards, please!

350 is a magic number - we're number 1s

a few weeks ago i noted that i was pondering the idea of adding a number type mini-collection to my collection. of the options i considered - 190, 272, 350, or none at all - i decided to go with 350. 

i am posting cards from the same year of each decade, and so far i've shown the 8s, 7s, 6s, 3s, and 2s. this post will be all about the 1s.

1961 topps #350

ernie banks failed to win his third mvp in a row in 1960, but he did lead the national league in home runs. i haven't shown the 9s yet, but this is banks' second turn at number 350 in three years. 

1971 topps #350 

billy williams makes it back-to-back cubs a decade apart. williams was second in the nl mvp voting in 1970, and led the league in runs and hits. as the card back notes, his consecutive game streak ended at 1,117 games and would stand as the league record until steve garvey passed him in 1983.

1981 topps #350

jr richard was as dominant of a starter as you will see. it seemed like he always shut the dodgers down, and the abrupt end to his 1980 season and career was startling and tragic. i believe the astros would have made an appearance in the fall classic in 1980 had richard still been pitching.

1991 topps #350

glenn davis brings us back-to-back 'stros! he was one of those semi-stars in the late 1980's that commanded some attention but not enough to get too excited about. he was a big part of the 1986 astros' success and wound up finishing in second place in the mvp voting that year. unfortunately, he was in decline by the time this card was issued, and had actually joined the orioles for the 1991 season.

2001 topps #350

bruce bochy drew the lucky straw in 2001 when topps decided to start the manager cards at #322 and run them altogether. i stop short of calling this a subset, however. bochy took over the reins for the padres following the 1994 strike, and led them to the pennant in 1998. he later won three world series titles with the giants, so he will probably be inducted in to the hall of fame at some point.

2011 topps #350

francisco liriano stormed out of the gate in 2006 as the card back says, and finally returned to a similar form in 2010. again, the card back tells the tale of him winning the comeback player of the year in 2010 which is sort of strange given that he pitched in a similar number of games in 2009, and the award usually goes to guys who missed much of the previous season. anyway, liriano was probably more deserving of 350 in 2007 (he got number 449).

2021 topps #350

d.j. lemahieu won his second batting title in 2020, making him the second player ever to lead each league in that category, just like the card back states. he was a decent choice for 350 this year, especially given how topps has once again been using card number 1 for standout stars the last few years.

i am tracking a few things in an effort to find any consistency with number 350, although there really isn't any. still, i am keeping track of the following occurrences, now through two posts:

number of reigning rookies of the year: 1 (kris bryant)

number of reigning mvps: 2 (frank robinson, robin yount)

number of reigning cy young winners: 0

number of reigning world series champions: 2 (keith hernandez, joe carter)

number of reigning pennant winners: 7 (frank robinson, steve garvey, robin yount, jack clark, keith hernandez, joe carter, clayton kershaw)

number of reigning league leaders: 10 (ernie banks - home runs; mel stottlemyre - complete games; billy williams - runs, hits; robin yount - hits, doubles; keith hernandez - walks; kenny lofton - sb; chase utley - runs; david ortiz - doubles, rbi; clayton kershaw - wins, era; dj lemahieu - batting average)

subset types: 2 (all-time all-stars, postseason highlights (2))

number of repeat players: 0

number of dodgers: 2 (steve garvey, clayton kershaw)

frequency of teams: cardinals (4), astros (4), cubs (3), mets (3), twins (3), dodgers (2), braves (2), a's (2), reds (2), brewers (2), yankees (2), white sox, giants, indians, phillies, red sox, blue jays, angels, rangers, orioles, rays, padres

i will have another post with another run of cards soon - stay tuned!

stop and smell the rose

i discovered a year or so ago that i was missing a card from my final tribute binder.  this 1987 classic green pete rose card

was an add-on to a sportlots order last year. i hadn't realized that this card existed until i was searching a particular seller's inventory to fill out an order and maximize the value of shipping costs as any good sportlots buyer does.

a bit of unintended trolling there on the back with the first question.  this card has the career stat totals on the back. there is a rose card in the 1987 classic yellow travel set that says "records not available" on the stat line which is very strange. i don't plan to add that card to my collection.

i also found this 2014 panini prizm card 

of the hit king.  it now sits in my dodger stadium collection, as the field level scoreboard is visible behind rose - you can see the first two letters of "reds" which is the giveaway.

i suppose that this post is as good as any  to show the pete rose cards that represent him in "my favorite non-dodger of the year" mini collection. rose was one of my early favorites when i began following baseball in 1978. once the angels faltered in the early goings of 1980, i switched my non-dodger allegiance from don baylor to rose.  here's the card that represents my non-dodger fandom from 1980:

of all the stats, i paid the most attention to hits back then. this was because it was the category that steve garvey was usually at or near the top in from season to season. the fact that rose had 10 years with 200 hits was impressive to me (garvey, at that time, had only five), and, with this 1980 topps highlights card, rose's streak of appearing on a topps record breaker/highlight card reached three years running.

representing 1981 is this card:

ok, so with this 1981 topps record breaker card the streak is up to four years in a row. however, i was thinking that this was a bit of a stretch for a record breaker, as at bats weren't a sexy stat to me. the other record breakers in the set included most home runs by a catcher in a career (johnny bench), most strikeouts in a career by a lefthander (steve carlton), most strikeouts in a game by a rookie (bill gullickson), most stolen bases by teammates in a season (ron leflore and rodney scott), most home runs in a season by a third baseman (mike schmidt), most assists by a shortstop in a season (ozzie smith), and most at bats in a season (willie wilson). two record breaker cards about at bats? 10 year old gcrl was not impressed, except this card was of favorite non-dodger pete rose, and it had a lurking mike schmidt in the background. good enough.

1982 would turn out to be the last season in which rose was my favorite non-dodger as steve garvey became a padre in 1983. here's the rose card in my mini collection to mark his final season in that role:

yes, five straight years with a topps record breaker/highlight card for rose. this one is legit, as it notes that he became the national league's all-time hits leader in 1981.

anyway, happy 80th birthday to the hit king. yes, pete rose is 80. time waits for no man.

subsets of shields and banners

even though i have complete sets of topps flagship sets that include the 1978 through 1981 releases, i've also pulled together subset collections of the all-star cards. i toyed with the idea of going back to 1975, which was the first year that the all-star designation was added to the players' base card rather than being a separate card in the set. but i decided to start with the first set that i collected, which was 1978. it was easy to end the subset collection with 1981, as that was the last year that topps used the players' base card to designate them as all-stars, as they reverted to a second card for all-stars beginning in 1982.

here are your national league all-stars from the 1978 topps set:

p - don sutton
c - johnny bench
1b - steve garvey
2b - joe morgan
3b - ron cey
ss - dave concepcion
lf - greg luzinski
cf - george foster
rf - dave parker

4 reds, 3 dodgers, and a phillie and a pirate.  this group matches up with the players who actually started the 1977 all-star game, which was played in yankee stadium. 

here are the american league all-stars:

p - jim palmer
c - carlton fisk
1b - rod carew
2b - willie randolph
3b - george brett
ss - rick burleson
lf - (richie zisk)
cf - carl yastrzemski
rf - reggie jackson

3 red sox, 2 yankees, an oriole, twin, and royal. this group also matches the starters for the 1977 game, with the left fielder richie zisk for some reason not getting the all-star shield on his card.  the missing zisk card has been confounding collectors since 1978. i am one of many who have written about it and created a custom card that should have been. gio went so far as to put zisk back on the white sox for whom he was playing in 1977.  i'm not sure if i will ever print one of those customs out and add them to my subset. for now, the 7 spot remains empty.

let's take a look at the 1979 topps national league all-stars:

p - vida blue

c - johnny bench

1b - steve garvey

2b - joe morgan

3b - pete rose

ss - larry bowa

lf - greg luzinski

cf - george foster

rf - rick monday

once again, there are 4 reds, but only 2 dodgers this time, with 2 phillies, and a giant. those are the players (position players, anyway) who were selected by the fans to start the game in san diego, but johnny bench was hurt and was replaced in the starting lineup by ted simmons. five of the nine players were repeats from the 1977 game/1978 set.

here are the american league all-stars:

p - jim palmer

c - carlton fisk

1b - rod carew

2b - don money

3b - george brett

ss - (fred patek)

lf - jim rice

cf - richie zisk

rf - reggie jackson

a little more team diversity here with 2 red sox, but then one player each from the orioles, twins, brewers, royals, rangers, and yankees. there should have bee 2 royals, as fred patek got the richie zisk treatment, although zisk himself was thankfully recognized. again, these players match the fan vote, and all started the game except for jackson. he was ill, and was replaced by fred lynn.

i don't think i ever made a card for patek, but i know gio did, in a post that includes a 1978 zisk card like mine as well as a 1975 reggie jackson card.

now for the 1980 national league all-stars: 

p - steve carlton

c - ted simmons

1b - steve garvey

2b - dave lopes

3b - mike schmidt

ss - larry bowa

lf - george foster

cf - dave winfield

rf - dave parker

some new blood here, with 3 phillies, 2 dodgers, and one each from the cardinals, reds, padres, and pirates. topps got it right again, with each of these players representing the starters, or at least the starters as chosen by the fans (and manager in carlton's case). unfortunately, ted simmons was injured and unable to start. bob boone got the call in his place.

the 1979 all-star game was such a highlight for me as a young fan. dave parker's cannon was on full display on a couple of plays, and i can still see brian downing getting nailed at the plate in the 8th to preserve the tie.

here are the american league all-stars:

p - nolan ryan

c - darrell porter

1b - rod carew

2b - frank white

3b - george brett

ss - roy smalley

lf - carl yastrzemski

cf - fred lynn

rf - jim rice

no yankees! the 1979 game saw these 3 royals, 3 red sox, 2 angels, and twin selected for the starting lineup by the fans and, in ryan's case, the manager. unfortunately, rod carew was hurt, so yaz moved to 1st base and don baylor was added to the starting lineup in left field. this was the first time in my collecting experience that all american league all-stars were present and accounted for.

topps changed things up in 1981. here are the national league all-stars for that year:

rhp - jim bibby

lhp - steve carlton

rp - bruce sutter

c - johnny bench

1b - steve garvey

2b - dave lopes

3b - mike schmidt

ss - bill russell

lf - dave kingman

cf - reggie smith

rf - dave parker

the 1980 game was played in dodger stadium, which somewhat explains 4 dodgers here. the other representatives include 2 pirates, 2 cubs, 2 phillies, and a red. i was confused when i started collecting cards in 1981 by the multiple all-star pitchers. i was further confused as jr richard had started the game for the national league, not bibby. bibby did pitch in the game, as did sutter, but carlton did not (he was on the roster, however). it would have meant adding another dodger, but jerry reuss did appear in the game, and could have fit the lhp starter slot in the set. as for the position players, they do match the fan vote, but schmidt was hurt and replaced in the starting lineup by ken reitz.

here's what topps pulled together for the american league:

rhp - steve stone

lhp - larry gura

rp - rich gossage

c - carlton fisk

1b - rod carew

2b - paul molitor

3b - george brett

ss - bucky dent

lf - (jim rice)

cf - fred lynn

rf - reggie jackson

3 yankees, 2 royals, 2 red sox, an oriole, an angel, and a brewer, with one position (left field) missing. jim rice had been voted in to start, but he was hurt and was replaced by ben oglivie of the brewers. strange that rice did not get an all-star banner on his card, as molitor and brett were both also hurt but still got the all-star designation. willie randolph replaced molitor, and graig nettles started in place of brett. still, the position players identified by topps match the players that were voted to start, and steve stone was the american league's starting pitcher. rich gossage finished the game, so that works, but larry gura was in the same boat as steve carlton. losing pitcher tommy john could have been a better choice for the all-star banner than gura.

the shield on the 1978 topps cards remains my favorite all-star designation. the 1979 ribbon works well with the design of that year's card, and i was ok with the 1980 banners. i didn't really card for the 1981 banners, however, although the green and red colors were a nice nod to the green and red books put out for each league which i had only learned about a year or so prior to that set being released.

final count for each team, in case you are curious:

national league:

11 dodgers

10 reds

8 phillies

4 pirates

2 cubs

1 giant

1 cardinal

1 pirate

braves, expos, mets, astros were shut out.

american league:

10 red sox

7 royals

6 yankees

3 orioles

3 angels

3 twins

2 brewers

1 ranger

a's, blue jays, mariners, white sox were shut out.

the players with most appearances over these 4 years were rod carew, george brett, and steve garvey who appeared as all-stars in all four sets. had i gone back to 1975, both carew and garvey would have appeared in all years.  it is worth noting that, in 1981, i was actually stressed about steve garvey's card not having the all-star designation the following year as he was supplanted by pete rose in the fan balloting. turns out, i didn't have to worry, as the 1982 set separated out all-stars from the base cards.  

i'm happy to have all of these cards in a mini-collection where i can see them in one place, as they do look nice together.