1980 new york yankees

this post covers the 1980 new york yankees and cards numbered 184 to 190 in the set. here are the fronts:

and backs:

no memorable moments, just one player new to the set (rudy may), and a bunch of crafty veterans.

what team is this?:  the 1980 new york yankees, winners of 103 games and free of billy martin for a full season for the first time since 1974.

why this team?:  the yankees won the american league east in 1980 after a one-year hiatus.  they returned to the american league championship series for the fourth time in five years, but lost to the kansas city royals (the team they had beat in their three previous alcs appearances) in three games.

which players are featured?:  rudy may, brian doyle, bucky dent, jim kaat, lou piniella, luis tiant, and tommy john.

why these players?:  aside from the fact that they work with the set checklist, these guys accounted for 45 of the team's wins and 8 of their 189 home runs.  so, yeah - why these players?  let's break it down.

rudy may returned to the yankees in 1980 after three-plus seasons away.  he split his time between the bullpen and the starting rotation (41 appearances, 17 starts) and wound up leading the american league in earned run average (2.46).  he was 15-5 on the regular season and got the start in game 2 of the alcs. he pitched a complete game (of the 8 inning variety) but was done in by a 3-run 3rd inning for the royals.

brian doyle was unable to parlay his 1978 world series success into success during the regular season.  he appeared in only 34 games for the yankees in 1980, and did not play in the alcs at all.  he did hit his lone career home run in 1980, however; a solo shot off of the indians' len barker.  while including doyle with the 1978 team made sense, he is only included here as easy checklist fodder.

bucky dent was the starting shortstop for the american league in the 1980 all-star game at dodger stadium (he was 1 for 2 in the game).  he hit .262 during the regular season with 5 home runs and 57 runs scored.  he was just 2 for 11 with no runs scored or extra base hits in the 1980 postseason, however.

jim kaat makes even less sense here than doyle.  he appeared in 4 games for the yankees in 1980, going 0-1 in five innings of work.  his contract was purchased by the cardinals at the end of april, and his brief yankee career which began less than a year earlier was finished.

lou piniella hit .287 in 116 games for the yankees in 1980.  he hit only 2 home runs with just 27 rbi, however.  in the alcs, he started in left field in games 1 and 3 against southpaws larry gura and paul spilttorff, but did not play in game 2 against dennis leonard.  he hit a home run in his first at bat in game 1 (the second in a back-to-back sequence with rick cerone) but was held hitless for the remainder of the series.

luis tiant joined the yankees for the 1979 season, and went 13-8 with a 3.91 era.  in 1980, his era rose by almost a full run (4.89) and his win-loss record was 8-9.  with the yankees being swept in the playoffs, tiant did not get a start in the series.

tommy john did get a start in the alcs - game 3 to be exact (ron guidry started the first game of the series).  he left with two outs in the 7th inning with the  yankees leading 2-1 and the tying run on base.  a couple batters later, goose gossage gave up a 3-run homer to george brett, and the yankees' season was all but over.  during the regular season, john won a career high 22 games to lead the team.  he finished 4th in the cy young voting, and was named to the all-star team for the third straight year and the fourth time in his career.  that was the year he gave up the home run to ken griffey at dodger stadium for which tommy lasorda takes all the credit.

the stadium on the back is...?:  yankee stadium, but that's not a photo from 1980.

did upper deck get it right?: this might be the worst roster representation in the set.  upper deck completely missed the boat with brian doyle and jim kaat, especially.  i am a kaat fan, but it is pretty obvious that he was included because he previously appeared in the set with the 1965 minnesota twins.  reggie jackson (41 homers and a .300 average in 1980!) is probably the most obvious miss (again, wasn't he an upper deck employee? how hard would it have been to get him in this set?) along with ron guidry and goose gossage.  rick cerone, willie randolph, and bob watson would have made sense, too.  heck, even eric soderholm would have made more sense than kitty kaat.  

let's take a look at the photos.  the yankees wore a black armband for the entire 1980 season in honor of thurman munson who died in 1979.  that means that the doyle, dent, and piniella photos are definitely not from 1980.  tommy john is the only one with a visible armband, so his photo may be from 1980, or it could be from 1979 or 1981 (for elston howard) or even 1986 (roger maris).  rudy may's photo looks like it could be from his first stint with the yankees, and the photos for tiant and kaat would both be from either 1979 or 1980 - the only seasons they were with the yankees.

as for the team itself, it would have been nice to have the royals in the set, especially since this was the year that they finally beat the yankees in the playoffs.  but again, the checklist dictates that the yankees and these players make the set.

is this team timeless?:  no.  it's way overshadowed by the 1977 and 1978 teams, and probably even the 1981 yankee team.

1965 minnesota twins

this post covers the 1965 minnesota twins and cards numbered 5 to 8 in the set. here are the fronts:

and backs:

at least the text on each of the backs actually pertains to the 1965 season.  that's a first for this set.

what team is this: 1965 minnesota twins

why this team?:  the twins won 102 games in their fifth season in minnesota and represented the american league in the world series.  they took the dodgers to 7 games, but lost to sandy koufax.

which players are featured:  harmon killebrew, jim kaat, jim perry, mudcat grant

why these players?:  kaat, perry, and grant were the aces of the staff for the twins in 1965, and killebrew was, well, the killer. 

in 1965, harmon killebrew hit fewer than 45 home runs for the first time since 1960, when he was playing for the washington senators.  his 25 homers still led the team, and he scored 78 runs while driving in 75 others in only 113 games.  in the world series, killer hit .286 with a homer and two rbi.

jim kaat was 18-11 with 2 'saves' for the al champs.  his era was 2.83, and his 42 starts led the team.  he pitched 7 complete games and 2 shutouts.  he made 3 starts in the world series, finishing 1-2 with a 3.77 era.  he also won (of course) a gold glove - number 4 of 16 straight - and hit .247 with a home run during the regular season. 

jim perry split the 1965 season between the bullpen and the starting rotation.  he finished 12-7 with a 2.63 era in 36 games, 19 of which were starts.  he had 4 complete games and 2 shutouts for good measure.  perry, who would become the ace of the staff on the twins' al west champion teams of 1969 and 1970, made only 2 appearances in the 1965 series, pitching 4 innings in relief and allowing 2 runs.

had there been a cy young award for both leagues in 1965 (or if there were no sandy koufax), mudcat grant may well have won it.  he finished 7th in the league mvp voting, behind white sox reliever eddie fisher, but the twins' mvp vote was split between versalles, oliva and earl battey who all finished in the top 10.  i would imagine fisher and orioles' reliever stu miller (he was 8th in the mvp vote) would have split the reliever vote and grant would have won.  anyway, he was 21-7 with a 3.30 era and 1.16 whip.  he started 39 games and pitched 270 innings, completing 14 games and throwing 6 shutouts.

the stadium on the back is...?:  the hubert h. humphrey metrodome.  this is a gross oversight by the folks at upper deck.  the twins played in metropolitan stadium (now the site of the mall of america) from 1961 through 1981 before moving into the metrodome in 1982.  met stadium was torn down in 1985, although there are markers within the nickelodeon universe in the center of the mall at the location of home plate and of harmon killebrew's 520-foot home run.

did upper deck get it right?: well, we know they blew it with the stadium, but i think they did ok with the player selection.  although it was a down year for killebrew, he did finish 8th in the league in home runs despite playing in only 113 games.  still, the twins had at least one other offensive player who deserved consideration for the set.  tony oliva, who is still around and not opposed to signing autographs, led the league in hits with 185 and batting average at .321, finishing second to teammate zoilo versalles in the mvp vote.  he also finished in the tops 5 in war at 6.0, just ahead of teammates jimmie hall and killebrew.  speaking of hall, he would have been a nice inclusion in the set, but i am biased in that regard. unfortunately, versalles died in 1995, otherwise he would have been a shoo-in for the set. 

the trio of pitchers upper deck chose were spot on, although a case could be made for al worthington, the team's closer.  he was 10-7 in 62 games of relief with 21 'saves' and a 2.13 era.

as for the photos, the killebrew is certainly from the 1970's, thanks to the baby blues and the elastic waist pants.  i have no qualms with the kaat or grant photos, but the perry looks like it may be from later in the decade, due to the amount of gray hair visible on what should have been a 29-year old.  but, then again, his brother gaylord was only 36 when he looked 60 on his 1976 topps card.

is this team timeless?: as far as twins teams go, yes.  and, it's hard to find fault with a team that won 102 games and boasted a slugger who retired at number 5 on the all-time home run list.  i'll give upper deck credit for going with a small market team in this set, but the 1965 dodgers would have been a more obvious choice as they were the world champions, and it would have been nice to see sandy koufax, claude osteen, jim lefebvre, maury wills and maybe wes parker or ron fairly in the set.