CAREER-CAPPER: 1987 GEORGE FOSTER

Up on the blog today, we have my 1987 "Career-Capper" for former N.L. MVP George Foster, who wrapped up an excellent Major League career in 1986:

Foster split his final year in the Big Leagues between the New York Mets and Chicago White Sox, unfortunately for him missing out on the eventual World Championship at season's end.

Overall he hit .225 over 87 games, with 14 homers and 42 RBIs on 284 at-bats.

Back in 1969 Foster appeared in nine games for the San Francisco Giants, hitting a robust .400 with two hits in five at-bats, with both a run scored and an RBI.

It was his first taste of the Majors, and he would again appear in nine games during the 1970 season, hitting .316 with six hits over 19 at-bats, including his first double, triple and home run.

The 1971 season would bring him incredible fortune when he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Frank Duffy and Vern Geishert, part of the building process that would eventually lead to the juggernaut "Big Red Machine" two-time champion Reds teams of the mid-70s.

As for Foster’s career, all he would go on to do is give the Reds another big time bat along with Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and Tony Perez, with Joe Morgan soon joining them in 1972, forming one of the all-time great line-ups the game has ever seen.
Between, Foster, Bench, Rose and Morgan, it would give the Reds five MVP seasons in the decade, just insane, with Foster having his career-year in 1977 when he slammed 52 homers along with 149 RBIs and 124 runs scored, all leading numbers in the National League.
He’d go on to play 18 years in the Big Leagues, finishing in the top-3 in MVP voting three times, while making five All-Star teams and retiring with 348 home runs, 1239 RBIs and just under 2000 hits with 1925.

MISSING IN ACTION: 1987 U.L. WASHINGTON

For fun today, thought it'd be cool to have a 1987 "MISSING IN ACTION" card for U.L. Washington, who finished up his Major League career with two years as a Pittsburgh Pirate:

The toothpick sporting infielder spent most of his 11-year career as a member of the Kansas City Royals, from 1977 through 1984, before putting in a season with the Montreal Expos in 1985, then the aforementioned two years with the Pirates in 1986 and 1987.

Though generally a shortstop, he'd fill in at second and third throughout his career, with 1980 arguably his best season when he collected 150 hits with a .273 batting average over 153 games and 549 at-bats for the American League Champ Royals.

In 1983 he'd swipe a career-best 40 bases for the Royals, while in the year prior he set personal bests with 10 homers and 60 RBIs.

By the time he hung them up after the 1987 season, he finished with a .251 batting average, with 703 hits over 2797 at-bats in 907 games, with 132 stolen bases and 358 runs scored.

CAREER-CAPPER: 1987 GARRY MADDOX

Good day all.

On the blog today, by special request, a 1987 "career-capper" for one of the greatest fielding outfielders of all-time, Garry Maddox, the "Secretary of Defense":

Maddox appeared in only six games for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1986, closing out a wonderful 15-year career that started with the San Francisco Giants in 1972.

Maddox, eventually to be known as the “Secretary of Defense” for his defensive prowess, came up with the San Francisco Giants in 1972 and had a nice rookie campaign when he hit .266 with 122 hits, 12 homers and 58 runs batted in.
The man went on to have an excellent Major League career over the next 15-years, primarily with the Philadelphia Phillies, where he was traded in 1975 for Willie Montanez.
He’d go on to win eight Gold Gloves, all with the Phillies, while hitting .285 for his career, throwing in about 25 stolen bases a year.
In 1976 he’d even hit as high as .330, earning him a fifth place finish in the National League’s MVP race, batting in a line-up with other stars like Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinski.
He’d retire just a couple of weeks into the 1986 season, finishing up with that .285 batting average, 1802 hits, 248 stolen bases, and a reputation as being one of the greatest defensive outfielders to play the game.

 

SPECIAL REQUEST: 1987 CAREER-CAPPER FOR JACK PERCONTE

By special request, here's a 1987 career-capper for former infielder Jack Perconte, one of the more interesting that had one excellent year in the Big Leagues, surrounded by partial years in their career:

Originally up with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1980 for only 14 games, Perconte would play parts of five years between 1980 and 1986, surrounding two seasons in 1984 and 1985 where he was a full-timer with the Seattle Mariners.

His 1984 season was very solid for the light-hitting middle infielder, when he set career bests across the board, scoring 93 runs, collecting 180 hits, hitting .294 over 689 plate appearances for Seattle.

He never came close to those numbers again, though the following year he did appear in 125 games for the Mariners, hitting .264 with 128 hits and 60 runs scored, and a career best 31 stolen bases.

By the time he wrapped up his career with 24 games as a Chicago White Sox in 1986, he finished with a very decent .270 career batting average, with 389 hits in 1441 at-bats, with 191 runs scored and 78 stolen bases.

 

CAREER CAPPERS: 1987 CESAR CEDENO

Good day all!

On the blog today, from my upcoming custom "1980s Career-Cappers" set, a 1987 capper for Cesar Cedeno, who finished up a wonderful Major League career in 1986 with the Los Angeles Dodgers:

In that last season in the Big Leagues, Cedeno appeared in 37 games for L.A., hitting .231 over 78 at-bats, with 18 hits, five runs scored and six RBIs.

Cedeno had the speed, the power, and the talent to put together a five-year stretch where he brought home 5 straight Gold Gloves, get named to four all-star teams while topping the 20/50 mark three years in a row between 1972 and 1976.
In 1974 he had a monster season that saw him hit a career-high 26 homers AND steal a career-high 57 stolen bases along with, you guessed it, a career-high 102 runs batted in.
I would love to know the numbers he could have put up had he not played in the cavernous Astrodome for the first 12 years of his career!

By the time he was done after the 1986 season, he retired with 199 homers and 550 stolen bases, along with a very nice .285 batting average and 2087 hits.
An excellent player who was easily overshadowed by contemporaries of the era.

 

CAREER-CAPPER: 1987 TONY PEREZ

Today on the blog, another card creation from outside the 1970s, this time a 1987 "career-capper" for the "Big Dog" Tony Perez, who finished up a stellar Major League career in 1986, one that would lead straight to Cooperstown:

Perez truly was an overlooked star on a team that would also have guys like Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan, just to name a few, and it’s just plain criminal considering he logged 10 seasons in a row over 90+ runs batted in, with six of them over 100 as stated earlier.
With a batting average hovering around .280, he was a solid and steady force at the plate and out in the field for a team that would become legendary, on their way to two straight championships in 1975 and 1976.
He would play for 23 seasons in the Major Leagues, and end up with 379 homers, 1652 RBI’s, 2732 hits and a very nice .279 average before he left the game at the age of 44.
The “Big Dog”, Sparky Anderson always stated that what killed the “Big Red Machine” from dominating for a longer period of time was trading away their slugging first baseman in December of 1976 to the Montreal Expos for Woodie Fryman and Dale Murray, a trade that still baffles me.
Nevertheless, after nine tries, he finally made it into the Hall of Fame in 2000, and rightly so. Hopefully Pete Rose can also join his former teammates someday as well.

 

A BIT OF A SIDEBAR HERE: TOPPS IN THE 1980'S

OK, I promise this is a one-off thing here, a post regarding Topps in the 1980’s. At least until I START a blog about Topps in the 1980’s.

But my recent post about “Favorite Cards of the 1970’s” got me to think about the iconic cards of the OTHER decade I collected as a kid, and to be honest I have been somewhat underwhelmed!

Now hear me out: I was an even bigger collector in the 1980’s than the 1970’s, and at one point PATHETICALLY addicted to cards to the point of being a “no-lifer” as some of my friends claimed, so the love of 1980’s cards is there, especially the 1983 set, far and away my favorite Topps set of the decade.

But after talking about all of those Iconic cards of the 1970’s, I asked myself: years from now, what Topps cards from the 1980’s will be considered “classics”?

For me, the cards that immediately jumped into my head that left somewhat of an impact are not exactly “classic”:

1980 Dave Parker

1980 Nolan Ryan

1981 Fred Lynn

1987 Bo Jackson

1982 In-Action Carlton Fisk

Again, these are the cards that immediately jumped into my head as I asked my self the above question. But I can’t really say if they hold up!

I always loved that 1980 Parker card. Just looked bad-ass. But is it classic? Hmmm.

The 1980 Ryan is great, and yeah, can be a classic.

The 1981 Fred Lynn? I think the only reason I love it is the colors and “all-star” banner go well together. But classic?

The 1987 Bo Jackson “Future Star” card. Yeah, classic all over it. Still holds up.

The 1982 Fisk In-Action? Great HORIZONTAL action shot, and you know I'm a fan of horizontal templates!

But is that it? I tell you, I’m straining here to remember any cards from Topps that stick out.

There are a lot of cards from the 1983 set that I love, that have beautiful photos and go well with their templates (Greg Luzinski, Reggie Jackson, Don Baylor come to mind), but really none that I can consider classic.

Just curious: what do you all think are “classic” cards from the 1980’s by Topps? 

Would love to hear what comes up!