Blogging The 1982 Topps Baseball Card Set
When Jack Morris is the worst in your starting rotation, you know you’ve got a pretty good pitching staff. That’s exactly how it was for the ‘82 Tigers. He beat who he should beat, and lost to the best. Good thing he pitched against weak teams more than strong ones.
Bert Blyleven is the greatest baseball player ever to come from the Netherlands, and possibly the greatest pitcher not in Cooperstown yet. Hopefully that Cooperstown thing changes very soon, ’cause he was truly great…
Ok, so you probably know a lot about Gary Carter already, but you probably don’t know that he might’ve won the NL MVP in ‘82 if the Expos played more games on grass…
Pete Redfern is another guy whose major league career ended in ‘82. Here, he looks like he lost something & isn’t sure he’ll ever get it back….which is actually pretty fitting.
Who’s idea was it to make all these hitters for the Blue Jays pose the same way for their 1982 cards? The expression on John Mayberry’s face says it all. He’s squinting in disbelief saying ” Uuuhh no. This is bad for my image. Why on earth are we all posing with a bat on our shoulder today? Huh? Eehhh I’m not feelin’ it Mr ToppsCameraman.” If this were a video clip, I bet we’d see he’s shaking his head “no”.
Dave Revering wasn’t a very good player by this point in his career, but the photo on his card is a nice action shot. Former Big Red Machine prospect, who never lived up to his potential. Sad, but hey, they can’t all turn out like we’d like them to.
The Memorable Mario Mendoza was infamous for being unable to get a hit or even draw a walk, and his major league career finished in May ‘82 after 9 seasons. Little does anyone know though, that his career ended with great irony, thanks to a smart and daring manager, against a legendary closer.
First pitch in the majors he ever saw, and he smacks it for a home run. Nice job Alvis Woods. The back of his card exclaims that he’s the all-time Blue Jays batting leader, which isn’t a big deal since the Jays had only existed for 5 season to this point.
Bill “Mad Dog” Madlock looks happy here and he should. He’d just won his 3rd batting title with a .341 average and got on base at a .413 clip! Although, he started the ‘82 season slowly, but then had a great August and September…ending the season with career highs in runs, runs created, homers, and RBI’s.
During Larry Biittner’s 14 season career he was involved in a trade with Steve Renko, was one of the few position players to get some time on the mound, & played in one of the highest scoring games in history.
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