My First Cards

Leading up to 1982, the Giants had produced only 3 winning seasons in their past 10 years. They were 1 game over .500 in ’81, but they were an aging team. In 1982, 5 of the 9 Giants to play in 100+ games, were 31 years old or older. They needed to get younger, and they had a load of talent in their AAA club in Phoenix to bring into San Francisco.

Almost the entire roster of the 1981 Phoenix Giants made it to the major leagues at some point in their career. Which makes me wonder… were there any “future stars” who had better careers than Bob Brenly, Chili Davis, or Bob Tufts?

Let’s see now, Bob Brenly was 28 in ’82, pretty old for a “future star”. He became the regular catcher for the Giants through much of the 80′s and posted a career 106 OPS+ over his 2,995 PA’s in 9 seasons. He was definitely a future star, even if he was already old for a rookie There was only 1 non-pitcher on the team who’d go on to have longer career and not played significant time in the majors yet. That other player, is the next guy on this card—

Chili Davis. He went on to be a star in the majors. For his career, he hit .274/.360/.451 and posted a 120 OPS+, winning 2 World Series rings, one with the ’91 Twins and the other with the ’99 Yankees. Oh, and he was a 4 time All-Star and smacked 350 HR’s and drove in 1,372 RBI’s. I call that a nice career. He was 120% future star in ’82.

How about Bob Tufts? Well, his ’81 record in AAA was 9-2, 1.70 ERA. There wasn’t a better pitcher on the team under 36. None of the pitchers, including Bob Tufts, really had anything resembling a decent career in the majors. So I guess he was really the only other option for Topps to put on this card. Tufts did help San Francisco improve though, as he was part of a trade for Atlee Hammaker just before the ’82 season began. Atlee played for over a decade in the big leagues, mostly for the Giants.

The lack of future stars in the Giants farm system quickly became apparent after ’82. San Francisco wouldn’t see another .500 season ’til 1986, including enduring a 100 loss season. The Giants couldn’t even get anything from the draft. When they chose future major leaguers Barry Bonds, Pete Incaviglia, & Jody Reed, in the June ’82 draft, neither signed.

By the end of the 1980′s though, the Giants were a force to be reckoned with in the NL West. From ’86-’90, the Giants would put together 5 consecutive winning seasons, including division titles in ’87 & ’89, and a trip to the ’89 World Series.