My First Cards

A pair of future Hall of Famers dominate this card. Even when this card hit the public in ’82, we all knew these guys would be or at least could be in Cooperstown someday.

Of the two, Eddie Murray had the easier time winning his league’s RBI title, even though it was close. Although it was only close because he had a bad first half.

Through the All-Star break, Eddie was hittin’ just .259/.303/.442 with a mere 26 RBI’s. Fortunately for him the leader in the AL, Buddy Bell, wasn’t that far ahead of him with 42.

Contrast that with his 2nd half hitting — .331/.417/.635 and 52 RBI. He passed Buddy Bell on September 11, with only Ben Oglivie & Tony Armas ahead of him.

His 5 RBI night on September 19th helped him pass Oglivie, and left him just 2 behind Armas.

Eddie’s next big day was September 28th, when he drove in 4 runs against the visiting Tigers. His last RBI of the game put him past Armas.

That was that in the A.L.

Mike Schmidt didn’t have quite as easy a time winning the NL RBI title. When games resumed after the All-Star game, George Foster was leading the league in RBI’s, and Mike was a full 8 behind him and 3 behind Dave Concepcion.

He passed Davey within a week though, and from there (August 15), it was Mike vs George. Although, problem was, Foster had now extended his lead over Schmidt to 10 RBI’s.

Mike managed to chip only 1 RBI off that lead through the next week, before Mike suddenly got hotter than the astroturf at the Vet on a hot July afternoon. In the three games of August 22, 23, & 24th, Schmidty drove in 10 runs. That put them in a tie for the RBI lead.

Meanwhile, over in Cincinnati, Foster started a slump that would last him into the beginning of September where he’d hit an awful .122/.178/.324 with just 4 RBI’s over 11 games.

The fat lady wasn’t singin’ yet though, as Mikey didn’t stay hot either, and Georgey caught up with him again on September 2nd at 65 RBI.

This was perfect timing too, ’cause the Reds came to Philly for a four game series starting the next day. The teams split the series, but Foster came out with 6 RBI and Schmidt only 2.

George hung onto that slim RBI lead and widened the gap a little here and there over the next 2 weeks, giving him a 7 RBI lead on September 22. Foster 80, Schmidt 73.

But see, you could never count Mike Schmidt out. With the season winding down, they both got a bit hot starting on Sep 23th. For the next 5 days, both guys would hit over .400, get on base even better, and continue to prove their reputations as premiere sluggers. Schmidt managed to trim 3 RBI’s off Foster’s lead even though Foster drove in 5 runs in his 4 games.

When October started, there were less than a hand full of games & George Foster still had a 2 RBI lead. After Oct 2, Schmidt had his 2nd straight 3 RBI game, putting him 1 RBI ahead of Foster.

The next day, Schmidt drove in 3 more, but so did Foster. So, going into the final day of the season, Schmidt had 91 and Foster 90. Schmidt got the day off (in preparation for the playoffs), so it was all in Foster’s hands… but he couldn’t deliver.

Aaahhh ’81 was an awesome season for RBI races.