Despite that, I consider 1982 to be his breakout season. He led the world in runs scored with 136, which was the highest total by any player since 1970.

You might think he did that only because of the sluggers behind him in the order like Robin Yount, Gorman Thomas, or Cecil Cooper, but Paul did his part by knocking out 201 hits, 300 total bases, and stealing 41 bases (4th most in the American League).

In fact, Paul had a 3 homer game. One in his first at-bat, then smacking another in the 5th, while the last came off uber-closer Dan Quisenberry. That wasn’t easy back then, when the Royals had pitching and the KC on the Royals cap meant “Kansas City” not “Keystone Cops”.

Whether Molitor was scoring on his own or with a little help from his friends, the fact is, the Brewers were a totally different team on days Paul didn’t cross home plate. In games he scored at least 1 run, the Brew Crew were an unbeatable team, going 70-22. If he didn’t score, they were a weak 24-52! The winning percentage difference is .761 when he scored, and just .316 when he didn’t.

If we look at this from a slightly different angle, we find that the Brewers really couldn’t get the job done without him being on his game. Paul hit .327/.401/.509 in the Brewers victories in ’82, but only .268/.315/.370 in their losses. It doesn’t matter how good the middle of your order is hitting, if your leadoff man has a .315 OBP. Foretunately, Molitor was at his best far more often than he wasn’t.

The Brewers, often called Harvey’s Wallbangers at the time, made the playoffs for the 2nd season in a row, and this time they found themselves in the World Series. Paul, was a big part of Milwaukee’s success in the post-season, killing the Angels pitchers to the tune of a 1.065 OPS, and then got on base at a .394 clip against the Cardinals pitchers in the World Series.

Unfortunately for Paul and his team, they lost game 7 of that series….so close, but yet so far. It would be another 11 seasons before he’d find himself playing for a championship again, this time with the Blue Jays. That time, he won it.

A few years later he retired as one of the all-time great batters….scoring more than 1700 runs, collecting over 3300 hits, stealing more than 500 bases, hit over .300, and an OBP of .369.

Random Paul Molitor facts and stats—

• 39 game hitting streak in ’87 (7th longest to date)
• Hit for the Molitor cycle on May 15, 1991
• 1 of only 4 players with 1850+ RC without hitting more than 250 HR’s
• As of 2010, is a coach for the AAA Rochester Red Wings
• Posted a .521 OBP when the count was 3-2.
• Posted a .520 SLG in the Sky Dome

At the beginning of ’82, nobody viewed the Yankees as a team in need of talent. They either had it, or could buy it when they needed it. Of course, history tells us that ’82 was the start of the Yankees playoff drought and time for some rebuilding of the franchise during some dark years.

Probably the most glaring need at the time was the 1B position. After trading Chris Chambliss away in late ’79, they bought some time by signing verteran Bob Watson to fill the hole. This turned out to be a perfect strategy for the Yankees as Watson’s stats dropped dramatically in ’81, at about the same time Steve Balboni was ready for the major leagues.

Steve hit 26 HR’s in ’79 for the Ft Lauderdale Yankees in class A, and then spent 1980 in AA, hitting .301/.399/.553 with 34 HR’s and driving in a whopping 122 runs. That earned him a call up to AAA Columbus for 1981 where his batting average dropped but he still drove in 98 runs and whollopped 33 HR’s in just 125 games.

He made his major league debut on April 22, 1981, against the Tigers and then played against them a few days later before being sent back down to Columbus. At this point, the Yankees still had reason to think Bob Watson would have another good year and felt they could let Balboni develop a little more.

Probably because of his lowering batting average though, they left him in the minors for most of ’81 even while Bob stuggled. In AAA in ’82, Steve’s batting average and on base percentage bounced back up, while his slugging rose up to .632! Even though Steve got into 33 games as a New York Yankee that year, he still wasn’t the Yankees regular first baseman. The Yankees had traded for John Mayberry in May, to be their first baseman for the rest of the year.

By this time though, a young Don Mattingly was in AAA too and also got called up to New York in late ’82 for a few games. Donnie Baseball was playing more outfield than first base back then, but the Yankees must’ve started thinkin’ about Don as the future first baseman instead of Steve.

So in the offseason, the Yankees make one of the all-time horrible moves by throwing an 18 year old Fred McGriff away in a trade to Toronto. Fred just posted a .413 OBP in the Gulf Coast League as a first baseman in ’82. New York got Tom Dodd and Dale Murray in return. Dodd has a 16 plate appearance career in Baltimore in 1986, while the 33 year old Murray tosses an 80 ERA+ in just 121 more innings over the course of the next 3 seasons to finish his career.

So anyway, in ’83, Balboni and Mattingly were battling for the Yankees first base position, with Don Mattingly eventually winning the role and Steve Balboni being traded to the Royals. Steve might’ve gotten the better end of the deal though, as he was joining a Kansas City team that would win the World Series in his 2nd year with them. To this day, Steve Balboni’s 36 HR’s in that Royals Championship season of 1985, remains the Royals single season HR record.

The 2nd player on this card, Andy McGaffigan, made his major league debut on September 22, 1981 against the Indians, tossing 3 scoreless innings in relief of Dave Righetti. Andy would only appear in 2 games for the Yanks. He was traded to the Giants just before the ’82 season began, in exchange for Doyle Alexander.

He was a decent reliever for 11 seasons, posting s 38-33 record, 3.38 ERA, in 833 1/3 IP. That’s a lot of 3′s & 8′s. Anyway, his ERA+ was a fine 111. Andy finished his career with the Brewers but his final apparance in a game was with the Royals.

That brings us to the 3rd future star, Andre Robertson, who became a part time shortstop for 5 seasons in the Bronx. He went 2 for 3 against the Royals in his major league debut Sepember 3, ’81.

Andre was the reason the Yankees felt they could trade away a good 20 year old shortstop named Greg Gagne in April ’82 in part of a trade for Roy Smalley. The plan was to have Smalley, who was a better hitting shortstop than Bucky Dent, play shortstop until Andre developed into a major leaguer. This also freed up Bucky to be traded, which he was. Greg only went on to play solid defense for 15 seasons in the majors and help the Twins win their first 2 Championships.

Anyway, when I was a kid, I remember thinkin’ Andre was going to be a great player. The Yankees announcers talked him up a lot too. Then, Andre was in a bad car accident in August ’83 which broke his neck and separated his left shoulder. He was never the same after that. He finished his playing days in 1989 for Oklahoma City 89ers in the minors.

Meanwhile, the Yanks wouldn’t have a regular shortstop until Derek Jeter came along 13 years later.

We see Tony Armas leaving the scene in the background, giving us a detail that confirms the Phillies sleeve in Tony’s card is indeed Manny. We also see part of Mike Schmidt’s back here! We can be sure it’s Schmidt, because it’s another Phillies uniform and the name begins with “S”. Schmidt was the only Phillies player at the All-Star game who name began with “S”.

So we get a Hall of Famer on this one, along with 2 other All-Stars, each completely candid and unposed. That is just awesome! Besides that, I always liked Manny Trillo….so this card is another favorite of mine.

Manny was one of the best gloves in the game for a few years and that made him fun to watch. In ’82 he was pretty much all defense. He won a gold glove, had a tiny .316 OBP, and didn’t hit a home run all season. In fact, he didn’t hit a single HR between Oct 3, 1981 and July 16, 1983!

His defense was so good that he even set a record for consecutive errorless chances by a second baseman. That came to an end though on July 31, 1982. The Cubs were in Philly and Manny Trillo had just fielded his 479th ball without an error in the 6th inning when Larry Bowa popped a ball to 2B.

All he needed to do was go 3 more games to take the record for consecutive games without an error by a second baseman. He was that close to achieving a very rare feat and slice of baseball immortality.

In the top of the 7th inning, Bill Buckner of the Cubs came up to the plate to start the inning. He slapped a grounder over to the sure handed Manny Trillo, and Manny goofed it up. Error. E4. Manny didn’t make the consecutive games record, in part because of Bill Buckner.

What comes around, goes around. Yep. Sorry Bill.

Manny Trillo finished his career as a 4 time All-Star with 3 gold gloves, a World Series ring, and even a couple silver sluggers to his name.

His final season was 1981, and he didn’t get much playing time and only hit .230/.264/.264. I couldn’t find any record of him playing anywhere in ’82, but he was in AAA Witchita the following year before his playing days were over.

He did have his moments in ’81 though. Like on May 30, in a long 14 inning contest at Candlestick with the Astros visiting. Rennie scored 2 runs, and drove in another 2 more.

The back of this card also mentions he smacked a 6th inning home run on April 12, helping beat the Padres. I don’t think that’s as good a highlight as the Astros game I just referred to though. I mean, HR’s are good stats, but don’t you think that if a guy is directly involved with 4 runs, it’s much better than being involved with only 1? Call me silly, but that makes more sense to me on a very basic level.

The look on his face in this card seems to reflect his unease with where his career is at. There’s just this look of a lack of confidence in himself and hoping he can just keep from making the last out, but trying not to think about it. A slight reflection of hesitation in his eyes. Trying to focus on the ball and rid himself of his nerves.

Junior Kennedy broke into the major leagues the day he turned 24, with the Cincinnati Reds. He played a mere 22 games that first season but posted a bizarre-ish .360 OBP. I say bizarre, because that’s tough to do when your batting average is just .185. So they sent him back to the minors until 1978. He was your typical below average hitter with a good glove.

Enough about his career though, ’cause I really find this card interesting. It’s one that makes me wonder if I can figure out what game it was. There’s a number of clues—

• It’s a not-so-sunny day game
• Reds are wearing away uni’s
• Several fans seem to be wearing something white on their heads (rally caps for the home team?)
• The on deck circle has a pitcher warming up to hit (hint: jacket’s on)
• The visiting dugout is lined with blue.
• He has tan lines on his arms (indicating this is likely not an April or May game)

Junior only played in just 3 games in 1981 that were both a road game and a likely day game (Weekends or Wrigley games) outside. One of those possibilities was May 31 in Dodger Stadium, but when I look at the box score, I have to scratch this off. He pinch hit for the pitcher in that game, so there’s no way someone with a jacket would be in the on deck circle waiting to hit next. Besides, I think Los Angeles would be sunnier.

Another possibility would be a Sept 5th game in Philadelphia’s Veteran’s stadium, but, he was a defensive substitute in this game and never had a plate appearance.

This leaves us with the Reds & Mets game on Sunday afternoon, August 30, 1981 at Shea Stadium, which also happens to be mentioned on the back of the card…

Isn’t that cool?? This would also explain why Topps made mention of that game on the back of the card. Most cards in the 1982 set will refer to a game from 1980 or earlier, and they certainly could’ve done that with this one too. After all, Junior K had a couple of 4 hit days that season and it would’ve made for a better trivia note.

The fans wearing white caps could really be rally caps, since the Reds won 6-3 that day. If I’m right and those are actually rally caps the fans are wearing, then it would mean this photo was taken late in the game, right?

Well the play by play beneath the boxscore to this game gives some interesting details. In the top of the 9th, Junior Kennedy did come up to bat. He hit a single to left field, then pitcher Mike LaCross came to bat next and laid down a sacrifice bunt to get Kennedy into scoring position.

That scenerio fits perfectly with what we see on this baseball card! I could be wrong, but chances are, moments after this photo was shot, Junior pulled a single into left field trying to give the team an insurance run in the 9th.

Also note a couple other things on the back of his card. He drew exactly 1 walk in 1981, and that walk was in this game. The leadoff hitter for the Mets in the game was Lee Mazzilli, who was mentioned here on Junior’s card.

Considering that Mets home games usually start at 1p and this game lasted 2:53, this photo was very very likely shot at approximately 3:30p ET on August 30, 1981. Give or take 10 minutes.

Now that I know the story to this scene, it’s one of my favorite cards.

Ramon Aviles only got to play in 117 major league games, but he had the privilege of playing three years for the Phillies, during a time when they won their first World Series and had players like Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt, Greg Luzinski, Manny Trillo, and Steve Carlton. He even appeared in two post-season games for the Phils, drawing a walk in his only plate appearance in 1981 (NLDS vs Montreal), which turned out to be his final time at the plate in the major leagues.

He started 1982 playing for the Rangers AAA team in Denver before being traded back to Philadelphia, who kept him in their AAA club at Oklahoma City. Hitting .262 with a .331 OBP in the minors throughout that summer, didn’t get him back to the major leagues. 1983 was his final season in the MLB system.

Surprising Ramon Aviles facts & stats…

• Royals SS Mike Aviles, is Ramon’s nephew.
• Had .371 OBP in 1979.
• Very good hitter when there were 2 outs… .383 OBP
• .394 BA during the month of July.
• OBP of .436 with runners in scoring position
• Should’ve played for a team with a grass field, since he hit .404/.452/.509 on grass

Entering the ’82 season, Lacy averaged 82 games a year and was just utility man or backup player, never playing more than 109 games in a season. He once hit 5 pinch hit HR’s in a season. Despite his non-star status, he’d been fortunate enough to play in 4 World Series between ’74-’79 and being a part of the “We Are Family” Pirates. Even without being a star, he was just the kind of player you wanted on your team, to add depth.

He had a career year in 1980, but in ’81, he fell down with a .268 average and a measly .307 OBP, at the age of 33. It looked like this once solid backup player’s skills were beginning to fade after having a career year.

So nobody expected that in 1982 he’d play 121 games (mostly in RF) and post his 2nd highest OBP of his career (.369)! He was better as a starter than a substitution. When he started a game, he hit .331/.380/.448, but when he sub’d, he was awful— .167/.294/.167. No wonder manager Chuck Tanner penciled Lacy in as a starter for 80 of the 121 games Lacy played in. He didn’t have a lot of power, but he stole a career high 40 bases. I think many a Pirates fan thought— “Are you kidding??”

Delving into his 1982 splits even more, Lacy wasn’t just a good hitter, he was a dangerous hitter. If he came to bat with RISP (Runners In Scoring Position), he got on base 42% of the time. In fact, 35 times he came to plate when there weren’t just RISP but also 2 outs, and he put up a batting line of .333/.385/.500. Which is plain awesome. He proved to be one of the toughest outs in the Pirates lineup.

Amazingly, he was at his best against some of the best teams in the National League. He smacked the Phillies and Dodgers pitching around hard. He batted a combined .418 against them in 26 games. Against the Phillies alone, he had a .500 OBP!! He also hit well against the ’82 World Series Champion Cardinals.

The most unique moment of Lee Lacy’s 1982 season though, came against the Cincinnati Reds on May 14. With 1 out in the bottom of the 8th, the Pirates down by 2 but had Walton on 3rd, Berra on 2nd, and the speedy Moreno on 1st. The Reds brought Tom Hume in from the bullpen to face Lacy, and Lacy made them pay. He smacked a grand slam over the centerfield wall. On the way to 2nd though, Lacy passed Moreno!! So Lacy was officially given a single and called out on his way to second. Still, he drove in 3 runs and the Pirates won 8-7.

After ’82, he played a couple more seasons in Pittsburgh, which included a very good 1984. He signed with Baltimore after that, and played through 1987. For his career, he posted a 107 OPS+, so he was a little above average over the course of his 16 major league seasons.

3 random Lee Lacy facts….

• In the 1977 World Series, he hit .429 while gettin’ on base at a .500 clip.
• Finished 2nd to Tony Gwynn in the 1984 NL Batting race.
• His daughter Jennifer, plays basketball in the WNBA.