He was an All-Star in ’78 and won the ’79 AL Cy Young, but, he posted ERA’s over 4.00 in 3 of the past 4 seasons, and 1981 was his worst.

His first 7 starts of ’82 seemed to fit that mold too, as he went 2-5 with a 4.67 ERA. And true to the inconsistency of him, one of those victories was a shutout.

Most managers of a team expecting to make the playoffs would probably have benched him, thrown him in the bullpen, or traded him. Earl Weaver knew better though, and stuck with Mike in the rotation.

It paid off. From May 21 – September 19, Mike went 14-6 with a 3.32 ERA, while holding batters to a .297 OBP by inducing lots of groundballs.

His last 3 appearances were dreadful though, dragging his season stats down. He didn’t last more than 4 innings in any of them, compiling a 15.95 ERA, allowing a .543 OBP, and an .806 SLG.

Nevertheless, he won 15 games & posted an ERA under 4.00. A slight improvement over his past couple seasons. The following year, he’d do even better, and help his team win the World Series.

Random Career Facts & Stats

• 3.52 ERA when pitching in a dome
• 17-7, 2.68 ERA vs Blue Jays
• 175 strikeouts vs Tigers
• 8.00 SO/BB in extra-innings (22 IP)
• 57% of HR allowed, were solo shots.
• 100 ERA+

It’s funny how you view cards so differently now, than when they came out. In early ’82, getting this card in your pack, was gold. You had the NL ROY and a guy who’d just thrown a perfect game. They were both young enough, to think they were going to be great throughout the 1980′s.

Of course, that isn’t how history played out. So now I see this card as a pair of young pitchers who had their moment. They were both at their peak’s in ’81, and neither had any trouble laying down the law from the mound.

Fernando, as I think everyone reading this knows, was the biggest thing since burritos that season (and I’m not talking about his weight). He tossed shutouts like Cesar does salads. He mowed batters down like he was part of the Dodger Stadium grounds crew. He deserved every ounce of that Cy Young award, and every vote of the NL Rookie of the Year award. He was still only 20 years old.

The only competition he had for the NL strikeout title, was in Philadelphia’s Steve Carlton. They were only separated by 1 strikeout in the end. In fact, in many areas, they were pretty much the same pitcher (including the fact both were lefties), which is a testament to how great this 20 year old Mexican kid was—

The only significant differences between them was the fact Fernando led the world with 8 shutouts, while Steve managed just 1.

Carlton had a shot to surpass Fernando for the strikeout lead in his final start of the season on October 2, one day after Fernando threw his last game of ’81. All Steve needed to do was strikeout 11 Cubs. This wouldn’t be a problem for lefty, especially since he’d struck out 15 Mets, 12 Expos, and 11 Cubbies, in his previous three starts.

Steve managed to strike out 9 Cubs through the 7th inning. Unfortunately for him, he’d given up 4 runs and his team was losing 7-3, so he was replaced by a pinch hitter in the bottom half of the inning. Thus, Fernando won the strikeout title by a single K.

Over in the American League, it wasn’t quite so down-to-the-wire. Len Barker snagged the title for the 2nd straight year, this time by 19 K’s over the ChiSox Britt Burns.

Len sowed the title up early, racking up 46 strikeouts in his first six starts. Len’s teammate and future Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven was actually his closest competition at the time, 39 strikeouts through May 21st.

At that point though, the 22 year old Britt Burns over in Chicago began to heat up. From May 22nd through the end of ’81, Britt whiffed 80 batters.

That wasn’t enough though, as Len kept pace with Britt, whiffing 81 batters through the same period. Bert stayed in the race, but came in just behind them both.

The rest is history.

Boston actually had a shot at a playoff spot in ’81 until an ugly 8th inning in Cleveland on October 2nd tore that dream to shreds.

When the following season started, they were seen as a mediocre team just trying to hang in there with Milwaukee, Detroit, Baltimore, and New York. The only reason the Red Sox would avoid fading into a rebuilding era during the 80′s, is thanks to future stars like Wade Boggs, Oil Can Boyd, Marty Barrett, Bob Ojeda, and Rich Gedman.

Of course, none of them appear on this card, making the card a bit of a disappointment. Sometimes I just don’t understand what Topps guidelines were for these future stars cards.

It was a fitting way to finish his career, as Paul had been a Royal from the start of the franchise, picked in the 25th round of the 1968 draft. Now, he was handing the ball over to the future pitching star of the franchise. The future that would win two Cy Young’s and shutout the Cardinals in game 7 of the 1985 Series while in a Royals uniform.

For most of Paul’s career, he was a solid part of the Kansas City pitching staff as the team grew from expansion club into perennial threat to win it all. He’s still the franchise leader in victories with 166, and 2nd in shutouts with 17.

Like his teammate Dan Quisenberry, he wasn’t a strikeout artist, but he trusted his defense and tried to induce the hitter into making weak contact. He often succeeded. He also didn’t walk many batters, so he didn’t buy himself trouble he didn’t need.

A career 3.81 ERA might not look all that great at first glance, especially considering his ERA+ was 101, but he was often far better than that. In the 166 games he was credited with a win, his ERA was a slim 2.02, which gives you an idea just how good he could be when he was on.

In the end, like so many other 37 year old pitchers, he just ran out of gas to keep up with the young up-and-coming hitters that would stand at the plate trying everything to prove they belong in the major leagues.

Today, on the 76th anniversary of Babe Ruth’s final home run, Paul ran out of gas completely, a little younger than most, at the age of 64. We still love ya Paul, thanks for the memories.

Ron Guidry looks like plastic man here, with his skinny long limbs stretched out just before he whips the ball towards home plate. The mustache and hat are all just part of disguise to make him look like an average Joe….or, average Ron.

This mutant was my favorite Yankee hurler when I was eight. The back of this card tells about his accomplishments in the World Series a few years earlier and the teenagers in the neighborhood were always eager to wow me with stories of Guidry in ’78.

It wasn’t ’til just a couple years ago though, that I actually got to see Ron Guidry’s 18 K shutout on June 17, 1978, when the YES Network showed it. I remember noticing the break he had on his slider that day was just incredible. I’m still not sure how the Angels managed to get 4 hits.

He followed up his historic ’78 with a great ’79, going 18-8 on the strength of a 2.78 ERA. He probably would’ve won 20 games for the 2nd straight year, but he didn’t get much run support in 5 of his starts, losing two games where he allowed just 1 run, and another three games where he allowed just 2 runs.

During ’80, Guidry struggled a bit in mid-season, but Guidry-Davis-Gossage was still a great recipe for success that helped the Yankees get back to the playoffs for the next couple seasons. Although, the presence of Goose Gossage and Ron Davis would lead to Ron Guidry being thought of as a seven inning pitcher (this was seen as a bad thing back then). It wasn’t just Steinbrenner who felt this, as it later came out that the Astros were interested in Guidry for their bullpen! Apparently folks felt he could finish what he started.

In late ’80, the Red Sox were interested in trading Fred Lynn for Guidry, and the teams talked about it for a few weeks, but the Yanks just didn’t want to pull the trigger on that trade.

Guidry rewarded the Bronx Bombers for that, by posting a 2.76 ERA and leading the AL in WHIP and SO/BB ratio in ’81, helpin’ the team reach a fourth World Series in just six seasons.

From 1975-1981, Guidry led the Yankees pitching staff in victories (87), strikeouts (922), WAR (25), shutouts (19), and was 2nd in ERA+ (180), OPS+ allowed (73), and K/9 (7.55)… 2nd only to Hall of Famer Goose Gossage.

More than half a decade of anchoring the New York starting staff earned him interest from most teams when he became a free agent, resulting in a big contract after the ’81 season.

And that’s where Ron’s 1982 season picks up…. (to be continued)

That’s a funny thought really, Steve Carlton being unimpressive. I just didn’t know any better yet.

So anyway, this card is all about a moment in Montreal on September 21, 1981. Steve entered the game just 1 strikeout short of tying Bob Gibson’s National League strikeout record of 3,117.

Steve induced 3 groundouts and a pop fly to short, before getting his first strikeout victim, Larry Parrish for the 2nd out of the 2nd half of the 2nd inning. That tied him with Bob Gibson, at 3,117 strikeouts in the NL, but he’d have to wait ’til the next inning to grab the record for himself.

The bottom three of the Expos order was due up in the bottom of the 3rd, so it seemed that Steve would get one of them for the record breaker. That was before Chris Speier singled, Jerry Manuel popped out, Ray Burris bunted Speier over, and consecutive walks to Warren Cromartie and Jerry White, which brought future Hall of Famer Andre Dawson to the plate.

So the scene was set for a possible great moment—Loaded bases in a 0-0 tie; the battle had come down to two great players. The last 9 times they’d faced each other, Dawson had smacked 4 hits and drawn 2 walks. By the way, 3 of those 4 hits were doubles.

This time Steve Carlton reached back and pulled out history from his glove and tossed it out of his left hand, striking out Andre Dawson, to become the all-time National League strikeout king! Better yet for the Phillies, he finished the Montreal threat and kept the game tied at 0.

He finished the day with 12 strikeouts in 10 innings, but Philadelphia eventually lost the game in the 17th inning, 1-0., when Andre Dawson singled in the winning run with the bases loaded. So Andre got his revenge and won the day, but Steve still set the bar higher.

At the end of the day, the all-time strikeout list looked like this—

1. 3,508 – Walter Johnson
2. 3,326 – Gaylord Perry
3. 3,229 – Nolan Ryan
4. 3,128 – Steve Carlton
5. 3,117 – Bob Gibson
6. 3,067 – Tom Seaver
7. 2,962 – Fergie Jenkins
8. 2,855 – Jim Bunning
9. 2,832 – Mickey Lolich
10. 2,742 – Don Sutton

Interestingly, Steve had a 0.95 ERA in 19 innings against Montreal that season, and also earned his 3,000th career strikeout against the Expos on Apr 29. Tim Wallach was the victim that time.

By the end of ’81, with three active pitchers closing in on the all-time strikeout lead, it was not longer a question of “Can anyone topple Walter Johnson?”; The only questions left were— who, and when?

Jerry went on to win 18 games, including a shutout against the Giants on October 1 to keep the Dodgers 1 game back of the Braves with 2 games left in the season. He won half his games against teams above .500 and posted a decent 3.45 ERA against them too.

One quirk to his season that you don’t see too often, is that he was credited for a win on back to back days. That happened in Wrigley Field on Aug 17 and 18th. He pitched the final 4 innings for the win on the 17th, then earned a win the next afternoon by pitching the first 5 innings.

He was very important to the team from that August 17th game onward, going 8-2 on the strength of a 2.45 ERA. The rest of the staff was just 13-19 in that same span.

Nowadays, Jerry Reuss is a broadcaster for the Dodgers and last week he actually left a comment at Night Owl’s baseball card blog! That surprised night Owl, and surprised all of us who read his thoughts on baseball cards.

So, I got in touch with Jerry and ask him a few questions. I’ve tried this before with a couple other players who have a website and way to contact them, but they never responded. Jerry Reuss was different though, and here’s how it went—

Devon: I always wonder if former players do much baseball reading online after their career has finished. It became very obvious to some of us recently that you read some baseball card blogs, but do you spend a lot of your time reading baseball stuff online?

Jerry: I found the baseball card blogs through a daily Google alert. I usually check out every alert. All of the blogs provide some perspective of what baseball fans are thinking. Sometimes, the thoughts are profound. Other times, I think some people need to get a life! I have a number of baseball sites that I read daily. Remember, my occupation is broadcasting. And I enjoy researching and preparing for games.

Devon: You were born and raised in St Louis, and then you started your major league career playing for the St Louis with the likes of Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Steve Carlton, Vada Pinson, and Joe Torre. How would you describe the excitement of that time in your life?

Jerry: I was 19 when I was in spring training in 1969. I knew the names of the players and coaches because I followed their careers through the radio broadcasts and baseball cards. The first time I walked into the clubhouse, it was like my card collection coming alive.

Devon: In the ’81 playoffs, you beat Nolan Ryan with a complete game shutout in a series deciding game for your 1st career post-season victory. Later you held the Yankees to 1 run in a complete game victory in game 5 of the World Series, putting the Dodgers 1 win away from winning it all. What was it like to beat the famous Yankees in the World Series? That must’ve made you feel like you were playing out your childhood dreams?

Jerry: When I became interested in baseball, it seemed the Yankees were in the World Series every year. The National League had different winners. The Brooklyn Dodgers were the first team other than the Cardinals to catch my attention. Little did I know that 25 years later, I would meet the “Boys Of Summer” and become friends with them for many years. That’s why I enjoy the Fantasy Camps so much.

Devon: Friday, June 11, 1982, you threw a brilliant game against the Reds in Los Angeles, where you K’d 7 & only allowed ONE baserunner (a leadoff double). It was the 2nd time in your career you’d come so close to a perfect game. Do you recall anything from that game?

Jerry: Eddie Milner doubled to lead off the game @ Dodger Stadium on a hanging curve. A ground out, a sacrifice fly and another out produced the run. After that, the outs came pretty easily. It wasn’t until I did the post-game show that I realized what happened.

Devon: Did you watch the ’82 World Series or were you too disappointed that the Dodgers didn’t make the playoffs to defend their crown? Did you root for the Cardinals in that series?

Jerry: I don’t remember so I guess I didn’t pay too much attention to it.

Devon: What’s the funniest thing that happened to you during your career?

Jerry: Too many. Eventually, I’ll write a book and tell it like I remember it.

Devon: Are there any highlights of your career that you wish people would ask about, but they don’t?

Jerry: Actually, I don’t spend a whole lot of time reminiscing. When I worked on the photos that I posted on Flickr and on my website (jerryreuss.com thanks for the plug!), it brought back some memories but mostly it was looking at the past from the eyes of photo restoration.

In 1982, the Orioles were still in the midst of their glory years. They’d spent the past 20 years winning 5 AL Pennants, 2 World Series, always being in the top class of the American League even when they weren’t winning a pennant, and still had many solid pieces for another championship run and some good young prospects in AAA.

I have to be honest though, I think I hate this card. First off, Cal Ripken Jr should’ve had his own card in ’82. He was the biggest prospect with the biggest potential and he’d already slipped into the Orioles roster the previous year. Everyone knew he’d be good, and he was already in Baltimore, so he deserved a card of his own.

That being said, I guess it makes sense he’s on the future stars card, since he was just starting out and Topps knew he’d be a star soon. I’m sure everyone reading this knows Cal was the ’82 Rookie of the Year and the ’83 MVP, so I won’t delve much more into him.

A bigger reason this card bothers me, is that the other two players never amounted to anything. I realize Topps couldn’t know for certain who’d be a future star and who’d be a future flop, but there were a few others to choose from the Orioles organization who could’ve been an easy choice for this card and would’ve made the card better.

See, I’d have put Mike Boddicker on it instead of Jeff Schneider. It’s very simple in hindsight, because Boddicker was a solid major league starter from ’82-’90, posting a 112 ERA+ and winning over 100 games. Meanwhile, Jeff toiled away in the minors. Yeah, seriously. Jeff made a few appearances for the Orioles in 1981 and then never made it back again. Why? Because he posted a fat 4.88 ERA in 11 appearances. Those stats won’t usually get you a rookie card, but it worked for Jeff Schneider.

Interesting trivia note… the Orioles went 1-10 in games that Jeff appeared in. The only time they won, was an extra inning game in Seattle on August 25, 1981, and even then, Jeff allowed 2 base runners before getting an out to finish with a save. The O’s were outscored 91-24 in those games.

Another thing I’d change about this card, is I’d replace Bob Bonner with John Shelby. Bob ended up playing in just 61 career big league games, while John was a regular on 2 World Series winning teams in his 11 major league seasons. Even before any of that happens though, John put up significantly better stats in ’81 than Bob. Which leaves me going “Huh? Why Topps? Why?”

Back to Ripken for a moment. If Topps had given Cal his own card in this set, who would’ve been a good choice to take Cal’s place on this future stars card? I think Floyd Rayford would’ve been a good choice. Floyd was a young base stealer with a little pop to his bat in AAA in ’81 and had a cup of tea with the O’s that year too, before going on to play almost 400 games in the majors…about 6.5 times as many games as Bob & Jeff combined.

So this card really should’ve had Mike Boddicker, Floyd Rayford, and John Shelby. Then a proper Cal Ripken card would be added to the set, which could replace some card of a random player who wasn’t very good anyway or was unlikely to play in the majors in ’82.

So that’s the skinny on why this is the one card in the set that really bothers me. I don’t think I’ve seen another future stars card with such a terrible mix of players on it. Although, it still gives me joy to own the Jeff Schneider rookie card.

PS. All 3 players on this card, played in the infamous Rochester @ Pawtucket game that went 33 innings.

The Cardinals made 2 trips to Wrigley in ’81, meaning this photo is either from late April or September 21-22. It’s possible this photo is from the day Bob blew a save against the Cubs on September 22, but there’s no way to tell. It’s notworthy though, that Bob didn’t pitch any games for St Louis until May 4, so perhaps he wasn’t even on the major league roster in April.

That blown save, was due to a solo shot by Leon Durham and was the only run Bob gave up after September 7, ’81. He finished the season tossing a scoreless 9th in Pittsburgh, finishing off a 4-0 Cardinals victory. That also finished his major league career.

Right after the season, he was traded to the Yankees for a young minor league outfielder named Willie McGee. Willie was a big part of the Cards championship run in ’82 and he had a massively impressive game 3 in that series. Meanwhile, Sykes began ’82 in AA and moved up to AAA where he imploded, posting a 8.03 ERA in 15 appearances.

The back of this card becomes very interesting now that we know he was traded to the Yanks right after the ’81 season. The Yankees pitching trivia tidbit is on here, almost as if Topps wanted to put a connection here to his new team since they didn’t have a photo of him in a Yankees uniform yet. It’s also in a different font face.

Perhaps they had a different trivia note set for the card but changed it sometime later but before printing the card? This makes me wonder if the other cards with this same unusual font face indicate a change in the trivia note before the cards were printed.

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.