My First Cards

Carney Lansford‘s first year in Boston and he leads the entire American League in batting average. Nice way to earn the respect of your teammates like Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, and Tony Perez, as well as win over any fans who might’ve thought “aahh this guy won’t be as good as Fred Lynn”.

Lansford was like the complete opposite of Lynn. Carney played for the Angels and came to Boston in a trade just before 1981. Fred played for Boston and came to the Angels in a separate trade just before 1981. Lansford became a better hitter after his trade to Boston, while Lynn became a worse hitter after his trade to California. When they switched places, it’s almost like each player picked up where the other left off. Carney comes to Boston and hits like Lynn. Lynn goes to California and hits like Lansford did. Oh, and both their last names start with L. Weird eh?

Most of that is just the result of what’s called “park effects” (hit .363 at home, .314 on the road), but in the early 1980′s, barely anybody had even thought of that concept. Very fascinating stuff, but I’ll get into that more in a few days. Carney Lansford was a pretty good hitter throughout his career, posting a 111 OPS+ and in 1988 he made a run at .400. During his two seasons in Boston (81-82), he hit .317, and then was traded to the Oakland A’s.

When you look at his home/road splits for his time in Boston, it’s clear that Fenway helped him a lot. During those two years, his BABIP (batting average on balls in play) at Fenway was way way higher than his road BABIP. For example, in home games, his BABIP was .379 in ’81 and .355 in ’82. On the road though, his BABIP was .330 in ’81 and .275 in ’82. It’s clear that even though Lansford was a decent hitter, the park effects in Boston were helping him the way they helped Fred Lynn. More about Lynn when I get to his card next week.

Unlike Lansford, the other guy on this card, Mike Torrez, had been in Boston since 1978. He got on this card because he posted his best ERA since joining the team, and nobody else with as many innings posted a better ERA during ’81. There actually were 5 pitchers on the staff with a better ERA. Which makes me wonder if Topps put him on this card partly because he was tied for the team lead in wins, but they don’t mention that at all on the card.

Although, it’s very clear the park effects of Fenway had its effect on Torrez’s stats too. In Fenway during 1981 was just 2-2 with a massive 4.74, but a fine 8-1 record due to his 2.72 ERA in the same number of games on the road. Make of that what you will.

Interestingly both players on this card left the Red Sox after the 1982 season.

This team had a number of great players on it. As of 2009, four of them are in the Hall of Fame, and another one of them, Dwight Evans, really should be. I’ve read some good arguments on the net showing that Evans was as good, if not better for the team, than Jim Rice. Maybe Dwight Evans will be inducted via the Veterans committee.

Evans really was the best player on the team in 1981, posting a massive 162 OPS+, tying for the league lead in HR’s, and driving in 71 RBI in just 108 games. He came in 3rd in the MVP voting for the year behind Rollie Fingers and Rickey Henderson (two future Hall of Famers). He didn’t stop there, as in ’82 he smacked 32 HR’s and 98 RBI, drawing 112 walks to push his OBP up to .402. How cool is that?

I always liked team leaders & checklist cards when I was a kid. I used to use them as the top card in my rubber band bundled set of team players cards. They had the team colors, team logo, and two of the teams best players from the previous season. How could you not love that? Then, right on the back, is a list of all the players.