My First Cards

Who’s idea was it to make all these hitters for the Blue Jays pose the same way for their 1982 cards? The expression on John Mayberry’s face says it all. He’s squinting in disbelief saying ” Uuuhh no. This is bad for my image. Why on earth are we all posing with a bat on our shoulder today? Huh? Eehhh I’m not feelin’ it Mr ToppsCameraman.” If this were a video clip, I bet we’d see he’s shaking his head “no”.

First pitch in the majors he ever saw, and he smacks it for a home run. Nice job Alvis Woods. The back of his card exclaims that he’s the all-time Blue Jays batting leader, which isn’t a big deal since the Jays had only existed for 5 season to this point.

When the only thing that Topps can think of saying about you on the back of your baseball card is that you hold a team record, for a team that’s only existed for 5 seasons, you’re probably not staying in the major leagues much longer.

You could make a good argument that Otto “The Swatto” Velez is one of the best Blue Jays ever. Through 2009, He has the 5th highest OPS+ in Blue Jays history for players who’ve had at least 1,500 PA’s in a Toronto uniform. His .372 OBP ranks him 6th in Blue Jays history. In fact, [...]