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”.

Anyway, the 10 seasons leading up to 1982 were less boring for John Mayberry than this picture suggests. He averaged 23 HR’s, 82 RBI’s, 81 Walks, and a .266 BA that doesn’t look so bad when you notice the .366 OBP.

So the Yankees, needing to upgrade at first base, traded away first baseman Dave Revering & a few others to Toronto for Mayberry. Once they got him though, Mayberry suddenly turned into Dave Revering. Seriously. His average fell down by the Mendoza line for the rest of the season and his OBP was a piddly .313.

Here’s where there’s a little twist to things that provides amusement to me and probably only me. This turned out to be John’s final season… just like it was Dave Revering’s. So both guys involved in this trade, didn’t help their new clubs much and they both ended their major league careers after the season.

John finished his career with a very respectable .360 OBP and 123 OPS+, accented by 255 home runs.

On April 7, 1977, Alvis Woods swung at the first pitch he saw from the White Sox Francisco Barrios, and drove it over the outfield fnece at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, and that’s how his major league career began.

He never developed into the star player that at-bat seemed to suggest he might become, but he was a regular on the Blue Jays from 1977-1982. His best season was clearly 1980, when he smacked 15 HR’s and 47 RBI’s, while batting .300/.364/.480 over 109 games.

The highlight of his ’82 season would arguably be the September 5th game in Cleveland. The Blue Jays snuck out a victory 6-5, largely due to Alvis’s 3 for 4 day, driving in half the Jays runs.

And that’s true for Alvis. After ’82, he disappeared from the majors until 1986, when he suddenly shows up in 32 plate appearances for the Twins. This is what puzzles me most though. In those 32 PA’s, he hits really well — .321/.375/.571, but never gets another shot.

Of course, if the best thing Topps can think of saying about you on the back of your baseball card is that you are the career leader in a category for a team who’s only existed for 5 seasons, your career is probably just about over.

That’s exactly how it was for Jerry Garvin, who’s final game was 27 years ago today, on September 29, 1982, after 5 years for the Blue Jays. At the time, that was the lifetime of the Blue Jays franchise. Jerry was 26 when he retired from the game, so now it’s been longer that he’s been away from the game than his entire lifespan at the time he finished.

He did have a taste of glory though, as he was the Blue Jays starter for their 1978 opener, and was clearly the team’s best pitcher in 1980 with a 2.29 ERA (189 ERA+ in 82 2/3 IP). He did well the year before, but didn’t pitch much. In 1981 his ERA crept up more than a run to 3.40, and after that he just slipped off the edge.

Anyway, according to Wikipedia, he became involved in Real Estate after his days with the Jays ended.

The biggest reason people don’t know this guy, is that he only averaged 87 games a year during his 6 seasons in Toronto… at a time when the Blue Jays were still developing. I have to assume he was riddled with nagging injuries because he was just too good to be used in a platoon for 6 years, but I haven’t been able to find any information on that yet.

Anyway, 1982 was not a banner year for Otto The Swatto. He only played in 28 major league games, his smallest amount since 1975 when he played for the Yankees. His batting average dipped to an awful .192, though his OBP was still a fine .354. That’s pretty amazing actually. I mean, how many people bat sub-mendoza line, but still get on base better than some All-Star’s? I know it’s a small sample size, but you get the idea…it’s a big difference. Anyway, Otto also wasn’t slugging anymore in ’82, as his slugging percentage dropped 135 points from .404 in ’81 (which was his lowest since ’76) to .269!

The final home run of his major league career came on May 14th, leading off the 2nd inning against Texas pitcher Jon Matlack. After that at-bat, he’d finish the season hitting .133 (4 for 30).

Otto played a few games for the Blue Jays AAA team in Syracuse that season too, which is interesting because the last time he played in AAA it was also for Syracuse, when Syracuse was part of the Yankees organization. He’d end his major league career in 1983, at the age of 32, playing for Cleveland. Otto’s final major league game came on Sunday, August 7, 1983. He went 1 for 2 & scoring a run in a victory.

Besides his major league service time, he played winterball in the Puerto Rican league for years, finishing his baseball career in ’84-’85 with Santurce. He’d been playing in Puerto Rico since the early 1970′s, when he was in the Yankees organization. During these years, he got the chance to play with some Hall of Famers such as Gary Carter and Mike Schmidt, as well as players like Luis Tiant.