Bruce Sutter was a perennial All-Star by the time the 1981 season revved up and got going. he’d just been to 4 straight midsummer classics and won the 1979 Cy Young award. In fact, he was credited with the win for the ’78 & ’79 All-Star games, and then got the save in 1980. That [...]
Poor Silvio Martinez. In November ’81 he was traded from a contender, to Cleveland. When it was time to fly back to the states in February for training camp, he couldn’t even get to there on time due to some problem with his visa. The guy pitched decently when he finally got to training camp, [...]
Believe it or not, Sixto Lezcano helped shape the 1982 baseball season like no other player, being a key figure in the Brewers and Cardinals race to the top. Then he simply went through the year on fire, but got no MVP consideration.
Another player who never made it back to the major leagues after ’81, is Bob Sykes. He was a key part of the Cardinals World Series victory in ’82 though and perhaps a key reason the Yankees never made it to the series during Don Mattingly’s career.
Here’s a guy who was on his way to a very good career, but got hit in the arm with a line drive. It fractured his arm. He was never quite the same and his playing days were cut very short.