He’s probably thinking something like “how much playing time would I get if I were traded to…the Blue Jays?” Or maybe he’s dreaming of what it might be like to switch from being an outfielder to being a pitcher, and whether that would help his career more.

It all starts back in 1974, when Gary was a high valued prospect who was the 4th pick of the draft. He didn’t sign though, and spent the next two seasons being a 1st round pick for two other teams. He seemed to have potential that everybody wanted.

We’ll fast-forward to 1978 from here, when Gary was a 24 year old rookie trying to help the Red Sox win the AL East. In his first 18 games, he did pretty good, hitting .282. In that 18th game itself, he drove in 2 runs and had 3 hits to help the BoSox slip past the Angels 8-6. He’d done his part to keep the Red Sox 7.5 games up in 1st place.

After that game though, it was all downhill. Gary batted just .171, drawing only 1 walk for the rest of ’78. The Red Sox, they went from being a 77-44 club to a 22-20 one after that day. Gary didn’t even get in a game after September 24.

The next year, he spent the season in the minors dreaming of being a major league star while hitting pretty fine .325/.361/.505 in AAA.

When 1980 came, he got another shot at the majors but had trouble getting on base. Same dull story in ’81 too. So, back to Pawtucket he went until September ’82. Still daydreaming of the day…

Then, in 15 major league plate appearances in 1982, he didn’t get a single base hit. Not one. He had a -80 OPS+ for the season. Sure, it’s only a very small number of time at the plate, but at this point, wouldn’t you be thinking about becoming a pitcher? I would.

After the season, he was traded with Carney Lansford to Oakland. Gary spent 1983 playing 101 games in the A’s outfield, and hitting .273 with a 99 ERA+. So, he was just about as average as you could be.

Then came ’84, which was his final season. Although, before it was all over, it probably hit Gary like a ton of bricks that he should’ve been a pitcher all these years, but it was too late to turn around now. On June 25, 1984, he pitched a perfect 1 1/3 innings to finish the game. He induced 3 fly balls and a grounder. Unfortunately, the A’s lost 16-0.

One of those guys who might’ve just been in the wrong line of work all that time.

Growing up in Elmira, NY, you tend to notice very quickly when Elmira’s listed on the back of someone’s baseball card. No matter who the player is or isn’t, it instantly made them cool to us kids.

Reid had a taste of the big leagues in ’80 and got into 39 games in ’81. In ’82, he was used mostly as part of a platoon in centerfield, sometimes filling in for Jim Rice in left, and occasionally did some pinch hitting and right field work. 1982 happened to be the best season of his career once everything was said and done.

It started off slowly though. Through June 8 he only had 32 plate appearances, while starting 8 games in center, mostly entering games as a late innings defensive replacement. The only highlight of this part of his season was on May 28th in Seattle when he smacked his first career home run off Floyd Bannister in the 7th inning. It put the Red Sox up 1-0, and they went on to win 3-2, so that homer really helped.

The everything changed, very suddenly on June 9 in Fenway against the Yankees. He went 2 for 4, scoring a run and driving in another, as the Red Sox beat the Yankees by 1 run. That night was the start of the new Reid Nichols.

In fact, he was the 5th best hitter in Boston the rest of the year among batters with at least 50 PA’s, very comparable to Carney Landsford’s averages.

The season ended up being his career bests in HR (7), RBI (33), batting average (.302), slugging percentage (.461), and OPS+ (112). It earned him more playing time the following year, but he just couldn’t match the production from ’82.

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.