Every single one of the guys on this card had the exact same amount of wins in ’81, with 14. That’s got to be the weirdest thing about it. I mean, all 5? That’s got to be pretty unusual.

Probably even weirder, is that they were all tied at 13 too. Yep, at the end of play on September 22, 1981, these five pitchers along with Fernando Valenzuela, were tied with 13 wins a piece. The difference between them in the end, was what happened afterwards—

McCatty, Vuckovich, & Valenzuela pitched the best but their teams had trouble scoring for them. In fact, Fernando’s final start was 1-0 loss to the 39-68 Padres with Fred Kuhaulua on the mound?

Other than Fernando, the only N.L. pitcher to just miss the big tie in the end, was Steve Carlton. He’d won most of his games earlier in the year, going 9-1 on a 2.80 ERA before the strike.

Strangely, his Phillies had trouble scoring for him after the strike was over. His second half ERA of 1.93 would normally be enough to pull off the 5 wins he needed. Unfortunately, he only went 4-3. He didn’t reach the tie at 13 or 14.

As for the American League pitchers, Pete Vuckovich actually had a blown save, which balloons his ERA in the above table. So it’s notable that in his final 2 starts, he gave up just 1 run in 15 2/3, but still couldn’t get credit for a win in either start. He was incredibly hot, but seemed to suffer the same problem as Carlton & Valenzuela.

Jack Morris’s ERA, BB/9, and HR/9 easily make him look bad, but he’s probably the most interesting story of the bunch here. He won his 14th, against Scott McGregor who was looking for his 13th. Since Scott won his next start, this game effectively kept Scott from being on this card.

Jack faced up against Pete Vuckovich a few days later, with both the pitchers sitting at 14 W’s, hoping to pass each other. Neither of them won it, but if either of them had, then one of them wouldn’t have been on this card.

Besides Scott McGregor, there was another A.L. hurler who just missed out on being pictured here, was Kansas City’s Dennis Leonard. From September 8 onward, he went 6-1, with a 1.39 ERA.

Dennis had been having a rough year up to that point, but he would’ve appeared on this card if he didn’t get a no decision on Aug 25th when he faced Jack Morris, or on Aug 10th when he faced Dennis Martinez, or the loss he got when he matched up against Pete Vuckovich in June.

Dennis is the reason though, why McCatty isn’t the sole American Leaguer on this card. October 2nd, they faced off in a wonderful pitchers duel in Oakland. Steve was lookin’ for his 15th win, which would’ve put him on this card alone with Tom Seaver.

Both pitchers went the distance, but Dennis came out on top with a 2-0 victory, effectively sticking McCatty at 14 wins.

I never realized when I was a kid, that there were almost more players for this card ’til I started lookin’ into it a couple months ago. Now it fascinates me how intertwined this all was.

It’s such an odd mistake, that I’ve developed a theory behind it. I think Topps originally planned this to be George Foster’s regular card, but changed their minds at the last minute.

Which would be very odd considering George was a starter in the midsummer classic and Topps made All-Star cards for all the starters. So it wasn’t like they didn’t plan on making an All-Star card for Foster but planned on it for everybody else.

Although, the ’82 base set contains 66 more cards than any previous set Topps had marketed. It would make sense that this might’ve been their original plan for the regular George Foster card, before they decided to add a subset of All-Star cards. They never did subsets for All-Stars before this.

In fact, when you add up the subset of All-Star cards and the subset of “In Action” cards (which also never appeared in other sets), they total 60 cards. That’s so close to the number 66, that I have to think it’s more than coincidence.

So maybe Topps had a set partially planned out, before deciding to add 2 subsets of cards, and this one just slipped the cracks with a signature?

I don’t know, it’s all guesswork on my part, but I like my theory.

At this point you’re probably wondering when I’ll stop babbling and get to talkin’ about George Foster & the ’81 All-Star game.

Well, there’s not a lot to say about it. He went 0-for-2 and that was just a pair of infield groundouts.

From 1976-1981, George Foster was one of the premiere sluggers in the game… 198 HR’s, 671 RBI, .370 OBP, 151 OPS+, and though he didn’t steal much, he was successful in 71.1% of his attempts.

Besides that, the most interesting thing about how he made it to the midsummer classic in ’81, was a nine game hitting streak just before the strike rose its ugly head. In those games, George batted .400/.463/.829.

Right off the bat, he went 3-for-5 in the season opener against the defending champion Phillies. It wasn’t an empty 3 hits either, as he smacked an RBI double in the 3rd to break the 0-0 tie. The Reds won the game 3-2.

A week later in San Diego, Dave went 2-for-5, scoring 3 runs and driving in another trio of teammates. He’d have another 3 RBI day against the Astros about a week after that.

The Padres got sick of him faster than anybody though, ’cause when they came to Cincinnati for a three game series at the end of that April, Dave hit .778/.769/1.444 off their pitching. That included a 4-for-4 game where he smacked a pair of HR’s and drove in 6 RBI’s. Oh yeah, and his knee was giving him some trouble that day.

When May got under way, he began to fall into a slump. From the 1st through the 25th, he only really had a couple good games, as he batted just .221/.265/.263. He had to be thinking. “Where are the Padres when I need ‘em?!?” He did have a few moments though, like a 3-for-5 game against the Pirates and another in Wrigley.

On May 27th he’d start a 10 game hit streak, with a 3-for-4 game against the Giants. During the streak, Dave’s batting line was .452/.489/.738 over 45 PA’s. That included a 2-HR game off the Expos Steve Rogers, helpin’ the Reds to a 6-3 victory.

A few games later, the strike stopped the season. Concepcion’s first half was better than he did most years, totalling .306/.360/.447, 44 RBI’s (2nd in the majors to teammate George Foster), and a WPA of 2.049.

Needless to say, he deserved his vote into the midsummer classic. Unfortunately, when the game was finally played, he didn’t get a hit or draw a walk. He struck out, grounded out to second, and then grounded out to third. He didn’t even get a chance to show off his defensive skills, as none of the AL batters hit the ball to shortstop before Davey was replaced by Ozzie Smith in the 6th inning.

By the start of 1982, the Cincinnati Reds were not the same team that sported the best winning percentage (.611) in the majors the previous season. Their outfield of George Foster, Ken Griffey, and Dave Collins, were all starting the season playing for one of the New York clubs. Third baseman Ray Knight was now in Houston. Johnny Bench was still in Cincinnati, but he was aging.

So a Reds future stars card must’ve felt pretty good to every Reds fan at the time. The idea that your team might be starting to rebuild, is never a good one, but at least you have some hope. Unfortunately, history would show that two of the three on this card, had already finished their major league careers and they weren’t even in the Reds organization when the ’82 season began.

Scott Brown

Scott had shown some promise, pitching to the tune of a 2.77 ERA in a handful of innings for the team in ’81. He’d been called up from AAA at the end of the strike to fortify Cincinnati’s bullpen for the second half, after going 6-5 with a 2.28 ERA in the minors. He was traded to the Royals for Clint Hurdle in December ’81.

He managed to pitch strongly in spring training and win a spot in the Royals bullpen as a middle relief man, helping setup for Quisenberry. Unfortunately, he injured his elbow in the Royals final exhibition game, and never pitched in another major league game.

Geoff Combe

Geoff seems to have been one of those AAAA players. Appearing in 71 AAA games in ’80-’81, he posted an ERA of 2.15 while striking out 7.6 batters per 9 innings. He was a September callup in ’80 and gave up 8 ER in just 6 2/3 IP. He spent most of the ’81 season in Cincinnati, but barely pitched ’cause he still couldn’t get major league hitters out. His WHIP was 2.094.

So it’s no wonder the Reds sold him to the AAA Edmonton Trappers a couple weeks before the ’82 season began. He split the season between there and the Indians AAA team in Charleston, then disappeared from the minors.

Paul Householder

Paul brings this whole card some novelty. Not only are his initials PH (as in Pinch Hitter), but he was a pinch hitter on October 2, 1981, the same day that both Scott Brown and Geoff Combe pitched their last major league pitches. It was the only game that all three players on this card played in the same game.

He was a major league outfielder for most of the 1980′s, but his best season was already behind him when this card was being made. In ’81, his batting line was .275/.367/.420, which all turned out to be career highs despite appearing in just 23 games on the season. Cincinnati traded him to St Louis a couple years later in ’84, and then he bounced around the majors and minors of the Brewers and Astros before calling it a day. Easily the most successful player on this card.

The Reds Real Future

The team’s future hopes actually rested in the team’s draft picks of the period, not in the guys they almost ready for the majors. Or to put it another way, five everyday players from the Reds 1990 championship lineup and one pitcher, came in the Reds draft picks from ’80-’83.

It began when they chose Eric Davis (CF) in the 1980 draft. In 1981, they found Paul O’Neill (RF) in the 4th round. The next season, 1982′s draft, the team picked future Hall of Famer Barry Larkin (SS), and pitcher Tom Browning (SP). In 1983, they’d grab Chris Sabo (3B), Joe Oliver (C).

Barry Larkin didn’t sign out of high school in ’82, so the Reds picked him again in ’85. After that, the core was in place to lead the Reds back to the top.

From his rookie card, right on through his 1981 card, the Topps photographer(s) always snap a some kind of headshot of Sam with a helmet on. Even after Fleer and Donruss joined the baseball universe, they did the same thing.

It’s like they were all trying to get every expression he could do, and forget he was a baseball player. He looks shellshocked in the ’82 Donruss, confused in ’79 Topps, and like he’s daydreaming on his rookie card.

He was never really a star player, so maybe the photographers were trying to make him look more interesting. Seriously. We’re talking about a guy who’s career slugging percentage is lower than Tony Gwynn’s batting average.

Whatever the case, there’s a story behind this particular photo. The batting helmet motif was bugging the poor guy by the time the Topps photographer came around in the spring of ’81. So Sam Mejias tapped the cameraman on the shoulder and asked, “Can I get one without my helmet? I’ve been on cards for four years now, but always in a helmet.”

A Sports Illustrated reporter was on the scene doin’ a story about baseball cards when this happened, and had been talking to the photographer. I’m guessing, that the person Sam’s talking to in this picture, is that reporter.

One thing I know for sure, is that it’s a good thing Sam asked, ’cause this would end up being his final year of playing. He was cut late in spring training on March 29, ’82, so this was his final baseball card. It’s probably his favorite too, ’cause he’s not wearing a helmet.

Here we see him in the batters box, in the classic Johnny Bench stance. It would’ve been nice if this card showed him catching, but this was at the point in his career where he was playing a lot more first base than catcher.

As a catcher, he threw out 33% of runners attempting to steal on him during his career. He’d led the league three times in catching runners, twice catching base stealers 57% of the time!

In 1975, he caught over 1000 innings, without allowing a single passed ball. Johnny was arguably the best catcher of his generation.

He was also a great batter, and the best hitting catcher this side of Mike Piazza. In the early 70′s, Johnny led the National League in HR’s twice and RBI’s three times. One year, he led the league in Total Bases. how often do you find a catcher doin’ that, eh?

On July 15, 1980, Johnny passed Yogi Berra for the career home run record for catchers; A record he’d hold for another 10 years and a couple months.

When Carlton Fisk broke the record in 1990, Johnny flashed a great sense of humor, saying “I was thinking about making a comeback until I pulled a muscle—vacuuming”.

In overall value, Johnny Bench was worth 683 RAR (Runs Above Replacement) and a fat 71.3 WAR (Wins Above Replacement) during his career. I couldn’t find out if his RAR is a record for catchers, but that WAR is still a record (as of 2010) for anyone spending 50% of their career behind the plate.

I don’t think I need to say much more about his career, so I’m going to dive into the photo itself now, ’cause we can actually determine what game this photo is showing us, based on the fact that—

• Reds are wearing the road uniform
• The stadium has a blue edged dugout
• It’s a day game.
• we can kind of see who’s batting after him

In 1981, Johnny played road games in Pittsburgh, St Louis, Philadelphia, Houston, San Diego, Montreal, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. I’m pretty sure the only stadiums among those that had a blue edged dugout and sunshine would be Atlanta Fulton County Stadium & Dodger Stadium.

That leaves us with just five possible games, but in one of those, Ken Griffey batted after Johnny Bench, so we can rule that game out automatically since the waiting batter is clearly white or latino on the card.

Thanks to a newspaper search, I found that only one of the four remaining games was played during the day. That leaves Saturday September 19, 1981 in Dodger Stadium, as the game that fits.

Although, there’s more to this story. As pointed out in the comments, Johnny Bench’s 1981 record breaker card looks as if it was taken in the same place, perhaps the same game. That ’81 card’s photo clearly shows Dave Concepcion waiting in the on deck circle. The player in the on-deck circle of this ’82 card, appears to be a blurry Dave Concepcion, which means the photo in this ’82 card, would most likely be a photo of an afternoon game played on Sunday July 27, 1980 at Shea Stadium.

Although, I’m not sure the crowd looks like the same people in both cards. Any ideas?

The story of Larry Biittner is short but has some interesting quirks. It really starts after he was traded by the Rangers to the Expos just before the ’74 season. In Montreal he played with Steve Renko, and a couple years later on May 17, 1976, they were both traded to the Cubs. The Cubs must’ve thought they were gettin’ a deal ’cause in ’75, Biittner had a very good year, hitting over .300 and posting a .376 OBP. It’s also worth noting that Renko had a pair of 15 win seasons in Montreal.

In Chicago, Larry wasn’t anything special, but on July 4, 1977 he found himself in the rare spot of being one of the few position players in history to take the mound for a few outs against his old team. The Cubs were down 13-3 in the 8th inning and manager Herman Franks gave up on the game. Not wanting to waste a pitcher, he pulled Larry Biittner off the bench and stuck him on the mound in Wrigley to finish the game against a young Expos lineup.

The first batter Larry faced, was Larry. Larry Parrish. Parrish procedes to slam a 3 run HR, making it 14-3. I won’t go through all the gory details, but the final score of 19-4. It’s notable though, that he pitched to Gary Carter (single) and Andre Dawson (3 run HR). Let’s face it though, that was a tough Expos lineup for any pitcher….and Larry wasn’t a pitcher. He was a first baseman and outfielder.

A couple years later, Larry got to pinch hit in one of the highest scoring games ever. Yeah, I’m talkin’ about the infamous May 17, 1979 game between the Phillies and Cubs where the final score was 23-22 and took 10 innings. There’s that May 17 date again.

He lasted one more year in Chicago before signing as a free agent for the Reds.

Until this year, I hadn’t seen this card since the 1990′s. First thing I noticed when I saw it a couple months ago, is how Tom Seaver looks amazingly like Barry Zito to me in this shot. His face; not so much his delivery. It’s actually pretty uncanny.

What’s more amazing though, is something I read a few months ago about Seaver’s delivery. Apparently it was very very similar to Christy Mathewson’s pitching motion. Yeah, that’s Keith Olbermann’s blog, so it’s reliable. There’s a picture there from a surviving piece of film of Mathewson in the middle of his motion, and it looks just like his follow through will take him to the exact stance we see in Seaver’s 1982 “in action” card! Amazing eh?

Yeah, amazing.

We can also get some clues about what game this was, from the photo on this card—

• Seaver’s pitching on the road.
• the outfield wall is green.
• the outfield grass looks…well, not so grass colored. Looks artificial.
• Day game

When we look at Tom’s game logs from 1981, we see he pitched 10 road games.

Seaver would go on to finish 2nd in the Cy Young voting in ’81 with a 14-2 record and a 2.54 ERA, for the best team in the National League. Who finished 2nd, twice.

Yeah, the Reds won more than anybody but didn’t make the playoffs. If you really want to stump your friends, just ask them what team won more games than anybody in their league but didn’t even earn a playoff spot. They sat home watching one of their division rivals win the World Series.

Junior Kennedy broke into the major leagues the day he turned 24, with the Cincinnati Reds. He played a mere 22 games that first season but posted a bizarre-ish .360 OBP. I say bizarre, because that’s tough to do when your batting average is just .185. So they sent him back to the minors until 1978. He was your typical below average hitter with a good glove.

Enough about his career though, ’cause I really find this card interesting. It’s one that makes me wonder if I can figure out what game it was. There’s a number of clues—

• It’s a not-so-sunny day game
• Reds are wearing away uni’s
• Several fans seem to be wearing something white on their heads (rally caps for the home team?)
• The on deck circle has a pitcher warming up to hit (hint: jacket’s on)
• The visiting dugout is lined with blue.
• He has tan lines on his arms (indicating this is likely not an April or May game)

Junior only played in just 3 games in 1981 that were both a road game and a likely day game (Weekends or Wrigley games) outside. One of those possibilities was May 31 in Dodger Stadium, but when I look at the box score, I have to scratch this off. He pinch hit for the pitcher in that game, so there’s no way someone with a jacket would be in the on deck circle waiting to hit next. Besides, I think Los Angeles would be sunnier.

Another possibility would be a Sept 5th game in Philadelphia’s Veteran’s stadium, but, he was a defensive substitute in this game and never had a plate appearance.

This leaves us with the Reds & Mets game on Sunday afternoon, August 30, 1981 at Shea Stadium, which also happens to be mentioned on the back of the card…

Isn’t that cool?? This would also explain why Topps made mention of that game on the back of the card. Most cards in the 1982 set will refer to a game from 1980 or earlier, and they certainly could’ve done that with this one too. After all, Junior K had a couple of 4 hit days that season and it would’ve made for a better trivia note.

The fans wearing white caps could really be rally caps, since the Reds won 6-3 that day. If I’m right and those are actually rally caps the fans are wearing, then it would mean this photo was taken late in the game, right?

Well the play by play beneath the boxscore to this game gives some interesting details. In the top of the 9th, Junior Kennedy did come up to bat. He hit a single to left field, then pitcher Mike LaCross came to bat next and laid down a sacrifice bunt to get Kennedy into scoring position.

That scenerio fits perfectly with what we see on this baseball card! I could be wrong, but chances are, moments after this photo was shot, Junior pulled a single into left field trying to give the team an insurance run in the 9th.

Also note a couple other things on the back of his card. He drew exactly 1 walk in 1981, and that walk was in this game. The leadoff hitter for the Mets in the game was Lee Mazzilli, who was mentioned here on Junior’s card.

Considering that Mets home games usually start at 1p and this game lasted 2:53, this photo was very very likely shot at approximately 3:30p ET on August 30, 1981. Give or take 10 minutes.

Now that I know the story to this scene, it’s one of my favorite cards.