And here we have the Kirk Gibson card where he looks like a stoner who’s just been asked “Quick Kirk, what color was Washington’s white horse?” Yeah, marvel at his reaction for a moment. Despite this being a ridiculous looking photo, he was a budding star coming off his breakout season where he batted .328/.369/.479, [...]
Every single one of the guys on this card had the exact same amount of wins in ’81, with 14. Another 4 pitchers were at 13, and could’ve easily had 14 too.
What always fascinates me about Stan Papi, is that his career major league batting totals, are equivalent to a full single season of play. He had 562 PA’s, due to a combination of his playing skill and the teams he played for. All these teams, except for the Expos, were above .500 clubs. Those Expos, [...]
The 32 year old Milt Wilcox, though not the ace of the Tigers staff in ’82, was good for a 3.62 ERA and 1.5 WAR. He had a very consistent and largely average year, but at the same time, he was bettering some of the best lineups in the American League.
When Jack Morris is the worst in your starting rotation, you know you’ve got a pretty good pitching staff. That’s exactly how it was for the ’82 Tigers. He beat who he should beat, and lost to the best. Good thing he pitched against weak teams more than strong ones.
Seriousness, determination, and manliness, all emanate from this card. Steve Kemp put together a nice career for a few years and was one of my favorite players when I got to watch him play for the Yankees, but why do we need to check that he’s cleaned his nostrils? What photographer thought this would be ok?