Bad Wax

That last pack was great, just one lonely double, now if we could just continue that streak, it would be fantastic. I was trying to decide how to handle the onslaught of doubles I should be starting to see around the 25th pack. I am assuming at that point we will be close to halfway done with the set. I think once I start seeing packs that contain more than 7 cards of doubles, I’m going to go to 2 – 3 a days until the set is complete. Once again I only get 2 boxes, then it’s off to begging to complete the set and starting up 1987. So we found the Gooden, still plenty of key cards unaccounted for so lets hit this pack and see what shakes out.

1. Juan Samuel – 2B – Phillies – 475 – Memory is a weird thing. When I think back to the 80s I remember Juan as just this unexciting player, but then I check out his stats and he was actually Jimmy Rollins lite his first couple of years. Of course in 1984 and 1985 he let the league in 2 categories, at bats and strikeouts. But when you bat 0.272 and 0.265 and steal 125 bases over that same period, you might be forgiven. He finished just shy of 400 steals and 161 homers. He carved out a nice 16 year career.

2. Ruppert Jones – OF – Angels – 464 – When you think of the name Michael Tucker, what do you think of? That 20/20 guy that never lived up to the hype. That was Ruppert Jones. He was the Michael Tucker of the 80s. It appeared he was going to be a 20/20 guy, but he never stole of 20 bases and never got over the 25 homer hump (but once). So is he bad or good? Yes he is! Both bad and good that is, very up and down career.

3. Jack Howell – 3B – Angels – 127 – I remember this card being worth something at one point. Of course that ended as did his potential in 1989 when he never could figure out how to get over that 0.260 hump. Sure he could hit the long ball but at what cost. The Angels really have a problem for some reason with there star of the future third basemen. Take Dallas McPherson (can’t miss), Troy Glaus (they gave up on him because of injuries), Howell was just another short term option at third.

4. John Shelby – OF – Orioles – 309 – Shelby was one of those guys that looked good in a uniform but performed sub par on the field. Baseball reference compares him to Daryl Boston and I think that’s a great comparison since they played in the same era and essentially had the same stats.

5. Don Sutton – P – Angels – 335 – Back to the Hall of Famers! He reached that 300 win plateau and was guaranteed to get in, but did he deserve it? His average season was 14-11, striking out 158 and an ERA of 3.26. That’s a very good season, but is it HOF worthy? Maybe since he did it for 23 years? This is what the tough part is when electing HOF members. I don’t think Don Sutton ever dominated. He had only 4 All Star appearances and no Cy Young awards. He just was around long enough to pile up all these stats.  Man does he look old in this picture.

6. Billy Sample – OF – Yankees – 533 – Baseball Reference says if you have to compare him to a current player it would be Coco Crisp.  He had a couple of good seeasons, nothing spectacular, but enough to make us think given the at bats, he could become a solid hitter and just like Coco, he never did.  The jury is still out on Coco, but not on Billy, he served up 9 years as a fourth outfielder and had little to show.

7. Mike Marshall – OF – Dodgers – 728 – This was just after his 3rd pro season and he was tearing it up, numbers going up and being more impressive every year.  I even remember getting his rookie card because he looked so promising.  So what happened?  He went all Aubry Huff on us.  A promising beginning to a career, two years of minor injuries and he never really got his flow back.  He ended up retiring in 1991 because of his injuries.

8. Rickey Adams – 3B/SS – Giants – 153 – Yet another player who didn’t make it to the majors in 1986.  In fact it took him 10 years to crack the majors and when he finally made it, he was out quicker than a Johan Santana fastball. He only played from 1983-1985 and only got 250 at bats.  So this is description probably longer than his career dictated.

9. Ken Griffey – OF/1B – Yankees – 40 – I wonder where Ken Junior got his sweet swing?  The ability to mash balls? Because it wasn’t his father.  Ken Sr. was more of a Johnny Damon guy than a Barry Bonds guy.  He should always be remembered as the second best ball player in the family.  Not even close to as good as Ken Jr.  But he does have one thing better, his health.  Ken Sr.  stayed pretty much injury free his entire career.

10. Sixto Lezcano – OF – Pirates – 278 – I had a hard time deciding whether or not I should include a picture of him.  Many people have no idea who he is, but actually he was a pretty good player. Baseball Reference compares him to a Troy O’Leary kind of batter.  He has some pop, drives in some runs, over all not your franchise guy but does well when he’s on your team.  In other words, the safe guy to have hitting 7th.

11. Ted Simmons – DH/C – Brewers – 237 – From 1972 – 1985 he was a very good starting catcher.  You could count on him for 15-20 homers, 80 – 100 RBIs and a batting average hovering in the 0.300 neighborhood. 1985 was his last good year, the remaining 3 were spent being a back-up.  He actually played on Atlanta in 198, just another one of the many wrong team cards Topps put out that year.

12.  Gary Carter – NL All Star – 708 – Gary had to have the worst hair in the majors. On the back of the card, we have the NL home run leaders.  Gary was 5th with 32 homers in 1985. Dale Murphy was the leader with 38 homers.  A real surge of power in 1985 huh? Carter was a 11 time all star and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003, which I totally agree with.

13. Ron Davis – P – Twins – 265 – Ron was definition of average at this point in his career.  He was 44-44, mainly a middle reliever for the Yankees and Twins.  Actually 1985 was his last good year.  from 1986 – 1988 he was a journeyman, playing on 5 teams.  He wasn’t very remarkable.  I was a big Yankees fan at that point and I don’t remember him on the team.

14. Clint Hurdle – C – Mets – 438 – Yep that Clint Hurdle, the one who now manages the Rockies. How much would this suck.  He was a back-up cather for the Mets in 1985 and 1987 but not 1986.  Do you think he ever thinks about not being on the team that year.  Then add that to last year’s world series and you have to be bummed no WS ring.

15. Ozzie Smith – SS – Cardinals – 730 – The wizard of OZ, two Hall of Famers in one pack.  This might make some Operation Topps history.  How could you not like the wizard.  He was in the prime of his career at the time.  A true ambassador of the game and it was a very sad day when he decided to hang it up.  I was among the happier people to hear that he made it to the Hall of Fame, he certainly deserves it.

What a pack!  Not only were there 2 Hall of Famers in the pack (and if you consider the Carter AS card it makes 3).  There were plenty of very good players in this pack too.  I had an all time high of 8 cards scans in the pack.  I’m rating this as a perfect 5.0 stars.  Not every day you can get 3 Hall of Famers in one pack.  I had a blast reviewing this pack, I hope you had fun reading it.  Tomorrow’s post will be put up fairly late.  Maybe in the afternoon. Until tomorrow . . .