Bad Wax

Freshly off that last pack which we shall not speak of, It’s time for a second pack. Maybe I’ll find more than a Keith Hernandez card in this one. Hopefully keep the level of doubles to a minimum (and I knocked on wood for that one). I guess that’s what happens when you get 3 Hall of Famers in one pack. Your next one goes down the toilet. I have to say, I m having a lot more fun doing this that I thought I would have. Like I was telling one of my friends. I feel like there is a story in each pack and I try to remember what each of these players mean to me. Let’s tear into pack 12.

1. George Hendrick – OF – Angels – 190 – His modern day comparison would be Jeff Conine. George logged in a lot of years. starting out on the 1971 A’s, he finally wrapped up his career in 1988. He had some power, he could hit for average. He made a nice 3 or 6 hitter. He was considered a starter until 1984. However after that season he saw drastically less time until his retirement. I will always remember him in his Cardinal years, especailly in the 1982 World Series. I was really into baseball back then, and he was one of the major hitters in that Cardinal lineup. He hit Brewer pitching for a 0.321 average and the Cards won the series.

2. Sal Butera – C – Expos – 407 – He played 9 years in the majors and only racked up 182 hits. Some players do that in one season. He did have a monster season in 1981 where he had 40 of those 182 hits, but it was all downhill from there. His last season was in 1988.

3. Bob Clark – OF – Brewers – 452 – Bob was another one of those back-ups. He was another one of those guys, retired in 1985 but had a card for 1986. I should go back and firgure out how many of those I have come across. I bet it’ll be quite a few cards.

4. George Foster – OF – Mets – 680 – Now this was a big signing for the Mets. As his card below indicates, George was one cool cat. He was a monster home run hitter when there were no monster home run hitters, he was hitting over 50 when no one was hitting over 40. From 1975 -1978 there were very few players as fearsome as Foster, he made national league pitching just look silly! There was a push for him to be considered a Hall of Famer but in reality he just wasn’t that good. Plus the writers hated him. He retired after the 1986 season, playing on the Mets until he was released mid season. He wrapped up the year with the White Sox then retired.

5. Mike Mason – P – Rangers – 189 – A spot starter who wrapped up his career in 1988, nothing real special about him. For most of his career, healways seemed to be on the losing end. Retired with a 29 and 39 record, over 8 seasons.

6. Eddie Milner – OF – Reds – 544 – I liked Eddie Milner, of course it was because stolen bases has always been my favorite category and Milner from 1982 – 1985 had plenty of them. Of course in 1986 he had some injuries and never quite got his speed back. When you rely on your speed to keep you in the majors and suddenly lose it, you can’t expect to be in the majors for too long. Milner retired just 3 years later.

7. Teddy Higuera – P – Brewers – 347 – HUGE Higuera fan. In 1985 he stored the league with a 15-8 record. 1986 was his rookie card and I had plenty of them. In 1986 he went 20-11 and everyone took notice and started comparing him to the greats. So what happens to everyone that gets compared to the greats, they get injured and Teddy did in 1989, unfortunately he never regained his mound dominance and retired in 1994 after putting up some horrific years the 3 previous years. Still though I have fond memories of him dominating batters in 1985 and 1986.

8. Dave Collins – OF – A’s – 271 – He was a speedy guy, just shy of 400 career stolen bases. He was a decent number 1 or 2 hitter for most of the 70s and 80s but after 1986 he got injured, lost his speed and was soon out of the game. I breifly remember him as a Yankee but have no impression of him from that one year stint. I think I was too young to appreciate what he did in his heyday.

9. Mark Salas – C – Twins – 1985 was his rookie year and he had a very nice season swatting 9 homers and batting 0.300. Unfortunately for Mark, that would be his best season and the rest of his career was spent as a back-up for a myriad of teams.

10. Brian Fisher – P – Yankees – 584 – Another spot starter who didn’t have much of a career. He played for the Yankees for 2 years, then was on the Pirates. Never really settling in and finding a full time position for himself. He only played in 6 seasons and never really had a stand out year.

11. Tim Wallach – 3B – Expos – 685 – I always wanted Wallach on my fantasy team. He always seemed to hit 20 homers, around 80 RBIs bat about 0.260, even swipe a few bases. Also he was aways one of the last players to go since he wasn’t very flashy. Think of a Robin Ventura type player and you have a good idea of what his stats were like. Never going into the Hall of Fame, but definitely a solid guy.

12. Bob Grich – 2B – Angels – 155 – Bob played in the majors forever. His rookie year was 1970 and 1986 would be his last year. A very good player who had stats like Ray Durham. Could hit about 20 homers, and bat around 0.285. He was the kind of guy you’d like to have in your 3 or 5 slot. I don’t actually remember him as a player but I should have, his stats weren’t bad.

13. Bryan Little – 2B – White Sox – 346 – He was a backup and 1986 would be his last year in pro ball. He finished his career with the Yankees, but I would be hard pressed to pick him out of a line-up.

14. Jesse Barfield – OF – Blue Jays – 593 – He and George Bell made a hell of a duo for the Blur Jays in the mid eighties. 1986 would end up being one of Jesse’s best years as he smashed 40 homers, 108 RBIs and batted 0.289. By the time he was traded to the Yankees for Al Lieter (still kills me to this day). His career was pretty much over and along with the Buhner for Phelps deal this was one of the worst in Yankee history.

15. Scott Garrelts – P – Giants – 395 – Double, previously reviewed in pack 10.

Nice pack, but then again could it be worse than the last pack?  I’ll throw this one a 2.5 stars rating.  I got a Foster, Barfield, and Higuera in this pack so slowly we push on towards 792 cards.  This pack pushes the total card count to 151 cards.  I am hoping that over the next few packs, we start to see less and less doubles.  I think I need at least 400 cards out of this box which might not even be possible.  So maybe 350 then.  All I know is 2 boxes is my limit (I hope), the good news is that I have a lot of people that said they would help if I come out short on the set.