Bad Wax

Well I told you that I would try and get out a second post on Saturday and well just put me on the Fail blog. My job has been giving me the beat down and I have not had time to write almost all week long. As I said in yesterday’s blog, I think that Fridays might be my day of rest for my two blogs. That being said, I am so surprised that the Topps packs for 1987 haven’t yielded a single double! We are almost 100 cards into the set and nothing as of yet (knocking on wood as you read this). I guess maybe this box was from an early release (less doubles) and not an end of season release (tons of doubles). My hopes are up for completing this set in 2 boxes, but we shall see. Here is pack number six.

1. Pat Dodson – 1B – Red Sox – 449 – My first future star of the set. Do you remember how excited you got when you saw Future Star on the card, you just knew they were going to be great! Well, if you look at Pat’s minor league stats, I could see that, unfortunately it didn’t translate to stardom. In 1987 he went a paltry 0.167/2/6 in 42 at bats. Even though Buckner was still the goat after the 1986 World Series, he still held control of first, and Pat never unseated him. The writer’s journey blog did a story about this subset here.

2. Rey Quinones – SS – Mariners – 561 – This was Rey’s rookie card. He started his career in Boston, but midway through the season he went to the Mariners as part of the Spike Owen / Dave Henderson deal. He wasn’t known for his hitting prowess and in 1987 he went 0.276/12/56 in 478 at bats, in what would be his most productive year. Also he led the Carolina League in doubles in 1984.

3. Ron Karkovice – C – White Sox – 491 – Another rookie card! That’s three in a row, the Topps Turkey if you will. Ron was supposed to be the heir apparent to Carlton Fisk. The problem was that Fisk wasn’t ready for an heir apparent in 1987. He didn’t actually retire until after the 1993 season, which led the Sox to a dilemma. Ron never became the full time guy they wanted him to become and in 1987 he went 0.71/2/7 in just 85 at bats. Also, Ron played American Legion Baseball in 1981 (WOW!) I put this picture on for the Dinged Corner blog because Ron has a great smile. Lucy get’s my double when I get one.

4. Gary Mathews – OF – Cubs – 390 – In 1987 Gary was just finishing up a nice career. It was his last seasons and it was split between the Cubs and the Mariners. He had a non auspicious ending going 0.242/3/23, and I guess when you hit like that and you are 36, you hang it up. His fun fact is that his autobiography is called, “They Call Me Sarge.”

5. Rick Anderson – P – Mets – 594 – Another rookie card to add to the list. The stats on the back of his card list 8 years worth of minor league stats. Rick was actually part of the David Cone trade with the Royals and in 1987 he was playing with the Royals and went 0-2/13.85/2.69 over the course of 13 relief appearances, you know how this one goes, next year will be his last. By the way, Rick’s parents witnessed his big league debut.

6. Sid Fernandez – P – Mets – 570 – First off, where is the real Sid. I guess he got conscience of his weight and decided to do a slimming profile shot. He was coming off a kick but 1986 season where he went 16-6, so the Mets brass were expecting another great season out of him. He ran into some injury issues, but ended up going 12-8/3.81/1.26 and went to the All Star game (his second). Great fun fact about Sid, he wears number 50 because a) Hawaii (his home state) was the 50th state and his favorite TV show is “Hawaii Five-0″, I guess that dates him quite a bit.

7. Mike Pagliarulo – 3B – Yankees – This was Pag’s third year on the Yanks and his second year starting. Mike never being known as a contact hitter and more along the lines of Rob Deer, put together his best season of his career. He went 0.234/32/87, don’t care much for the 0.234 mark, but hey when you knock out 32 homers in a season I can’t complain much. A fun fact for Mike is that he attends Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins games. Wouldn’t he be lynched for that now a days?

8. Wade Rowdon – 3B – Reds – 569 – Wade was another one of those guys that had a pretty brief stint in the majors (157 total at bats). In 1987 he was on the Cubs and went 0.226/1/4 with 31 at bats. Did you knw (probably not) he was named the MVP at Stetson University and played Cape Cod ball for 2 years.

9. White Sox Leaders – 356 – The hitting leaders were Harold Baines and Greg Walker. While the pitching leaders were Joe Cowley and Floyd Bannister.

10. Eric Plunk – P – A’s – 587 – This was Eric’s rookie card. He actually started out as a starter but was known as a reliever most of his career. In 1987 he went 4-6/4.74/1.61 as a spot starter. Did you know that he was All-California as a pitcher in high school?

11. Joe Price – P – Reds – 332 – Joe had a pretty long career as a relief pitcher. In 1987 he was playing for the Giants. He went 2-2/2.57/0.96, which is spectacular for a reliever. Far and away his best season of his career. Joe graduated from Santana (Cal.) High School.

12. Terry Harper – OF – Braves – 49 – Terry really never caught on in the majors. He had a nice season in 1985 but by 1987 he still couldn’t reproduce it. He split the year between the Tigers and the Pirates and went 0.246/4/17 in what would be his last season in the majors. Did you know that he attended real estate school in Atlanta? I bet he’s still using that knowledge.

13. Doyle Alexander – P – Braves – 686 – This was a big year for Doyle and the Braves. Because it was summer of 1987 when the Braves traded an aging Alexander to the Tigers for some unknown prospect named John Smoltz. Actually, short term it was great for the Tigers since he ended up going 9-0 in 11 starts and was 13th in MVP voting and 4th in Cy Young voting. But in the long term . . . well I’m sure in 2014 when Smoltz gets into the Hall of Fame you’ll see how bad of a long term mistake it was.

14. Mike Kingery – OF – Royals – 203 – This was Mike’s rookie card, but that doesn’t say a whole lot since he became a journeyman backup. In 1987 he was playing for the Mariners and went 0.280/9/52/7 in what would be one of his most productive years. No fun fact for Mike.

15. Billy Hatcher – OF – Astros – 578 – This was Billy’s first year as a starter and he rewarded the Astros with a 0.296/11/63/53 as he was one of the better lead off guys in the NL. No fun fact for Billy either .

16. Chris Bosio – P – Brewers – 448 – Bosio was one of those cant miss players that I invested heavily on. THis was his rookie card and somewhere in my collection I have 50 of them. I was so sure that he was going to become a superstar pitcher after his 1987 season where he went 11-8/5.24/1.39. Of course I didn’t care about WHIP and ERA back then, just wins and losses. In Bosio I saw a superstar in the making. Of course that never panned out. Did you know that Chris enjoys basketball, football, and bowling? I bet all those things helped out his mechanics.

17. Rance Mulliniks – 3B/ss – Blue Jays – 537 – Rance was still in platoon mode and managed to pick up another 350 at bats this season. He ended up going 0.310/11/44, makes you wonder why he was just platooning? Rance’s father, Harvey played in the Yankees farm system. He and his wife have one son . . . of course it’s Rance Jr.

So we come across another double friendly pack. Still at no doubles as we climb into the 100 card region. Nice! I hope this streak continues for another 100 cards, that would be fantastic. I know it won’t but we can all hope right? As far as rating this pack, we didn’t get a whole lot, so I’m going to go with 1.5 stars. A lot of cards that were of rookies who never made it. Anyhow, I guess I’ll see you all on Monday when we start heading into the second hundred.