Bad Wax

I bet you thought I wouldn’t get this out today?  Well you are wrong.  By the way there are several people who I owe cards to complete trades.  Steve, Bo and Jeremiah, I just want to you know that tomorrow I will have the envelopes ready and will get them mailed out.  My extreme apologies on that, that’s the problem when you put the blog first and everything else second, you forget about those things.  Sorry again.  Also I’ve been a bit nostalgic lately, I am looking for a copy of Sierra’s Front Page Sports Football ‘98.  If anyone has a copy they can burn for me, it would be much appreciated and I can get some game used out to you for your efforts!  I’m going to save my nostalgia for another post though, for now let’s look at pack 14.

1. Jerry Reuss - P - Dodgers - 682 I swear that is my grandpa pitching!  Are you serious, can you be allowed to pitch if you are that old looking.I want you to know, when that picture was taken he was 37.  He must have lived two lives in that 37 years.  1987 was a rough season for Jerry, he was released by the Dodgers, Reds and Angels, all in one season.  Overall he went 4-10/5.97/1.64 and believe it or not this wasn’t the end of his career by a long shot.  No fun fact for Jerry.

2. Al Pulido - P - Yankees - 642 - I remember Al quite fondly, he had a decent minor league career, but never could put it together in the majors.  His last season in the bigs was in 1986 when he went 1-1/4.701.53 in just 10 games.  No fun fact for Al.

3. Donnie Hill - 2B - A’s 339 - Donnie was a career journeyman and in 1987 he started for the White Sox. He went 0.239/9/46 with just over 400 at bats.  His fun fact is that he is ambidextrous.  He learned to throw lefty after an injury to his elbow at age 11.

4. Glenn Hubbard - 2B - Braves - 745 - This was Glenn’s last season with the Braves, it also turned out to be one of his best years.  He ended up going 0.264/5/38 while starting for the Braves.  his fun fact was that he enjoys watching his son Jeremy’s little league baseball games.  I wonder how many of those he was at while he was playing?

5. Jesse Barfield - OF - Toronto - 655 - Jesse was coming off a 40 homer run effort in 1986 and he was right in the middle of his peak years, so when in 1987 he put up a 0.263/28/84 year, you can understand why they were a little worried about him.  This would be his last full season with Toronto.  His fun fact is that he enjoys playing basketball.

6. Jeff Reed - C - Twins - 247 - For a guy who never had more tha 300 at bats in a season, he carved out one hell of a long career (17 years).  I guess good back-up catchers can hang around a long time in this league.  In 1987 he was with the Expos and went 0.213/1/21 in just under 200 at bats.  No fun fact for Jeff.

7. Dave Righetti - AL All Star - 616 - This was his first All Star appearance and righfully so, he broke the record for most saves in a season.  His card has the AL saves leaders from 1986 and he was number one with 46.

8. Kirk McCaskill - P - Angels - 194 - This was Kirk’s third year in the majors.He had a rough year in 1987 because of an injury that kept him sidelined for most of the season.  He did go 4-6/5.67/1.58 in 13 stars for the Angels.  His fun fact was that his father, Ted, played pro hockey.

9. Carlton Fisk - C - White Sox - 756 - I am actually surprised that they didn’t give him a vanity number.  He was 39 and he had one of the better seasons in his career.  He went 0.256/23/71, in a year in which Karkovice was supposed to take his job.  Ron never did.

10. Bobby Valentine - MGR - Rangers - 118 - In 1987, he was in his thrid year as coach of the Rangers.  That was a pretty bad team (but then again most Rangers teams are), and he guided them to a 75-87 record that was good for 6th in the AL West.

11. Tim Teufel - 2B - Mets - 158 - By this point in his career (4 years in) he was already a back up.  He was still with the Mets in 1987 and he went 0.308/14/61 in very limited time with the Mets.  His fun fact was that he was selected to Cape Cod League All Star games at Fenway Park in the summer of 1979.

12. Cecilio Guante - P - Pirates - 219 - Cecilio was with the Yankees as a middle reliever in 1987, where he went 3-2/5.73/1.41 in 23 games. His fun fact was that he plays winter ball in the Dominican Republic.  he also enjoys playing cards in his spare time.

13. Steve Carlton - P - White Sox - 718 - Oh how the mighty have fallen, if I’m not mistaken in 1986 the Sox had Seaver and Carlton on the same team.  82 years of pitching there.  In 1987 he started out on the Indians, then after being released went on to the Twins.  Overall he was 6-14/5.74/1.68, which should have told he right there to hang it up, but he actually came back for one more round of pummeling in 1988. No fun fact for Steve on this card.

14. Rick Mahler - P - Braves - 242 - In 1986 Rick started 39 games, can you imagine any pitcher today doing that?  He had a real rough year in 1986 going 14-18, so in 1987 he had hoped to redeem himself , which unfortunately he didn’t, he went 8-13/4.98/1.51.  His fun fact was that he had two sons.  Rick actually died in 2005 of a heart attack.

15. Ron Robinson - P - Reds - 119 - Ron was a spot starter for the Reds in 1987, he ended up going 7-5/3.69/1.24 in one of he more consistent seasons.  Ton’s fun fact was that he was selected All Northern California in baseball and football and MVP of basketball in high school.  Now that’s a man’s man!

16. Bill Russell - SS/OF - Dodgers - 116 - Bill was one of those rare guys who played with the same team his whole career.  It was with the Dodgers and he played for 18 seasons.  His 1986 campaign would be his last year.  He went 0.250/0/18 in 216 at bats. He later went on to become the manager of, who else, the Dodgers from 1996 - 1998.

Looks like Topps gypped me on this one.  I only got 16 instead of 17 cards.  That’s going to throw off my card count as well isn’t it?  Overall I’m going to rate this pack a 3.0 star rating.  We have some old timers in this one and a couple of Hall of Famers in Fisk and Carlton.  Not too shabby a pack if you ask me.  So if you have any older PC games (football or baseball) let me know what you have and if it’s on CD.