So we had a few eventful days, the last few days. First off, I spent most of yesterday steam cleaning the house, because we clipped the puppy’s nails and hit the quick. Not a big deal right? Except she ran around the house getting her blood everywhere. So that took about 4 hours to clean up. Nice way to start the weekend right? Today I’m at work waiting for the samples to prepare so I decided to tap out an Operations Topps post. We are up to pack 28 which is so hard to believe, but the best part is we have over half the set now! How cool is that? ANyways, here is pack number 28.
1. Lee Smith – P – Cubs – 23 – 29 years old
1987 stats: 4-10/3.12/1.37 with 36 saves
Awards – All Star (2nd appearance)
Player Notes – by 1987 Lee had already established himself as one of baseball’s best stoppers, this would be his last season in Chicago. The card is cool, because he still looks real young.
Fun Fact – He graduated from Castor High School
2. Larry Anderson – P – Astros – 503 – 34 years old
1987 Stats – 9-5/3.45/1.34 with 5 saves
Awards – None
Player Notes – He is one of the most underrated middlemen in baseball. Consistently had an ERA in the sub 3.5 area for most of his career, but never turned in a decent closer performance.
Fun Fact – In high school Larry was voted the State MVP in baseball.
3. Harry Spilman – 1B – Giants – 64 – 32 years old
1987 Stats – 0.267/1/14 in 90 at bats
Awards – None
Player Notes – This is another one of those airbrush cards, a bit better than most, but the fact it’s a close up but the back of his jersey is blurry is weird, better than most jobs though since I almost missed it.
Fun Fact - Harry and his wife ar eparents of 2 children.
4. Ricky Horton – P – Cardinals – 542 – 27 years old
1987 Stats – 8-3/3.82/1.35 in 67 appearances
Awards – None
Player Notes – Ricky was one of those forgettable guys, another generic middle reliever. Nothing spectacular but got the job done.
Fun Fact – None
5. Ray Fontenot – P – Twins – 124 – 29 years old – RETIRED
1987 Stats – None, retired.
Awards – None
Player Notes – This is one of the worst air brushing jobs of all time on cards. First off look under the right side of his cap, his head disappears, next, his jersey looks like a cartoon robe. I am not even sure the background was real. It just looked like they took someone else’s picture, lifted his head and put Ray’s head in it’s place.
Fun Fact - He is a few hours shy of receiving his MBA from McNeese St.
6. Ken Oberkfell – 3B/2B – Braves – 627 – 31 years old
1987 Stats – 0.280/3/48
Awards – None
Player Notes – This would be his last season in Atlanta, where, Terry Pendleton would take his job for the second time (Cardinals being the other time).
Fun Fact – Ken is a fan of the St. Louis Blues (NHL).
7. Robby Thompson – 2B – Giants – 658 – 25 years old
1987 Stats – 0.262/10/44/16
Awards – None
Player Notes – This covers the 2B aspect of my Topps All-Star Rookie team. He was never a great player, but he did enough to keep coming back year after year.
Fun Fact - Robby graduated from Palm Beach Junior College, where he was voted to the 1982 All Star team.
8. Steve Boros – MGR – Padres – 143 – 50 years old – RETIRED from Coaching
1987 Record – Didn’t manage in 1987
Player Notes – Only managed for one season in San Diego (1986) where he guided the team to a 74-88 record, which was good for 4th place in the NL West.
9. Frank White – 2B – Royals – 692 – 36 years old
1987 Stats – 0.245/17/78
Awards – None
Player Notes – The picture is funny, it looks like he is saying cheese while the picture was being snapped. One of a few players from the 80s who stayed on their team for the entire career. This team had another guy like that, George Brett.
Fun Fact – None
10. Charlie Leibrandt – P – Royals – 223 – 30 years old
1987 Stats – 16-11/3.41/1.29
Awards – None
Player Notes – I liked him, he was one of my late round sleepers when I played rotisserie baseball back in the day. He always managed to get you 10+ wins and 100 + Ks, a decent WHIP and ERA, plus he never got injured (at least earlier in his career).
Fun Fact – He and his wife have a daughter.
11. Dale Sveum – 3B – Brewers – 327 – 23 years old
1987 Stats – 0.252/25/95
Awards – None
Player Notes – First off, he is John Olerud’s cousin. Second, was I the only one who thought this guy was going to be a stud after that 1987 season? Not only did he never even come close to hitting 25 again, he only hit 69 in his 12 year career.
Fun Fact – He loves playing both tennis and golf.
12. Barry Jones – P – Pirates – 494 – 24 years old
1987 Stats – 2-4/5.61/1.80
Awards – None
Player Notes – I like the picture because he is so intent on signing that program, like’s it’s going to be the best damn autograph he has ever signed or something.
Fun Fact - He went to Indiana University.
13. Pedro Guerrero – OF – Dodgers – 360 – 31 years old
1987 Stats – 0.338/27/89/9
Awards – 5th (and last ) All Star appearance and 15th in MVP voting
Player Notes – This would be his last good year of his career. He had a very roller coaster like career. There were seasons he hit 30 homers and some he hit 5. If he wouldn’t have been more consistent, he might have been remembered as a better player.
Fun Fact - He led the entire Dominican Republic with 0.438 average in Legion Ball as a teenager in the early 70′s.
14. Dave Stieb – P – Blue Jays – 90 – 29 years old
1987 Stats – 13-9/4.09/1.36
Awards – None
Player Notes – Dave was an amazing pitcher, especially when he played the Yankees because he always killed us. In his first 12 big league years, only once did he fail to win at least 11 games, great underrated player.
Fun Fact – Dave is an owner of an extensive guitar collection, even more cool now that I know that.
15. Benny DiStefano – OF/1B – Pirates – 651 – 25 years old
1987 Stats – was in the minors
Awards – none
Player Notes – He spent the entire 1987 season in the minors. Not really a huge loss for the Pirates, since he was mainly a backup and not a well used one either.
Fun Fact - Benny likes to go dancing in his off time.
16. Tippy Martinez – P – Orioles – 728 – 37 years old
1987 Stats – Did not play (semi retired)
Awards – None
Player Notes – Tippy missed the 1987 because he was semi-retired, but came back in 1988 with the Blue Jays. In a separate note, he later changed his name to Charles Bronson and took up a career as an actor.
Fun Fact – None
17. Mark Clear – P – Brewers – 640 – 31 years old
1987 Stats – 8-5/4.48/1.60
Awards – None
Player Notes – Mark was one of those middle relievers that just hung around the league a long time and wasn’t particularly good (and he wasn’t even a lefty). I think he had the goods on someone to be allowed to play in the bigs as long as he did.
Fun Fact – He and his wife have a daughter and a son.
The non – double streak continues, and the set is growing like a weed. This box continues to be one of the best I’ve ever bought. Overall I’m going to give this one a 2.0 star rating, just because it was kind of boring to review. No real studs, and just a few funny pictures. But overall (other than Lee Smith that is), there weren’t too many dominating guys from this pack. Until tomorrow . . .
