Wednesday, February 27, 2008
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We're celebrating the 20th anniversary of one of the great classic baseball card sets, 1988 Topps. We're going through all 792 cards one by one, posting bits about what makes the card awesome and cool stats about the player or team featured on the card. We're also posting the 1988 Topps Traded set!
6 comments:
If he were playing today, I guess they'd say "nobody beats the Quiz."
There are so many things I could say about Quiz. I remember him turning the bullpen hoses on the GA seats on hot summer days in KC. I remember he always had an infectious smile. I remember when he came up, he was an afterthought on a pretty darn good team. I remember watching his first plate appearance ever, after going to St. Louis. He's facing Jay Howell, who propmptly throws him 3 balls. The 4th pitch is way outside, but the ump timidly calls it a strike. You'd think, given a reprieve and facing an AL reliever, Howell would pound the strike zone. Nope, ball four and Quiz has to run the bases. Two great men of integrity from the '85 Royals (Quiz and Dick Howser) taken by brain tumors.
i think quiz should get consideration for the hall. If guys like Goose and Sutter are in, why not think of guys who paved the way for the likes of Rivera and Hoffman
Like Sutter and, to an extent, Gossage, Quisenberry's career was before my time. Is it the lack of strikeouts that prevents him from being held on the same lofty level as the recently-enshrined closers, because I don't see a huge distinction between Quiz and Sutter (and would've voted for Sutter)?
It's hard to understand the debate about closers and the HOF. Many feel that closers are greatly overrated and that none (including the active closers with the best careers, Hoffman and Rivera) belong in the HOF. Among those who do feel that closers are valuable enough, it's not clear what distinction they draw among the various players we've named here. If you ask me, Gossage, Hoffman, and Rivera all deserve to get in because of their excellent stats AND long careers. Gossage: 22 seasons, Hoffman: 15+, Rivera: 13+. Quiz and Sutter each had 12, and I would keep them out. It's so tough to really know, though.
While researching Roger McDowell's card, I found that Quisenberry had the fewest strikeouts for a reliever with 1000 IP over the last 50 years:
http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/727C
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