#530 Gary Carter

Why this card is awesome: Because although Carter's got a goofy look on his face, I like the fact that you can clearly see he's keeping his eye on the ball. As an offensive force, Carter is largely forgotten due to the big offensive numbers that some catchers put up (Piazza, I-Rod, etc) in the steroids era, but he was damn good in his day.

Cool stat: From 1977 to 1987, Carter had a huge lead in HR among catchers, and a massive lead in RBI among catchers. He was also first in runs scored.

Hall of Fame count: 35

88 AUTO FEST #8

Oh so tricky.

Please see the first 88 AUTO FEST post for contest rules. First person to post a comment with the correct identity of the card wins an autographed copy. One guess per customer.

#529 Tim Burke

Why this card is awesome: Because he led the league in games pitched in his rookie year. That's probably pretty rare, right?

Cool stat: In fact, only 6 guys since 1901 have appeared in at least 78 games in their first season. (Mind you, the Baseball-Reference.com Play Index doesn't discount cups of coffee, so some players might have appeared in a handful of games one year, and then a ton of games in their official rookie season the following year. They don't make this list.)

88 AUTO FEST leader board

A rundown of who's won what so far:

Autographed 1988 Topps cards

Mike S 2 (J Jones, C Lansford)
Kevin 1 (J Gott)
Cannonball 1 (D DeCinces)
Matt 1 (J Calhoun)
zman40 1 (D Jones)
dayf 1 (T Brunansky, T Henke, B Surhoff, D Williams, R Horton)
rgrantd 1 (D Clark)

So Mike S is in the lead, having won two separate 88 AUTO FEST contests. Just as a reminder, dayf won the 5-card contest which as the rules stated, only counted for one point.

I am going to make one more 88 AUTO FEST contest post tomorrow. Unless somebody ties Mike S with 2 points, he's going to be the winner of cards 451-550 from the Topps set plus a few bonus cards. If somebody does tie Mike, then I'll keep posting more snippets until we have a winner. And don't worry, I have lots more autos to give away as we finish out the 1988 Topps set.

#528 Checklist 397-528

Why this card is awesome: Because, umm, well, we're two-thirds of the way done with the set. Exactly.

#527 Steve Henderson

Why this card is awesome: Because, man, I love the yellow warmup jersey. At least a few A's were rocking those on their 1988 Topps cards. These days, we're so used to alternate jerseys that the teams use to try to encourage more merchandise sales. But back then, except for batting practice, it was rare to see a player in an alternate jersey. It was home whites, road grays, and that's it. Oh, and his entire face is in the shadow.

Cool stat: Since 1978, Henderson is in an 8-way tie for most seasons with exactly 10 HR. Also, Henderson hit 3 walk-off homers, all at Shea when he was playing for the Mets, and all were 3-run jobs.

#526 Juan Berenguer

Why this card is awesome: Because, bear with me on this one: for cards where the entire player's body is shown on the card (or nearly entire body, as we're missing bits of both of Berenguer's feet) I think his body occupies a higher percentage of the card area than anybody else. That's not supposed to be a fat joke--I'm referring to how the photo captures him bent over in a pretty compact position, and they crammed that all onto the card.

Cool stat: Since 1983, Berenguer is one of 23 pitchers to have at least 2 career shutouts and 30 career saves.

#525 Marty Barrett

Why this card is awesome: Because any card that mentions Ray Boone is awesome. Plus, Barrett is rocking that helmet-over-cap look that was so popular back in the 80s. Looks like that helmet might come flying off at any moment. Seems like nearly all of the BoSox cards in this set were taken at Comiskey Park.

Cool stat: 60 different players had at least 2800 PAs from 1984 to 1988. Only three had fewer extra-base hits than Barrett. In that stretch, five players--Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, George Bell, Juan Samuel, and teammate Dwight Evans--had more than double the number of XBHs as Barrett had.

#524 Gary Lucas

Why this card is awesome: Because, wow, his cap looks to be about 6 sizes too large. I think maybe he has a ham sandwich under that thing.

And, this is the second Gary card in a row.

Cool stat: Lucas pitched in some bad luck in 1982. That was one of just 10 seasons since 1956 where a pitcher who pitched exclusively in relief had an ERA+ of at least 105, got 10 or more losses, and no more than 5 wins. And Lucas had the lowest W-L% of all. There are some good names on that list, including Lee Smith who did it twice.

Sort of the opposite of Mitch Williams.

#523 Gary Roenicke

Why this card is awesome: Because for those who cannot remember, Gary is the "good" Roenicke brother (besting brother Ron) although that's very much on a sliding scale.

Roenicke is pronounced "REN-ickey."

Cool stat: Roenicke, ala Ken Phelps, had 2 seasons with 20+ HR and yet fewer than 400 ABs. Over the period 1979-1982, he was the only guy to do that twice.

#522 Bob Patterson

Why this card is awesome: Because where the heck is Patterson looking? Down and to the left? At a little bird sitting on the grass in front of the mound? That's how you get creamed by line drives, my friend. Just ask Bryce Florie.

Cool stat: Patterson was a top mop-up guy of the 1990s. For pitchers with at least 160 games finished, Patterson was tied for the second-fewest saves.

#521 Jim Dwyer

Why this card is awesome: Because is it just me, or is there just the slightest hint of panic in Dwyer's eyes? Seems like perhaps he soiled himself just before the photo was taken.

Cool stat: Dwyer has almost the fewest RBI in a season with at least 15 HR. Dwyer's another bit of proof that the ball was juiced in 1987. He got 15 dingers that year without ever reaching double digits another season in his career.

#520 Dave Smith

Why this card is awesome: Because of some odd airbrushing. Look at the black line at the left edge of Smith's lower body. It looks like they sort of darkened and blurred the background behind him. Too bad--that might be Ken Caminiti that they blurred out.

Cool stat: Smith is one of the forgotten closers, a very steady pitcher in the 1980s who got sort of rubbed out by Dennis Eckersley and the modern closers who followed. He had the 7th-most saves in the 1980s despite not being a full-time closer for the first 5 years of the decade. And among relievers with at least 700 IP in the 1980s, he had the 4th-best WHIP, the fewest HR/IP (thank you Astrodome) and the 3rd-best ERA+. He was a very good pitcher indeed, even though he was certainly helped by the Astrodome. (Although, geez, his home/road splits for his career were essentially identical.

Still no winner

Still looking for a winner on 88 Auto Fest #8. Figure it out and win yourself an autographed card.

And happy 232nd birthday, USA. You look fairly decent for your age.

#519 Mariners Leaders

Why this card is awesome: Because this card tells you all you need to know about the Mariners franchise from their inception in 1977 to 1988. The two players shown, Harold Reynolds and Phil Bradley, were among the best offensive players the team had ever had, outranked probably by Alvin Davis and Jim Presley (and also by Ken Phelps had he been given adequate playing time.) And yet, Reynolds and Bradley were not all that good. Both put up some good numbers in one or two areas but were not well-rounded players.

Cool stat: I've already sung the praises of Ken Phelps. But check this out: most homers in a season with at most 332 at-bats. Phelps holds 3 of the top 6 places.

#518 Greg Gross

Why this card is awesome: Because of the great shot Topps got of the jumbo helmet the Phillies had specially made in order to fit Gross' humongous eyeglasses in there. Compare to this, this, this, this, and the mother of them all, this.

Cool stat: Greg Gross is widely remembered as one of the best pinch-hitters of his era. I'm not sure so sure that's the case. Check out his career splits and you'll see that his line as a PH was .240/.362/.282. That's a .282 SLG over 733 PAs, with 0 homers, 15 2B, 5 3B, and just 64 RBI. Poo. Since 1970, Gross has the 3rd-most games with a pinch-hit.

88 AUTO FEST #8

OK, back to our regular auto fest posts.

Please read the original post for the rules. You can enter this one even if you haven't entered any of the previous contests! First commenter to correctly identify the card wins an autographed copy!




This one should be a bit tough.

#517 Ron Robinson

Why this card is awesome: Because something tells me that with red hair, Robinson would have looked better in any jersey other than those of the Reds.

If you haven't been reading this blog since the beginning, be sure to check out Robinson's Happy Clown Action card, as well as his main competition for pret-a-porte clown in this set.

Cool stat: In 1986, Robinson had one of the best years of the 1980s by a relief pitcher. It was one of just 9 seasons where a reliever appeared in at least 70 games, had an ERA+ of 120 or better, plus had at least 1 K per IP.

#516 Jim Sundberg

Why this card is awesome: Because of that unusual bright blue line running across the dugout. I'm not sure if that's just a weird shadow pattern or if Topps messed with the brightness of the card. Or maybe it's a railing?

Cool stat: Since 1969, Sundberg has the most PAs in a season with a batting average under .200. Tom Tresh has him beat in 1968.

#515 Juan Nieves

Why this card is awesome: Because the card cuts off right at the bottom edge of his waistband, leading one to believe that perhaps that's just a long blue skirt he's wearing.

Cool stat: Of the 128 no-hitters thrown since 1956, Nieves' is tied around 30th worst for game score.

#514 Pat Sheridan

Why this card is awesome: Because you've gotta love the combination of Sheridan bunting, the extreme teeth-bearing face, and those massive eyeglasses. Sweet!

Cool stat: I always think it's weird when they show batters bunting, unless the guy either bunted a lot for base hits, or if he's a pitcher who often sacrified. For example, I would have LOVED to see a card showing Rod Carew bunting. But anyway, for the main part of his career (1983-1989) Sheridan ranked just 126th in sacrifice bunts. So why show him bunting?

#513 Tim Flannery

Why this card is awesome: Because if he had been a great player, his Bermanism could have been Tim "Flannery will get you everywhere."

Cool stat: Flannery hit just 9 career homers, but four of them came off guys who won at least 1 Cy Young award (Sutcliffe, Carlton, Jenkins, and Hershiser.) I wonder how that ranks in terms of highest percentage.

#512 Alex Trevino

Why this card is awesome: Because I think it's sweet to be able to see his number, 29, on both the knob of his bat and the top of his batting helmet. And because he's half game show host (Alex Trebeck) and half golfer (Lee Trevino.)

Cool stat: Trevino once had seven total bases in a game.

#511 Joel Davis

Why this card is awesome: Because Joel Davis is looking in your direction, ready to seduce you with his sexy facial hair.

Cool stat: Davis had a pretty short and unremarkable career, but here are some guys he kicked ass against.

#510 Dave Winfield

Why this card is awesome: Because I remember looking at this card and thinking in 1988, "Well, this guy has had a long career, but he's on the decline, getting only a somewhat decent card number ending in 10, so he'll be ineffective pretty soon." While it's true his best days were behind him, after 1988 Winfield went on to get 4 more 20-HR seasons and a World Series win with Toronto in 1992, despite missing all of 1989 with an injury.

Cool stat: I like Winfield and could say lots about his career. But here's a quick, neat one: most career hits from age 38 season onwards. Winfield is 6th, counting from 1901. And he's 5th in most homers from age 38 on.

Hall of Fame count: 34

88 Score

Via Cardboard Junkie comes this link to 1988 Score. Given that it's from the same year as 88 Topps, I am forced to love it.

#509 Bill Dawley

Why this card is awesome: Because as if confusing the names Dawley and Dayley isn't enough, Topps gave the two damn near identical cards. Check it out.

If Dayley had been a righty, they might have been totally indistinguishable.

Cool stat: Dawley's name is mostly forgotten in baseball history due to his short career, but he was one of the top relievers in baseball from 1983 to 1986. In fact, over that period, for relievers with at least 300 IP, he makes the top 10 for ERA+.

#508 Tim Teufel

Why this card is awesome: Because Teufel used to sway in the batter's box, a technique referred to as the Tuefel Shuffle. And I guess the follow-through on his swing has called the Teufel Crazy Lunge.

BTW "Teufel" is German for "devil."

Cool stat: Teufel absolutely PWNED Tom Browning, getting 22 hits in 48 at-bats, including 3 doubles, 5 homers, and 8 RBI. That's Teufel's most homers against any pitcher.