Why this card is awesome: Because Joyner's pointing straight at the ground. I bet you've looked at this card dozens of times and never noticed that! Also, another mention of current Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon. He was a pretty good scout, it seems.
Cool stat: I do not like Joyner and I don't feel like spending time researching a cool stat. But I will point out that he didn't strike out very much, and had only 10 games with 3 strikeouts in his career. Don Mattingly had similar career numbers to Joyner and he did it only 5 times.
the first starting lineup i ever had, was Wally
ReplyDeletei think it was bought @ the now defunct Hill's
Why don't you like Wally? Is it his uncanny resemblance to Matthew Broderick?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Topps knew something about Joyner that we didn't giving him the card #420.
ReplyDeleteI always wondered about how an average ballplayer like Wally Joyner was so loved by so many people. I guess that late-80's 1B position was not a hot spot for superstar players.
I'm sure Joyner got card #420 because he had two very good years in a row in 1986 and 1987.
ReplyDeleteI always thought Joyner was a hot dog--not on the field, but off. And the fact that he's on the list of alleged steroid users doesn't help either.
Joyner was above average: career OPS+ of 117.
ReplyDeleteAndy: Got any anecdotes to share of Joyner's off-field hot-dogging?
Being a rookie w/100 RBI on a playoff team at a prestige position will get you a lot of attention. The league figured Wally out by 1990 and he had a long, slow downward slide through KC and San Diego. I think that's how someone we look back on 20 years later as an "average" player got so much love.
ReplyDeleteAnd "Wally Joyner".. that's just a cool name. Wally World, etc. Always seemed like a good guy to me.. played hard and such.
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