#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.

#507 Mark Gubicza

Why this card is awesome: Because you gotta love this late 80s card. Gubicza is rocking the Jordan-esque number 23 as well as the super cool blue glove. Oh, and he looks 12 years old.

In case you don't know, the "C" in his last name is essentially silent and his name is pronounced "GOO-bih-zah."

Cool stat: Gubicza was absolutely slammed by being on some mediocre (or worse) Royals teams. Actual lifetime record: 132-136 (.493.) Neutralized lifetime record: 140-113 (.553) with 4 different 16 win seasons.

88 AUTO FEST #7: We have a winner!

Whew, that took a while, but we've finally got ourselves a winner of the 5 autographed cards.

After yesterday's clues, a few people were able to correctly identify the 5 snippets:

1 - #375 Tom Brunansky
2 - #220 Tom Henke
3 - #491 B.J. Surhoff
4 - #104 Dick Williams
5 - #34 Ricky Horton

And one person, the inimitable DAYF, identified the commonality I was looking for among these 5 guys. In dayf's own words:

" Commonality: each player had one team where they were waived/traded/drafted away from that team at some point, and they ended up back for a second stint with that same team later on their career.

Brunansky - was with Boston '90-'92, signed with the Brewers, was traded back to Boston in '94.
Henke - was with Texas '82-'84, chosen as a compensation pick by the Blue Jays in '85, signed with Texas again in '93.
Surhoff - was with Baltimore '96-'00, traded to the Braves in '00, resigned with Baltimore in '03.
Williams - with Baltimore '56-57, traded to Cleveland in '57, traded back to Baltimore in '58, they traded him to Kansas City at the end of the season, and was traded right back to Baltimore in '61.
Horton - with St. Louis '84-87, traded to Chicago in '88, signed with St. Louis in '89

that's convoluted as hell, but I can't see anything else similar in
the careers of 2 hitters, two pitchers and a manager."

If you are a reader of my posts at the Baseball-Reference.com Stat of the Day blog, you might remember a while back when I made a post about players doing multiple tours of duty with the same team. I like that, for some reason (which is one reason why I like Harold Baines so much. Hello, three tours of duty with two different teams!)

A shout out to Mike S, who suggested the commonality of them all leaving their teams after a World Series win. That was a great guess, but he incorrectly had Doyle Alexander instead of B.J. Surhoff, the latter of whom was never on a World Series team. Still--that was an insightful find by Mike.

Congrats to dayf, who wins the 5 autographed cards.

We now resume with our regular 88 auto fest contests - just one card per post and no trivia.

CONTEST UPDATE: 88 Auto Fest #7

Since nobody has identified all the cards correctly, I have decided to help you out.

Refer back to the original contest post for the 5 snippets.

Here, in the same order, are links to archival sections of this blog containing those 5 cards. This will greatly narrow down your search. It should be pretty easy to identify all 5 cards now. If you haven't looked at this contest before, you can start right now on equal footing with everyone else. Let's see if we can get a winner.

Snippet 1

Snippet 2

Snippet 3

Snippet 4

Snippet 5

See the original contest post for how to enter.