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1986 topps blog 1986 topps blog sunday november 2 2014 429 greg booker card thoughts greg booker looks really young in this picture but on his earlier cards he looks really old probably because he aced the mustache the player greg booker was a man with a dynamite arm but man did he have control issues in 1982 while pitching at class a reno the guy walked an incredible 157 batters in 161 or so innings against 87 strikeouts that season would be booker s last full time as a starter as he moved up the ladder steadily despite eras that never went below 5 and walks galore somehow making the majors at age 23 11 2 3 innings pitched 9 walks he was a stellar contributor to the padres pennant run in 1984 keeping his era below 3 throughout july and august it was good enough for a roster spot in the postseason where pitched fine against the cubs but then lost his control in game 3 of the world series walking 4 in one inning booker got a card in this set perhaps because he pitched in the world series because he barely pitched at all in 85 22 1 3 innings pitched and ugly 6 85 era he finally righted the ship in 1987 after an 86 season mostly in the minors and had a decent year as a middle reliever while marrying his future boss s daughter kristi mckeon but ironically once his father in law jack mckeon took over as manager in addition to his gm duties in 1988 he barely pitched booker was booed mercilessly while he often went two weeks between relief appearances while his era doesn t seem all that bad 3 39 he had become the team goat by the middle of the 1989 season booker was gone traded to the twins for terrible freddie toliver invited to spring training by the cubs in 1990 he was cut before the season began and ended up pitching his last 2 games with the giants that season booker still works in baseball as a scouts after previously working for a long time as a pitching coach including from 1997 2003 for the padres he has no hard feelings for his father in law he lived next door to him for several years rear guard back before pitching prospects were protected like rare jewels it was common to see a 19 year phenom appear in the majors expansion teams especially had the propensity to rush first round draft picks to the majors in order to create some buzz little did franklin know that he would never pitch again the majors after 1971 the poor guy couldn t buy a ticket out of alexandria texas league for three years and he missed the entire 1972 season after injuring his elbow even sadder after never making it back to the pros franklin s wife left him his father committed suicide and he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia his mental illness caused him to overeat and chain smoke he blames baseball for his problems franklin currently resides in a group home posted by jets break jaws at 9 35 pm 5 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels padres wednesday october 22 2014 428 max venable card thoughts i always wondered how ball players especially base stealing types wore glasses you would think the glare would get to you the player despite the awesome name although his given name is william venable was not much of a baseball player in high school he was known more as a football star and he turned down scholarships to sign with the dodgers he became however a surplus minor leaguer with them despite once driving in over 100 runs as a leadoff hitter while at lodi california league the giants drafted him in the rule 5 draft in 1978 and he spent 79 as a defensive replacement and pinch runner hitting just 165 1980 was a bit better as he hit 268 and he ended up starting a few more games in the outfield but in 81 he spent most of the year at pheonix only getting into 18 games in the majors venable once again played the role of the late inning defensive replacement and pinch runner in 1982 but by 1983 he was the primary back up outfielder despite the confidence the giants had in him he ended up hitting just 219 he did however come in second in stolen base percentage swiping 15 bags while only being caught twice after a quick stop in montreal he was a throw in in the al oliver deal venable landed in cincinnati where he had his best season in 1985 hitting 289 and stealing 11 bases in 77 games this impressed the reds and they made him their primary left handed pinch hitter the following year but he didn t hit well in the clutch 175 in high leverage situations or much overall 211 the reds gave on venable and he spent almost the entire 1987 season at aaa nashville appearing in just 7 major league games 1988 found him exiled to the mexican league where he hit 319 in 13 games against the odds he once again became a steady contributor with the angels in 1990 and 1991 where he hit around 250 and played solid defense another two years in a foreign country in japan where he hit well for the chiba lotte marines and there would not be a third chance as his career ended in 1993 venable immediately became a manager in the braves minor league system but he couldn t win at idaho falls 1994 or danville 1995 as the talent at those levels consisted of bruce chen who is still pitching and that is about it he was relegated to a coaching role which he performed ably in america and korea venable s most recent gig was as the hitting coach for high desert in the california league yes wil venable long time outfielder for the padres is max s son another son plays in the canadian football league rear guard palindromes a frustrated english major wrote this trivia question in world war ii kazak was part of the d day operation where he was bayoneted and his elbow shattered by shrapnel despite this he persevered and became an all star in 1949 by 1952 he was already done in the majors kazak had just 1 hit in those 13 red games that year but kazak didn t give up he played another 7 years in the minors retiring at age 40 kazak would never play for the tigers despite being shown with them on his 53 card posted by jets break jaws at 9 53 pm 3 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels reds sunday september 21 2014 427 joe cowley card thoughts i thought this joe cowley was this jerky sun times columnist but apparently i was wrong the player cowley spent 9 years in the braves system but never pitched much with them in the majors which is telling because from 1981 1984 when cowley was at aaa their major league pitching staff was no great shakes after essentially being released by the braves in 1983 cowley was picked up by the yankees as aaa insurance for their starters but the yankees only had ron guidry and phil neikro as regular starters that year and cowley was rotated into the rotation in july he performed surprisingly well going 9 2 with a 3 68 era cowley was even better in the season shown on this card with a 12 6 record with winning percentage was in the top ten in the league he was helped by the yankees high power offense however as his peripherals that season were pretty bad 85 walks to 97 strikeouts and 29 home runs given up in just over 159 innings cowley couldn t even field well realizing they had lightning in the bottle the yankees made a rare wise trade for the time and sent cowley to the white sox for britt burns and a few minor leaguers with the sox he continued to walk tons of guys although his strikeouts were up a tad his 11 11 record wasn t so great however although some of that can be attributed to the poor white sox offense backing him up but notably cowley threw one of the more improbable no hitters in major league history you usually think of no hitters as a crisp well thrown game this was decidedly not cowley was in trouble all game and at one point walked three batters in a row with no outs however he got out of it by just giving up a sacrifice fly those three walks were out of seven on the day and he won the game 7 1 cowley would never win another major league game he went 0 2 the rest of the season and then gave up 17 hits and 21 walks in just 11 2 3 innings with the phillies in 1987 he only made it past the fifth inning in one of those four starts he gave up 7 5 5 and 6 runs in those starts so cowley is the last pitcher to have his last win be a no hitter rear guard you might think cowley was a veteran by looking at this card back but no those are almost all minor league teams topps standard back then was if a player had less than 3 years experience they showed the minor league record if you squint hard you can see he played with the braves tucked away in there in 1982 as a kid though all those unknown towns were exciting cowley s best minor league year as a starter was with greenwood in 1978 where he went 11 7 greenwood was part of the now defunct western carolinas league which changed its name in 1979 to the south atlantic league greenwood had been a braves affiliate since 1969 but didn t survive the initial transition to the south atlantic league they later had three years as a pirates affiliate posted by jets break jaws at 11 20 am 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels yankees older posts home subscribe to posts atom this blog is dedicated to the first topps set i completed solely by trades it is the 25th anniversary of the year i finally got a don mattingly card and breathed a triumphant sigh this blog is merely the opinion of me the blogger please correct any erroneous facts you may see and please leave comments looking for someone blog archive 2014 45 november 1 429 greg booker october 1 september 2 august 3 july 4 june 6 may 2 april 6 march 5 february 9 january 6 2013 95 december 8 november 6 october 8 september 7 august 10 july 4 june 6 may 6 april 8 march 7 february 10 january 15 2012 151 december 9 november 12 october 14 september 8 august 9 july 7 june 11 may 13 april 14 march 16 february 18 january 20 2011 136 december 15 november 13 october 17 september 13 august 14 july 13 june 7 may 20 april 21 march 3 labels angels 20 astros 15 athletics a s 16 blue jays 15 braves 14 brewers 18 cardinals 16 cubs 15 dodgers 15 expos 15 giants 15 indians 16 managers 8 mariners 17 mets 22 orioles 18 padres 17 phillies 16 pirates 14 rangers 15 record breakers 7 red sox 16 reds 17 royals 14 subset pete rose 6 team leaders 12 tigers 16 turn back the clock 5 twins 14 white sox 16 yankees 17 followers total pageviews about me jets break jaws view my complete profile my inspiration 1975 topps it s far out man 640 harmon killebrew 14 years ago other notable topps blogs 1971 topps 1974 topps 1977 topps 1983 topps 1985 topps powered by blogger