From My Collection: Dickie Thon

My binder, in the state that I left it in 1994, mostly housed cards of Hall-of-Famers from the 70s, Pirates and Phillies that I always liked, oddball cards that I found interesting, and players that were of current interest back then.  This card, the 1980 Topps Angels Future Stars, fits into the Phillies category.

1980 Topps Angels Future Stars.

I estimate that Dad and I went to about 50-75 Phillies games from 1987-1993 (my middle school and high school years), and Dickie Thon was the Phillies starting shortstop from 1989-1991.  A word about the other two players here: Ralph Botting pitched with the Angels in 1979 and 1980, appearing in a total of 18 games (7 were starts), with a record of 2-3.  Bob Clark (a.k.a. Bobby Clark) was with the Angels from 1979-1983 and the Brewers from 1984-1985, with career totals of 967 at-bats, 100 RBI, 19 home runs, with a .239 career average.

1990 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Card Dickie Thon.

1991 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Card Dickie Thon.

I have these two Phillies Team-Issued cards (I think they always called them Photo Cards, so that's what I've labeled them in the captions) of Thon.  Those Phillies teams weren't very good, and he performed well enough for them, batting .271 in 1989, .255 in 1990, and .252 in 1991.  He was replaced with a multitude of players, with the 1992 Phillies not really having a regular shortstop.

Of course, what Thon is most famous for is being beaned.  He missed almost the entire 1984 season after being hit with a pitch and breaking the orbital bone around his left eye.  He was viewed as having great potential before that, and made the All-Star team and won a Silver Slugger in 1983.  He had trouble for years afterwards, and it wasn't until these years with the Phillies that he had a chance to play everyday again.

1989 Fleer Dickie Thon.

1989 Bowman Dickie Thon.

In looking for cards when writing these posts, I almost never wade through my boxes of the main part of my collection, my junk wax cards from 1987-1994.  I did happen to be looking through some of those cards for unrelated reasons, and I knew I was going to write about Dickie Thon, so I pulled out a couple of his cards.  Here we have him on his 1989 Fleer card with the Padres, and his 1989 Bowman card with the Phillies.  Bowman was ahead of Fleer on this, as the Phillies purchased Thon's contract from the Padres in January of 1989.  Bowman must have taken their picture in spring training that year.

After Thon left the Phillies, he played in 95 games with the Rangers in 1992, and in 85 games with the Brewers in 1993.  He retired with 1176 hits, 71 home runs, 167 stolen bases, and a .264 average.