Among the unopened portion of my collection, I had two packs of 1980 Topps. No longer! I made the decision to open them up and see if I had a second Rickey Henderson rookie in my collection after all. No such luck, but other than Henderson, I was hoping for maybe a Schmidt -- success on that count! The two Hall-of-Famers I pulled were a Schmidt and a Yastrzemski, and also a Bruce Bochy, who could be a future Hall-of-Famer as a manager. I put those three right into protective sleeves and didn't scan them, and I'll send them out for grading someday (I actually already had a 1980 Schmidt, Yastrzemski and Bochy, although the new one are certainly in better condition). Here are a few cards I got that I found interesting, other than the Schmidt, Yastrzemski, and Bochy.
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1980 Topps Lance Parrish. |
I
wrote earlier about Lance Parrish's short time with the Phillies. He was much more successful in the AL, especially with the Tigers.
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1980 Topps Johnny Oates. |
I remember Oates not as a player, but as the manager of the Orioles in the early 90s. Those were good teams, with Brady Anderson and Ben McDonald. They challenged, but never won the division.
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1980 Topps J.R. Richard. |
This is a nice action shot of Astros pitcher J.R. Richard. I remember Richard from the league leader cards, as he was a two-time NL strikeout leader (1978 and 1979).
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1980 Topps Ken Forsch. |
At first I was confused, since I remember Bob Forsch better than Ken Forsch, I guess. Turns out they're brothers. In 1979 he pitched a no-hitter against the Braves, making him and Bob the only brothers to pitch no-hitters.
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1980 Topps Willie Montanez. |
Montanez had a decent career stretching from 1966-1982, but the main thing I know about him is his involvement in Curt Flood's case against the reserve clause. When Flood refused to be traded to the Phillies, the Cardinals sent Montanez instead.
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1980 Topps Fred Lynn. |
Fred Lynn is another of the sub-Hall-of-Famers I like so much. Rookie of the Year and MVP both in 1975, 9-time All-Star, and 4-time Gold Glove winner, he was great when he was at his best.
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1980 Topps Indians Future Stars. |
There was a Larry Anderson who appeared in the majors between 1974 and 1977, but I'm not sure it's the same guy -- the transaction info in Baseball Reference never has him with the Indians. Maybe it's a different guy, and this one never made the majors? Bobby Cuellar pitched 6.2 innings for the Rangers in 1977, and otherwise didn't appear in the majors. Sandy Wihtol appeared for the Indians between 1977 and 1982, pitching a total of 57.2 innings, with a W-L record of 1-0 with 1 Save and a 3.75 ERA.
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1980 Topps Ed Ott. |
Finally, I'll close with Ed Ott, who was one of the catchers on the 1979 Pirates World Series winners. He shared catching duty with Steve Nicosia; Ott appeared in 117 regular-season games and Nicosia appeared in 70. Ott played in 3 games in the NLCS and 3 games in the World Series, going 4-for-12 in the World Series with 3 RBI.
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