Another fun card to create for the blog, here's a 1977 "dedicated rookie" for former home run champ Tony Armas, who originally came up with the Pittsburgh Pirates with a handful of games in 1976:
Armas
went 2-for-6 at the plate in his first taste of the Big Leagues, good
for a .333 average, with a run batted in and two strikeouts.
Of
course we all know he would soon find himself part of a big nine-player
trade that sent him to the Oakland A's, for whom he would suit up for
the next six seasons.
In 1980 he would get his first shot at
full-time play and would not disappoint, hitting 35 homers for Oakland
while driving in 109 runs.
The following season he would end
up tied for the American League lead with 22 homers, good enough to
finish fourth in the MVP race at season's end and making his first
All-Star team.
After a 1982 season that saw him dip a little
with 28 homers and 89 RBIs to go with a .239 batting average, Armas was
traded to the Boston Red Sox for former batting champ Carney Lansford,
and he would immediately find Fenway park to his liking, hitting 36
homers while driving in 107, though hitting only .218.
1984
would arguably be his best season in the Big Leagues, as he would lead
the A.L. with 43 homers and 123 RBIs while hitting .268, making his
second All-Star team and finishing seventh in MVP voting, while also
scoring a career-best 107 runs.
The next two years would see
his playing time drop as well as production, hitting 23 and 11 homers
respectively, leading to him moving on to the California Angels in 1987
where he'd appear in only 28 games, hitting .198 with three homers and
nine RBIs.
He'd play a little more in both 1988 and 1989 but
with only 13 and 11 homers the writing was on the wall for the
35-year-old, and would retire shortly after.
All told, Armas finished his 14-year career with 251 home runs and 815 RBIs, along with a .252 average over 1432 games and 5164 at-bats between 1976 and 1989, scoring 614 runs and collecting 1302 hits.
