On the blog today, an interesting "missing" card to create, the "missing" 1980 Firemen League Leader card that was conspicuously missing as we ripped open packs that year:
Now, I'm
not 100% sure, but I'm assuming the reason Topps didn't create this card
was because one of the American League guys, Mike Marshall, would not
allow them to use his image for cards at that time, with his last card
in the 1977 set, so you could see how that would be an issue here.
Nevertheless, I went and whipped one up all these years later!
In
the National League, we have all-world reliever in 1979 Bruce Sutter,
who would take home the N.L. Cy Young Award for his monster 1979
campaign.
Ironically, though his 1977 year was better, his
1979 season was also great enough to bring him the hardware, as he'd
post a record of 6-6 over 62 appearances, with a league-leading 37
saves, striking out 110 batters over 101.1 innings while pitching to a
2.22 earned run average.
Of course, we all know that he would
also go on to lead the league in saves four of the next five years,
including his record 45 saves in 1984 as a member of the St. Louis
Cardinals.
In the American League, it was a tie with Mike
Marshall of the Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers closer Jim Kern, both
having excellent years.
For Marshall, he would appear in a
league-leading 90 games, going 10-15 with a 2.65 ERA over 142.2 innings,
with an A.L. high 32 saves.
It was the third time he reached
the 90-game mark in his career, the first time since his Cy Young
winning 1974 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers when he set the STILL
standing record of 106 appearances.
As for Kern, I would say
he had a serious case for the A.L. Cy Young in 1979, having an
incredible year for the Texas Rangers, going 13-5 with a microscopic
1.57 ERA over 71 games and 143 innings, with 136 strikeouts.
Absolute beast!
Sadly
for him it would easily be the high point of his career, though he
would pitch until the 1986 season, getting in 13 seasons under the Big
League sun.
Well, there you have it, filling in a blank in the 1980 set 43 years later!
Hope you enjoyed this one!
