1983 CAREER-CAPPER: WILLIE STARGELL

Super-fun card for me to create today: a 1983 "career-capper" for "Pops" Willie Stargell, as I start creating more cards for the 1980's, the decade I was collecting like a lunatic as I navigated my teen years:

The 1983 set is my absolute favorite set of the decade, with it's beautiful design with eye-popping colors.

So it would have been great to have a final Stargell card in that edition.

Over 21 seasons, Stargell would lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to two world championships, take home an MVP Award in 1979 (shared with the Cardinals Keith Hernandez), and get named to seven All-Star teams.

He would also have a great three-year run between 1971 and 1973 that saw him finish second, third and second respectively in MVP voting, winning two home run titles, an RBI title and even lead the league with 43 doubles (1973).

Luckily, I got to see him towards the end of his career in the late-70's/early-80s before he retired after the 1982 season.

His final numbers? Hall of Fame worthy as he'd finish with 475 home runs, 1540 RBIs, a surprisingly high .282 batting average and 2232 hits over 2360 games and 7927 at-bats.

Think about those numbers in UNDER 8000 at-bats!

Of course when eligible for the Hall of Fame, he was in, with 82.4% of the vote in 1988.

So sad that he would pass away at only 61 years of age in 2001.

One of baseball's beloved players, especially among his fan-base, he left such a lasting legacy that resonates to this day.

 

THE WHOLE NINE:SERIES 2-NOT REALLY MISSING: 1983 DON MATTINGLY

On the blog today, at long last, the first entry after 11-plus years in the blog's existence, a card for my favorite player growing up, Don Mattingly, who gets a "not so missing" 1983 card that was part of my "Whole Nine: Series 2" set released a few months back:

Mattingly made his Big League debut with the New York Yankees in 1982, when he appeared in seven games for the second-to-last-place team in a disappointing year after a World Series berth the year prior.

He went 2-for-12 at the plate, which comes to a .167 batting average, while playing both outfield corners and first base.

1983 would fare much better for the young man, as he hit .283 over 91 games, even putting together a small batting streak that was actually busted up by the famous "Pine Tar Game" as I remember it way back when.

From then on, until serious back problems cut his career short at the age of only 34 in 1995, Mattingly became a New York "God", winning a batting title in 1984, an MVP the following year when he drove in 145 runs while hitting .324 with 35 homers, a season that also saw him take home the first of his nine Gold Glove Awards for his defensive excellence.

I still feel he was robbed of an MVP Award in 1986 when pitcher Roger Clemens took home the Award, but hey, 38 years later some things will never go away for me.

As stated earlier, just when you thought he was paving a clear path to the Hall of Fame, back issues took so much out of his whip-like swing, that his power was taken away, and the final six years of his 14 year career were solid, but certainly not what fans saw the first half of his tenure.

When he retired, sadly one season before the Yanks made it to the World Series and winning it all, thus starting a dynasty that would last through 2003, Mattingly finished with a .307 lifetime average, with 2153 hits and 1099 RBIs over 1785 games, hitting 222 homers, 442 doubles and scoring 1007 runs.

When I tell you I idolized the man as a teen in Brooklyn during his career, I cannot overstate it, as he was without question one of two true idols I had, the other being singer Robert Smith of The Cure.

Just an amazing player that was sadly taken down by unjury.

"Donnie Baseball", "The Hit Man", however you remember him way back when, he was the best!

 

CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1983 DENNIS ECKERSLEY ALL-STAR CARD

On the blog today, a card that really represents a BUNCH of cards that I'd love to redo in the future, "missing" All-Star cards for actual starters of the previous season's game instead of some random selections Topps began doing in 1981, this being a 1983 All-Star card for actual A.L. starter Dennis Eckersley in the 1982 game:

 

Getting into card collecting around 1976/1977, I grew accustomed and EXPECTED my All-Star cards to represent the game's starters from the previous year.

In 1981 I was hit with a ton of bricks when I saw that Topps was now straying from that path when the great J.R. Richard, for some reason, did NOT have the All-Star banner across the top of his card, as was the case for Willie Randolph, Ben Oglivie, Graig Nettles and Ken Reitz.

What the hell man!?

When the 1982 cards came out, yep, we had more of the same, and by 1983 it was expected that Topps truly abandoned the "starter" criteria in favor of their own choices.

To this day it bothers me, and yes, I'll be fixing this in the future.

For Eckersley, he was the starter for the American League in the 1982 game held in Montreal, and pitched the first three innings, giving up three runs and eventually taking the loss, the big blow being Dave Concepcion's two-run homer in the second inning.

The National league went on to win the game 4-1, continuing their winning streak that began back in 1972.

The other player not given the All-Star treatment even though he was a starter in the 1982 game?  Cecil Cooper.