The next All-Star "fix" on the blog will be the one for Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Steve Sax in the 1984 set, since he was elected as starter for the 1983 game:
The
guy who was given an All-Star card in that set turned out to be
Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Johnny Ray, who certainly was not a
horrible choice.
However, why Topps moved away from just
showing the Midsummer Classic starters beginning in 1981 is beyond me,
and I always hated it.
Sax was a solid player throughout his
somewhat brief career, coming up with the Dodgers for a handful of games
in 1981 before putting in his first full year in 1982, leading to a
National League Rookie of the Year Award based off his .282 hitting with
59 stolen bases, 88 runs scored and 180 hits.
I enjoyed his
time at the end of the decade with the New York Yankees, where he played
three years between 1989 and 1991, posting a 200-hit season while just
missing out on a second in '91 when he totaled 198.
His 1986 was arguably his best when he collected career-highs in hits (210), doubles (43), OBP (.390) and SLG (.441).
By
the time he retired after the 1994 season, he finished with 1949 hits
over 1769 games, hitting .281 with 913 runs scored and 444 stolen
bases.
Not a bad career at all.
