#72 - Walt Terrell

On nearly every card I've seen of Terrell, he looks about 5'6". This one is no exception. And of course, it surprised me to find out he's listed at 6'2". I didn't like Topps' choice for the logo for Detroit. I much prefer the "D" to the silly tiger head that looks too much like a Bengal.

Only four batters had more than 10 RBI against Terrell: B.J. Surhoff, Harold Baines, Mel Hall and Gary Gaetti. Why is this interesting? It's not, but there's over 700 cards in this set so leave me alone.

#71 - Mike Aldrete

Blech. I hate this shot. Aldrete looks like he's trying to be model here. I'm assuming the photographer was female. Plus, Topps cut off the tip of the barrel of the bat. I'm getting really sick of their cropping decisions.

Aldrete was another one of those guys who was a perfectly average hitter, but never got much of a chance to play every day. Interestingly, he hit 2 homers off only three guys: Jeff Reardon, Mike Scott and Roger Clemens. Not bad at all.

#70 - Charlie Hough

FINALLY! Thank you, Topps, for giving us a full body shot. Hough looks like, well, Hough in this shot, just finishing his release on that knuckler he threw for 25 seasons. The photo gives us a nice look at the stirrups and the "TEXAS" across the jersey, a look I always liked.

Hough was an interesting story. He didn't become a full time starter until he was 34. AND THEN STARTED 400 MORE GAMES. That's pretty amazing. And it's not as if he wasn't an effective pitcher to that point. He had several good seasons out of the pen for LA but didn't get a chance to start regularly until he was sold (yes, sold) to Texas. From there he churned out start after start, even starting 40 games 1987. He was remarkably consistent, winning between 10 and 18 games every year from '82-'90, never having an ERA+ better than 128 or worse than 91. He finished his career with the expansion Marlins, even acting as Florida's opening day starter in '93 and '94 (at 46 years old).

#69 - Lonnie Smith

Lonnie Smith is officially the happiest guy in the set. And why not? His card is balanced and fun. Except for the guy's head in the background.

Lonnie Smith was an underrated player. He hit for average, got on base, swiped bags, and even almost won an MVP in 1982. He also had one of the great fluke years in 1989 for Atlanta when hit .315 with 21 homers (his only double-digit homer year) and a finished with a .948 OPS (.791 career).

#68 - Tony LaRussa

I don't know what anyone else thinks, but this doesn't look like LaRussa to me. The stubble, the lack of glasses...just looks like a different guy. And what the heck is he looking at? Is someone injecting someone with something?

Few managers have had as much success for as long a period of time as LaRussa. (And no one has aged less visibly.) He's won two World Series (one in each league), 5 pennants, topped 100 wins 4 times, 90 wins 11 times, and has won a division with three different teams (White Sox, As, Cards). Not too bad.

#67 - Bill Swift

Decent shot during what looks like pre-inning warmup tosses. The apathetic look on Swift's face gives that away. The photo gives us a good look at those old Seattle unis with the blue and yellow stripes and a hint of that ugly "Mariners" typeface on the jersey. And wow, is that one blurry crowd or what?

On the back of the card, we're treated to the nugget, "[Bill] is one of 15 children." I assumed (probably stupidly) that he was from Utah, but nope, good ol' Maine. How many bathrooms do you think his childhood home had? Oh wait, he was from Maine. How many outhouses do you think his childhood home had?

Swift was a decent pitcher, who began his career as a starter without much success, then transitioned to the pen and was fantastic. In '92 he was traded to San Francisco and became a starter again. That ended up being a great decision as Swift led the league in ERA in '92 and finished second in the Cy Young Award voting in '93 (21-8, 2.82).

#66 - Marc Sullivan

No, that's not a stain running down Sullivan's leg, it's a stain on the card. So that's why I'm not commenting on it. Even though I just did. This is a pretty boring shot, as the five people in the stands clearly understand.

Sullivan did absolutely nothing in his career. The rumor was (completely justified) that he was only on the Sox because his father was Haywood Sullivan, who was a part owner of the team in those days. His stats bear that out completely. 397 career PAs with an OPS+ of 32.

#65 - Tom Browning

"Hi, Mrs. Johanssen, I'm here to clean the pool." Browning looks like quite the athlete in this photo, doesn't he? Ignoring his pudginess, it's actually a decent photo. Lots of red and white and even a guy way in the background with a red jacket on. Plus, we have three different Reds logos visible. The Topps one in the upper left, the cap logo and the jacket version. Nice.

Browning was an average starter who had a couple great years, victory-wise, and is definitely best known for throwing a perfect game in 1988. There are a bunch of cool things about that game. First, Browning threw it against the Dodgers, who of course ended up winning the World Series. Second, the LA starter for that game was Tim Belcher, who pitched almost as well. He went the distance, giving up only 1 run on 3 hits, with 1 walk and 7 Ks. I figured that must have been a quick game...and I was right. 1:51. 1:51! That's unbelievable. Can you imagine if a network game happened that quickly? Fox would crap themselves.

#64 - Harry Spilman

Welcome to the time before Photoshop. What a terrible airbrushing job this is. It looks like Spilman is poking his head out of a cumulus cloud. Aside from that, this card goes into the "Guys Who Look Like They're Pitchers But Aren't" category. I honestly did think Harry was a moundsman until I looked at the back. Is "moundsman" an actual term? If it's not, consider it coined.

It's hard to find something compelling to mention about Spilman. The guy was a career utility guy, never played more than 83 games, never compiled more than 159 plate appearances. He did play in three career postseason series for three different teams, losing them all. In those series, he totaled 5 ABs and 1 hit, which was a homer off Todd Worrell. That homer came in the 9th inning of game 3 of the '87 NLCS and brought the Giants within one run of the Cards. Kevin Mitchell flied out to end the game. Yeah, so that's...something.

#63 - Fred Toliver

Our string of mediocrity continues. Here we have Fred Toliver, who doesn't look happy. Maybe his undershirt is itchy. I'm not sure why, but he sorta looks exactly how a guy named Fred should look. Good for him. Or his parents.

Toliver is another guy with a career that didn't last. So let's take a look at his homer log. He gave up 21 career homers, and there are some big names on the list, including Craig Biggio, Gary Carter, Eddie Murray, Dave Parker, Ryne Sandberg and Andre Dawson. Hey, if you're gunna get beat, it might as well be by guys like that.

#62 - Bobby Meacham

Hey, it's Bernie Williams without his glasses! Oh wait, it's Bobby Meacham. Nothing too notable about this photo, other than the armband Meacham is wearing on his left sleeve. I had to look it up, but Yankees players wore that band in 1986 in memory of Roger Maris, who passed away in December, 1985. By the way, check this out. It's a great resource for information regarding patches and armbands in baseball history.

Meacham had a short career and didn't play much during that time. He was a lousy hitter and not good enough defensively to make up for it, so NY was constantly trying to find guys to replace him. Talking to a Yankee fan, he commented, "I used to think Meacham was the definition of a good shortstop in my jaded, terrible Yankee teams of the late '80s kind of way." I think that sums it up.

#61 - Bobby Thigpen

Aside from Thigpen looking like a giant dork in this photo, it's not a terrible card. We have the cap-logo-next-to-the-card-logo thing, which I love, a nice clear shot of a somewhat broken-in Rawlings glove, and a background that looks almost fake. I seem to remember seeing it on other Chi-Sox cards in this set.

Thigpen is best known for his ridiculous 1990 season, when he notched 57 saves with a 1.83 ERA for a White Sox team that won 94 games. Unfortunately they played in the same division as the As back then, so they didn't have much shot at the pre-wild card era postseason. Due mostly to back injuries, Thigpen was done by the time he was 30.

#60 - Tony Pena

Great card. Nice action shot of one of the best defensive catchers of his time taking a throw to the plate. You even see his eyes concentrating on receiving the throw, the Rawlings logo on his mask and "All-Star" on his chest protector.

A below average offensive player with occasional pop, Pena more than made up for it with his play behind the dish. He won 4 gold gloves (3 in Pittsburgh, 1 in Boston) and handled a staff as well as anyone. When he came to Boston, he was one of my favorite players from the first time he lowered himself into that one-legged crouch. Hopefully the guy gets a chance to manage again someday. He did an amazing job with the '03 Royals, guiding them to 83 wins, despite the fact that they had a staff of immortals like Darrell May, Chris George and Runelvys Hernandez.

#59 - Ken Dayley

If you've been reading this blog at all, you know that I love equipment and shoes. And I HATE WHEN THEY'RE CUT OFF IN THE PHOTO. Seriously, why crop his foot out here? Just scale back a little, and you get Dayley's entire body, and as a bonus, more of the correctional facility in the background.

Once Dayley was moved to the pen for good, he was a pretty effective reliever. From '85-'89 He never had an ERA+ below 113 and was very stingy with the hits. He walked too many guys, but he was a very useful part of the staff for the Cards in the latter part of the '80s.

#58 - Thad Bosley

Now we're talking. This a much more interesting card than the Scott Nielsen one. There's tons of red, blue and white in the photo with Bosley's '80's Cubs uni, the matching logo in the upper left corner, the red nameplate...it's all great. Bosley is also standing almost straight up after his swing, which is pretty rare. Plus, you have a few Mets in the dugout watching the action. Anyone know who those guys guys are?

I'm not too keen that Bosley's left foot is cut off, or that it's clear he popped out, but hey, you can't have everything.

Bosley wasn't a great hitter, and was exclusively a part-timer during his career. He had almost zero pop, something that doesn't happen much anymore for an outfielder, so let's move on. The fact at the bottom of the card reads, "Thad has recorded a gospel contemporary album 'Pick Up The Pieces.' He enjoys writing poetry." Why do I bring this up? Well, I searched the iTunes store for "Thad Bosley" and found one track. I listened, and, well, let's just say Thad was just as good a hitter as he was a lyricist. In the 30-second clip (I refuse to pay for the whole song), you can hear:

Where are the answers?
Who really knows?
It can't be religion
Because no one agrees
And it's not in the movies
Or late night TV

Deep stuff, Thad.

#57 - Scott Nielsen

'87 Topps is back! For good this time. And what better way to revive the dormant blog with...a really boring card. It's too bad the shadows didn't completely overwhelm Nielsen's face (instead of just mostly), because then we might have been spared the sight of his terrible teeth. But aside from that, I like the cap logo right next to that other "Yankees" logo Topps decided to use. I always hated that stupid top hat in that illustration.

Scott had an unremarkable career. He pitched parts of 4 seasons, sometimes as a starter, never very successfully. He did give up a large % of his homers to Red Sox and former Red Sox, which makes sense considering he played the bulk of his short career for the Yanks. Of the 26 homers he gave up, here are the one-time Sox:

Bill Buckner
Tom Brunanski
Jose Canseco
Dave Henderson
Gary Gaetti
Rob Deer

#56 - Brewers Leaders

First of all, sorry for the lack of updates. But with a trip to Wrigley, an engagement, and a 30th birthday under my belt and I'm ready to start posting again. And what better way to resume than with a dreamlike leaders card.

Let's see who have here chattin' it up during this mound conference. First, Charlie Moore, who split the signal-calling duties with Rick Cerone that year for the Brew Crew. At the mound looking distraught, it's a tougher call. I'm not too familiar with '80s Brewers faces, but the number is either 42, 43 or 47. Of course, all three of those numbers were taken that year by hurlers, so I'm going to guess it's #47 Jamie Cocanower. With his face in the shadow it's tough to tell, but that's my guess.

I'm guessing that's Bamberger (one of my favorite names ever) chatting up Cocanower. But who's the other guy? It's either a 3B, SS or 2B, but it looks like he's wearing glasses, so it can't be Molitor. He's white, so it can't be Riles. Did Gantner wear glasses? I know he wore shades sometimes. Anyone know? I could be batting .250 on this card for all I know.

#55 - Tim Wallach

Hey, stripes that don't bother me! I like the red and blue up the side. They have a way of emphasizing motion as they turn and twist the player's movement. Plus, the stripes coordinate with pretty much everything else on the card. Wallach looks like he went to right with this swing.

Wallach is the first good player we've seen in awhile in this set. He was an OK offensive player, made 5 all star teams, won 3 gold gloves as a 3B, received MVP votes 3 times...that's an excellent career. He didn't walk enough, struck out too much and didn't hit for a very high average, but he was an important part of a bunch of decent Expos teams.

#54 - Bill Dawley

Kinda dorky posed shot here. But we do get a little peak at those goofy Chisox pants numbers they had in the '80s and those equally goofy warmup shirts that look like they were made from the tarp they roll out during rain delays. Do you think Bill's nickname was "Dilly"? I hope so.

As I've mentioned before, many relievers have great starts to their careers before batters figure them out. Dawley was no exception. He was fantastic his first two seasons, compiling a 120 ERA+ and 0.916 WHIP in nearly 80 innnings as a rookie, and followed that up with a whopping 171 ERA + and 1.194 WHIP in 98 innings his second year. Things went downhill from there and he was out of the league before he was 32.

Looking him up, I saw Dawley was drafted in the 7th round in the 1976 draft. I figured, he had a couple good years, so he might have been the most successful player drafted in that round. Uh, nope. Also drafted in the 7th round in '76: Two HOFers and an MVP. Ozzie Smith, Wade Boggs and Willie McGee. So much for that guess.

#53 - Ruppert Jones

Bland photo. Except for the fact that the catcher looks like he was cut out and pasted on, there's nothing much to say.

Ruppert Jones is our second guy in the last few cards who played in Japan. (Mel Hall did, too.) Jones was a decent player and even made two all-star teams. He had some power (24 homers in '77), some speed (33 SB in '79) and was a full-time center fielder for a few years. He was pretty inconsistent from year to year, at least in terms of batting average, which is probably why he couldn't stick with a team for long (6 teams in 12 seasons).