#27 - Joe Cowley

There is zero chance Joe finished his career without being called the Cowley Lion several times. To perpetuate the animal similarity, Joe looks like a deer in the headlights in this photo. I can't believe that of all the shots they snapped during this spring training session, THIS was the best one. At least we have a nice, new, black Mizuno glove to show for it. AND we have a great look at those retro White Sox unis. Any baseball fan knows the ChiSox have had some bad, bad, bad uniforms over the years, but I still think these look cool. You know, when they're not on a player who looks like he spent all night at Denny's.

I don't know much about Cowley, but I'm not sure why his career fell off a cliff. I'm going to assume injury, because after two consecutive solid seasons:

1985: 26 starts, 12-6, 3.96
1987: 27 starts, 11-11, 3.88

...Cowley pitched only 11 more innings in the big leagues. And those 11 innings did not go well (15.43 ERA). Those innings came over 4 starts in April of '87, so it's possible he just lost his effectiveness, was sent down and never came back.

#26 - Greg Brock

As much as he resembles the speedster, unfortunately, Greg has no relation to Lou. But this photo definitely could have been taken during Lou Brock's career. Everything about it looks very 70s.

The low angle with Greg looking off at...something.

The goofy, shaggy haircut with a few locks poking out the front.

The lack of any muscular definition.

No batting gloves.

And I just noticed something. Check out Greg's pinky on his left hand. What is up with that? I'm assuming it's a band-aid, but it almost looks like he's had a new finger grafted onto his hand.

As a player, Greg probably received more at bats than he should have, but he wasn't a terrible hitter. He had two seasons with 20+ homers (both for LA) and he ended up with an OPS+ of just above average (105). The problem was that he was a first baseman, and most teams don't have much tolerance for an average hitter at such an offensive position. Despite his mediocrity and the fact that he managed to contribute absolutely nothing to LA in two postseason series (just one hit in 21 ABs), Brock managed to stick around the big leagues for a solid 10 years. Good for him.

#25 - Bert Blyleven

Um, what are you looking at, Bert? If it's the train leaving the station for the Hall of Fame, I'd jump aboard. And what is UP with that goofy Twins logo in the upper left?

And by the way, my earlier sentence isn't an endorsement for Bert's Hall chances, just that after getting nearly 63% this year, I'm positive he will get in soon. But let's look at the reasons why he should and shouldn't be a HOFer.

Why He Should
He won 287 games, which would have been well over 300 had he not played for so many crappy teams.
He won two World Series with the Pirates in '79 and the Twins in '87 and was a fantastic postseason pitcher, going 5-1 with a 2.47 ERA. In fact, he had only one postseason series that wasn't stellar (the '87 ALCS against Detroit), but he still managed to win both the games he pitched, even beating a guy everyone sees as the ultimate big game pitcher (Jack Morris) in the process.
He compiled an incredible 3701 strikeouts. That's 5th all time.
He pitched 4970 innings. That's 14th all time. And of the 13 guys ahead of him, 5 played either in the late 19th or early 20th century.
He has 60 career shutouts. That's 9th all time. And he led the league in SHO 3 times.
His 10 most similar pitchers according to B-R are Don Sutton, Gaylord Perry, Fergie Jenkins, Tommy John, Robin Roberts, Tom Seaver, Jim Kaat, Early Wynn, Phil Niekro and Steve Carlton. All except Tommy John and Jim Kaat are HOFers.

Why He Shouldn't
Despite all the above, he never finished better than 3rd in the Cy Young voting, and only got votes in 4 years.
He won 20 games only once, in 1973, when he made 40 starts and went a whopping 20-17.
He made only two all star teams.
He gave up a LOT of homers. In '86 and '87 he gave up 50 and 46 homers, respectively. That is incredible.

The Verdict
I don't think it's even close. The guy should be in. Voters hold that 300-win total as a magical threshold, but when you play for so many awful teams, your win totals are affected. And Bert played a large chunk of his career in a 5-man rotation, which, of course, makes a big difference. Besides, wins are not the real measure of effectiveness anyway. The fact remains, Bert was an excellent, durable starter for a long, long time and should be recognized as such. Voters, get him in!

#24 - Tony Walker

OK, let's start with the good: It's our first rookie card! And now the bad: It's Tony Walker.

Visually, the card is pretty decent. It's a nice look at the 'Stros uniforms of the 80s, marking the transitional period between the horrific 70s ones (see, it still has those stripes on the sleeves) and the modern day ones (note the predominantly blue and white design). There's not much to say about the photo, it's a pretty standard batter shot.

Now, about the player himself. Um, I got nuthin. Walker had a cup of coffee in '86 after spending 5 years in the minors. He had three minor league seasons with 40+ stolen bases, so the Houston brass must have thought they could make the kid into a leadoff hitter. Unfortunately, he hit .222 in 84 games in '86 an was summarily sent down to Tucson, never to return.

On an unrelated note, I played Babe Ruth League baseball (age 13-15) for the Astros and our manager was a crusty old Asian guy who owned a lamp store. He wasn't a very good manager, and it didn't help that he spit when he talked and had a thick accent that resulted in a lot of embarassing calls to the team, "Assholes, ova hee-uh!" It really sounded like that.

#23 - Lee Smith

Why was Lee Smith always squinting? Seriously, he's squinting above, here, here, and here. Aside from that, this card is actually pretty nice. Lots of red, white and blue, a nice shot of two Cubs logos and a brand spankin' new Rawlings glove. I'll ignore the fact that the background suggests Smith is standing on a cloud. I think I chose that same background for my 4th grade school photo.

I remember that when Smith was traded to the Sox in '87 I saw him as an old, war-battered veteran who was nearing the end. I don't know why I thought that considering he went to the Sox when he was 30. Smith was one of the first of the modern day closers who you could count on to come in, throw peas and slam the door, while only pitching in close games. Smith was a great pitcher (one who I think should be in the HOF, as one of the first of his kind - Bruce Sutter is the other and he's in), but it shows you how little regard the voting community has for saves when the guy who is 3rd ALL TIME in a major statistical category isn't in the hall. For the record, I don't have much regard for saves either, but I think if Sutter is in, and Eck is in, Smith should be, too.

#22 - Doug DeCinces

Another boring, stripey photo with a bat boy checking out DeCinces from behind. That bat boy looks like he's doing some crazy form of yoga. It almost appears as if his right knee is behind is back!

Doug was a pretty solid player for the O's, then the Halos in the '70s and '80s. He was one of those steady, not spectacular, kinda guys who was a fixture in the lineup and occasionally went on season-long tear (3rd in MVP voting in '82). Most notably, he was a part of two Angels teams whose seasons ended in heartbreaking fashion. In '82, the Angels won the AL West and took a 2-0 lead over the Brewers (who had that year's MVP, Robin Yount) in the ALCS. They then proceeded to drop games 3 and 4, blowing a 1-run lead in the 7th inning of game 5 thanks to a Cecil Cooper 2-RBI single. But you can't blame Dougie, he went 3-4 in that game.

Then we all know what happened in '86. The Angels had a 3-1 ALCS lead over the Red Sox and a 5-2 lead in the 5th game going into the 9th. Mike Witt gave up a 2-run shot to Don Baylor (who was on the '82 Angels team). Gary Lucas hit Rich Gedman. Then Donnie Moore (with one out away from an AL crown) gave up another 2-run homer to Dave Henderson, giving the Sox a 6-5 lead. Amazingly California tied it up in the 9th, but even more amazingly, Hendu again victimized Moore (WHO WAS STILL IN THE GAME) in the 11th inning with a Sac fly that ultimately gave the Sox the game 5 win. But you can't blame Dougie, he went 2-5. Boston would go on to win games 6 and 7 by a combined score of 18-5.

#21 - Mark Davis

I was hoping Mark Davis' middle name was "Nondescript" but it is in fact "William" which manages to be more nondescript than the word "Nondescript." This is reflected perfectly in the most boring of card shots. In fact, it's so boring I'm not even going to break it down. Especially when there actually IS something interesting about his career.

Davis was a below average reliever who ended up with an ERA+ of 89. Not so good. But guess what? HE WON A CY YOUNG AWARD! In 1989, he saved 44 games for the Pads with a 1.85 ERA. And he threw 92+ innings, which is a lot for a closer. Great season. From time to time you will find flukey guys who won Cys mostly because they had a great season for a team who played in a World Series or at least won a division. But the Fathers didn't even win the division that year. And Davis was a reliever. And it's not like he had a history of dominance. And he won the Cy! And it wasn't even close! Davis had 19 first place votes. Second was Mike Scott with 4. Davis has to be one of the worst pitchers to take home the award.