Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Crossing some vintage Blue Jays off the list

The latest envelope to hit the mailbox arrived today from Tony over at the Off Hiatus Baseball blog (his trade post is linked).  Tony managed to do what I haven't been able to do over the years, put a dent in a few of the older Jays want lists.

The '77 Topps set is one set that I should never have had a want list for.  I spent so much time putting that set together last year that I could have easily bought the Blue Jays I needed at the same time.  So much for that....


Dave Roberts was drafted 1st overall by the Padres in 1972.  4 years later, he is part of a three player purchase by the Blue Jays.  Roberts was then traded back to the Padres 4 months later before even suiting up for the Jays.  In the top right corner, Larry Anderson was another player who never saw the field for the Jays, as he became the player to be named later in the deal that saw Phil Roof come from the White Sox to the Jays. 

The '82 Donruss want list is a lot lighter now due to Tony's generosity...14 cards lighter as a matter of fact.  I split the two scans into pitchers...


and position players.


I originally thought when looking through the envelope that the Griffin and Bell cards on the bottom row were the same card.  Danny Ainge never did step on a ball field in 1982, since he played 53 games with the Boston Celtics during the 81-82 season.  The '82 season was also the last that Otto Velez would be in a Jays uniform.  Otto didn't play very much that season, having just 52 ABs with 1 HR. 

Finally, the lone '82 Topps card I needed to complete the team set was in there.   No more Willie Upshaw on the list.


1982 was the first full season that Upshaw played first base for the Jays, finally unseating John Mayberry at the position.  Willie fared quite well, hitting .267 with 21 HRs and 75 RBIs.  1st base would be occupied by Upshaw for the next 5 seasons until another power hitting left hander came along by the name of Fred McGriff. 

Tony, thank you for the cards, they are great and really appreciated!!

thanks for reading, Robert

3 comments:

  1. Glad you got them and liked them! And, I hope they weren't too beat up!

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  2. Willie looks like he's saying, "Bout time you got me here..."

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