The smaller half

Maybe calling this post 1/2 of this trade might do a disservice to the other half, but I decided to break up the trade with Greg from the Collective Mind blog into 2 pieces, so both posts get the "half" designation.

In what started as a harmless trade involving just a few cards going in both directions turned into a 100+ card trade that took a chunk out of both of our want lists.

Totally unexpected were these 4 1974 Topps cards, including Canada's own Ferguson Jenkins!

Little bits and pieces of want lists like these 4 are always great, especially when you get Jenkins and Ken Griffey Sr.'s rookie card.  Still 88 cards to go to finish off '74, but that's a task which is a few complete sets away. 

1978 Topps was nicely represented in this envelope, as 14 cards are now off of that want list.

Unmarked checklists.   Check.

The hitters portion of the group, including the man who managed the Jays to two World Series titles, Cito Gaston.  894 wins as the Blue Jays manager still ranks him 1st all time with the club.  I remember Butch Wynegar well, 2nd round pick of the Twins in the '74 draft, he was up with the big club by 1976.   A quick dive into his stats and I noticed something interesting, his number of BB's vs. K's each season.  Butch walked more than he struck out each season of his career but one, which was 1987 in which he barely had 100 plate appearances.  A pretty good eye indeed.

Decided to scan all the pitchers together, and I started to notice the names.  Carlton and Tanana, lefties.  Denny and Leonard, righties.  So I wondered, what were the chances of having an equal number of left/right hand pitchers of this group of 8.  Sure enough, 4 lefties and 4 righties.   Bullet points for all!

• Paul Mitchell was part of the trade that brought Reggie Jackson to the Orioles.
• Joe Kerrigan's birthday is today, happy 66th Joe! I remember Joe as a pitching coach for the Expos, Red Sox and Phillies.
• I didn't know that Ken Brett died young in life, just 55 years of age back in 2003.
• Steve Carlton and Frank Tanana combined for just under 7000 K's, Carlton still ranks 4th all time, Tanana is 23rd.
• Dennis Leonard missed most of the '85 season, the year that KC beat the Blue Jays in the ALCS.
• John Denny had that one great season, 1983, in which he won the Cy Young.  Only won more than 11 games one other time in 13 MLB seasons
• Doug Rau had a great 5 season run with the Dodgers, winning 73 games.  His rotator cuff gave out in '79 and his career ended after a 3 game stint with the Angels in '81.  Doug tripled in his first career AB, and never hit another one after that.  The same picture on his '78 card above is used on his baseball reference page.

 Next up, the bigger half.  1972 Topps.  Lots of them.

Enjoy the hobby!

Robert