Flashback Friday with Throwback Thursday

 

Topps releases a new set once a week online that they call Throwback Thursday. The set mimics designs from past Topps sets, and not just baseball. A recent set caught my eye, featuring some of the fastest players in MLB both today and yesterday. 

I liked the set so much, in fact, that I decided to grab a lot from eBay of the original design the set was based upon - the 1954 Topps "World of Wheels" set. I thought it might be fun to match up the baseball player with a car from the original set. I picked the "Durable 24-Hour Champion" for Mike Trout. Even though he hasn't had post season success yet, he is a perennial MVP candidate and has the kind of popularity that has critics gushing over his sustained excellence.

Luis Robert is a still unproven but exciting prospect that has made an impressive debut. The Belly Tanker is a re-purposed, modified hot rod made from leftover airplane parts. Robert certainly packs the power and speed of a small aircraft!

Byron Buxton is a rare talent, but sometimes can be hard to find in top condition. The Excalibur J is one of the more rare and sought after vehicles. Only 3 were made before new Excalibur models began production in the 1960s. But when you saw one in action, man, there's nothing quite like it!

When I think of Rickey Henderson, I think of an unparalleled all-time great. He's a record breaker of a variety of skills - stolen bases of course, but also walks, runs scored, lead-off home runs... Rickey, it has been argued, could be split in two and both of those players would have Hall of Fame careers. The 300 SL was named the "Sports Car of the Century" in 1999. When the car was put into production for the general public, it was the fastest production car of all time.

Few players combined speed and talent and style like Ichiro. There was something immediately identifiable about him- from his batting stance, to the meticulous care paid to his uniform and equipment, Ichiro was cool and collected at all times. Founded in 1910, Alpha Romeo survived both world wars, and when racing returned after WWII, the car maker began to dominate the field of a new kind of racing, formula one. And they did it with vehicles that performed beautifully with impeccable style. 

You need a centerfielder? A Second Baseman? A Shortstop? A guy that can hit for half a season with broken hand? Trea Turner is your guy. He'll take the extra base, he'll steal a base, he'll hit it over the fence. He's tough, durable, dependable. You know, like a Jeep! Similar to the belly tanker, the Jeep was a product of military engineering. A vehicle that could excel in almost any condition. 

As is often the case with these sets - I think Topps did a pretty good job with the big picture, but missed the mark on the little details. They churn out a new set like this every week, so it may be asking a bit much for some stats on the back or a little narrative blurb. How cool would it have been to have something like sprint speed, or 1st to third times? Or maybe going further into the past to include some speedsters from the 1950s? Like Richie Ashburn, or Luis Aparicio, or Willie Mays, or Minnie Miñoso? I get that they need to sell this thing, but that's just my opinion..

Have you picked up any Throwback Thursday sets? What do you like/dislike about them?

Thanks for reading!

I Love the 80s - 1982 Oakland Athletics

This is a series of posts on a 1980's Frankenset. Each page features a different team, with 9 of my personal favorite cards from that year's team. You might find players repeated, you'll definitely see brands repeated, but hopefully you'll agree that there are some interesting selections from the 1980s!

In 1981, Oakland won the AL West after a first place finish and a sweep of the Kansas City Royals in the ALDS. They would get a taste of their own medicine in the ALCS, as they were swept by the New York Yankees. Numerous articles and tributes have been written about the 1981 A's. Led by Billy Martin, the team won their first 11 games of the season and never really looked back. 

The following season featured Rickey Henderson's greatest base stealing display, but little else from the rest of the team. They finished in 5th place in the AL West, with a 68-94 record. Billy Martin was out following the season, with many questioning his over-reliance on his starting pitching, and wondering if the "Billy Ball" formula was only a short term solution. The June draft in 1982 also yielded some hope for the future -- in the 15th Round, the Athletics scooped up Jose Canseco out of high school in Miami.

The Cards:

Topps #610 Rickey Henderson - If it wasn't obvious to everyone already, 1982 was the year Rickey Henderson established himself as the best base-stealer of his generation. He was now firmly understood to be a superstar, though his power had yet to fully develop. He would go on to become not only the best base-stealer, but also the best lead-off hitter of all-time. His 1,406 career stolen bases is the most all time, with the next closest player, Lou Brock, 468 steals behind him. He is the all-time MLB leader in Runs Scored, and 2nd All-time in Walks. 

Topps #578 Shooty Babitt - Babitt had a good start to the 1981 season, hitting over .300 through the month of May. His bat cooled off in the weeks following the return from the strike, and he would find his role diminish not only due to a slumping bat, but also poor play at second base. He turned just 5 double plays for the A's in 1981, and lost the confidence of Billy Martin. When Billy doesn't trust a player, it is very unlikely that he will get playing time. In Oakland, Martin was also the team's general manager - so Babitt found himself in AAA in 1982, then he was released by the A's and spent time in Montreal's minor league system. He stayed in baseball as a long time scout for the Diamondbacks and Mets. 

Topps #187 Jeff Newman - I picked this mostly for the good shot of the A's white unis with the Gold trim... Jeff Newman was an All-Star in 1979 for the A's, and was used as a utility player in 81/82. He was a Catcher, 1st Baseman, and pinch hitter for Billy Martin's A's, but did not have much success at the plate. His OPS+ for those 2 seasons combined was just 64. He hit .199 in 1982 for the season, and was included with Tony Armas in the trade to Boston that brought Carney Lansford out west prior to the 1983 season. In his All-Star season, he hit 22 homers as the A's primary Catcher.

Fleer #109 Tom Underwood - This was another card selected first and foremost for the photo - Underwood has a little bat rack action going on behind him. Underwood split 1981 between the Yankees and the A's, used mostly out of the bullpen. In '82 Underwood was the swingman, starting 10 games and finishing 20 others. He made 56 appearances for the '82 A's, as one of Martin's most used arms out of the bullpen. He was a mid rotation starter for most of his career up to that point, pitching in Philadelphia, Saint Louis, and Toronto on his way to the Yankees. In 1982 he finished with a 10-6 record and 7 saves. Underwood was a Topps All-Star Rookie in 1975, and once pitched a complete game against his brother Pat, losing 1-0 to his little bro and the rest of the Detroit Tigers.

Donruss #491 Billy Martin - He's been mentioned several times already, and with good reason. The 1981 and 1982 A's were exemplified by the rising and falling fortunes of Billy Martin as a manager and as a man. Martin came into the A's job with big chip on his shoulder. His brand of baseball included a long leash on starting pitchers and aggressive moves on the bases. Both of those traits fit well with the 1981 A's, as the team rallied behind their fiery skipper. Whether it was fatigue or injury or just too much of a good thing, 1982 saw the team fail to repeat their success on the field, despite essentially riding the same strategy into battle. Martin had a way of making a quick impression on a team, followed by a quick exit. He led the Twins to an AL West Pennant in 1969, his only season managing the team. In 1972, his 2nd season with the Tigers, he won the AL East Pennant. In 1974, his first season with the Rangers, he led the team to a 2nd place finish. He was on hand for the Yankees' AL East titles in 1976 and 77 - but was fired in each case before getting the chance to go further. The A's fired Martin after the 1982 season.

Fleer #106 Rob Picciolo - Rob was a glove first SS for the A's, getting his first taste of big league action in 1977 as their everyday starter. He was still the team's primary starting shortstop in 1981, despite having hit just .228 in the big leagues to that point. He would defy expectations and hit a career high .268 for the A's in 1981, and also continued to display his signature skills on defense, ranking 3rd in the AL in fielding pct. Picciolo was traded to the Brewers in 1982, and was fortunate to once again be in a pennant race. With Milwaukee he was behind Hall of Famer Robin Yount on the depth chart, so he was used sparingly. Following his playing days, Picciolo was a manager in the minors and major league bench coach for the Padres and Angels. Sadly, he passed away in 2018 following a heart attack.

Donruss #339 Cliff Johnson - Johnson was the A's primary DH in 1981, hitting .260 with 17 homers, then platooned with Jeff Burroughs in 1982 in that same role. Already a decade into his career, his best seasons were yet to come. In 1983 and 84 he was the DH for the up and coming Toronto Blue Jays, 66 of his 196 career homers came in the final 4 years of his career. For the A's Johnson had an OPS+ of 119. Prior to his late career fireworks, he was a Catcher/First Baseman. He was a member of the 1977 and 1978 Yankees world series teams, mostly used as a backup for Thurman Munson, though he did hit 22 homers in 1977. He was the Yankees DH during the 77 ALCS, hitting his lone post season Home run. Despite a low career average, Johnson was adept at getting on base, an underappreciated asset in his playing days. His career .355 OBP dwarfed his .258 career batting average, but illustrated his worth to his ballclub.

TCMA Baseball's Greatest Pitchers #45 Charles Albert Bender - Bender was born in Minnesota to a German father and a Chippewa/Ojibwe mother in 1884. Bender grew up on the White Earth Reservation, and was sent to boarding school in Carlisle. PA in his early teens. Bender was both an accomplished student at school, but also a talented multi-sport athlete. Racial prejudice was part and parcel of the baseball world in the early 1900s, and despite his distaste for the moniker, the media shortened his name to "Chief" and often based their analysis of his playing on tired and baseless stereotypes regarding his "Indian Blood." It is debatable who "invented" the pitch, but Bender was one of the first pitchers in the major leagues to regularly throw a slider, which he used to devastating effect - in 1910, he went 23-5 with a 1.58 ERA, as well as pitching 2 complete games in the 1910 World Series. His Athletics won the championship in 1910, 1911, and 1913 due in no small part to his pitching. He was also known for his ability to study opposing pitchers and pick up subtle tells in their delivery that would tip their pitches. A's Manager Connie Mack would often place Bender at 3rd or 1st base in the coaches box when not pitching to relay signs to hitters and baserunners. Bender was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1953 by the veteran's committee. He finished his career with a 2.46 ERA and 212 victories in 16 MLB seasons.

Donruss #113 Rickey Henderson - When Rickey stole 130 bases in 1982, the 2nd place base stealer Damaso Garcia had 54. Harold Reynolds actually won the stolen base crown in 1987 with 60 steals, when Rickey missed significant time due to injury. It was the only year that Rickey did not win the stolen base crown between 1980 and 1992. Reynolds tells the story quite well of getting a call from Rickey after the season - "60 steals? You oughta be ashamed of yourself. I had that at the All-Star break." In fact in 1982, Henderson had 84 at the All-Star Break. An odd fact - Rickey hit right handed but threw left handed - can you imagine his stats if Rickey had that extra step head start from the left handed batters box? 

 

Total Recall

Topps Total is back for 2020 - the design is simple, I like the color gradients as they move around the card. This photo looks like it was taken before Cruz sprained his wrist so bad that he tore a tendon last year.

Here's the back, and just like last year, there's a player specific blurb followed by a promotional statement for the set the card is a part of.

Wave 1 of 9 features Nelson Cruz, Taylor Rogers, and Kenta Maeda. Usually 3 to 4 players per team per wave. Nice to get a Maeda Twins card early on!

The mail also had a couple more surprises for me. The 2020 Topps NOW Road to Opening Day set arrived, with Nelson Cruz once again front and Center.

Some fun shots from Spring feature the reigning AL Central Twins, all looking ahead to the 2020 season (whenever that might be).

Dangit, I made myself sad with these! Luis looks so happy here, now the season might not happen at all. Josh Donaldson, the big name free agent, might not get a chance to show Twins fans he was worth the big investment. As for Byron Buxton? Man, that's just not fair. He was healthy again and ready to prove that he is one of the best players in baseball. I hope he gets a chance soon.

There was no option for an autograph this year for the Twins set, I guess the demand was too low last year, and everything happening in March derailed the usual release of the autograph option for all teams. It was about half and half when I bought this, about a week before the deadline, and still just the base option. They did throw in this parallel, however, featuring Twins' Ace José Berríos.

The backs all have a "player spotlight" to go with the same sentence about the Twins, who not only led the League in homers, they set a new All-Time record... 

Speaking of all-time records, here's the last piece of mail today, a sweet Rickey Henderson from Topps Project 2020. I think the consensus is that some of these cards are awful, some are ok, and at least one of them is awesome. The other thing that everyone agrees on is that everyone's Awful/OK/Awesome cards are different. I think this particular one resonated with me because it felt like an 80s remix of an 80s card of an 80s icon. Matt Taylor did a nice job of honoring the original subject while making it his own.

Sorry for the shaky photos, I literally phoned it in. There are millions of better images of these online, but I just wanted to give a rough idea for the blog. This one might be the only one I add to my collection. Of course, before this card appeared, I was content to not add any of them, so who knows?

Have you found your "Awesome" card yet from this set?

I Love the 80s : 1981 Oakland Athletics

This is a series of posts on a 1980's Frankenset. Each page features a different team, with 9 of my personal favorite cards from that year's team. You might find players repeated, you'll definitely see brands repeated, but hopefully you'll agree that there are some interesting selections from the 1980s!

This week we return Sunny California, and check out the Swingin' A's of Oakland. Here are the cards of the 1981 Oakland A's. The A's finished 2nd in the AL West in 1980, and built on that record to win the Division in 1981. They surged in the first half with a pre-strike record fourteen games above .500, only to slump after the break with a 27 - 2 record to close the season. They were in 1st place for the 1st half, then 2nd place for the 2nd half. They would face the Kansas City Royals in the Divisional playoffs, sweeping KC to play against the Yankees in the ALCS.

Similar to the White Sox, which were covered last week, the A's were a team going through new ownership in 1981. Long-time A's owner Charlie Finley, who moved the team to Oakland from Kansas City, sold his ownership stake to Walter A. Haas, Jr. The 1981 season was also known for the style of play that their manager demanded. It was the short-lived but very exciting era known as "Billyball."

The Cards:

Fleer #351 Rickey Henderson - Henderson was at the peak of his "Man of Steal" powers in 1980 and 81. In 1980 he scored 111 runs and stole 100 bases. In a strike shortened 1981, he managed "just" 56 steals, but in both seasons eclipsed .300 batting and .400 OBP. 

Granny Goose #21 Dwayne Murphy -  The A's had one of the few 1981 team issue sets outside of the big 3 of Topps, Donruss, and Fleer. Granny Goose had potato chips and Oakland A's baseball cards. Dwayne Murphy finished second on the team to Rickey for stolen bases and runs scored. Murphy would also take home the first of six consecutive gold gloves in 1980. 

Fleer #580 Mitchell Page - Born in Los Angeles, attending Compton Community College and Cal Poly university, Mitchell Page also spent all but 16 of his career MLB games in Oakland. Page was used primarily as a DH by the A's, and by 1980 this was his exclusive role as injuries had limited his mobility in the field. He would slump in the first half of 1981, and by the time games resumed, Page's role was handed over to Cliff Johnson. Page would spend the next couple years in AAA Tacoma. After his playing career, he would coach in Tacoma and elsewhere.

Topps #35 Mitchell Page - Page was 2nd in 1977's AL Rookie of the Year voting, and was also one of the California Angels players in the 1994 film "Angels in the Outfield." Sadly, Page passed away suddenly in 2011 at the age of 59. 

Fleer #581 Billy Martin - I just love a good manager card. Billy Martin was only the A's manager from 1980-1983, a gig between stints as the Yankees' on-again, off-again skipper. But 1981 was a magical year for the A's, who had been bitten by free agency in the late 70s, but still could boast a talented corps of young players. It would be Billy Martin's aggressive style was well-matched for Rickey Henderson and the rest of the A's.

Topps #629 Tony Armas - We've now looked at the entire starting outfield for Oakland in 1980 and '81. Tony Armas flourished in 1980, hitting 35 homers and driving in 109 runs. He'd follow it up by finishing 4th in the MVP vote in 1981 -leading the AL in home runs as the middle of the order thump for the division winning A's. He also led the AL in RF outfield assists in 1980 and topped the league in Range Factor both seasons. He was the big name going to Boston in return for Carney Lansford - a deal that would bear fruit for both franchises. 

Kellogg's 3-D Super Stars #33 Rickey Henderson - This was just a cool card. Henderson was just 21 in 1980, but may have been the best player in baseball. He didn't hit for power (yet), but he completely upended the game plan of the opposition. 

Topps #55 Mike Norris - Norris was a 20 game winner in 1980, going 22-9 overall with a 2.53 ERA. The 25 year old pitched 24 complete games in 1980, finished 2nd in Cy Young voting, won a Gold Glove, and led the AL in lowest H/9. In 1981, he tossed a pair of shutouts, but led the AL in wild pitches, and generally had a tougher time against the league than his superlative 1980 season. He did toss a shutout in the 1981 ALDS against the Royals. He struggled with addiction and was out of baseball by 1986, but made a comeback for the 1990 A's at the age of 35, tossing 27 innings in relief.

Fleer #588 Matt Keough - Keough was very stingy with allowing homers early in his career, and in fact led the AL with the lowest HR/9 in 1978. He allowed just 9 homers in 197 innings, and made his lone All-Star team. The opposite would be true in 1982, when he allowed a league high 133 runs scored, and 38 homers. 1980 was probably his best MLB season, going 16-13 with a 2.92 ERA. He would pitch for three different teams from 83-86, pitching for the Yankees, Cubs, Cardinals, and Astros. He was a tough luck loser in the 1981 ALCS to the Yankees, giving up 2 runs (just 1 earned) over 8.1 Innings. The A's were shutout 4-0 which completed the sweep by New York. 

1994 Topps Traded Set

Rickey Henderson was back with the Oakland A's again in 1994, fresh off a World Series championship with the Toronto Blue Jays. When the Topps Traded set was printed, the season was in full swing, but Topps did not know that it would end just a month later.  No World Series winner, no Wild Card playoff (it was the first year with the 6 division alignment), and several players had promising seasons cut short.

The 1994 Traded Set was not a big rookie class, but it did yield a few interesting draft picks, and an overseas sensation, Chan Ho Park from Korea.

Long before the major card manufacturers started using an "official" Rookie Card logo, there was this much more understated text underneath the Topps logo on the back of the card.

Included in the set was a Topps Finest preview set- with 3 MVP candidates from each league and a rookie of the year candidate. The backs had the 1994 stats for each player through July 10th (awkward!). Frank Thomas ran away with the award in the AL, he was hitting nearly .400 for the season at the All-Star Break (he finished at .353), and rattled off 101 RBI, scored 106 runs, drew 109 walks, and hit 38 homers in just 113 games. The NL MVP was missing, but Matt Williams would have been a solid bet. He was the NL leader in homers (43), won a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger.  Maddux wasn't really in the running for MVP, but he was the NL Cy Young Winner.

There were more Hall of Famers in the set, including a 2 card retrospective for the definitely permanently retired Ryne Sandberg.

2019 Inductee Lee Smith joined the Baltimore Orioles, and Pedro Martinez headed north to join the Expos. The team would finish with the best record in baseball, but were unable to prove their mettle in the post season due to the strike.

Twins! Walbeck and Stevens came over from the Cubs in the Willie Banks deal, and Stevens would ultimately become the team's closer. Alex Cole joined the team as a free agent as Kirby Puckett moved to Right Field. The one homegrown product? Utility infielder Jeff Reboulet!

Hall of famers were not the only ones making moves, some familiar faces also found new digs (or, in the case of Bip Roberts, returned to old ones). Ron Gant is modeling the awesome 1869 Red Stockings patch the Reds wore all season long. The rest of the MLB teams had "125th Anniversary" patches, and the Pirates wore patches for hosting the All-Star game.

A handful more transactions, including Will Clark leaving San Francisco, Bo Jackson heading out West, and Omar Vizquel serving as the final piece of the puzzle to jump start a mini Cleveland Dynasty in the mid to late 90s.

Junior Senior - The 1989 Topps Traded Set

The 1989 Topps Traded Set has some of the more iconic cards in the Traded series of the 80s - and with the exception of the Ripken Rookie, the Ken Griffey, Jr Rookie is at the top of that list. I mean, it´s not even his most easily recognizable rookie card, but this was the card to chase from this set. He was already considered a candidate for all-time greatness, and he did not disappoint.

He wasn´t the only Hall of Fame player in the set - in fact, he wasn´t even the only Mariners Rookie Hall of Fame player! Rickey returns to Oakland, back where he made the biggest impact and where he would again bring greatness and glory to the Bay Area. Eddie Murray and Bert Blyleven both came home to Southern California- with Murray joining the Dodgers and Blyleven heading to the California Angels.

One more Hall of Fame homecoming - Texas born fireballer Nolan Ryan makes his last move and comes to the Texas Rangers.

Pretty good. Doesn´t even have a column for all the no-hitters, but they are still in there mixed in with those 55 shutouts.

Rookies! Omar Vizquel is still getting some Hall of Fame buzz, which I can see from a certain point of view, but right now I feel like there are still more than 10 candidates on the ballot I would rather have inducted first... Tom Gordon has an awesome delivery - he gets so low to the ground and just drives to the plate. Deion Sanders is an NFL Hall of Famer, and he had an eventful MLB career as well -- He played in parts of 9 MLB seasons, missing parts of the regular season for NFL responsibilities. He led the NL in Triples in 1992, even though he only played in 97 games. He also excelled in ¨Prime Time¨ hitting .533 with 5 stolen bases and 4 runs scored in the 1992 World Series against the Blue Jays. Which Kenny Rogers would you say is more famous? The pitcher, or the country singer?

3 Twins in the Traded Set - these guys were all added to the team in hopes that they would rebound from bad/sub-par seasons or breakout to their prospect glory... Long story short, that didn´t happen.

Some of my favorites from the set - I always think of Franco as a Ranger, even though he played seemingly everywhere else. A great candid shot of Bip Roberts, not really sure how he ended up in the Traded set again, he was already a rookie in the 1986 traded set... but that´s cool. Nothing wrong with more Bip! Steve Sax as a Yankee always makes me think of that Simpsons episode. ¨You don´t know when to keep your mouth shut, do you Saxy Boy?¨ I wonder if Jeffrey Leonard was a trendsetter for Griffey.. Hey, it´s Kent Tekulve´s birthday today! Happy 72nd, Kent!

Oh, maaaaan. Nice pinstripes.

The Kid Comes of Age in the Big Apple - The 1985 Topps Traded set

It was the beginning of something magical for the Mets, and the beginning of the great Expos of the late 70s and early 80s starting to break up. Gary Carter came to the Mets in a trade that sent Hubie Brooks, catcher Mike Fitzgerald, and prospects Herm Winningham and Floyd Youmans to Montreal. In the New York Times article about the trade, the Mets GM Frank Cashen called it a "Banner day for the Mets." Turns out, he was right!

Carter provided right handed power to complement the phenom Darryl Strawberry's lefty pop, as well as veteran leadership at a core position. The Traded backs take the gross puke green color of the base set and turn it up a notch.

The key rookies in the set include the base stealing virtuoso Vince Coleman, Short Stop turned feisty manager Ozzie Guillen, 2 time world series Champ Mariano Duncan ('90 Reds and '96 Yankees), and the slugging backstop Mickey Tettleton. Coleman was probably the most hyped at the time, followed closely by Duncan.

In addition to Gary Carter, there were four other Hall of Famers in the set. Rickey Henderson left Oakland for the first time, spending a few years in pinstripes. Don Sutton continued his march to 300 career victories with Rickey's former and future team. Bruce Sutter went down to Georgia to finish his career, and Earl Weaver has a card as Orioles Manager - he was the 3rd manager for Baltimore that season, (Joe Altobelli started the season, Cal Ripken, Sr. won the one game he managed, then Weaver was hired.) and he'd stick around for one more season.

Four Twins in the set - Greg Gagne's card is his first Topps card, his rookie was in the 1984 Donruss set. He would be the Twins' starting Short Stop for both World Series championships. Roy Smalley returned to the Twins after an earlier trade to the Yankees. Mark Salas would stick around until part way into the 1987 season, traded to the Yankees for Joe Niekro. Mike Stenhouse played as a part time DH and reserve outfielder for the Twins in 1985- he would move on to Boston the following season.

The set had several more 70s/80s stars changing uniforms - Gary Carter was the big name coming to New York, but they also added the under the radar corner infielder Howard Johnson. Jack Clark was on the move to St. Louis, and Fred Lynn was trying out the AL East again as a member of the Orioles.

I think more so than in recent traded sets, there were a ton of great photos, and I had a hard time picking just a few to sample. Oddibe McDowell was the Rangers #1 Draft pick in '84, he didn't have any stats on the back of his card yet.

One of the few airbrushed logos was this Johnnie LeMaster - DiSaster!

A PC PWE ASAP

Scott, a fan of Florida baseball, followed up a great bubble mailer with an impressively stuffed PWE.

My junk wax want lists only go up to 1996 at the moment, but Scott found some great stuff to send that reached beyond the lists. I wonder who the hand model is for the Pedro pitch grips?

Larry Walker might never get a fair hearing as a Hall of Famer, but he's easily one of my favorites from the 1990s.

Some horizontal heroes

Here's a MEME - More Eddie Murray, Everybody!

Can't go wrong with Kirby Puckett.

The greatest leadoff hitter of all-time, and a guy who might have been the best leadoff hitter in the 90s not named Rickey or Raines.

Thanks again Scott!