I Love the 80s ; 1981 Chicago Cubs

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!

The Cubs were squarely in "Wait 'til Next Year" mode in 1980 and 1981, finishing 6th of 6 teams in the NL East in both years. They ever so slightly began to improve their fortunes in '81, with a second half finish good for 5th place, though they still sported the worst record overall that season, and narrowly avoided 100 losses in 1980. 

Lenny Randle was granted free agency in October of 1980. Bruce Sutter would be traded in December of 1980 in exchange for Leon "Bull" Durham from the Cardinals. Dennis Lamp was traded in March of '81 to the White Sox, Lynn McGlothen followed across town in August. Tim Blackwell became a free agent after the 1981 season. Bill Caudill was traded as a PTBNL in April 1982, so none of the players shown here made it to 1982 as a Chicago Cub. Given the team's record, a little roster turnover was probably a good thing. The Cubs drafted Billy Hatcher and Joe Carter in 1981, and shortly after 1982 began, made a franchise altering deal with Philly to acquire a light hitting shortstop named Ryne.

The Cards:
Donruss #551 Dick Tidrow - Tidrow was a pretty good middle reliever for the Cubs in 1980, and led the Club in appearances. He notched 6 saves and sported a 6-5 record with a 2.79 ERA to go with his imposing moustache.

Fleer #302 Lynn McGlothen - Lynn led the Cubbies pitching staff with 12 victories and 2 shutouts in 1980, but started just 6 games in 1981, relegated mostly to bullpen work before being traded to the ChiSox at the deadline. His best years came in his mid-twenties with the Cardinals. He went 44-40 with 9 shutouts over those 3 seasons in Saint Louis and was named the the All-Star team in 1974. He would finish his playing career with the Yankees in 1982. Tragically, McGlothen died in a fire at the age of 34 two years later.

Topps #692 Lenny Randle - Lenny speaks five languages, and in addition to being a baseball player, he was a recording artist and erstwhile stand-up comic. Randle was the primary 3rd baseman for the Cubs in 1980, while leading the Cubs in triples.

Donruss #559 Tim Blackwell - Tim is known for his bushy moustache, but he was a serviceable back-up catcher as well during his playing days. The switch hitting Blackwell was the #1 catcher for the Cubs in 1980, hitting 5 homers and driving in 30 runs over 103 games. All of those were career highs, and following his playing days he became a long-time coach and manager throughout the minor and independent leagues. 

Topps #590 Bruce Sutter - The Hall of Fame closer saved 28 games for the Cubs in 1980, which led the league for the second straight year. He was the NL Cy Young winner in '79, after saving 37 games for the Cubs with a very good 2.22 ERA. He would be named to his 3rd of 6 All-Star squads in 1980 as well. He was a top 10 MVP vote-getter 5 times. 

Fleer Star Stickers #80 Bruce Sutter - Over his career, Sutter notched exactly 300 saves, which seems low to the modern crowd but was among the highest all-time when he retired. His 1979 Cy Young still stands out as an oddity for a relief pitcher, but he finished in the top ten of voting for the award 4 other times. His second full season with the Cubs probably deserved more attention than it received. He saved 31 games and struck out 129 batters in 107 innings that year, 1977. His 1.34 ERA was tiny, but his ERA+ was a staggering 328, meaning he blew his competition out of the water. He finished 6th in the voting behind 5 20 game winners. 

Topps #574 Bill Caudill -  Bill led the Cubs in ERA in 1980 with a 2.19 mark over 127 innings pitched. He had a rocky 1981 season, with an ERA north of 5, and would find himself trying to rebuild his resume in Seattle. He had a very good season in 1982 with the Mariners, and once he was converted to full time relief, even made an All-Star team as a member of the Athletics. 

Fleer #301 Lenny Randle - Lenny was known for his speed, and was a 2 sport athlete in college, playing both baseball and football. Randle found a home in Italy after his final MLB season, and hit a staggering .477 for his Italian League team in 1983. Randle had over 1,000 MLB hits, but his most famous blow came as a member of the Mariners, when he tried to make a slow rolling ball go foul with some "wind-aided" assistance. 

Topps # 331 Dennis Lamp - Along with Tidrow, Sutter, Bill Buckner and Tim Blackwell, the 1980 Cubs may have been the league leaders in soup strainers. Lamp tossed the only other Cubs shutout besides the 2 from McGlothen in 1980, though the rest of his starts that year ended up surrendering more runs than any other National League pitcher. Lamp would find greater success out of the bullpen, particularly in 1985 with Toronto, when he had a perfect 11-0 record in 53 regular season appearances, and 3 scoreless appearances in the '85 ALCS against the Royals. While KC ultimately prevailed, Lamp was able to turn out the lights on their offense each time he took the mound.

Highly Subjective - Topps in the 1980's

I was so ready to write a post about the awesome cards I ripped from the 2015 Topps series 1 . . . but the local Target hasn't gotten them yet. So, instead, here's something that will more than likely not become a weekly feature:

This week's edition of Highly Subjective is a look at my favorite cards from the 1980 through 1989 Topps base sets. As usual, these selections are Highly Subjective and in some rare cases they are also completely arbitrary.

1980 Gary Carter:

The Hall of Famer with a sweet play at the plate. He thinks the runner is out and his game face is in full force.

1981 Bruce Sutter:

Another Hall of Famer, rocking the big gnarly hair that comes the territory for closing the big game. I enjoy cards that capture the ball in flight like this, too. You can see the back of the Carter card here - maybe if his brother didn't play in bell-bottoms, he'd have advanced further in the Giants system...

1982 Carlton Fisk in Action:

Three for three for Cooperstown. The early version of "Doing the Carlton" was less graceful, but no less athletic than Alfonso Ribeiro's dance moves. The front of this card is technically upside down, though I think the makes more sense for "in action" to be right side up.

1983 Bert Blyleven:

Another Hall of Famer, but I swear it's just a coincidence. Blyleven is a two-time former twin and a current t.v. broadcaster for the team, so he's around the Twin Cities often - he was just at TwinsFest a couple weeks ago and I said hello in the hallway. The best part about this card is that it looks like they made him shave his beard for the portrait on the bottom.

1984 Neil Allen:

The first non-hall member, but he is sporting a first rate jacket. Allen is now the Twins' Pitching Coach, but that did not affect the highly subjective voting at all (probably).

1985 Gary Pettis:

I mean, come on. Where is Pettis posing for this photo? Lifetouch? Or perhaps he is in The Void - a massless, featureless vacuum of gray slate. He's pondering existence here. Also, my vote for best card backs of the 80s Topps run goes to 1984. Really like the team logo there and the color scheme.
Edited to Add: Nick posted this awesome story in the comments about the Pettis card. The photo is actually Gary's younger brother Lynn! I feel this cements the choice even further.


1986 Tony Perez:

This one is a sentimental vote - all my cousins live in Ohio, and my very first baseball cards came from their castoffs and included this Tony Perez card (though in a much more mangled form). I might vote for it anyway given the Eric Davis cameo and the double high five, but since this was the first "cool card!" I ever owned, I had to vote for it.

1987 Keith Mitchell:

The sandstorm of the century! Just one of the best cards of the 80's, period. Great shot and Mitchell was on his way at the time to be a very special player.

1988 Ed Hearn:

It starts to get tough here as I feel like there was a lot of "blah" photography in 88 and 89 in the Topps set. But here Hearn is showing how tough a guy with glasses can be. You wouldn't dare hit a guy with glasses, if that guy was Ed Hearn, would you? The Manager cards from this set are actually some of the more interesting ones - Lasorda is riding a golf cart, and Pinella is showing off his W.S. ring...

1989 Kelly Downs:

Just a pleasing geometric pattern - lines. This one was pretty arbitrary.  

There you have it, now I'll be looking to score some 2015 Topps again for tomorrow!