#421 Dave Palmer

Card thoughts: Dave Palmer looks like a very linear man. Straight and narrow. On all his Fleer and Donruss cards, Dave is always identified by his full first name, David.

The player: Dave Palmer pitched in the same high school rotation as future major league pitcher Dave LaPoint. He made the majors just two years out of high school, making his debut at the age of 20. In 1979 and 1980, Palmer apprenticed as a swing man, with his best season coming in the former year where he was 10-2, including being unbeaten in seven starting decisions (among 11 starts).

Unfortunately, arm troubles hit Palmer in 1981, and he didn’t pitch in the majors that year. 1982 saw him come back for 13 starts, where he was fairly effective (6-4, 3.18 ERA). Unfortunately, 1983 saw him miss time once again, this time for the whole season with an elbow injury (it’s likely that today, Palmer would have been a candidate for Tommy John surgery).

With his history of injury, the Expos were hesitant about putting him in the rotation early in the 1984 season. After a long relief stint, Palmer was selected to pitch the second game of a doubleheader. He pitched 5 perfect innings, before rain halted the game. Although Palmer got the win, as the game was official, he was not credited with a perfect game. But the injuries were taking a toll, and the rest of the season Palmer struggled, with his ERA rising by almost half a run over the previous season (he also missed the entire month of August). Missing August again the following year, Palmer made just 23 starts, but his ERA (3.71) was high for low-scoring Olympic Stadium, and he had his first losing record (7-10).

Given his inability to stay healthy, and his slowly declining effectiveness, it wasn’t surprising that Palmer wasn't resigned by the Expos. Signing with the Braves, Palmer finally had a season where he was able to make all of his scheduled starts. Pitching at homer happy Fulton County stadium (aka “The Launching Pad”), Palmer saw his ERA climb, and an increase in walks showed his home stadium was getting to him (107 walks in 209 2/3 innings). But his 11-10 record was pretty good for a last place team, and his better health had the Braves expecting they could rely on him the following year. However, his arm was still fragile, and he reverted back missing significant chunks of the season. When healthy, he was ineffective, as his ERA shot up to 4.90, and he won only 8 games against 11 losses.

Palmer was not signed after the season, and went to the Phillies, where the familiar story emerged: Couldn't stay healthy, and a losing record and high ERA when he pitched. He did memorably have quite a blooper, tripping over third base and landing on his face while advancing on a wild pitch thrown by Cubs pitcher #330 Rick Sutcliffe.

A cup of coffee with the Tigers in 1990 (5 starts, 7.79 ERA), and a few minor league appearances for the Indians, and Palmer was done. He is currently the pitching coach for a suburban Atlanta high school.

Rear guard: All I can say about that factoid is this. Manny Mota is better known as being a great pinch hitter, especially with the Dodgers. But when the Expos drafted him, he was a high-average hitting, fourth outfielder. He had a card as an Expo in 1969, but he was badly airbrushed on that one. The Expos only held on to him for a few months in 1969 before he was traded to the Dodgers for Ron Fairly and Paul Popovich (Popovich was traded later in the day to the Cubs for Adolfo Phillips and Jack Lamabe). Here Mota's 1970 card, his first with the Dodgers.

#374 Terry Francona

Card thoughts: This post is timely, as Francona just won the Manager of the Year award again. As a player, he won no awards, nor was named to any all star squads. And, strange to say, I don’t recall Francona playing for the Expos, even though it was the team he played the most games for. 

As for the photo, the angle makes him look like he's swinging one of those souvenir wooden bats they give out at the game. And Francona really doesn't look like he's aged that much since then.

The player: Son of Tito Francona, as a player he never achieved his father’s success. But his managerial career has made everyone forget about Tito (although it is also Terry’s nickname).

A college hero, Francona was the College World Series MVP in 1980, and was also named Sporting News player of the year that season. This led to a first round selection in the draft that year. Francona rocketed to the majors after just 2 minor league seasons, after hitting .351 between two levels in 1981. He consistently hit well in limited play (.321 in 46 games in 1982, .346  in 58 games in 1984), but found it hard to gain much playing time at his primary position, first base, as the Expos preferred to go with veterans at that position (#1 Pete Rose, Al Oliver, and #65 Dan Driessen all blocked him at one time or another). Francona also missed time with injury, significantly in 1982, he injured his knee, a problem that his plagued him into his middle age. By the time all those guys were gone, the Expos had a better first baseman, Andres Galarraga, waiting in the minors, so Francona was released after the season shown on this card. He signed with the Cubs, and I vaguely remember him with the Cubs, although he was once again blocked at first by a veteran in front of him (Leon Durham) and a hot prospect behind him (Mark Grace).

His stay with the Cubs lasted just one year, and the rest of his days in the majors would also be one year assignments as a pinch hitter/reserve first-baseman/outfielder. In this role, his best season would be with the Indians (1988), where he hit .311, including .333 as a pinch hitter.

Francona is considered one of the best managers in the game today, and is particularly lionized in Boston, where he won two World Series for a team who hadn’t won since 1918.  Of course, when he managed the Phillies for four years (1997-2000), he never got the team above .500, whereas with the Red Sox (from 2004-2011)  he never won less than 85 games. And, of course, he left the Red Sox under controversial circumstances, including the team collapsing down the stretch in 2011, supposedly because of Francona’s distraction due to his pending divorce.

Francona earned a modicum of payback, after his successor, #261 Bobby Valentine, completely tanked the Red Sox in 2012. He took over the Indians, a moribund team the year before, and led them to a wild card berth this past season, earning the Manager of the Year award in the process.

Rear guard: Francona was never much of a home run hitter, so his first one is special. It came off champion closer Bruce Sutter, and began a comeback in which the Expos would eventually win in extra innings.

Ellis Valentine was one of the stars of the Expos in the 70s. 1977 was one of the first of three years where Valentine hit over 20 home runs and drove in over 75 runs for the team. Note that the Expos played their first several years at Jarry Park. Here's Valentine's card from that season.

#344 Jim Wohlford

Card thoughts: The aging, leather-faced fifth outfielder/pinch hitter. A staple in this set (Although Wohlford looks run down on many of his 70s cards too).

The player: Tim McCarver once said that Jim Wohlford was too intense to be an everyday player. This was in 1983, which shows the McCarver’s “wisdom” is not new news.

The real reason that Wohlford wasn’t an everyday player was that he wasn’t very good. A beneficiary of the 1970s, when hitting above .250 with no power was considered good enough for a starting player, Wohlford  got his first big break with the Royals. As the primary left fielder in 1974, he played in 143 games and had career highs in just about every offensive category. In a telling statement of the times, he had a meager .343 slugging percentage in what is considered a power position. And Wohlford didn’t supplement that lack of power with speed, which would have been acceptable, given the times. Sure, he stole 16 bases bus he was caught 13 times.

Wohlford remained the starting left fielder in 1975, primarily because of his excellent defense, certainly not because of his offense (.255/.317/.312 was his triple slash line. Yes, his OPB outranked his slugging percentage). Eventually, a better hitter was installed in left, and Wohlford almost all of his remaining years as a reserve outfielder.

He did get another chance to start, however, when he was sent to the Brewers in 1976 with Jaime Quirk and Bob McClure in exchange for Darrell Porter and Jim Colborn. Both of the latter players would propel the Royals to a division win in 1977, while Wohlford was worse than replacement level in left. Once again, Wohlford struggled to put good wood on the ball, and he was still sent on suicide missions to second, despite the fact that it was obvious wasn’t a base stealer (17 steals, caught 16 times).

Wohlford became a more valuable player, once his playing time was limited. In 46 games the following season, he would hit .297, a career high (he also slugged over .400). Having found his niche, Wohlford settled in as a defensive backup in the outfield, interspersed with occasional pinch hitting duties. A highlight from this era in Wohlford’s career include driving in 5 runs against the Pirates late in 1984 while with the Expos, which improbably sent his confidence sky high, as he declared that he was a late bloomer. However, the rest of the league didn’t think so, and Wohlford would end his career 2 years later as an Expo backup left fielder.

Rear guard: Yawn. I guess we can talk about Wohlford's 1985 season highlights. Of which there is one. On April 19, against the Cubs, he hit a pinch three run home run in the sixth inning to give the Expos a 5-3 lead they would not relinquish.

#324 Dan Schatzeder

Card thoughts: You can see the deception in Schatzeder's motion that made it so difficult for lefties to hit him.

The player: Dan Schatzeder was a man pitching at the wrong time. He would have had a lucrative career in today’s game, pitching in about 60+ games with only 40 or so innings pitched as a one-lefty-batter relief specialist. But in Schatzeder’s day, relievers were expected to pitching at least one inning, and generally pitched 2. Despite having four major league quality pitches, Schatazder was never able to consistently get righthanders out.

Originally a starter, he grew up in Elmhurst, Illinois (a wealthy suburb of Chicago) and was drafted by the Expos in 1976. He made his debut just one year later, and pitched fairly well as a starter throughout the late 70s, never posting an ERA much above 3. After going 10-5 with a 2.83 ERA (3^rd in the league) in 1979, Schatzeder was traded to the Tigers for aging speedster Ron LeFlore (LeFlore would lead the league with 97 steals in 1980, and then depart a year later for the White Sox).

Schatzeder was a huge bust for the Tigers, compiling a 11-13 record his first season, but then putting up a 6.06 ERA in 1981.  That season would be his last as a regular starter. When he was traded to the Giants for Larry Herndon in 1982, he was put in the bullpen, where he struggled so much, that he only lasted until June.

Bought by the Expos, they figured he could recreate his success there. And they were correct. In 1983, Schatzeder was solid out of the pen and in 1984, he even got to start again, compiling a 2.83 ERA as a starter, and a 2.43 ERA as a reliever.

He would last in Montreal until midway through the 1986 season when he was traded to the Phillies for Tom Foley and Lary Sorensen. Schatzeder played that half season, and then another, with the Phillies before he was sent to the Twins, who won the World Series in 1987. Schatzeder was not effective in the regular season or the Series (his ERA was above 6 in both cases), but he got the win in Game 6 after he took over in the fourth inning for struggling starter Les Straker. The Twins would come back against John Tudor, Ricky Horton, #324 Bob Forsch, and Ken Dayley, winning the game 11-5, and making a winner out of Schatzeder.

Schatzeder bounced between five teams until his retirement in 1991: The Indians, the Twins (again), the Astros, the Mets, and the Royals. The team he was most successful with was, by far, the Expos.

In retirement, Schatzeder returned to the Chicago suburbs and found work as a gym teacher in Aurora. He is also the assistant football coach there.

Rear guard: Weird "first" to cite for a reliever: First home run. It was hit off Giants starter "The Count" Montefusco and drove in #212 Chris Speier. Schatzeder earlier hit a single that plated #238 Larry Parrish.

#299 Bryn Smith

Card thoughts: Return of the glowing Expo! “Bryn” almost rhymes with “grim” which is how he looked on most of his cards. Another word about the unusual first name: It is an acronym of his grandfather’s first and middle names.

The player: Smith was a .500 pitcher who had trouble staying healthy throughout an entire season. The season that Smith had just completed (1985) when this card was issued was by far his best.

Smith was originally drafted by the Orioles, but was advanced slowly in the minors, despite having three standout seasons. He was sent, along with Rudy May and Randy Miller to the Expos in 1977 for Joe Kerrigan, Gary Roenicke, and Don Stanhouse. 

With the Expos, the pattern repeated, with Bryn continuing to have great success in the minors, without getting much of a chance in the majors. Perhaps this is because he his out pitch was the little used palm ball, and his fastball was just average.

Finally, after 7 years, Smith got his chance in 1982. In that season and the following one, he was mainly a middle reliever. Smith finally got a chance as a full time starter in 1984, and although the win loss record (12-13) doesn’t reflect it, as he had a low 3.32 ERA.

He really came into his own in 1985, where he set career highs in wins (18-6^th in the NL), innings pitched (222 1/3) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.02). In addition, he placed in the top ten in ERA (2.91) and home runs per nine innings (0.486). Despite this, Smith was not chosen for the all star game.

The next several seasons Smith pitched in Montreal were very consistent. He generally averaged about 20 decisions a year, and would win 10-12 games, with a near equivalent number of losses.

But Bryn had some issues with playing in Montreal, especially with the lack of Doritos which he would have to cross over the New York to buy (couldn’t he have just bought a case on a road trip?). Whether it was the poor Frito Lay (brand) variety available in Montreal, the wood fire roasted bagels, or the poutine, he became a free agent and signed with the Cardinals. He was injured a lot of 1990 (he went a standard 9-8), but had his last good season in 1991 when he managed to stay healthy much of the year. His 12-9 record and 3.85 ERA were the best numbers he had put up since 1988. But in 1992 he barely made it on the field, and was snapped up for some reason by the Rockies in the expansion draft.

One thing you don’t want to add to a Rockies staff is a soft tossing righty, and despite getting the first win in Rockies history (an 11-4 victory over his former team, the Expos), he was released in June with an 8.49 ERA and a 2-4 record.

He’s currently coaching in a summer wood bat league in California.

Rear guard: Smith's first major league shutout was a 6-hitter against the Giants. Despite it being 4-7 after this win, he had a 2.47 ERA. In the game, he walked none and struck out seven.

Adolfo Phillips' best years were behind him (as the centerfielder for the Cubs) before he came to the Expos in 1969 in exchange for light hitting first baseman Paul Popovich. Phillips scored only 270 runs in an eight year career, despite his great speed. Here's his 1970 card (number 666!).

#280 Tim Raines

Card thoughts:  Raines in all of his Jeri-curl glory, apparently with both an elbow injury and an "owie" on his left forearm. Seeing this card reminds me of the weird “Rock Raines” card that appeared in 1989 Topps packs. Why would you call a guy Tim on every other card, and call him “Rock” on this one? I thought he was Tim Raines’ brother!

The player: For many years, Raines was the National League equivalent of Rickey Henderson. A short man (like Henderson), he could run, hit for power, was patient, and was the best leadoff hitter in the National League for over a decade. Yet, Raines still gets shafted for the Hall of Fame, despite the fact that great leadoff hitters are rarer than great power hitters, and few teams even have a good consistent leadoff hitter.

Raines came up as part of a talented core of young Expo hitters in the early 80s that included Hall of Famers #170 Gary Carter and Andre Dawson, as well as forgotten mashers like Warren Cromartie and Tim Wallach. While Raines didn’t have the slugging prowess of those hitters, boy, could he run. After two small cups of coffee in 1979 (3 runs scored as a pinch runner, no at bats) and 1980 (1 for 20, 5 runs scored), he finally made the bigs for good in 1981, and likely would have stolen over 100 bases had the season not been interrupted by a strike. As it was, he stole 71 bases (leading the league), then a record for a rookie (since broken by #201 Vince Coleman). But that was also the year of  “Fernandomania,” so he was denied the Rookie of the Year award.

His career, however, almost was derailed by rampant cocaine abuse in 1982. He would use the drug constantly, reportedly spending over $40,000 (in today’s dollars: $95,000) on it for the season. In a somewhat legendary story, Raines would always slide head first in bases in order to not break a glass vial of coke he kept in his back pocket for use during games.

Raines would steal at least 70 bases until 1986, making the all-star team each year and leading the league in steals for 4 straight seasons. There were other aspects to his game as well during this period of dominance. He hit for a high average, but also consistently walked while minimizing his strikeouts. Despite mostly having doubles power (Raines led the league in that category in 1984), his OPS consistently topped .800, due to this penchant.

In his peak years (roughly: 1981-1987), Raines also led the league in runs twice (133 in 1983; 123 in 1987), and batting average and on-base percentage in 1986. With the arrival of Vince Coleman in 1985, the days of Raines being a steal champion were over, although he would steal at least 10 bases a year for another decade.

Despite Raines star status, he mysteriously was not signed when he became a free agent in 1986. Of course, it was later determined that the owners were engaged in collusion to keep salaries low in that off season. He was later forced to sign with the Expos a month into the 1987 season. Despite having had no spring training, he dominated his first game back going 4 for 5 a triple and a game winning grand slam. Another highlight of that season was winning the all-star game MVP when he hit a game-winning triple in the thirteenth inning.

Although Raines would remain a valuable leadoff hitter after 1987, he would never again be a major star, and that all-star game would be his last. In 1990, he was traded to the White Sox, with the main player going the other way being Ivan Calderon.  Raines scored over 100 runs in each of his first two seasons with the Sox, the first time he had done so since in three years. But all those years on the artificial surface in Montreal had done a number on his legs, and he struggled to stay on the field the next two seasons.  In 1995, Raines would play in over 130 games for the last time, and his .285/.374/.422 was pretty good, but he stole only 13 bases (however from 1993-1995 he had stolen 40 straight bases, a record at the time).

On to the Yankees next, Raines was their fourth outfielder the next three seasons. After a 58 game stint with the A’s in 1999 where he hit .215, it was thought his career was done when he contracted lupus. But after a year out of the majors, he came back in 2001 with the Expos. In a severely limited role, he managed an .862 OPS in 89 at bats. Near the end of the season, he was traded to the Orioles so he could play the outfield with his son, Tim Raines Jr., the second time in history that had occurred (the other being the Griffeys). After a year with the Marlins where he mainly was a pinch runner (despite stealing 0 bases) and occasional pinch hitter (.191 average), Raines retired.

For his career, statistics that just scream hall of fame include being fourth all time in stolen bases (808) despite only being caught about 15% of the time. He also had over 1,500 runs scored and over 2,600 hits. He is most comparable to Lou Brock. Despite this, Raines has still not gotten over 50% of the Hall of Fame votes. There are several more exhaustive cases for Raines being in the Hall of Fame (Bill James calls him the second best leadoff hitter ever).

Post retirement, Raines coached in the majors from 2004-2006, generally at first base, most memorably with the White Sox 2005 World Series Championship season. Since then, he has managed and coached in both affiliated and independent minor league ball.

Rear guard: Clyde Mashore had only 3 pinch hits in 1973, so it is pretty incredible that two of them were home runs on consecutive days. The first was a two run job off Giants pitcher Ron Bryant, which was in a losing cause. The next day's three-run home run, however, came in the top of the ninth and was the deciding factor in the Expos 7-6 win over the Padres. 

His son, Damon Mashore, was a reserve outfielder for the Angels and A's from 1996 to 1998.