#401 Turn Back the Clock: 1981

Card thoughts: Topps issued lots of Turn Back the Clock subsets in the late 80s and early 90s, possibly taking advantage of the fact they held some very historic copyrights. Topps always tried to compete with the other card sets on "tradition," hence these subsets.

As for the card: This card was never issued. Valenzuela's base card that year was a "Dodgers Rookies" card, that also included #146 Jack Perconte and Mike Scioscia. His traded card looks like this. This card is obviously from the same photo session, but why do this mock up instead of using the real card?

Rear guard: 1981 might be termed "The Year of the Strike." That year's strike, which occurred during the middle of the season (when offense is usually paramount), no doubt skewed the stats that year. Major League teams allowed an average of 4 runs per nine innings that year. In contract, the 2013 season, which was also considered a low offense season, 4.17 runs per 9 were allowed.

All the players mentioned on the back, with the exception of Keith Drumright and Jerry Remy, have cards in this set. Remy retired in 1984, and Drumright only had 141 career at bats (although he hit .291 in 1981).

What happened on this day in 1981 (now 33 years ago)?

• I was singing "The Inventor Song" in Mrs. Wherli's kindergarten class.
• The 1981 Kosovo protests began at the University of Pristina. The initial complaint was bad cafeteria food, but morphed into a nationalist protest (Kosovo was then part of Yugoslavia)
• In baseball, Rube Foster and Johnny Mize were elected to the hall of fame
• The top rated TV show was Dallas; the top song that week was I Love a Rainy Night by Eddie Rabbitt; and the top movie was The Funhouse, a horror movie directed by Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist) which I bet nobody remembers.

#368 Greg Brock

Card thoughts: Brock reminds me a little of #180 Don Mattingly in this picture.

The player:  Greg Brock unenviably had to fill Steve Garvey’s shoes after the former departed via free agency. And for a while, it looked like he would. In early 1983, Brock was hitting everything in sight, posting a .988 OPS the first month of the season. Unfortunately, Brock never hit that well again, ending up as a serviceable, but not spectacular, starting first baseman.

Like many Dodgers hitting prospects before him, Brock tore up the minors. Part of the reason was the top Dodger farm clubs were in the hitter friendly cities of San Antonio and Albuquerque. Brock never had a OPS under .900 in his four year minor league career, topping out with a .310/.432/.663 line at Albuquerque in 1982. But Dodger stadium (and the West Coast) is not the desert, and Brock’s power disappeared in the cool night air of LA.

He actually wasn’t terrible as a rookie, hitting 21 homers, and earning some votes for Rookie of the Year. But Brock was overhyped by manager Tommy Lasorda and announcer Vin Scully, perhaps to take some of the sting off the Garvey departure. This was unfair to Brock, and something he would never live down in Los Angeles. In the end, his .224 average didn’t remind anyone of Garvey (although his 83 walks were impressive).

A wrist injury in 1984 cut his playing time. When he recovered, Brock was sent to Albuquerque for a while due to a prolonged slump, but he was fully healthy by the time this card was issued. He did raise his average above .250 in 1985, but his power numbers were just barely above average for a first baseman (19 2B, 21 HR). Brock also hit terribly in the NLCS, swatting .083.

Brock was not with the Dodgers by the time they made it back to the playoffs in 1988, as he was traded to the Brewers for two key components of that team, pitchers Tim Crews and Tim Leary. Perhaps relieved to be out from under the shadow of Garvey, Brock turned in best major league season in 1987, with career highs in runs (81), hits (159), doubles (29), runs batted in (85) and batting average (.299). But ’87 was a hitters’ year, and Brock slumped to his career norms the following season.

Brock would spend the rest of his Brewer career as a replacement level player, battling injuries, and never again showing the potential he had finally realized in 1987. His days were numbered as a player when star #267 Paul Molitor was moved to first in 1991. Brock requested a trade, but there were no takers. Finally released a few months into the season, he spent a bit of time with the White Sox AAA club, where he had just 1 hit in 7 at bats before retiring.  The man that would be Garvey ended his career with a .248 average and a .737 OPS, poor numbers for a power position like first base.

Rear guard: That grand slam was recently referenced on this Dodger blog, as a comparison to similarly touted prospect Jerry Sands, who also has struggled to live up to his billing as a Dodger.

Maury Wills should need no introduction. One of the premier leadoff men (and base stealers) of the 1960s, he never hit over 6 home runs in a season, and had only 20 in a 14-year career. But everything was going his way in 1962, when he won the MVP award. Of course, the hapless expansion Mets were his victims. Both of his home runs were solo shots, and one was an inside-the-park job. Oh, and Sandy Koufax was starting and gave up 6 runs and 13 hits in a complete game. That kind of overuse really killed his career.

Okay, this is kind of crazy. I was unaware that Maury Wills had not been issued a Topps card prior to 1967. The story goes that Topps didn't sign him to a "$5" card contract as a minor leaguer, because they felt there was no way he'd ever make the majors. By the time they realized their mistake, he had signed an "exclusive" contract with Fleer, resulting in this card. Which makes Topps "Turn Back the Clock" card from 1987, doubly hilarious, as they created a pretend card of Maury Wills from 1962 for use on the card!

#343 Carlos Diaz

Card thoughts: At first glance, this looks like another Tiger Stadium card.

The player: Carlos Diaz was striking out about a man an inning as a reliever before it was the hip thing to do. Which explains why he got traded so much in his short career. I also have some weird memory of him throwing 100+ miles an hour, but I’m not sure if that recollection is a false one.

Drafted by the Mariners, Diaz had just jumped from A to AAA ball, when he was traded to the Braves, straight up, for #168 Jeff Burroughs. After 2 more successful seasons in AAA, he was promoted in 1982 to the Braves, where he had a fairly pedestrian couple months before being sent to the Mets with only three weeks left in the season for nonentity Tom Hausman.

Diaz would turn in his finest major league season in 1983, when he pitched in a career high 54 games with a fine 2.05 ERA. Apparently believing that season was a fluke, the Mets engineered a great trade (for them) with the Dodgers, getting future star Sid Fernandez and AAA mainstay Ross Jones for Diaz and utility infielder Bob Bailor.

Despite pitching in a pitchers park, in a pitchers division, Diaz’ ERA ballooned to 5.49 in 1984. But by the time this card was issued, his career had righted itself and he was generally effective, as he had career highs in wins (6) and strikeouts (73) while only walking 18.

The strikeouts must have taken a toll on his arm, because he was never the same after that. His elbow injured for much of the season, Diaz could only pitch in 19 games in 1986, and his ERA was a mediocre 4.26. Released by the Dodgers after the season, he tried to latch on to the A’s the next spring training, but he wasn’t healthy enough to make the team, and he retired.

Rear guard: Diaz actually gave up a run to the Astros, before the Braves rallied for four ninth inning runs to beat them.

Now that is an obscure statistic. Ted Sizemore had 5 triples in 1969, his rookie season (he would win the Rookie of the Year award). He would finish with 21 career triples, only a few less than his career home run total (23). Here's that rookie card.

#318 Terry Whitfield

Card thoughts: This is Whitfield’s last card. And he's wearing the old style batting helmet without the earflaps over a regular cap. (I believe there are a bunch of Braves behind him in the dugout).

The player: Terry Whitfield was a first round pick of the Yankees. While he showed good power in the minors, it didn’t really translate to the big club. After three years of miniscule opportunities to make the club, he was traded to the Giants in 1976 for Marty Perez (who played just one game for the Yankees).

The Giants of the late 70s were woeful and, despite his inability to hit the ball with any kind of authority, Whitfield was the starting left fielder for the next four years. He exhibited a great arm in left (top ten in assists (1979, 1980) and fielding percentage (1978, 1980), but a corner outfielder shouldn’t be third in sacrifice hits (1978).

As a run producer, Whitfield was a victim of lack of opportunities, as much as his lack of power. Despite batting in the middle of the order for most of these years, he drove in 36, 32, 44, and 26 runs.  However, Whitfield did hit over .280 each year.

In something you don’t see much of today Whitfield, despite being an established major league starter, left the Giants early in spring training in 1981 to play for Seibu Lions in Japan. Back then, Japan often offered more money for marginal starting players than the majors did (especially the cash poor Giants). With Seibu, Whitfield was a star, bashing well over 20 homers a year and becoming a big time RBI man in the three years he played there.

Wanting to be closer to his family (not sure if we’re talking immediate or extended here), Whitfield came back to the states and signed with the Dodgers. Offered a back-up position in the outfield, his Japanese power deserted him as he slugged just .356.  The next season he hit .260 and got into one playoff game as an “announced” pinch hitter, but was called back to the bench in favor of #87 Candy Maldonado after a pitching change, having never got to bat.

After 11 games in 1986, Whitfield retired. He coached some high school baseball and invented a ball tossing machine dubbed the Terry Toss that can be found at various indoor baseball facilities and at the Giants’ home stadium, AT&T Park.

Rear guard: Since I crabbed about Whitfield's poor RBI totals, it is only fitting that I celebrate his first 4-RBI game which came late in his career. He hit a three-run home run and RBI double off of Giants starter Mike Krukow to account for those four RBIs. 

#291 Tom Lasorda

Card thoughts: Look at that gut! Not surprising that Tommy (not Tom) Lasorda started an Italian food business while he was managing. And look at that. Two hall of famers in a row!

The player/manager: Lasorda is one of those rare managers who was a pitcher. He barely pitched in the majors, going 0-4 in 3 seasons with the Dodgers and A’s. He did spend a considerable amount of time at AAA in the Dodgers system, however (going 110-63 in 11 seasons). Even as a player, he was chubby.

Lasorda started his coaching career with the Dodgers in the minors in the 60s, and was soon promoted to be the third base coach under legendary manager Walt Alston, then in his 20^th year of managing the Dodgers. Lasorda, who was offered several other managerial jobs, turned them all down as he expected to succeed Alston when the latter retired, which he did in 1976.

Lasorda won the pennant in his first two Dodgers seasons (the first time in history that had been done by a first-time manager). In a famous moment in the 1977 series, Lasorda, who was miked, came out to remove pitcher Doug Rau, and ended up swearing a blue streak trying to get him off the mound.  After a couple of years missing the playoffs, he guided the Dodgers to a World Series win in 1981.

A great motivator, Lasorda always seemed to get the best out of his players, and he was especially good with rookies, as he managed nine rookie of the year winners. He tended to field the same lineup every day, but his in-game management was sometimes too focused on small ball.

In another great “blue” audio clip, Lasorda excoriated light-hitting Padre Kurt Bevacqua for accusing him for ordering #56 Tom Niedenfuer to throw at his teammate in 1982.

Lasorda’s Dodgers won the division in 1983 and ’85, but didn’t advance to the World Series again until 1988 when they won it all again, over a heavily favored A’s squad (an indelible vision from that series: Lasorda throwing his hands in the air and running onto the field after Kirk Gibson’s dramatic game ending home run).

He would win the division again in 1995, but never got back to the World Series. Lasorda suffered a heart attack in 1996, and left midway through the season, replaced by his one-time starting shortstop, Bill Russell.

With a .526 career winning percentage and 1,599 wins, Lasorda was selected for the hall of fame in 1997. Long considered one of baseball’s best ambassadors, Lasorda was selected to coach the gold-winning USA baseball team in the 2000 summer games.  His portrait hangs in the national gallery in Washington DC.

Rear guard: Big mystery: Why did I circle #145 Pedro Guerrero? Otherwise, the back of this card is a mess: Gum stains, ink stains, etc. 

As for the players selected for cards, Jay Johnstone, who never even played the field and had only 15 at bats, probably should not been issued a card. Alejandro Pena on the pitching side is in the same boat, having only pitched in 2 games. Disgraced pitcher Steve Howe should have been included instead.