1991 matt young

matt young week continues!

matt young signed a free agent deal with the boston red sox prior to the 1991 season.  here's his 1991 o-pe-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

young's 1991 season was uneventful.  he went 3-7 in 19 games, 16 of which he started.  his best outing of the season was his second start when he pitched 9 shutout innings and allowed just 2 hits (but 6 walks) against the indians in a game that boston would eventually lose by the score 1-0 in 13 innings. 

voici à vous, 1991 matt young!

1990 matt young

free agent matt young signed a contract with the seattle mariners for the 1990 season.  here's his 1990 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

back in seattle, young was once again used as a starter.  he responded with one of his best seasons since his rookie year although it wasn't reflected in his win-loss record of 8-18.  young posted his second lowest career era (3.51) and whip (1.35) and had 7 complete games and 1 shutout.  he averaged 7 innings pitched per game and had decent average run support (3.7 per game) but in 10 of his losses, the mariners scored just 2 runs or fewer.  after the season, young would hit the free agent trail once more...

voici à vous, 1990 matt young!

1989 jeff parrett

we take a break from matt young week here at oh my o-pee-chee due in part to young's lost 1988 season.  we'll be back to it tomorrow.  meanwhile...

jeff parrett was traded in december of 1988 from the expos to the phillies.  here is his 1989 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

parrett put up some good numbers for the phils in 1989, numbers that were similar to his 1988 stats for the expos.  he won 12 games (as he had in '88), saved 6 others (the same as in '88 and '87 for that matter) and finished a total of 34 games (ditto).  his era rose from 2.65 to 2.98 but he struck out 36 more batters.  1990 didn't start as well, though, and the phillies sent him to the braves in the dale murphy deal.

voici à vous, 1989 jeff parrett!

1988 matt young

it's matt young week here on oh my o-pee-chee!  here's part 2.

the dodgers sent matt young to the a's in a december three-way deal with the mets.  here's his 1988 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

that trade was a big one that paid off for all three teams as they all made the postseason.  the dodgers acquired jay howell, alfredo griffin and mike davis from the a's and jesse orosco from the mets.  the mets acquired jack savage, a young kevin tapani and wally whitehurst, while the a's got young and bob welch.  sadly for young, he sat out the entire year with an injury.  to make matters worse, the a's released him after the season ended.  a couple of months later, however, the a's re-signed him, and he helped them win a world championship in 1989.  he didn't pitch in the sweep over the giants, but he did appear in one game of the alcs that year.  don't worry, though, young was on the move again for the 1990 season...

voici à vous, 1988 matt young!

1987 matt young

we're starting matt young week here at oh my o-pee-chee! enjoy the ride.

matt young was traded to the dodgers in december of 1986. here is his 1987 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the dodgers needed some bullpen help, and young became part of the closer by committee, along with alejandro pena. after converting from a starter, young had saved 13 games for the mariners in 1986 while appearing in a career high 65 games. with the dodgers, he appeated in 47 games, all in relief, and saved 11 to go along with his 5-8 win-loss record. still, the 1987 dodgers showed no improvement over 1986, and more drastic changes were going to be made. one of those changes had young on the move again...

voici à vous, 1987 matt young!

1986 barbaro garbey

barbaro garbey was traded to the a's in november of 1985. here is his 1986 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

garbey is an interesting case because he never played for the a's. oakland released him during spring training in 1986. after sitting out two seasons, he signed a contract with the rangers and played for them in 1988. garbey was a utility guy who played 6 of the 9 positions (he didn't play shortstop, catcher or pitcher) during his 1984 rookie campaign with the tigers. that was the year the tigers dominated and won their most recent world championship, and garbey was there with them even though he was 0 for 12 in the series against the padres.

voici à vous, 1986 barbaro garbey!

1985 lamarr hoyt

lamarr hoyt was traded by the white sox to the padres in december of 1984.  here is his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i figured this was a good '85 variation to post today in honor of the little league world series.  according to hoyt's card back, "he hit 34 homers in 20 games as a little leaguer"  or, 34 circuits in 20 parties.

hoyt won the al cy young in 1983 and then led the league in losses in 1984.  with the pads in '85, he was back to his winning ways - he went 16-8 with 3 shutouts and was the national league's starting pitcher in the all star game.  hoyt was even the winning pitcher in the midsummer classic.

voici à vous, 1985 lamarr hoyt!

1984 tim foli

after two seasons in anaheim, the angels traded tim foli to the yankees in december of 1983. here's his 1984 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

foli played in 61 games for the yankees in 1984, managing to spend time at all 4 infield positions. he also achieved a statistical novelty, hitting .252 for the third year in a row. after the season, foli was traded (with steve kemp) to the pirates for dale berra and a prospect named jay buhner, paving the way for ken phelps and a funny seinfeld episode. sadly, foli didn't make the cut for inclusion in the 1985 o-pee-chee set, so this is his final o-pee-chee variation.

voici à vous, 1984 tim foli!

1983 wayne nordhagen

wayne nordhagen signed a free agent contract with the cubs prior to the 1983 season. here is his 1983 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

nordhagen was released by the cubs in june of 1983 after he hit just .143 in 35 at bats. he struck out against frank dipino in his last big league at bat. much more interesting than all of this, however, was nordhagen's 1982 season.

in april of that year, right before the start of the season, the white sox traded him to the blue jays. he hit .278 for the jays in 44 games before they traded him to the phillies on june 15 for dick davis. later that day, nordhagen was sent across the state to pittsburgh in exchange for bill robinson. on june 19, in what would be nordhagen's one and only appearance with the pirates, he went 2 for 4 with 2 rbi against steve carlton. three days later, the blue jays traded dick davis to the pirates for a player to be named later. on june 25, that player to be named later was wayne nordhagen.

voici à vous, 1983 wayne nordhagen!

1982 tim foli

tim foli left 'the family' in pittsburgh as he was traded to the angels in december of 1981. here is his 1982 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

when we last saw foli he had gone from the giants to the mets who then sent him on to pittsburgh in time for their 1979 world championship. in california, foli was destined for a super utility role until rick burleson was injured and foli became the starting shortstop. foli hit .252 for the al west champs in '82, but had a poor showing in the alcs against the brewers, managing just 2 hits in 16 at bats as the halos lost in heartbreaking fashion.managed only two hits and one RBI as the Angels lost to the Milwaukee Brewers three games to two.

foli was back with the angels in 1983, although they both underachieved. foli was benched toward the end of the season in favor of rookie ricky adams and the returning rick burleson. after the season, the angels sent foli to the yankees, as we will see in a couple of days.

voici à vous, 1982 tim foli!

1981 bob davis

bob davis signed a contract with the california angels in april of 1981. here's his 1981 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

davis was a rule v draftee in 1978, going to the blue jays from the padres. as a result, he spent the entire 1979 season with the big club despite the fact that he hit only .124 in 89 at bats. toronto kept him around in 1980, and his performance improved. he played in a career high 91 games and posted career highs in just about every offensive category. still, the blue jays released him after the season, and a few months later, the angels came calling.

davis spent most of 1981 with the angels' aaa team in salt lake city, but did get called up when rosters expanded in september. he appeared in exactly 1 game for the angels, starting at catcher against the royals on september 9. he popped out against larry gura in both of his at bats and then was pinch hit for late in the game. the angels released davis after the season, and he was not picked up by another team.

voici à vous, 1981 bob davis!

1980 chris chambliss

chris chambliss was traded to the braves in december of 1979.  here is his 1980 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

funnily enough, however, it wasn't the yankees that sent him to atlanta.  they had traded him to the blue jays in november of 1979 for rick cerone (they needed catching help after thurman munson died).  the blue jays flipped chambliss to the braves for barry bonnell and a couple of other guys a month later.  in atlanta, chambliss had what may have been two of his best seasons.  he hit 20 home runs for the only times in his career in 1982 and 1983 while posting a career high ops of .847 in 1983.  he stayed with the braves, though his playing time diminished, until he was granted free agency after the 1986 season.  the yankees brought him back in 1988 for one last at bat in may of that year, and chambliss struck out.  at least he went out as a yankee, i guess, and not with one of those stupid 'one day contracts' that are signed during spring training a la nomar and the red sox.

voici à vous, 1980 chris chambliss!

1979 rico carty

rico carty's contract was purchased by the blue jays in october of 1978, a mere two months after they had traded him to oakland.  here's his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

two things of note here - first, the blue jays are referred to as 'b jays' on the back.  nice.  not too kid friendly.  second, this is the first time that we have seen 'waivers' in a text variation.  back to the subject at hand.  when we last saw carty, he was in cleveland after being drafted by the blue jays in the expansion draft and then traded back to the indians.  in 1978, he the indians traded him back to toronto, who then sent him to oakland later in the season.  all that moving around agreed with him, apparently, as he hit a career high 31 home runs and drove in 99.  for toronto in 1979, he hit only 12 home runs and was released by the blue jays just before the start of the 1980 season.

voici à vous, 1979 rico carty!