1982 dave collins

dave collins was not traded from the reds to the yankees in december of 1981 as o-pee-chee would have you believe.  rather, he signed with the bronx bombers as a free agent.  here's his 1982 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

reds teammate ken griffey had been traded to the yankees about a month before collins signed his contract (described at the time as a multi-year deal that included options that could stretch it to five years), meaning that there wasn't a lot of room in the outfield when collins arrived, with dave winfield and jerry mumphrey holding over from the yankees' 1981 team.  reggie jackson would soon be headed to anaheim opening up the right field spot for griffey, but bobby murcer, bob watson, oscar gamble and others were still around clamoring for playing time as well.  as a result, collins split time fairly evenly among all three outfield positions, and actually spent more time at first base than any specific outfield spot.  he hit .253 in 111 games, and had only 13 steals for the yankees.

collins had been assured that he would play when he took less money to sign with new york (!), and may have become disgruntled by splitting his time at four positions.  after the season, the yankees signed steve kemp, and collins was traded (with mike morgan and fred mcgriff and cash) to the blue jays despite having two to four more years on his deal with the yankees.  he rebounded nicely in toronto, but didn't stay there too long either.

voici à vous, 1982 dave collins!