1982 boomer wells

greg "boomer" wells was sent from the blue jays to the twins in january of 1982 to complete the hosken powell deal from a couple of weeks earlier. here is his 1982 o-pee-chee card:

it's too bad o-pee-chee didn't include powell in the 1982 set, but at least we have this, quite possibly my favorite variation of the set. it's a text variation only, since it wouldn't make sense to change the team information when two-thirds of the players stayed put.

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the original boomer wells had played in 32 games for the jays in 1981, hitting .247 with 5 extra base hits (all doubles) as a first baseman and sometimes dh. things had started out well for the 27 year old rookie - in his first major league at bat, he singled in the tying run in the 9th inning of a game against the tigers. unfortunately, the tigers won the game in the bottom of the 9th. despite his successful debut, the blue jays had willie upshaw ready to take over first base in 1982, so wells was expendable.

for the twinkies in 1982, he was brought up in september and inserted into the starting lineup first as the dh and then as the first baseman to give kent hrbek some rest. he wound up playing in just 15 games and hit only .204, although he did have 2 triples. the second of those triples came in the 9th inning of game 162 against future cy young award winner lamarr hoyt, and was the last hit of the twins' 1982 season. it was also the last hit and last at bat of wells' major league career, as the twins released him prior to the start 1983 season.

voici à vous, 1982 boomer wells!