1985 Topps #1 Draft Pick – Floyd Bannister

1985 Topps #1 Draft Pick – Floyd Bannister

Floyd Bannister enjoyed a 15-year professional baseball career.

And over the course of those 15 seasons, Bannister became  the king of the Double-Digits!!! 

In the 8 seasons that Bannister finished the season with double-digits in victories, he accomplished the same feat with losses.  By the end of his career, Bannister compiled a 134-143 record.  His best season came during the 1983 campaign where he went 16-10 and had 193 strikeouts with a 3.43 ERA.

Floyd Bannister was an All-star 1 time in his career and he finished in 4th place in the Rookie of the Year voting back in 1977.

Overall ranking - 3 out of 10.  Points earned for being an All-star and compiling more than 100 victories during his career.

1987 Headline: Straw & HoJo – First Ever 30/30 Teammates!!

 On this date in 1987, Darryl Strawberry and Howard Johnson of the New York Mets became the first ever teammates to both join the ’30/30′ club in the same season.

The ’30/30′ club is pretty exclusive.  And the members have to be a very specific kind of player.  Powerful enough to hit bomb after bomb into the outfield seats, yet graceful and quick enough to swipe base after base in a frenzied rush to outrun a catcher’s throw.

It’s an amazing accomplishment to become a member of the ’30/30′ club.  But when 2 players on the same team reach that goal, it is baseball history!!!

By the end of the ’87 season, Darryl Strawberry finished the season with 39 home runs and 36 stolen bases.  With him was teammate Howard Johnson who crushed 36 homers and swiped 32 bases.

Congrats to Straw & HOJO!!!

Happy Birthday Cecil Fielder!!!

Cecil Fielder turns 46 years old today!!

As mighty of a power hitter as there ever has been, Cecil Fielder is the owner of some of the biggest, and longest home runs hit in the last 30 years!!

To say he is known for one thing is a fair statement.  That happens when you bash 51, 44, 35, 30, 38, 31, and 39 home runs in consecutive seasons.  But Fielder’s game was a bit more well-rounded than his power numbers may hint at.  ‘Big Daddy’ had 7 straight seasons with at least 100 hits or more and he also had two seasons where he scored 100+ runs.

Cecil Fielder is a 3-time All-Star, 2-time Silver Slugger winner, and a World Series champion.

For his birthday, I’d like to give him back the first 4 years of his career.  From 1985-88, Fielder was ‘stuck’ in Toronto and was unable to break into the Blue Jays line-up with any regularity.  In 4 years, he played in just 220 games.  With his first 220 games in Detroit Cecil bashed over 70 homers.  Imagine if were able to replicate that while with Toronto – WOW!!!

Happy Birthday Cecil Fielder!!!

100,000 HITS!!!

The blog reached 100,000 hits today.

And while this milestone may be minor to some and major to others, for me it is a nice accomplishment.  I put a lot of time and dedication into ’30-YOC’, and I am very proud to have been able to deliver this blog to each and every reader, to the tune of 100,000 hits.

So on an occasion like this, I figure why not celebrate and get myself a little gift.  I’ve been watching some stuff on Ebay over the last few days.  It may just be time to pull the trigger and celebrate 100,000 hits in style!!!

Let’s go shopping!!!