Happy Birthday Vince Coleman!!!

Vince Coleman turns 48 years old today.

Vince Coleman had one of the most impressive rookie seasons I witnessed during my youth. 

In 1985, as a rookie of the St. Louis Cardinals, Coleman debuted with a bang and the entire sport took notice.  Notching 170 hits, while scoring 107 runs, Coleman was the ideal lead-off hitter for the Cards’ star-studded line-up.  Oh yeah, he also stole 110 bases in his rookie year too – simply amazing.  Coleman’s season was impressive enough to earn him the Rookie of the Year award in a unanimous vote!!!

While Coleman continued to have amazing success during his days with the Cardinals, he was never able to replicate that excitement he brought to the base paths once he moved on to other teams.  Still a threat, he still collected between 20-50 swipes per season after he left ‘The Arch’.

For Vince’s birthday I would like to give him more time in St. Louis.  The fans there loved him, and he played his best ball for them.  Coleman is one of the greatest runners this sport has ever seen and for his birthday I would like to see him play in a city that cares for and loved watching him go to work.

Happy Birthday to Vince Coleman!!!

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!!!

1983 Topps Jim Palmer – Super Veteran

1983 Topps Jim Palmer – Super Veteran

I already owned this card as part of my 1983 Topps Super Veterans set, but it is nice to add it to my Jim Palmer collection now too.

Jim Palmer personifies what pitching excellence is all about.  A 3-time Cy Young award-winning pitcher that was tagged as the best pitcher in the game during the 1973, 1975, and 1976 seasons.  Palmer is also a 3-time World Series champion as he reached the ultimate team goal with the Baltimore Orioles during the 1966, 1970, and 1983 seasons.

A true champion and a true ‘Super Veteran’!!!!

Did You Know…

Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson are the only two pitchers to win four consecutive Cy Young awards.

**factoid courtesy of ‘Armchair Reader – Grand Slam Baseball’

My Take – When it is all said and done, my generation will be proud to boast that we were able to enjoy the complete careers of these 2 amazingly different, yet dominant pitchers!!!

Happy Anniversary Ernie Banks!!!

On this day in 1953, Ernie Banks hit the first home run of his career as a professional baseball player.

Nobody knew what was in store for Banks’ future, but ‘Mr. Cub’ certainly left a lasting impression on the city of Chicago and the sport of baseball.

Home Run #1 was just the start.  The start of 512 career home runs.  The start of 11 All-star appearances.  The start of 1 Gold Glove award.  And the start of 2 Most Valuable Player awards.  Home Run #1 started it all…

Congratulations and Happy Anniversary Mr. Ernie Banks!!! 

My Andre Dawson Collection Gets A Shot Of HGH…

I have the phrase ‘Andre Dawson Lot’ saved as a search term in my Ebay account.  And while most of the stuff that comes up is small, and often ridiculous stuff, I have found a few gems as well.  And while I continue to try to add new cards of ‘The Hawk’ to my collection, my focus as of late has been of game-used memorabilia or certified autograph cards.

And then I saw an auction for a 450-card lot of Dawson with the starting price of just $0.99.  And while the seller did not provide too much detail as to assortment of years and companies involved, a quick email left me feeling confident that this was not a 400-card lot of Andre’s ’86 Topps card.

And now $20.25 later, the cards have arrived and my collection has instantly ‘bulked up’.  Going into this, I knew that I would find very few ‘new’ additions to my player collection.  But at less than 5 cents per card, I couldn’t resist.

So, if you need any Dawson cards for your collection, or want to start your own player collection of ‘The Hawk’, let me know.  I’ll hook you up…

1982 Topps Jim Palmer – In Action

1982 Topps Jim Palmer – In Action

Man that wind-up was fierce!!!

I always liked the ‘In-Action’ cards that Topps added to their sets in the 1970′s and into the 80′s.  And while I’d rather have each and every cad feature an action photo, it was nice to see 2 cards of the stars from those seasons in each set.

In that 1982 season, Jim Palmer was a monster.  Finishing in second place for the league’s Cy Young award, Palmer was 15-5 while pitching 227 innings.  He struck out 103 batters that year and finished the season with a 3.13 ERA. 

Of the 13 double-digit win seasons Palmer compiled, 1982 was the final one.