Happy Birthday Lou Whitaker!!!

Happy Birthday Lou Whitaker!!!

Lou Whitaker turns 58 years old today.

‘Sweet Lou’ Whitaker is best known as part of one of the most successful double play combinations in baseball’s history. With the Detroit Tigers, and alongside Alan Trammel, Whitaker excelled as a second baseman.

In his rookie year of 1978, Whitaker walked away with the Rookie of the Year award. In that 1978 season, “Sweet Lou’ managed to hit .285 while connecting for 138 hits and driving in 58 runs. Although Whitaker’s offensive stats cannot compare to the power numbers put up by today’s 2nd basemen, Whitaker’s career totals are very impressive. A career .276 hitter, Lou managed to belt out 244 home runs and drive in 1084 RBI. In addition to this, Whitaker has also accumulated 143 stolen bases.

A 5-time All-star, and a 4-time Silver Slugger winner, Whitaker really cemented his greatness on defense. For 19 season, he patrolled 2nd base for the Tigers and ended his career with a .984 fielding percentage. Lou has also been part of 1,527 double plays.

Happy Birthday to ‘Sweet Lou’!!

Happy Birthday Lou Whitaker!!!

Happy Birthday Lou Whitaker!!!

Lou Whitaker turns 57 years old today.

‘Sweet Lou’ Whitaker is best known as part of one of the most successful double play combinations in baseball’s history. With the Detroit Tigers, and alongside Alan Trammel, Whitaker excelled as a second baseman.

In his rookie year of 1978, Whitaker walked away with the Rookie of the Year award. In that 1978 season, “Sweet Lou’ managed to hit .285 while connecting for 138 hits and driving in 58 runs. Although Whitaker’s offensive stats cannot compare to the power numbers put up by today’s 2nd basemen, Whitaker’s career totals are very impressive. A career .276 hitter, Lou managed to belt out 244 home runs and drive in 1084 RBI. In addition to this, Whitaker has also accumulated 143 stolen bases.

A 5-time All-star, and a 4-time Silver Slugger winner, Whitaker really cemented his greatness on defense. For 19 season, he patrolled 2nd base for the Tigers and ended his career with a .984 fielding percentage. Lou has also been part of 1,527 double plays.

Happy Birthday to ‘Sweet Lou’!!

Hall Of Fame Debate: Gimme Five!!!

Hall Of Fame Debate: Gimme Five!!!

I thought that this would be a fun way to start off the ‘Hall Of Fame Debate’ at 30-Year Old Cardboard.

What I am seeking is your list of five eligible players that you would give your vote to for Hall of Fame election.  Your list can be made up of players that have been on the ballot for several years or guys that are fairly new to the list of eligible players.

**My one requisite is that you omit any/all of the players that are eligible for the first time in 2013.  So, no Bonds, Clemens, Schilling, Biggio, Piazza, etc…  We will discuss those guys, I promise, in great detail.

But for now, I want to see what kind of dialogue we can get going about the players on the prior ballots that have yet to make the cut.

I am going to participate in this as well.  You can say that am giving myself five, if you wish.

And here they are, in random order:

Tim Raines

Lee Smith

Alan Trammell

Rafael Palmeiro

Dale Murphy

Agree or Disagree with my picks?  Great, let’s chat about it.

Ultimately, I will compile a list of all of the players that make the cut in your eyes and try to examine their careers further.

Thank you for your participation.  Have a great night!!

Doug Hooks Up Me & My Player Collections!!!

Doug Hooks Up Me & My Player Collections!!!

I love trading baseball cards.  It was one of my most favorite things to do as a kid and I still enjoy it today.  Sadly, I get to do it too often because I rarely have cards in my collection that I am not actively collecting.

That did change for a little while when the 2012 Topps Archives brand was released.  I love the set, and I busted a few retail boxes of them.

In the boxes, I scored a lot of Detroit Tigers cards so I offered them up to a blogging pal of mine, Doug.  Doug collects the Tigers and I knew that he would enjoy them.

After getting my cards, he started working on his ‘Thank You’ package and the cards he sent are perfectly geared towards my new player collections.

Doug’s generous contributions filled quite a few holes in my PC’s, and now they have been logged and scanned – and now I am ready to show them off too…

Here is the haul:

Thank you for the great cards Doug.  I am already working on my next stack of Tigers to send your way!!!

🙂

Reader Ron Sends Over 11 Cards For My New Player Collections!!!

Reader Ron Sends Over 11 Cards For My New Player Collections!!!

Ron has been a loyal ’30-YOC’ follower for some time now.  We have exchanged emails, blog comments, and baseball cards for a solid 12+ months.

His collection is extensive, and we both have a passion for the stars of the 1970 and 1980s.

Ron is a fan of many teams, and he gets each and every Twins and Pirates card that I pull.  I, in turn, get some much needed help for my player collections.

I recently got a nice package of cards from Ron.  And in that package, there were 11 cards that filled holes in some of the new PC’s that I am working on.

Here is the haul:

There was quite a bit more in the package that he sent, and I will show those off at a later time.

But in these 11 cards, I get 1 Eric Davis, 1 Alan Trammell, 3 Mike Schmidt, and 6 Dave Parker cards that can all scratch off needs on my wantlists!

Thank You, Ron!!!

My New Player Checklists Have Been Built. My Cards Are Organized. It Is Time To S-H-O-P!!!

My New Player Checklists Have Been Built.  My Cards Are Organized.  It Is Time To S-H-O-P!!!

In case you missed it, a little less than two weeks ago I announced the next round of players that I was going to build player collections for.  If you wanted to re-visit that post, click here.

Well, I have finally gotten organized.  The checklists have been built.  The cards have been sorted and accounted for.

And now, there is just one thing left to do – SHOP!!!!

Oh, and if you happen to have any cards on my new ‘Player Collection’ checklist that I need for these new sets please let me know.

I am sure that we can work something out.

Thanks for reading.

Finally, I Am Ready To Announce The Next Round Of Player Collections I Will Be Building!!!

Finally, I Am Ready To Announce The Next Round Of Player Collections I Will Be Building!!!

I have wrapped up quite a few player collections over the last few months.  And while, I still have a pretty good stack of collections I am working on to complete, I thought it was a good time to add a few more players to my roster.

And as you would expect, each of these guys has left some kind of impression on me.  You can consider each of them to be ’30-YOC favorites’.

And let’s get down to it…

1 – Alan Trammell – All major brand cards from 1978-1990

2 – Eric Davis – Just the Reds

3 – Mike Schmidt – All major brand cards from playing days

4 – Ken Griffey, Sr. – Just the Reds

5 – Dave Parker – Just the Pirates

6 – Rollie Fingers – All major brand cards from playing days

7 – Lou Brock – All major brand cards from playing days

Not a bad squad right there, huh?

I am really excited about collecting these guys.  Hopefully I am able to do well with my pursuit.

You better believe that I will share each and every step of this process with you!!

Stay tuned.

Lou Whitaker 2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites

Lou Whitaker 2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites

Issued twenty years after the 1985 baseball season, this card of Lou Whitaker issued in 2005 by Topps takes us right back to ’85.

And Whitaker had a fantastic season in 1985!!!

Coming off of a World Series championship run with the Tigers in 1984, Lou was an All-Star, Gold Glove winner, and Silver Slugger winner in 1985.

His numbers – .279 batting average with 170 hits, 29 doubles, 8 triples, 21 home runs, 73 RBI, 102 runs scored, and a very solid on-base percentage of .382!!

And the crowd chants, ‘LOU’!!!!

Happy Birthday Lou Whitaker!!!

Happy Birthday Lou Whitaker!!!

Lou Whitaker turns 55 years old today.

‘Sweet Lou’ Whitaker is best known as part of one of the most successful double play combinations in baseball’s history.  With the Detroit Tigers, and alongside Alan Trammel, Whitaker excelled as a second baseman. 

In his rookie year of 1978, Whitaker walked away with the Rookie of the Year award.  In that 1978 season, “Sweet Lou’ managed to hit .285 while connecting for 138 hits and driving in 58 runs.  Although Whitaker’s offensive stats cannot compare to the power numbers put up by today’s 2nd basemen, Whitaker’s career totals are very impressive.  A career .276 hitter, Lou managed to belt out 244 home runs and drive in 1084 RBI.  In addition to this, Whitaker has also accumulated 143 stolen bases.

A 5-time All-star, and a 4-time Silver Slugger winner, Whitaker really cemented his greatness on defense.  For 19 season, he patrolled 2nd base for the Tigers and ended his career with a .984 fielding percentage.  Lou has also been part of 1,527 double plays.

Happy Birthday to ‘Sweet Lou’!!

Lou Whitaker 2004 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites

Lou Whitaker 2004 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites

I just don’t know why Topps puts us through this…

During his 19-season career in the big leagues, Whitaker played in 2,308 regular season games.  In those contests, he handled 11,613 hit balls.

So, why on earth would Topps subject us to a posed photo of Whitaker fielding a grounder???

I just don’t get it…