The First One To Go

The Dodgers, led by their much celebrated infield -- the one that had been together as a foursome for 8½ years -- were fresh off a World Series championship in 1981. The group had achieved much success together -- four pennants and one championship in an 8-year span. However, the team was getting older, especially the infield. Here were the ages heading into 1982 (baseball ages, meaning their age as of June 30):

1B Steve Garvey: 33 years old
2B Davey Lopes: 37
3B Ron Cey: 34
SS Bill Russell: 33

The writing was on the wall, with heralded minor leaguers waiting in the wings, that the infield would not be together much longer. Davey Lopes had struggled greatly in 1981. He was injured and missed over 50 games, almost half of the strike-shortened year. He only hit .206/.289/.285, a mere 66 OPS+ (although much better than 2008 Andruw Jones).

On February 8, Lopes was traded to Oakland for 19-year old middle infielder Lance Hudson. Hudson would never make the majors. Lopes was healthy again in 1982, and rebounded to hit .242/.304/.371, a 90 OPS+. Meanwhile, 22-year old Steve Sax hit .282/.335/.359, a 97 OPS+, easily winning Rookie of the Year honors, the fourth straight such award for the Dodgers.

Lopes would actually go on to be a productive player through 1987, his age 42 season. After he left the Dodgers, Lopes hit .265/.348/.410, a 111 OPS+. Although not an everyday player, Lopes hit slightly better in his post-Dodger career than during his time with LA (.262/.349/.380, 105 OPS+). He also stole 139 bases in six seasons, at a great 82.7% clip, including a record 47 bases as a 40+ year old in 1985.


What stands out from Lopes' 1987 Donruss card is his position. Lopes is remembered as a 2B, but he was converted from the outfield while in the minors with the Dodgers. Here are his games started by position after leaving the Dodgers:

2B: 250 games
3B: 40 games
LF: 63 games
CF: 31 games
RF: 47 games

After starting 16 games at 2B in 1984, he never started another game at 2B again. I do wish for his picture here Lopes would have been wearing one of the classic rainbow Astros uniforms, but this will have to do.

On to the count...

The Set: 18 of 660 (2.7%)

HOF: 4 (none)

Former Dodgers: 3 (+1)

Future Dodgers: 5

USC v. UCLA

This Saturday, the 5th-ranked USC Trojans will take on their crosstown rivals, the UCLA Bruins, at what will hopefully be the first of two straight games at the Rose Bowl. I didn't attend USC, but I grew up watching them. My brother and uncle both have graduate degrees from the school, so that adds to their appeal. I graduated from UCSD, but since my school has no D-1 sports, my fandom of USC continued.

I am very happy about the decision made by Pete Carroll, to wear cardinal jerseys on the road, meaning the rivalry will feature the reds versus the blues for the first time since 1982.

Since this is a rivalry game between the two schools, I figured this would be a good time to pit Trojans against the Bruins from the 1987 Donruss set.

USC



Tom Seaver - #375: Tom Terrific, the 3-time Cy Young Award winner (he probably could have won a handful more too) and slam dunk Hall of Famer, is the jewel of this group. I don't know how close the Dodgers came to dealing Don Sutton straight up for Seaver in 1977, but I can't think of Seaver without thinking of what might have been in blue. Also, thanks to the back of his 1987 Donruss card, he was once traded straight up for current Dodger announcer and one-time pants-dropper Steve "Psycho" Lyons!



Mark McGwire - #46: Who knows if Big Mac will ever see the Hall of Fame (I personally would vote for him), but in this card he has the look of a man about to shatter the rookie record for HR.



Dave Kingman - #425: For a one-dimensional basher, Kingman sure hit a lot of bombs. He hit 35 HR in what would be his final MLB season in 1986. Ask Tommy Lasorda what he thought of Kingman (skip to about the 1:23 mark).



Fred Lynn - #108: Growing up, when I thought of Fred Lynn I always thought of his HR off of Atlee Hammaker in the 1983 All-Star game. Upon further review, he was a very good to great player. I go back and forth on this, but you could make a case he was the best of the 3 young outfielders that guided the 1975 Red Sox to the World Series. That had to be the best young OF of all time.

UCLA



Tim Leary - #232: Leary will always have a special place in my heart for winning 17 games for the 1988 Dodgers, my favorite baseball team of all-time. He will be remembered for two memorable performances: 1) his 9th-inning, pinch single to beat the Giants in August 1988; and 2) his 3 innings of shutout relief in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, keeping the Dodgers in the game before...well, you know.



Ron Roenicke - #412: He got a ring with the 1981 Dodgers, and he had his best career game in 1986 against LA, getting 4 hits and a HR in a June game.



Pat Dodson - #44: Unlike his fellow "Rated Rookie" 1B McGwire, Dodson didn't do much in the majors.

	Dodson
1986	.417/.533/.833, 265 OPS+
Post-1986	.172/.282/.368, 73 OPS+, 3 HR
	McGwire
1986	.189/.259/.377, 77 OPS+
Post-1986	.263/.395/.590, 163 OPS+, 580 HR

Don Slaught - #136: Thanks to the thoroughness of the folks at Donruss (or Leaf, Inc.), we find out that Slaught was involved in a 4-team trade in January 1985 with Tim Leary. While Leary went from the Mets to the Brewers, Slaught was sent from the Royals to the Rangers.



Pat Clements - #390: Yet another sweet Pirates hat! Clements, a career reliever (only 2 of his 288 appearances were starts), ended up with a 17-11 career record (a nice .607 winning %), but was 0-6 as a Pirate. Maybe the hat didn't suit him.



Dave Schmidt - #182: Schmidt wasn't a bad pitcher. In fact, only seven pitchers in the 1980s had more 100 ERA+ seasons than the eight produced by Schmidt (in the first 8 seasons of his career).

If we look at this as a competition, USC easily takes the cake, quality over quantity. The four USC players above combined for 33 all-star appearances, 3 Cy Youngs, 1 MVP (and McGwire should have won over Sosa in 1998), and 1 HOF (perhaps one day a 2nd in McGwire). The six Bruins, however, combined for a big goose egg.

Back to football, my prediction for Saturday is that USC will win 41-3.

On to the count...

The Set: 12 of 660 (1.8%)

HOF: 2 (+1 with Seaver)

Former Dodgers: 2 (+1 with Roenicke)

Future Dodgers: 2 (+1 with Leary)

This R.J. Reynolds Does Not Cause Cancer

How unfortunate is it that Robert James Reynolds shared a name with a prominent tobacco company? I always felt bad for him because of that. But you don't get to choose your names. Both of my parents died of cancer, each brought on by 30+ years of smoking, so perhaps I would be more likely to not go by the name R.J. Reynolds if it were my choice. I would certainly want to change my name, or at least go by Robert, Rob, or even Bobby, but then again who am I to tell R.J. what his name should be?

R.J. Reynolds' 1987 Donruss card, #65 in the set, is classic for a couple of reasons. First, look at the glorious majesty of that classic Pirates' hat! The renegade mentality in the refusal to wear normal caps is fitting for a team called the Pirates. I really should buy this hat. It doesn't get much better than that.

On the front of this card, as is the case with almost all 660 cards of this set (the first 27 cards -- Diamond Kings and the checklist -- are different), Donruss not only has the logo but also "87", as to not confuse its customers. Personally, I like this as a quirk, even though a savvy collector should be able to look at the card design and immediately deduce the year and brand. Maybe Donruss saw the competition in 1987 and decided it simply couldn't compete with wood paneling.

Even though there is a slight scowl on his face, Reynolds surely was happy to escape the bench in Los Angeles. 1986 marked a career high in many categories (plate appearances, runs, hits, doubles, HR, RBI, walks, slugging percentage, and OPS+) for Mr. Reynolds. He even started the year as the Pirates' regular leadoff hitter, and for the first two months of the season hit mostly first or second in the lineup, until the Pirates decided on some kid from ASU in the leadoff spot at the end of May.

Perhaps Reynolds isn't happy in his picture on the front of this card because he knows his best baseball moment was already behind him. On September 11, 1983, Reynolds delivered a squeeze bunt to cap a 4-run 9th inning rally to beat the Braves in a heated pennant race. This amazing game, perhaps the 2nd greatest regular season game in Dodger Stadium history, has been chronicled eloquently by Jon Weisman on the amazing Dodger Thoughts website on numerous occasions.

Reynolds came to Pittsburgh in September 1985, along with Cecil Espy and future pennant-winning run-scoring speedster Sid Bream, in a 3-for-1 trade for 3B Bill Madlock. Madlock, a 4-time batting champion, hit .360/.422/.447 down the stretch for the Dodgers, helping them win the NL West.

On to the count...

The Set: 2 of 660 (0.3%)

HOF: 1

Former Dodgers: 1 (+1 with Reynolds)

Future Dodgers: 1