#395 - 1984 United States Baseball Team: Mike Dunne

What a card: Mike Dunne is the third player in this set so far who made the major leagues. He played for five seasons between 1987-92.

My observation on the front: Mike is having a friendly chat with a teammate or coach.

More opinion from me: So. Many. Dugout. Shots.

Something you might know: Dunne finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting to the Padres' Benito Santiago in 1987.

Something you might not know: Dunne was drafted by the Cardinals and traded to the Pirates in the deal that brought Andy VanSlyke to Pittsburgh for catcher Tony Pena. The traded happened on April Fool's Day and Dunne, who was a Cardinals fan growing up, thought it was a joke when he was traded. Dunne said the Pirates had a choice of him or Cardinals pitcher Joe Magrane and the Pirates chose him.

My observation on the back: The Central Illinois Collegiate League was a wooden bat summer league. It merged with the Prospect League in 2008.

The blog wants to speak now: The Music tab is updated.

#394 - 1984 United States Baseball Team: Bob Caffrey

What a card: Sadly, Bob Caffrey never made the major leagues, meaning 3 of the first 5 players in this subset didn't play in the majors. Caffrey made it as high as Double A in the Expos organization in 1988.

My observation on the front: The Rawlings duffle bag is giving me flashbacks to high school.

More opinion from me: Caffrey looks like he's going to cry. Come on! Your career isn't over yet!

Something you might know: Caffrey played on the national champion Cal State-Fullerton team in 1984. He was a backup catcher on the U.S. Olympic team.

Something you might not know: Caffrey's daughter, Jenna, was a standout hurdler for Burlington High School in Iowa and at Iowa State. She won the Drake Relays in the 100-meter hurdles three times while in high school.

My observation on the back: Caffrey was practically baseball-stalking Tim Wallach at this point. First breaking his home run record and then getting drafted by the same team.

The blog wants to speak now: The Movies category is updated.

#393 - 1984 United States Baseball Team: Scott Bankhead

What a card: Scott Bankhead evens the ledger between 1984 Olympians who made the majors and those who didn't at 2-2. Bankhead pitched for 10 years in the major leagues.

My observation on the front: Wow. Boring.

More opinion from me: Bankhead looks like every other guy who lives in the next county over from me.

Something you might know: Bankhead reached his career peak in 1989 with the Mariners when he went 14-6 in 33 starts, striking out 140. He won seven straight starts, which is still a Seattle record (tied with Jamie Moyer).

Something you might not know: Another member of the '84 Olympic team, B.J. Surhoff, was a batterymate of Bankhead's when the two played for the University of North Carolina.

My observation on the back: If his greatest asset is "tremendous competitiveness" wouldn't he be at his best in games both important and unimportant?

The blog wants to speak now: The News category is updated.

#392 - 1984 United States Baseball Team: Don August

What a card: Finally, we have a player from the 1984 U.S. Baseball Team that reached the major leagues. Don August played for the Brewers from 1988-91.

My observation on the front: You can see the team sponsor General Electric on the patch on August's sleeve.

More opinion from me: A lot of "sitting in the dugout" shots in this subset.

Something you might know: August finished fourth in the A.L. Rookie of the Year voting in 1988 after going 13-7 in 24 games with a 3.09 ERA for the Brewers.

Something you might not know: August became a teacher after his playing career and is now the JV baseball coach at Menomonee Falls High School in Wisconsin.

My observation on the back: Chapman College became Chapman University in 1991. Other major leaguers from the school include a lot of Padres. Not only Randy Jones, but also Tim Flannery and Gary Lucas.

The blog wants to speak now: The Pop Culture tab is updated.

#391 - 1984 United States Baseball Team: Flavio Alfaro

What a card: The second player featured in this subset is also the second player on the team who would never play in the major leagues.

My observation on the front: The 1984 Olympic baseball games were held in Dodger Stadium. I'm going to say that's where Flavio Alfaro is in that picture.

More opinion from me: Alfaro already looks disgusted about his baseball future.

Something you might know: Alfaro played just one year in pro baseball, hitting .193 for Single A Durham in the Braves organization in 1985. He was the first member of the 1984 team to retire from baseball.

Something you might not know: Alfaro and Sid Akins, the first two players featured in this subset, were the only two players on the 1984 roster not drafted in the first round by an MLB team. Alfaro went in the fourth round (Akins in the third).

My observation on the back: Being from the Northeast, I'm used to collegiate baseball teams playing like 30 games a season. It blows my mind that a college player had 94 hits in one season.

The blog wants to speak now: The News category is updated.

#390 - 1984 United States Baseball Team: Sid Akins

What a card: The first player card in the 1984 U.S. Baseball Team subset, this is one of several players in the set who would never play in the majors. I hope to have an exact count by the time the subset is completed on the blog.

My observation on the front: I am reminded instantly how little I cared for this set when I bought the complete 1985 set. It is essentially college players and being from the Northeast, I had little interest in college baseball.

More opinion from me: I wonder how Topps went about choosing players to feature in this set? Will Clark and Barry Larkin were members of the 1984 U.S. team and aren't in the set.

Something you might know: Akins was drafted by the Rangers and also played in the Braves and Cardinals organizations, getting as high as Triple A for Atlanta in 1988.

Something you might not know: Akins was in "Bull Durham". In a creative stretch, he played a baseball player.

My observation on the back: Other than the noting that the backs feature the player's college stats and 1984 U.S. stats -- nice -- I see that the team sponsor, General Electric, is mentioned at the bottom left.

The blog wants to speak now: The Ballgames category is updated.

#389 - 1984 United States Baseball Team: Rod Dedeaux

What a card: So begins the most notable subset in the 1985 Topps set and one of the most notable subsets of any card set issued in the 1980s. The series recognizes the 1984 U.S. Olympic baseball team, which was the first baseball team to play in the Olympics in the United States. For the first time in 1984, baseball was included as a demonstration sport in the Olympics.

My observation on the front: Those USA caps worn in 1984 are very 1980s. I can see any trucker worth his rig wearing one of those.

More opinion from me: Beckett magazine, in its typical rookie frenzy, lists all of the cards in this 16-card subset as rookie cards, including Rod Dedeaux here. Granted, it's his first appearance in a major pro baseball set, but Dedeaux was 70 at this point, had been coaching for over 40 years, and made his last major league playing appearance in 1935. Rookie, my ass.

Something you might know: Dedeaux is known as the greatest college baseball coach of all-time and one of the greatest coaches ever. He retired from USC with 1,332 victories.

Something you might not know: Dedeaux worked as in extra in the movie "The Babe Ruth Story" in 1948.

My observation on the back: A couple of notable players Dedeaux coached that are not on this list because they were virtual unknowns at the time: Mark McGwire and Randy Johnson.

The blog wants to speak now: The News category is updated.

#388 - Bert Roberge

What a card: After a one-year break from appearing on baseball cards, Bert Roberge returned in 1985 after pitching in 21 games for the White Sox as a reliever in 1984.

My observation on the front: I think I own that gray T-shirt Roberge is wearing.

More opinion from me: Roberge appears in the Topps, Donruss and Fleer sets in 1983 as an Astro. He is wearing a full mustache on those cards. I am very disappointed he is clean shaven two years later.

Something you might know: Roberge was the player the Astros called up in 1980 when J.R. Richard suffered his stroke and went on the disabled list.

Something you might not know: When Roland Hemond was GM of the White Sox, Chicago traded Roberge to the Expos during the 1984 Winter Meetings (Roberge was already with the Expos when this card came out). Roberge is of French-Canadian heritage and so is Hemond, whose mother came from a Montreal suburb. So Hemond arranged with Expos president John McHale to announce the trade in French.

My observation on the back: McCovey still holds the NL career record for grand slams, although at the time only Lou Gehrig was ahead of him on the overall chart. Now Gehrig, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and Eddie Murray own more than McCovey, and Robin Ventura has matched him.

The blog wants to speak now: The News category is updated.

#387 - Buddy Biancalana

What a card: This is Buddy Biancalana's rookie card (the second straight rookie card in the set). Topps lucked into something of a coup as it was the only one of the three card companies at the time to feature Biancalana in a set the same year he became a pop culture sensation and World Series hero.

My observation on the front: The Royals are in spring training action against the Expos. The gentleman on the left has got to be a coach. Galen Cisco was No. 36 for the Expos in 1984. I'm going with that.

More opinion from me: Biancalana looks like he just got the sign from the third base coach and has no idea what he's supposed to do.

Something you might know: Spurred on by a bit on Late Night With David Letterman in which Letterman started a Buddy Biancalana hit count to spoof Pete Rose's chasing of Ty Cobb's all-time hit record, Biancalana became a household name. A month later, he batted .278 against the Cardinals in the World Series and contributing to several rallies. He hit a mere .188 during the regular season.

Something you might not know: Biancalana, who hit six career home runs, says that in the minor leagues he hit three home runs in one week against the same pitcher, Tommy Shimp.

My observation on the back: Biancalana's given first name is "Roland".

The blog wants to speak now: The Ballgames category is updated.

#386 - Dan Gladden

What a card: This is Dan Gladden's rookie card. Topps issued it after he finished fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1984 by batting .351 in 342 at-bats for the Giants.

My observation on the front: Choking up in the batting cage. That's a beautiful shot.

More opinion from me: How much advertising can you fit on one card? Well, there is logo for Topps and the Giants, of course. But if you find yourself wanting to purchase Starter jackets or Wilson sporting goods, you can blame the semi-subliminal messages for those products as well.

Something you might know: Gladden is one of seven players who were members of both the 1987 and 1991 World Series champion Twins teams.

Something you might not know: Gladden and Twins teammate Steve Lombardozzi were involved in a fistfight at Gladden's home in 1988. Gladden suffered a cracked ring finger and Lombardozzi showed up for work the next day with a black eye and a swollen face. The incident came about after Gladden and teammates took exception to Lombardozzi bolting to the clubhouse after being removed for a pinch-hitter during a game. Lombardozzi apparently went to Gladden's home to settle their differences.

My observation on the back: Gladden would never hit above .300 again and finished his career with a .270 batting average.

The blog wants to speak now: The TV category is updated.

#385 - Jose DeLeon

What a card: Jose DeLeon had finished his sophomore season with the Pirates in 1984. He was entering a season in which he would lose 19 games for the first -- but not the last -- time in his career. He went 2-19 for the Pirates in 1985.

My observation on the front: Another miscut card. It's detracting from the glorious mid-'80s Pirates uniform, including the yellow stirrups.

More opinion from me: Kind of an odd choice for a player with a card number ending in "5". The previous entry on this blog -- Jody Davis -- would have been more appropriate.

Something you might know: DeLeon possessed blazing speed and eventually put it together in the late '80s for the Cardinals, winning the NL strikeout crown in 1989 with 201.

Something you might not know: DeLeon was traded for some notable players. He was dealt straight up from the Pirates to the White Sox for Bobby Bonilla. Then he helped the White Sox land Lance Johnson in a deal with the Cardinals. In 1993, the Phillies traded him back to the White Sox for Bobby Thigpen. And then in 1995, the Expos traded future closer Jeff Shaw for DeLeon.

My observation on the back: The Cardinals now have the most NLCS wins with 35. The Reds have also been surpassed by the Braves (27), Giants (24), Dodgers (23), Phillies (21) and Mets (19). The Reds now have 18.

The blog wants to speak now: The News category is updated.