Thursday, January 12, 2017

#617 - Willie Wilson


What a card: Willie Wilson was coming off a suspension-shortened season when this card was issued. He was among the Royals suspended for the entire 1984 season by commissioner Bowie Kuhn for pleading guilty to attempting to purchase cocaine (and serving a jail sentence). The suspension was reduced, but Wilson didn't play until mid-May.

My observation on the front: Is that a red bat? I love red bats.

More opinion from me: Wilson was always a favorite. Even though he had already played parts of three seasons, including quite a bit of the 1978 season, I didn't discover him until he broke out in '79.

Something you might know: Wilson set the record for most at-bats in a single season when he recorded 705 in 1980. The record was broken by Jimmy Rollins' 716 at-bats in 2007.

Something you might not know: Among players with more than 400 career stolen bases, only Tim Raines (84.7%) owns a greater stolen base success rate than Wilson (83.3%).


My observation the back: Wilson deserved a card number with at least a "5" at the end. I wonder if Topps was punishing him for his suspension and jail time.

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

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