What a card: This is John Tudor's only Topps base card as a Pittsburgh Pirate (he's in the '84 Traded set as a Pirate, too). Tudor spent just one season with Pittsburgh. He was already a member of the Cardinals when this card came out.
My observation on the front: That's an odd background. It looks like Tudor is pitching in a fog, or up in the clouds.
More opinion from me: Tudor was an enigma for me and many others. He bounced between teams I really liked (early '80s Red Sox, late '80s Dodgers) and teams I didn't like at all (mid '80s Cardinals). He seemed temperamental and anti-social. He was known to have a good sense of humor, but he appeared aloof most of the time.
Something you might know: A key part of the Cardinals' World Series teams in 1985 and 1987, he nearly led St. Louis to a championship in 1985. But he ran out of gas in the Game 7 finale against the Cardinals, was removed early in an eventual 11-0 loss, and hurt his hand punching an electrical fan in frustration.
Something you might not know: Tudor is the last pitcher to have reached double digits in shutouts in a single season. He pitched 10 shutouts in 1985.
My observation on the back: You can count on many a Massachusetts boy to list hockey as a hobby.
The blog wants to speak now: The Ballgames and News categories are updated.
Tudor is my second least favorite Cardinals player behind Tom Herr. He is also my second least favorite pitcher from the 80's behind Orel Hershiser. He also finished second with all those stellar 1985 numbers in the Cy Young voting to Dwight Gooden. He should have worn the number 22.
ReplyDelete