What a card: Harry Spilman enjoyed a bounce-back season in 1984. Entrenched in his pinch-hitting role with the Astros, he had 19 hits in 72 at-bats (.264), which was far better than his 13-for-78 performance (.167) in 1983. But he was back to batting .136 in 1985.
My observation on the front: Wow, if that uniform doesn't say 1980s, I'm not sure what does.
More opinion from me: I so love that Astros logo.
Something you might know: Spilman carved out a 12-year career based on his reputation as a pinch-hitter, but he began in the majors in a battle with Ray Knight to see who would replace Pete Rose at third base for the Reds. Obviously, Knight won.
Something you might not know: Spilman's cousin is former White Sox first baseman Greg Walker.
My observation on the back: The Mets finished in second place in 1984. Take away those extra-inning games and New York was 79-71.
The blog wants to speak now: The News category is updated.
Wiki says (I didn't know) that Spilman was the 1977 Eastern League MVP. An earlier generation of Topps cards -- like the '71s -- would have mentioned that.
ReplyDeleteAn earlier generation would have also listed his minor league stats. I used to love looking at those and seeing all the odd town names mixed in with the major league cities. Viva Trois Rivieres!
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