What a card: Bill Dawley was entering 1985 after a terrific first two major league seasons when this card was issued. In 1984, Dawley won 11 games in relief and posted a 1.93 earned run average.
My observation on the front: The Astros logo is the most interesting element on this card ... by far. The '85 set really has some boring cards.
More opinion from me: Those rainbow shoulder stripes -- I wonder who thought of that?
Something you might know: Dawley, after toiling in the minors for seven years, blasted out of the gate with Houston, posting a 1.83 ERA his rookie season in 1983, winning a spot on the National League's All-Star roster. He was the reliever called in after the Giants' Atlee Hammaker gave up that grand slam to the Angels' Fred Lynn.
Something you might not know: Dawley was a victim of major league baseball team's decisions to cut rosters from 25 men to 24 men in 1986. On April 1, 1986, Dawley and other established players like the Yankees' Phil Niekro, the Royals' Pat Sheridan and the Brewers' Ray Burris were cut to meet the 24-man limit. The 24-man roster wasn't expected to last more than a couple months, but it lasted through the 1989 season until the 25-man roster was written into the collective bargaining agreement in 1990.
My observation on the back: That "Did Not Pitch" for Tuscon is odd. Dawley started with the Astros out of spring training and was never sent down in 1983. So why would Tucson even be shown? (It's not shown on his baseball-reference page).
The blog wants to speak now: The News category is updated.
Dawley was actually sent to Tucson. He pitched an exhibition game for the Toros against the University of Arizona on April 10. He was set to be the starter against Edmonton on April 15th, but the Astros called him up and he got the win against the Expos instead.
ReplyDeleteHere's a UPI Archives story that confirms Dawley was called up from Tuscon on April 15:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/04/15/The-Houston-Astros-recalled-right-hander-Bill-Dawley-from-their/8261419230800/
It's my impression that the database baseball-reference was built on only contained data for players who actually appeared in games, and made no attempt to account for players who were on a team's roster but didn't appear in any games. As a result, the fact that they don't show Dawley as having been with Tuscon in 1983 is of little value in answering the question "Was Dawley on Tuscon's roster at some point, but didn't appear in any games?". Topps back in 1985 was probably getting its data from The Sporting News Baseball Register, which would have included this sort of thing.