Hard Luck Franchise
This is the only playoff team in the 36 year history of the Montreal Expos. They lost in the NLCS 3 games to 2. The Expos had a knack for putting together their best teams in strike shortened seasons. Probably their best team was the 1994 team that never got to go to the playoffs because there were no playoffs that year due to a strike. This team was a casualty of the Bud Selig era, trying to turn major league baseball into the NFL. They could draw fans well in 1981 as they drew over 1.5 million fans and were the 3rd highest drawing team in the National League. Baseball did work in this city.
Tim Raines
The 1980s were my youth, and there is much love shown for getting Bert Blyleven in the hall of fame on the internet based on his statistics, and I think he deserves a spot, but sorry, nobody got excited about seeing Bert Blyleven play or receiving a Bert Blyleven card in their packs of baseball cards. I don't undersstand why there isn't more support for Tim Raines, Dale Murphy, Don Mattingly, or Steve Garvey. To me you can't tell the story of baseball in the 1980s without these players. I suppose this goes to what you think the hall of fame represents, and in my opinion it is about telling the history of baseball, and these players that receive little support had a lot to do with making the game memorable in the 1980s.
1981 was Tim Raines rookie year. I am using his Topps Traded card in this checklist because my goal was to start with the Topps and Topps Traded sets, but if interested in his true rookie card, that would be Donruss #538. He is also listed on the multi player future stars card for the Expos in the regular Topps set, and that is listed under the miscellaneous cards for 1981.
Starters
| __ | TO | 660 | C | Gary Carter | MON |
| __ | TO | 345 | 1B | Warren Cromartie | MON |
| __ | TO | 539 | 2B | Rodney Scott | MON |
| __ | TO | 15 | 3B | Larry Parrish | MON |
| __ | TO | 97 | SS | Chris Speier | MON |
| __ | TT | 816 | LF | Tim Raines | MON |
| __ | TO | 125 | CF | Andre Dawson | MON |
| __ | RF | Tim Wallach |
Starting Pitchers
| __ | TO | 578 | SP | Bill Gullickson | MON |
| __ | TO | 235 | SP | Scott Sanderson | MON |
| __ | TO | 725 | SP | Steve Rogers | MON |
| __ | TT | 744 | SP | Ray Burris | MON |
| __ | TO | 293 | SP | Charlie Lea | MON |
Relief Pitchers
| __ | TO | 394 | CL | Woodie Fryman | MON |
| __ | TO | 633 | RP | Bill Lee | MON |
| __ | TT | 819 | RP | Jeff Reardon | MON |
| __ | TO | 181 | RP | Elias Sosa | MON |
| __ | TO | 267 | RP | Stan Bahnsen | MON |
Other Players
| __ | LF | Terry Francona | |||
| __ | 1B | John Milner | |||
| __ | TO | 445 | RF | Ellis Valentine | MON |
| __ | TO | 559 | 1B | Willie Montanez | MON |
| __ | 2B | Jerry Manuel | |||
| __ | TT | 813 | SS | Mike Phillips | MON |
| __ | TO | 319 | OF | Rowland Office | MON |
| __ | FL | 162 | C | Bobby Ramos | MON |
| __ | TO | 374 | UT | Tom Hutton | MON |
| __ | IF | Brad Mills | |||
| __ | UT | Dan Briggs | |||
| __ | 2B | Wallace Johnson | |||
| __ | DO | 545 | OF | Bob Pate | MON |
| __ | 2B | Chris Smith | |||
| __ | 1B | Dave Hostetler | |||
| __ | RF | Pat Rooney | |||
| __ | 2B | Mike Gates | |||
| __ | LF | Tony Johnson | |||
| __ | C | Tom Wieghaus | |||
| __ | RP | Steve Ratzer | |||
| __ | RP | Tom Gorman | |||
| __ | RP | Bryn Smith | |||
| __ | RP | Grant Jackson | |||
| __ | RP | Rick Engle |
Minors
| __ | FL | 337 | MN | Dan Norman | NYM |
| __ | TO | 607 | MN | David Palmer | MON |
| __ | TO | 107 | MN | Rich Wortham | CHW |
Manager/Coaches
| __ | FL | 149 | MG | Dick Williams (or DO 453) | MON |
| __ | MG | Jim Fanning |
Do you have any Topps or other company Steve ratzer cards?
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Do you have any Topps or other company Steve ratzer cards?
ReplyDeleteThanks