1982 Oakland Athletics

It's been a while since I've posted an article about the Oakland Athletics. They went from the AL runner-up in 1981 to being the 5th worst team in baseball in 1982. It's little wonder as the team featured Rickey Henderson-led outfield that was solid, a burned out pitching staff, and little else.

MVP
Robin Yount won the AL MVP award and rightly so as he was the best player on the best team. But Rickey Henderson represents the biggest no brainer selection for team MVP out of all of the teams I have reviewed so far. 1982 was of course the year that he set the single season record for stolen bases with 130. This is a record that doesn't seem in danger of falling anytime soon. Henderson only had a .267 batting average, but had 116 walks, so he got on base a lot. As much as what has been written about how valuable a walk is from the stat people, which I am not in agreement with, this is an exception, as Henderson batted lead off and with the stolen bases, his walks were as good as a double and sometimes a triple. He doubled every teammates runs scored total, except for Dwayne Murphy.

Besides his actual playing ability, this 1982 Topps card is one of my all time favorite cards. It is a nice action shot of Henderson leading off of first base getting ready to do what he did best, steal a base.

Cy Young
On the other side, it is difficult to decide who was this teams best pitcher. A lot of pitchers with losing records and bad ERAs. I will give it to a long reliever/spot starter, Tom Underwood. He was 4th on the team in innings pitched, had the lowest ERA, was 2nd in strikeouts, and had a winning record. To get an idea how he was used, he also had 2 complete games and 7 saves.

Rookie Card of the Year
Most Interesting Non Topps Card
There were only two rookie cards to choose from, Dave Beard and Kelvin Moore. Neither one made much of an impact in the game. Besides Billy Martin, they were the only two A's to be featured on a non-Topps card. So I will give both awards to Dave Beard. He was considered the closer for this team in that he finished the most games and had the most saves. He played for the A's in 1983, the Mariners in 1984, the Cubs in 1985 and then didn't appear in the major leagues again until appearing in two games for the 1989 Tigers. 1982 was his best season in the majors.

Note: Preston Hanna and Fernando Arroyo played for the A's and other different teams in 1982. They were both pictured on cards with the other teams that they played for in 1982, but both got more playing time with the A's, so I placed them here on the checklist.

Starters

__	TO	318	C	Mike Heath	OAK
__	TT	70	1B	Dan Meyer	OAK
__	TT	64	2B	Davey Lopes	OAK
__	TO	692	3B	Wayne Gross	OAK
__	TO	787	SS	Fred Stanley	OAK
__	TO	610	LF	Rickey Henderson	OAK
__	TO	29	CF	Dwayne Murphy	OAK
__	TO	60	RF	Tony Armas	OAK
__	TT	14	DH	Jeff Burroughs	OAK
__	TO	187	C	Jeff Newman	OAK
__	TO	422	DH	Cliff Johnson	OAK

Starting Pitchers

__	TO	454	SP	Rick Langford	OAK
__	TO	87	SP	Matt Keough	OAK
__	TO	370	SP	Mike Norris	OAK
__	TO	113	SP	Steve McCatty	OAK
__	TO	476	SP	Brian Kingman	OAK

Relief Pitchers

__	FL	87	CL	Dave Beard	OAK
__	TO	757	RP	Tom Underwood	OAK
__	TO	243	RP	Bob Owchinko	OAK
__	TO	217	RP	Bo McLaughlin	OAK
__	FL	435	RP	Preston Hanna	ATL

Other Players

__	TO	534	2B	Dave McKay	OAK
__	TT	102	1B	Joe Rudi	OAK
__	TO	148	3B	Mickey Klutts	OAK
__			SS	Jimmy Sexton
__	TO	729	1B	Jim Spencer	OAK
__			SS	Tony Phillips
__	TO	633	DH	Mitchell Page	OAK
__			C	Bob Kearney
__	TO	671	UT	Mike Davis	OAK
__	DO	534	1B	Kelvin Moore	OAK
__	TO	123	DH	Danny Goodwin	MIN
__	TO	293	SS	Rob Picciolo	OAK
__			UT	Darrell Brown
__	TO	392	OF	Rick Bosetti	OAK
__			UT	Kevin Bell
__	TO	139	RP	Jeff Jones	OAK
__			SP	Steve Baker
__			SP	Tim Conroy
__	TO	18	RP	Fernando Arroyo	MIN
__	TO	58	RP	John D'Acquisto	CAL
__			SP	Chris Codiroli
__			RP	Dennis Kinney

Manager/Coaches

__

DO

491

MG

Billy Martin

OAK

1982 Chicago Cubs

Thanks to a tip from Wrigley Wax, I am adding a regional set to help fill out this Cubs checklist. In 1982, the Cubs in conjunction with Red Lobster produced a 28 card team set. Nothing goes better together than baseball cards and Red Lobster. The cards are slightly thinner than standard issue cards, but the height is the same, so they won't fit poorly in your box, like sets such as the 1988 Topps Big and 1989 Bowman sets. There are 6 cards in the set that will help fill out the ultimate checklist for the 1982 Cubs, which are all noted in the checklist below with CR.

MVP
Leon Durham led the team in home runs and RBIs and all the new age average stats (OBP, SLG, OPS), so he will get the award...consideration could go to Bill Buckner and Ryne Sandberg.

Cy Young
Lee Smith was the closer for this team and racked up 17 saves to go with his 2.69 ERA. On most teams, his card would get the award for Rookie Card of the Year, but...

Rookie Card of the Year
In the above mentioned Red Lobster set, one of the 6 players there were cards of that help us fill out the checklist is a card of hall-of-famer Ryne Sandberg. This card actually pre-dates his Topps, Fleer and Donruss rookie cards, which all came out in the 1983 sets. As mentioned previously in this blog, Sandberg made his debut in 1981 with the Phillies, but 1982 was his first season with the Cubs.

Most Interesting Non-Topps Card
This team was loaded with solid rookie cards in 1982, and one that gets lost behind Ryne Sandberg and Lee Smith is the rookie card of Pat Tabler in the 1982 Donruss set. Tabler was a high average hitting first baseman making a name for himself with the Indians through the 1980s. He wrapped up his career with the Royals, Mets, and Blue Jays, finally retiring after the 1992 season. 1982 was his last season with the Cubs before he was traded to the crosstown White Sox and then on to the Indians during the offseason of 1982-1983.

Note: Bob Molinaro has a card in the 1982 Topps set showing him as a member of the White Sox. He also has a card in the Cubs Red Lobster set showing him as a Cub. He played with the Cubs and Phillies in 1982. He had 72 plate appearances with the Cubs, 17 for the Phillies, so I am placing his 1982 Topps card on the Cubs checklist, simply because the Red Lobster card is probably rare. If I ever get that card, I will place the 1982 Topps Molinaro card with the Phillies.

Starters

__	TO	508	C	Jody Davis	CHC
__	TO	760	1B	Bill Buckner	CHC
__	TT	129	2B	Bump Wills	CHC
__	CR	23	3B	Ryne Sandberg	CHC
__	TT	10	SS	Larry Bowa	CHC
__	TO	89	LF	Steve Henderson	CHC
__	TT	130	CF	Gary Woods	CHC
__	TO	607	RF	Leon Durham	CHC
__	TT	76	UT	Keith Moreland	CHC
__	TT	52	OF	Jay Johnstone	CHC
__	TT	55	MI	Junior Kennedy	CHC

Starting Pitchers

__	TT	49	SP	Fergie Jenkins	CHC
__	TO	273	SP	Doug Bird	CHC
__	TT	82	SP	Dickie Noles	CHC
__	TO	188	SP	Randy Martz	CHC
__	TT	99	SP	Allen Ripley	CHC

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	452	CL	Lee Smith	CHC
__	TO	699	RP	Dick Tidrow	CHC
__	TT	92	RP	Mike Proly	CHC
__	TO	23	RP	Willie Hernandez	CHC
__	TT	16	RP	Bill Campbell	CHC

Other Players

__	TO	33	CF	Jerry Morales	CHC
__	DO	529	3B	Pat Tabler	CHC
__			CF	Mel Hall
__	CR	18	OF	Scot Thompson	CHC
__	TO	363	LF	Bob Molinaro	CHW
__	CR	29	LF	Bob Molinaro	CHC
__	TT	11	UT	Dan Briggs	CHC
__	DO	554	SS	Scott Fletcher	CHC
__	FL	607	UT	Ty Waller	CHC
__	TO	663	OF	Hector Cruz	CHC
__			C	Butch Benton
__			C	Larry Cox
__			SP	Tom Filer
__			SP	Dan Larson
__	TO	639	RP	Ken Kravec	CHC
__			RP	Randy Stein
__			RP	Herman Segelke

Managers/Coaches

__	CR	4	MG	Lee Elia				CHC
__	CR	0	CO	Cubs Coaches (John Vukovich, Gordy MacKenzie, Billy Williams, Billy Connors, Tom Harmon)				CHC
__	CR	0	TM	Chicago Cubs				CHC

1982 Seattle Mariners

Since the Mariners came online in 1977, this was their best team recordwise. This would also be the team's best record until 1987. This team also had the first hall-of-famer in team's history, in Gaylord Perry. Perry was one of nine Mariners in the Topps Traded set.

He was picked up in one of those moves that many expansion teams make in order to create a history for their team because he won his 300th game shortly after joining the Mariners. Who did Wade Boggs get his 3000th hit with? The Devil Rays (or Rays) in 1999, which Boggs only played with for two seasons. Who did Pete Rose get his 4000th hit with? The Montreal Expos, who he played with for only 4 months in 1984. This may have all started with the '62 Mets who attempted to create an all-star team of over-the-hill players from other NL teams until they could get fully up and running in order to put fans in the seats.

MVP
Al Cowens, who came in 2nd in the MVP race in 1977 with the Royals, was purchased to by the Mariners prior to the '82 season. He led the team in hits and RBIs (even though it was only 78), was 2nd in runs scored, HRs, and slugging percentage, and was third in batting average and OBP. This wasn't a team known for it's offense. Al Cowens, Julio Cruz, Bruce Bochte, and Richie Zisk led this offense, but wouldn't have even come close to leading any other team in 1982.

Cy Young
This team was stronger in the pitching department. There wasn't any pitcher with a strong winning percentage, but alot of young pitchers (who either panned or didn't) with decent ERAs. The best pitcher though was actually the teams closer. Bill Caudill had 26 saves for this team to go with a 2.35 ERA.

Rookie Card of the Year
Another strong arm out of the bullpen was Ed VandeBerg, he was truly a 1st year player with a card in one of the sets. He had a 2.37 ERA as a set up man out of the pen. 1982 was his best year though and after leaving the Mariners in for the 1986 season to play for the Dodgers, Indians, and Rangers, he was out of baseball after 1988.

Most Interesting Non-Topps Card
I am trying not to use the manager cards that were in the Donruss set, so I am going with the only player who saw playing time with the Mariners in 1982 that didn't have a Topps card, Paul Serna. Serna was a backup middle infielder who signed with the Mariners as an amateur free agent in 1980 and was with the big club in 1981. 1982 was his last season in the majors, although he was in the farm system until 1985.

Note: Dave Revering played his final season in 1982. He bounced around between the Yankees, Blue Jays, and Mariners in 1982. He had a card as a Yankee in the regular Topps set and a card in the Traded set with the Blue Jays. He got 159 plate appearances with the Jays, 92 with the Mariners, and 44 with the Yankees, so I am placing his Yankees card on the Mariners checklist since he got more playing time with the Mariners.

Starters

__			C	Rick Sweet
__			1B	Jim Maler
__	TO	130	2B	Julio Cruz	SEA
__			3B	Manny Castillo
__			SS	Todd Cruz
__	TO	224	LF	Bruce Bochte	SEA
__			CF	Dave Henderson
__	TT	22	RF	Al Cowens	SEA
__	TO	769	DH	Richie Zisk	SEA
__	TO	382	OF	Joe Simpson	SEA
__	TO	523	1B	Gary Gray	SEA
__	TT	12	LF	Bobby Brown	SEA

Starting Pitchers

__	TO	468	SP	Floyd Bannister	SEA
__	TT	88	SP	Gaylord Perry	SEA
__	TO	22	SP	Jim Beattie	SEA
__			SP	Mike Moore
__	TT	80	SP	Gene Nelson	SEA

Relief Pitchers

__	TT	18	CL	Bill Caudill	SEA
__	TT	122	RP	Ed Vande Berg	SEA
__	TO	632	RP	Bryan Clark	SEA
__			SP	Bob Stoddard
__	TT	113	RP	Mike Stanton	SEA
__	TO	52	RP	Larry Andersen	SEA

Other Players

__	DO	567	IF	Paul Serna	SEA
__	TO	98	C	Bud Bulling	SEA
__	TT	31	C	Jim Essian	SEA
__			3B	Dave Edler
__	TO	109	1B	Dave Revering	NYY
__	TO	312	UT	Lenny Randle	SEA
__	TT	114	UT	Steve Stroughter	SEA
__	TO	350	OF	Thad Bosley	MIL
__			OF	John Moses
__			SS	Domingo Ramos
__			UT	Orlando Mercado
__			C	Dan Firova
__			UT	Vance McHenry
__			SP	Ed Nunez
__			RP	Ron Musselman
__			RP	Rich Bordi
__	TO	371	RP	Jerry Gleaton	SEA

Minor Leagues

__	TO	571	MN	Glenn Abbott	SEA
__	FL	515	MN	Casey Parsons	SEA

Manager/Coaches

__	DO	600	MG	Rene Lachemann	SEA
__	DO	445	CO	Vada Pinson	CHW

1982 Houston Astros

MVP
This team is a good demonstration in how much the game has changed in 25 years. The Astros in 1982 were 4 games (or is that 8 games, not quite sure how that works) under .500, so they were roughly an average team in 1982. Granted the Astros played in a very large stadium, but they did play half their games on the road. Here are your team leaders in various categories:
BA - Ray Knight - .294
HR - Phil Garner - 13
RBI - Phil Garner - 83
SB - Dickie Thon - 37 (Garner had 24, Jose Cruz had 21, 2 others had at least 17)

By comparison, the leaders for the 2009 Astros, who played in a smaller park, but finished 4 games worse:
BA - Miguel Tejada - .313
HR - Carlos Lee - 26
RBI - Carlos Lee - 102
SB - Michael Bourn - 61 (OK, he led the league in stolen bases, but only one other player had more than 17 and three players I would consider full time players had 0, nobody in 1982 had 0.)

OK, some stat guy could probably tear these comparisons apart (different stadium, record was better because team pitching was better in 1982, etc.), but it is odd to see that 13 home runs and 83 RBIs could lead an average team.

Anyway, Phil Garner, Dickie Thon, Ray Knight, and Jose Cruz get consideration for team MVP, I'll give it to Garner. Probably a pitcher really deserves it.

Cy Young
The 1982 Astros had two hall-of-famers anchoring their pitching staff in Nolan Ryan and Don Sutton (although Sutton got traded before the end of the season to the Brewers), but the ace of this pitching staff was a brother of another hall-of-famer, Joe Niekro. He had 17 wins with a 2.47 ERA.

Another sign of the changes in the game in the past 25 years, Niekro pitched 16 complete games. Nolan Ryan pitched 10 and 11 games complete games were pitched by other pitchers. That is a total of 37 complete games or almost 23% of the games played. Was this an oddity to have so many complete games. Well here is a look at the NL West teams in 1982:
Atlanta - 15 (didn't have a very deep rotation)
Los Angeles - 37 (18 of these were by Fernando Valenzuela)
San Francisco - 18
San Diego - 20 (thrown by 7 different pitchers)
Houston - 37
Cincinnati - 22 (13 by Mario Soto)

By way of comparison, the Giants had 11 complete games in 2009...and they had the two league leaders in complete games thrown in Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain.

Rookie Card of the Year
Not much to choose from here...I'll go with Joe Pittman, he was a utility infielder through 1984 with the Astros, Giants, and Padres. It was either Pittman or George Cappuzzello. Pittman is shown with the Astros on his card so he gets the pick.

Most Interesting non-Topps Card
Danny Heep had a 13 season career as a utility first basemen/outfielder, seeing action with the Astros, Mets, Dodgers, Red Sox, and finally ending it with the 1991 Braves. In 1981, he was one of the three players on the Astros future stars card. He had his own card in the 1981 Fleer set. You would think Topps would've given him his own card in 1982, since he already had one in a competitor's set. Nope, he was put on the Astros prospects card in the 1982 Topps set as well. Again, Fleer gave him his own card. He finally got his first solo Topps card in 1983.

Note: if you want to check out more cards of Houston Astros go to Astros Baseball Cards, a blog devoted to nothing else except Houston Astros cards.

Starters

__	TO	433	C	Alan Ashby	HOU
__	TT	57	1B	Ray Knight	HOU
__	TO	683	2B	Phil Garner	HOU
__	TO	453	3B	Art Howe	HOU
__	TO	404	SS	Dickie Thon	HOU
__	TO	325	LF	Jose Cruz	HOU
__	TO	698	CF	Tony Scott	HOU
__	TO	277	RF	Terry Puhl	HOU

Starting Pitchers

__	TO	611	SP	Joe Niekro	HOU
__	TO	90	SP	Nolan Ryan	HOU
__	TO	305	SP	Don Sutton	HOU
__	TO	672	SP	Bob Knepper	HOU
__	TO	539	SP	Vern Ruhle	HOU

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	761	CL	Dave Smith	HOU
__	TT	61	RP	Mike LaCoss	HOU
__	TO	248	RP	Frank LaCorte	HOU

Other Players

__	FL	217	RF	Danny Heep	HOU
__	TO	582	C	Luis Pujols	HOU
__	TO	147	UT	Denny Walling	HOU
__			UT	Alan Knicely
__	TO	57	SS	Craig Reynolds	HOU
__			2B	Bill Doran
__	TO	377	SS	Kiko Garcia	HOU
__	TO	509	1B	Harry Spilman	HOU
__			CF	Scott Loucks
__			UT	Tim Tolman
__			OF	Kevin Bass
__	TO	119	UT	Joe Pittman	HOU
__	TO	734	PH	Mike Ivie	HOU
__			RF	Larry Ray
__			RP	Randy Moffitt
__			SP	Frank DiPino
__			RP	Bert Roberge
__	TO	137	RP	George Cappuzzello	DET
__	TO	34	RP	Joe Sambito	HOU
__			RP	Danny Boone
__			RP	Mark Ross
__			RP	Gordie Pladson

Manager/Coaches

__	DO	144	MG	Bill Virdon	HOU
__			MG	Bob Lillis