1982 Chicago Cubs Red Lobster

Back in June, I wrote a blog entry about the 1982 Chicago Cubs. The interesting thing with collecting that team was that there was a regional set issued to help fill out our checklist beyond the Topps/Donruss/Fleer cards. The existence of this set was tipped off to me by an excellent blog devoted to cards of the Chicago Cubs called Wrigley Wax. It was produced by the Chicago Cubs and sponsored by Red Lobster. Unlike most of these regional sets, we got more than the third string catcher on our checklist filled out, but a true rookie card of a hall-of-famer that predates his rookie card from one of the major national manufacturers. I am of course talking about the "real" rookie card of Ryne Sandberg.

Well, the other day I received an interesting email from someone that recently came across that entry. It turns out that his dad, who was the Cubs Promotions Director back in 1982 was the photographer for the Sandberg card. He gave me a little more information about his father and this set. To check out more about Buck Peden, the photographer of this card...click on this link.

As for the Red Lobster set, here is some information that was passed on to me:
- There were 15,000 sets made and they were passed out to children only at the stadium;
- Finally seeing the back of the Sandberg card for the first time (pictured above), they were numbered by uniform number only;
- Have a Red Lobster logo, so they were definitely sponsored by them;
- Here is the complete checklist (all cards with an asterisk would help toward the ultimate set checklist for 1982):

RED LOBSTER
__ 1982 CHICAGO CUBS TEAM PHOTO CARD*

INDIVIDUAL CARDS
__ Ryne Sandberg, IF*
__ Junior Kennedy, IF
__ Keith Moreland, OF
__ Randy Martz, RHP
__ Bob Molinaro, OF*
__ Ken Kravec, LHP
__ Jay Johnstone, OF
__ Bill Buckner, IF
__ Bump Wills, IF
__ Al Ripley, RHP
__ Jody Davis, C
__ Gary Woods, OF
__ Steve Henderson, OF
__ Larry Bowa, IF
__ Doug Bird, RHP
__ Lee Smith, RHP
__ Dickie Noles, RHP
__ Fergie Jenkins, RHP
__ Mike Proly, RHP
__ Willie Hernandez, LHP
__ Jerry Morales, OF
__ Leon Durham, OF
__ Scot Thompson, OF*
__ Bill Campbell, RHP
__ Lee Elia, MGR*

Coaching Staff
__ John Vuckovich, Gordy McKenzie, Billy Williams, Billy Connors, Tom Harmon*

Wrapping Up 1982, Previewing 1983

The complete checklist is done for 1982. If you know of any regional sets that were out in 1982, drop me a line, and I will continue to update the checklists. For 1982, after completing the Topps set and Topps Traded sets, you would still need 44 cards out of the Donruss set (not counting the 26 Diamond Kings, multi-player cards, or checklists), 24 cards out of the Fleer set (not counting 16/17 Super star specials), 6 players who appeared in both Donruss and Fleer sets, but not any Topps set, and as of right now, 6 players who were in a regional sets. These are all listed below.

I will be moving onto 1983 in the upcoming days. There really wasn't a whole lot of change between 1982 and 1983. Topps, Donruss, and Fleer all issued the same sized sets that they did in 1982. Topps was the only company that issued an update set in 1983. As for quality, Fleer improved greatly after a rough sophomore year, Topps got a little more interesting adding a 2nd photo to the front of the card, and if Donruss didn't put the year of the card in the front, it would be hard to tell the difference between the 1982 and 1983 set. Competition was making baseball card collecting and it started to show in 1983.

Listed below are the non-Topps cards from 1982, the team listed below is the team of the player on the card, not the team's checklist that I put the card into:
Donruss only

__	DO	27	MG	Earl Weaver	BAL
__	DO	29	MG	Sparky Anderson	DET
__	DO	110	MG	Tom Lasorda	LAD
__	DO	141	MG	Gene Mauch	CAL
__	DO	144	MG	Bill Virdon	HOU
__	DO	149	C	Matt Sinatro	ATL
__	DO	150	MG	Chuck Tanner	PIT
__	DO	190	MG	Whitey Herzog	STL
__	DO	195	MG	Don Zimmer	TEX
__	DO	232	MG	Buck Rodgers	MIL
__	DO	275	CF	Brett Butler	ATL

__	DO	319	MG	Tony LaRussa	CHW
__	DO	337	MG	Dave Garcia	CLE
__	DO	387	CO	Yogi Berra	NYY
__	DO	424	MG	Frank Robinson	SFG
__	DO	445	CO	Vada Pinson	CHW
__	DO	473	RP	Randy Niemann	PIT
__	DO	491	MG	Billy Martin	OAK
__	DO	492	MG	Jim Fanning	MON
__	DO	501	SP	Ken Dayley	ATL
__	DO	526	MG	John McNamara	CIN
__	DO	529	3B	Pat Tabler	CHC
__	DO	531	SS	The Chicken	XXX
__	DO	534	1B	Kelvin Moore	OAK
__	DO	549	C	Tim Laudner	MIN
__	DO	551	C	Chris Bando	CLE
__	DO	554	SS	Scott Fletcher	CHC

__

DO

560

UT

Julio Valdez

BOS

__	DO	566	CO	Johnny Podres	MIN
__	DO	567	IF	Paul Serna	SEA
__	DO	574	C	Bob Brenly	SFG

__	DO	578	MG	Harvey Kuenn	MIL
__	DO	579	CO	Cal Ripken, Sr.	BAL

__

DO

588

RP

Luis DeLeon

STL

__

DO

591

MG

Billy Gardner

MIN

__	DO	600	MG	Rene Lachemann	SEA
__	DO	610	SS	Bobby Bonner	BAL
__	DO	615	OF	Gene Roof	STL

__	DO	633	RP	Dave Geisel	CHC
__	DO	635	MG	Bob Lemon	NYY
__	DO	646	RP	Jesse Orosco	NYM
__	DO	648	RT	Tommy Davis	SEA
__	DO	650	MN	Felipe Alou	MON
__	DO	651	CO	Harvey Haddix	PIT

Fleer only

__	FL	14	CF	Bobby Mitchell	LAD
__	FL	16	RP	Tom Niedenfuer	LAD
__	FL	17	RP	Ted Power	LAD
__	FL	19	OF	Ron Roenicke	LAD
__	FL	47	RT	Johnny Oates	NYY
__	FL	60	RT	Scott Brown	CIN
__	FL	62	RT	Geoff Combe	CIN
__	FL	65	RP	Joe Edelen	CIN
__	FL	87	CL	Dave Beard	OAK
__	FL	140	RF	Marshall Edwards	MIL
__	FL	192	2B	Wallace Johnson	MON
__	FL	195	IF	Jerry Manuel	MON
__	FL	196	3B	Brad Mills	MON
__	FL	217	RF	Danny Heep	HOU
__	FL	265	C	Marty Castillo	DET
__	FL	297	SP	Bruce Hurst	BOS
__	FL	412	MN	Mike Jones	KCR
__	FL	420	PH	Ken Phelps	KCR
__	FL	435	RP	Preston Hanna	ATL
__	FL	469	SP	Angel Moreno	CAL
__	FL	515	MN	Casey Parsons	SEA
__	FL	532	RT	Mike Marshall	NYM
__	FL	607	UT	Ty Waller	CHC

__

FL

633

HL

Carl Yastrzemski (3000th Game)

BOS

Donruss or Fleer (check out team checklists for Fleer card number)

__

DO

314

RF

Paul Householder

CIN

__

DO

562

UT

Mike Marshall

LAD

__

DO

582

IF

Vance Law

PIT

__

DO

590

MN

Darryl Motley

KCR

__

DO

592

RT

Sal Bando

MIL

__

DO

627

LF

Terry Francona

MON

Cubs Red Lobster set

__	CR	0	CO	Cubs Coaches (John Vukovich, Gordy MacKenzie, Billy Williams, Billy Connors, Tom Harmon)	CHC
__	CR	0	TM	Chicago Cubs	CHC
__	CR	4	MG	Lee Elia	CHC
__	CR	18	OF	Scot Thompson	CHC
__	CR	23	3B	Ryne Sandberg	CHC
__	CR	29	LF	Bob Molinaro	CHC

1982 Minnesota Twins

Even though this was the worst team in the major leagues, the team was loaded with rookies that would lead them to the 1987 World Series title. Among the players who were seeing their first significant playing time were future all-stars Kent Hrbek, Tom Brunansky, Frank Viola, Tim Laudner, and Gary Gaetti. So brighter days were ahead for the Twins.

Also of note for the Twins in 1982, was that this was the first year playing in the Metrodome.

MVP
This was a tough call as Gary Ward and Kent Hrbek were ranked one and two in all major categories.

Let's see the team leaders:
BA - Hrbek (.301)
HR - Ward (28)
RBI - Hrbek (92, 1 more than Ward)
Runs Scored - Ward (85)
Stolen Bases - Ward (13)
Hits - Ward (165)
OBP - Brunansky (although Hrbek was 2nd, Ward 4th)
Slugging - Ward (.517)

Ward led in more categories, so I will give him the award for this team.

Cy Young
This was the worst team in the American League pitching wise. Only two pitchers had an ERA below 4.00 and only one of those would've qualified for the ERA title anyway, and that was Bobby Castillo. He also had a 13-11 record for this team that lost 102 games. Even though he was a solid pitcher in 1982, he was out of baseball after the 1985 season. 1982 was by far his best season in the majors. Castillo was also supposedly the pitcher that taught Fernando Valenzuela how to throw the screwball.

Rookie Card of the Year
This goes to the Twins only representative in the all-star game for 1982, Kent Hrbek. He went on to have a pretty solid career, playing for the Twins for his entire career, lasting through 1994. He was 2nd in MVP voting in 1984. But believe it or not, 1982 marked his only all-star game appearance.

Most Interesting Non-Topps Card
Before Joe Mauer, there was another all-star catcher with Minnesota roots playing at catcher, and that would be Tim Laudner. He also played his entire career through 1989 with the Twins. His solo rookie card is in this Donruss set.

Other Card Notes
Bobby Mitchell came over to the Twins in the same deal that brought over Bobby Castillo. His only card in any of the 1982 sets, he is shown as a member of the Dodgers in the Fleer set. Since he only played with the Twins in '82, I am putting his card on this team in the checklist.

In 1982, Larry Milbourne played in 14 games with the Yankees, was traded to the Twins in a May deal that sent Butch Wynegar to the Yankees, then he played in 29 games with the Twins. In early July he was traded to the Tribe and played in 82 games with them. Milbourne has a card in the regular Topps set showing him as a member of the Yankees, and a card in the traded set with bad airbrushing typical of the era showing him as an Indian.

What is interesting with Milbourne's traded card is that it marks the latest transaction made in 1982 that shows up in the traded set. The Twins-Indians trade was made on July 3, and no other trades after that show up in the traded set, which shows that the traded set came out sometime past July 3.

The card showing Milbourne as an Indian is listed under the Indians checklist, and his regular Topps card will be listed with this Twins team since he had more playing time as a Twin that as a Yankee in 1982.

Starters

__	DO	549	C	Tim Laudner	MIN
__	TT	44	1B	Kent Hrbek	MIN
__	TO	644	2B	John Castino	MIN
__			3B	Gary Gaetti
__			SS	Lenny Faedo
__	TO	612	LF	Gary Ward	MIN
__	FL	14	CF	Bobby Mitchell	LAD
__	TT	13	RF	Tom Brunansky	MIN
__	TT	51	DH	Randy Johnson	MIN
__	TT	124	MI	Ron Washington	MIN
__	TO	467	UT	Mickey Hatcher	MIN

Starting Pitchers

__	TT	17	SP	Bobby Castillo	MIN
__	TO	92	SP	Brad Havens	MIN
__	TO	69	SP	Albert Williams	MIN
__	TO	353	SP	Jack O'Connor	MIN
__			SP	Frank Viola

Relief Pitchers

__	TT	25	CL	Ron Davis	MIN
__			RP	Paul Boris
__			RP	Terry Felton
__	TO	309	RP	Pete Redfern	MIN
__			RP	John Pacella

Other Players

__			UT	Jesus Vega
__	TO	738	UT	Dave Engle	MIN
__	TO	676	C	Sal Butera	MIN
__			DH	Randy Bush
__			CF	Jim Eisenreich
__	TO	669	2B	Larry Milbourne	NYY
__	TO	222	C	Butch Wynegar	MIN
__	TO	379	2B	Rob Wilfong	MIN
__			UT	Greg Wells
__			C	Ray Smith
__	TO	767	SS	Roy Smalley	MIN
__	TO	193	SP	Darrell Jackson	MIN
__	TO	153	SP	Roger Erickson	MIN
__			RP	Jeff Little
__	TO	560	RP	Doug Corbett	MIN
__			RP	Fernando Arroyo
__			SP	Pete Filson
__	TO	409	RP	Don Cooper	MIN

Manager/Coaches

__	DO	591	MG	Billy Gardner	MIN
__	DO	566	CO	Johnny Podres	MIN

1982 Cincinnati Reds

The last time we checked in on the Reds, they had the best record in the National League, but were getting robbed out of playoff appearance due to the playoff settings in the strike shortened year of 1981. In 1982, they fell all the way down to being the worst team in the National League. Not only did the Big Red Machine breakdown in 1982, this was the only Reds team in history to lose over 100 games and the worst percentage wise since the 1937 Reds.

MVP/Cy Young
It's hard to give an MVP award to an offensive player on this team. This team really had an awful offense. Cesar Cedeno led in batting average with a .289 average. Dan Driessen led the team in home runs (17), co-led in RBIs with Cedeno (57!), OBP and SLG percentage. But they were very dismal numbers. To give you an idea how bad, the Padres were a .500 team and Driessen would've been 2nd in home runs on that team, but 6th in RBI.

The pitching side wasn't much better. Only one pitcher who had at least 46 innings of work had a winning record, and that was Mario Soto. Tom Seaver even went 5-13 on this team. Soto had a 14-13 record, but had a 2.79 ERA to go with 274 strikeouts. He definitely was the ace of the pitching staff and also was the MVP of this team.

Rookie Card of the Year
It seems like the Reds have more local players on their team then any other (Pete Rose, Barry Larkin come to mind), and even though he was from Columbus, Eddie Milner would probably have to be considered another one of these local kids. His rookie card was in the Topps Traded set.

Although he was one of those players whose career probably got derailed by cocaine use in the 1980s, he was a solid speedy outfielder throughout the '80s for the Reds and one year for the Giants.

Most Interesting Non-Topps Card
Another player born in nearby Columbus, Paul Householder was looked at as a great prospect for the Reds going into the 1980s. He was a regular for this team in 1982. He improved his numbers in 1983, but was never more than a part time player after 1983 playing for the Cardinals, Brewers, and Astros.

Householder was on the Reds prospects card in the Topps set in 1981. He had solo cards in the 1981 Fleer and Donruss sets. Even though he came up in 1980 and had solo cards in other sets, Topps still put him on the Reds prospects card in the 1982 set. Again, he had his own card in the 1982 Donruss and Fleer sets. He wouldn't get his own Topps card until the 1983 set.

Note: Another former top prospect was traded to the Reds in December of 1981, Clint Hurdle. He appeared in only 19 games for the Reds, and did not have a card in the traded set. His 1982 card showing him in a Royals uniform is listed here.

Starters

__	TT	120	C	Alex Trevino	CIN
__	TO	785	1B	Dan Driessen	CIN
__	TO	427	2B	Ron Oester	CIN
__	TO	400	3B	Johnny Bench	CIN
__	TO	660	SS	Dave Concepcion	CIN
__	TT	72	LF	Eddie Milner	CIN
__	TT	19	CF	Cesar Cedeno	CIN
__	DO	314	RF	Paul Householder (or FL 68)	CIN
__			OF	Duane Walker

Starting Pitchers

__	TO	63	SP	Mario Soto	CIN
__	TO	459	SP	Bruce Berenyi	CIN
__	TO	128	SP	Frank Pastore	CIN
__	TO	30	SP	Tom Seaver	CIN

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	763	CL	Tom Hume	CIN
__	TT	105	RP	Bob Shirley	CIN
__	TT	56	RP	Jim Kern	CIN
__	TO	492	RP	Joe Price	CIN
__	TO	169	RP	Charlie Leibrandt	CIN
__	TT	41	RP	Greg Harris	CIN

Other Players

__	TO	159	UT	Larry Biittner	CIN
__	TT	58	3B	Wayne Krenchicki	CIN
__	TO	194	LF	Mike Vail	CIN
__			2B	Tom Lawless
__			C	Dave Van Gorder
__	TO	361	IF	Rafael Landestoy	CIN
__			LF	Gary Redus
__	TO	562	C	Mike O'Berry	CIN
__			2B	German Barranca
__	TO	297	OF	Clint Hurdle	KCR
__			RP	Ben Hayes
__			RP	Brad Lesley
__			RP	Bill Scherrer
__	FL	65	RP	Joe Edelen	CIN

Manager/Coaches

__	DO	526	MG	John McNamara	CIN
__			MG	Russ Nixon