Saturday, May 29, 2010

1982 Pittsburgh Pirates



Before steroids, and the non-stop chatter about the use of them, baseball had another drug scandal in the early 1980s. The drug scandal centered around the use of cocaine, and many of the players on this Pirates roster were involved in that scandal. Dave Parker, Dale Berra, Rod Scurry, Lee Lacy, and John Milner were all involved in the Pittsburgh drug trials in 1985 that may have been the biggest baseball scandal since the 1919 Chicago White Sox.

I think this scandal has been mostly forgotten about because outside of a handful of players derailing their own careers, this didn't really ruin the history or integrity of the game the way the steroid scandal that would come along in just a decade or so did. It also wasn't reportedly to be as wide spread as the steroid scandal. I think the perception of recreational drug use has changed quite a bit since then as well. I can't imagine a player would be suspended for an entire year as some of these players were if this happened in 2010. In fact Rangers manager Ron Washington admitted to using them as recently as last year, and nothing really became of it.

MVP
Bill Madlock led the team in batting average and runs scored. He was second in home runs and RBIs. I will give him the award for this Pirates squad, but he narrowly beats out Jason Thompson, who led the team in home runs, RBIs, and OBP. Johnny Ray led the team in hits.

Cy Young
Similar to the batters in that there was really no one who stood out and several who deserved consideration as best pitcher on this team. I am going to give it to Kent Tekulve. He led the team in saves, was 2nd in ERA and 3rd overall in wins. Honorable mention goes to fellow bullpen member Rod Scurry and starter John Candelaria.

Rookie Card of the Year
Tony Pena had his first cards solo in 1982, having a card in each of the three major regular sets. But he had was on the multi-player Pirates prospects card in 1981. I may have given it to him anyway, because he would go on to be the face of the Pirates until Barry Bonds came along in the later half of the 1980s. I will give this instead to second baseman Johnny Ray. He would have an all-star career through 1990 with the Pirates and Angels. He led this 1982 team in games played and hits. He also was 2nd overall in National League rookie of the year voting. He had cards in the Donruss and Fleer sets, and was on the multi-player prospect card for the Pirates in the 1982 Topps set, but I am using his 1982 Topps Traded card in this checklist.

Most Interesting Non-Topps card
In the 1982 Donruss set, they included a handful of coaches. This is the only set outside of a team issued set that was released after 1980 (at least) that included coaches. Harvey Haddix was the pitching coach for the 1982 Pirates. He had a 14 season career from 1952-1965 pitching for the Cardinals, Phillies, Reds, Pirates, and wrapping it up with the Orioles. His claim to fame may be taking a perfect game into the 13th inning against the Milwaukee Braves in 1959 while pitching for the Pirates. He ultimately lost the game in the 13th inning as he received no offensive support for this effort.

Starters
__ TO 138 C Tony Pena PIT
__ TO 295 1B Jason Thompson PIT
__ TT 96 2B Johnny Ray PIT
__ TO 365 3B Bill Madlock PIT
__ TO 588 SS Dale Berra PIT
__ TO 235 LF Mike Easler PIT
__ TO 395 CF Omar Moreno PIT
__ TO 40 RF Dave Parker PIT
__ TO 752 OF Lee Lacy PIT

Starting Pitchers
__ TO 513 SP Rick Rhoden PIT
__ TO 425 SP John Candelaria PIT
__ TO 332 SP Don Robinson PIT
__ TO 733 SP Larry McWilliams ATL

Relief Pitchers
__ TO 485 CL Kent Tekulve PIT
__ TO 207 RP Rod Scurry PIT
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RP Manny Sarmiento
__ TO 106 RP Enrique Romo PIT

Other Players
__ TO 652 C Steve Nicosia PIT
__ TT 77 3B Jim Morrison PIT
__ TT 24 RF Dick Davis PIT
__ TO 715 1B Willie Stargell PIT
__ TO 543 OF Bill Robinson PIT
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RF Richie Hebner
__

SS Jim Smith
__ TO 458 UT Willie Montanez PIT
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RF Doug Frobel
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1B John Milner
__

LF Brian Harper
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LF Reggie Walton
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C Junior Ortiz
__ TO 245 3B Ken Reitz CHC
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1B Eddie Vargas
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LF Wayne Nordhagen
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MI Nelson Norman
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SS Rafael Belliard
__ TO 73 SP Eddie Solomon PIT
__ TT 3 SP Ross Baumgarten PIT
__ DO 473 RP Randy Niemann PIT
__ TO 97 RP Paul Moskau CIN
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RP Cecilio Guante
__ TO 777 SP Tom Griffin SFG
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SP Lee Tunnell
__ TO 779 RP Grant Jackson MON

Minors
__ TO 170 MN Jim Bibby PIT

Manager/Coaches
__ DO 150 MG Chuck Tanner PIT
__ DO 651 CO Harvey Haddix PIT

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