How strong was the AL East in 1983? The Blue Jays were the 4th place team in the old AL East and they had 89 wins for the season. So far for 1983, I have only had entries for the division winners of the other divisions. The 5th place team, the Brewers, will be coming up real soon. The Blue Jays were well on their way to becoming a powerhouse throughout the rest of the 1980s and early 1990s.
As noted under the comments for the Yankees, one of the highlights (or lowlights maybe) was Dave Winfield getting arrested for killing a seagull with a thrown baseball.
Best Player: This is close, but I am giving the nod to Willie Upshaw. Lloyd Moseby got on base a little more, though. Dave Stieb, as a pitcher, might also have something to say here.
Best Pitcher: Dave Stieb
All-Stars: Dave Stieb
Rookie Card of the Year: Jim Gott...not much to choose from, Gott had a nice career as a relief pitcher with the high point coming in 1988 as he led the Pirates with 34 saves.
Other rookie cards: Geno Petralli, Steve Senteney (listed under retired players)
First Blue Jay card: Glenn Adams (listed under retired players), Dave Collins, Bobby Cox, Cliff Johnson, Tony Johnson (listed under retired players), Mickey Klutts, Randy Moffitt, Mike Morgan, Dale Murray (listed under players on new teams), Wayne Nordhagen (will be listed under Cubs cheklist), Jorge Orta, Leon Roberts (listed under players on new teams)
Most interesting non-Topps card: Geno Petralli has his rookie card in the Fleer set. He was a backup catcher mostly with the Rangers through 1993. One interesting thing is that I don't own this card, so to find a picture of it, I did a google search. I found this card for sale on the Sears website. Yes, that Sears. When did they get in the business of selling baseball cards? Remember when they were the biggest retailer in the country, probably was the biggest in 1983. They weren't selling baseball cards then.
Other Notes: Doyle Alexander was released by the Yankees at the end of May and picked up by the Blue Jays two weeks later. He logged more time with the Jays, but did not get a Blue Jays card in the traded set. I haven't figured out yet what the latest transaction was to make the traded set, but since he signed in June 15, 1983 and didn't make it, perhaps the cutoff date for the traded set was earlier than in previous years. His Yankee card is listed in this checklist.
Starters
| __ | TO | 302 | C | Ernie Whitt | TOR |
| __ | TO | 556 | 1B | Willie Upshaw | TOR |
| __ | TO | 222 | 2B | Damaso Garcia | TOR |
| __ | TO | 488 | SS | Alfredo Griffin | TOR |
| __ | TO | 277 | 3B | Rance Mulliniks | TOR |
| __ | TT | 21 | LF | Dave Collins | TOR |
| __ | TO | 452 | CF | Lloyd Moseby | TOR |
| __ | TO | 257 | RF | Jesse Barfield | TOR |
| __ | TT | 49 | DH | Cliff Johnson | TOR |
| __ | TO | 766 | OF | Barry Bonnell | TOR |
| __ | TO | 326 | IF | Garth Iorg | TOR |
| __ | TT | 82 | DH | Jorge Orta | TOR |
| __ | TO | 733 | C | Buck Martinez | TOR |
Starting Pitchers
| __ | TO | 130 | SP | Dave Stieb | TOR |
| __ | TO | 345 | SP | Jim Clancy | TOR |
| __ | TO | 109 | SP | Luis Leal | TOR |
| __ | TO | 506 | SP | Jim Gott | TOR |
| __ | TO | 512 | SP | Doyle Alexander | NYY |
Relief Pitchers
| __ | TT | 73 | CL | Randy Moffitt | TOR |
| __ | TO | 427 | RP | Roy Lee Jackson | TOR |
| __ | RP | Jim Acker | |||
| __ | TO | 9 | RP | Joey McLaughlin | TOR |
| __ | RP | Dave Geisel |
Other Players
| __ | LF | George Bell | |||
| __ | TO | 77 | RF | Hosken Powell | TOR |
| __ | TT | 56 | UT | Mickey Klutts | TOR |
| __ | UT | Tony Fernandez | |||
| __ | UT | Mitch Webster | |||
| __ | FL | 439 | UT | Geno Petralli | TOR |
| __ | TT | 78 | RP | Mike Morgan | TOR |
| __ | RP | Stan Clarke | |||
| __ | SP | Matt Williams | |||
| __ | RP | Don Cooper |
Minors
| __ | TO | 589 | MN | Al Woods | TOR |
Manager
| __ | TO | 606 | MG | Bobby Cox | TOR |
No comments:
Post a Comment