#304 Dave Rucker - Detroit Tigers

Whoa, check out that cameo pic!  Dave Rucker looks like he rolled into the Tigers spring training complex in Lakeland after a hard night of drinking. 
I usually blast Topps for posed shots but I appreciate Tiger Stadium in the background.  This is Rucker's first solo card as he shared a card with fellow Tigers "suspects" Howard Bailey and Marty Castillo.

Player: Dave Rucker was drafted by the Tigers in the 16th round of the 1978 draft.  He played college ball at UCLA where he was a teammate of recent post Floyd Chiffer.  Rucker moved quickly through the Tigers system and made the team in '81 but made just two appearances before he was sent down to AAA Evansville for the rest of the year.

 

Rucker had to wait until July of '82 to get another chance and worked in middle relief with a few spot starts.  He tossed a one run complete game win over the Indians in the second to last game of the year. The gem lowered his ERA to 3.38 in 64 innings.  For the fourth year in a row Rucker started the campaign at AAA, this time getting a promotion in May.  He imploded though and allowed 17 runs over nine innings and was sent packing to the Cardinals in exchange for veteran reliever Doug Bair. 

 

After Rucker tuned things up at AAA, the Redbirds called him up and he was a serviceable arm out of the pen.  In 37 innings he posted a 1.459 WHIP with a 2.43 ERA.  He had his best year in '84, logging 74 innings in 50 games with a 2.10 ERA.  While he sometimes put runners on, (1.315 WHIP), he was helped by keeping the ball in the park as he didn't surrender a gopher ball all year.

 

The Philadelphia Phillies were impressed with Rucker and traded veterans Bill Campbell and Ivan Dejesus to the Cardinals to get him.  The left-handed Rucker wasn't as effective in Philly as he allowed more than one-and-a-half runners per inning in a career high 79 frames.  The next year saw his ERA balloon to 5.76 in 35 innings in '86 and he was sent down to the minors in July. 

 

Rucker spent the '87 season at the Rangers AAA affiliate and signed with the Pirates after the season.  He resurfaced in the majors in June of '88 as a lefty specialist and stayed with the team through the end of the year with a 4.76 ERA in 28 innings.  Rucker spent all of '89 back in the minors and then hung up the cleats for good.  

 

Flipside: Pretty strange how Topps doesn't mention his complete game win October 2, which was easily the best game of his career.

Oddball: Rucker was a bit of a klutz on the mound making 10 errors in 83 chances in his fielding career.

History: Rucker had a decent fastball with a lot of movement that tailed in on right handed hitters.  He struggled with his breaking pitches early in his career and wasn't as effective against left handed hitters as he should have been.  Rucker falls into a large group of pitchers in my mind who came up with the Tigers in the early 80's and never panned out.  Guys like Rucker, Howard Bailey, Larry Pashnick and others never made an impact as the Tigers groomed few home grown arms in the decade. The Tigers were fruitful in the mid-to-late 70's producing Mark Fidrych, Dave Rozema, Jack Morris, and Dan Petry who all found some success despite varying measures of health.
Rucker career stats: 16-20 record, 1 save, and a 3.94 ERA (95 ERA+) in 319 innings.   

#187 Terry Leach - New York Mets

This is Terry Leach's second Topps card and his first solo card.  There are so many pictures from Shea Stadium that if you went to a day game in '82 and sat close to the action along the third baseline, then you probably are immortalized in this set as a fuzzy blob in background.
You can see from Leach's follow through that he had a unique motion which was very close to being submarine.  That 'stache is really something. 

Player:  Terry Leach was picked by the Red Sox in the '76 winter draft but he blew out his elbow during his junior year at Auburn and went unsigned.  He then changed his delivery to a low sidearm to keep pitching.  After not pitching much his senior year he started his pro career in independent ball and later signed signed with Atlanta in '77.  After four seasons in the Braves system he was released and he subsequently signed with the Mets.  He reached the big leagues in August of '81.  Leach pitched in 21 games, starting one, and posted a 2.55 ERA in 35.1 innings.

Leach started the '82 season at AAA Tidewater and didn't appear with the Mets until June.  Again he pitched in 21 games with one start.  On 10/1 he made an emergency start and delivered a ten inning one-hit shutout.  The only safety was a triple by Luis Aguayo in the fifth.  An amazing performance in any context, especially considering Leach hadn't pitched more than 4.1 innings in any outing up to that point.  He picked up the first three saves of his career earlier in the year and his end of the year outing dropped his season ERA from 5.35 to 4.17. 

The sidewinding Leach labored all of '83 at AAA and was traded at the end of the year to the Cubs for two career minor leaguers.  He was traded again before the season started to the Braves and after a month at AAA released.  He signed with the Mets, completing a bizarre circular route back to Tidewater where he pitched the rest of the '84 season.

Leach started the '85 season at AAA but was promoted in mid-year.  He mainly pitched in middle relief but also made four spot starts including a three-hit shutout of the Giants on 8/22.  He finished the year with a 2.91 ERA in 55.1 frames of work.  He made the '86 squad out of spring training and had five scoreless outings until he allowed two runs on May 14.  He was demoted back to Tidewater and he missed out on the Mets pennant winning season. 

Leach spent the entire '87 season on the big league roster, the first time he had done so in his 12 year career.  He joined the rotation in June and pitched a two-hit shutout on 7/22.  Leach won his first ten decisions and ended up with an 11-1 record with a 3.22 ERA (118 ERA+) in 131.1 innings.  In all he pitched in 44 games with 12 starts. 

He pitched exclusively in out of the pen in '88 with a 2.54 ERA and three saves in 92 innings.  Leach threw five scoreless innings against the Dodgers in the '88 NLCS in a losing cause. Leach started the '89 season in the Mets pen but was traded in June to the Royals.  It was a bit of a down year as his ERA climbed over four for the first time since '81. 

He spent the next two years with the Twins logging 149 innings with ERAs of 3.20 and 3.61.  He did not appear in the '91 ALCS but did get into two games in the World Series.  He allowed a run in two outings and won a championship as the Twins knocked off the Braves. 

Leach was signed and released by the Expos in '92 and ended up in Chicago with the White Sox.  He pitched in 51 games with a tiny 1.99 ERA in 73.2 innings while working in a familiar middle relief role. 

His '93 campaign was marred by bone spurs in his elbow that limited him to just 16 innings.  He rehabbed in the minors but wasn't recalled.  Comeback attempts with Chicago in '94 and Detroit '95 never materialized and his career was over. Leach retired with a 3.15 ERA (120 ERA+) in 700 innings spread across 11 seasons.

Stuff:  Sinker, Slider, occasional curve

Flipside:  The dude pitches a one-hit 10 inning shutout and it is snubbed in favor of a four inning outing...what the heck?

Oddball:  Used at times as a spot starter Leach made 21 starts in his career with three complete game shutouts in his first 11 career starts. 

History:  Leach took a long time to get established in the majors as he didn't really stick around until he was in his 30's.  It seems like he was underutilized during his career as he spent most of it working in middle relief.  Nine of his eleven seasons he had an ERA+ of 118 or better.  

Leach won a ring with the Twins in '91 and later wrote an autobiography about his up and down career. 

#196 Bill Fahey - Detroit Tigers

This is Bill Fahey's 11th and final Topps card.  It sure is a bright picture.  The sun's reflection is even glaring off his helmet in the inset.

Player:  Bill Fahey was a light hitting back up who played 11 seasons in the majors.  A left-handed hitting catcher, he was drafted by the Senators as the first overall pick in the January secondary draft.  He was in the big leagues the next season but was hitless in eight at bats.

As the Senators moved west and became the Texas Rangers in '72, Fahey rode the pine and batted just .168 in 119 at bats.  He spent the entire '73 season in the minors with Spokane.  Fahey traveled back and forth between Texas and AAA the next four years, never amassing more than 80 at bats with the Rangers.  He hit between .221 and .290 in his limited time from '74-'77.  The Rangers kept him at AAA in '78 and traded him following the season to the Padres in a five-player deal. 

With his relocation to Southern California, Fahey finally got a chance to play in 1979.  Starting behind the plate when starting catcher Gene Tenace played first base, Fahey had a career year.  In 236 plate appearances he posted a stat line of .287/.348/.378 with a 105 OPS+.  He was regarded as a solid defender and which is supported by his 0.8 dWAR. 

Fahey played in a career high 93 games in '80 but his offensive numbers slipped to .257/.314/.286.  The following spring the Padres sold Fahey to the Tigers.  In Detroit he was a third catcher behind Lance Parrish and the versatile Johnny Wockenfuss.  In his three years with the Tigers he had just 156 at bats.  His playing career ended in '83 and his career stats show he played only 383 games played in 11 years. 

Flipside:  You don't see too many players coming from Detroit anymore.  The suburbs sure, plenty.  But Detroit itself, nope.

Oddball:  Fahey grew up a Tigers fan and when they won the World Series in '68 he and a friend went to the airport to greet them.  The large gathering was disruptive and mass of people knocked down a fence.  The fire department had to turn a fire hose on the crowd to keep them back.   

History:  Fahey retired with a .241/.296/.296 stat line.  As his career was winding down the Tigers saw that he had potential as a manager and wanted to keep him in the organization. The transition took place when he took over the reigns of the Lakeland Tigers for the '84 season. Unfortunately the Tigers minor leaguers were more like suspects than prospects and Fahey suffered a 46-98 record. 

He resurfaced on the Giants coaching staff when former Tiger pitching coach Roger Craig took over in San Francisco.  Fahey was on the Giants staff from '86 to '91.   

#198 Kiko Garcia - Houston Astros

This is infielder Kiko Garcia's 7th Topps card.  The picture was likely taken at the Astros spring training facility where we see Kiko rocking the matching sweatbands.

Player:  Kiko Garcia, a 3rd round pick of the Orioles in '73, made his MLB debut late in the '76 season.  He batted 32 times with seven hits.  He spent the next two years backing up Mark Belanger at shortstop.  Garcia was known as a slick fielder but he hit just .221 in 131 at bats in '77.  In 1978 he hit .263/.287/.339 which gave the Birds hope they had found a well rounded shortstop to replace the offensively challenged Belanger

Although he wasn't tearing the cover off the ball, Garcia's bat was enough to give him the starting nod.  Garcia played in 126 games and batted .247 as the O's won the AL East in '79.  Despite three hits and two walks in the three game sweep of the Angels in the ALCS, manager Earl Weaver wrote in Belanger's name into the lineup for Games 1 and 2.  Garcia was back in the lineup for Game 3 and batted leadoff.  He responded with two singles, a double, atriple, a walk, and 4 RBI.  He also set a WS record by handling ten chances at shortstop as the Orioles won the game 8-4, before losing the series in seven games.

Garcia hit only .199 in 1980 and his playing time was decreased as a result.  Baltimore traded Garcia to the Astros the next April.  Playing in a utility role, Garcia hit .272 in 150 trips to the plate while filling in at SS, 3B, and 2B.  He played even less in '82 and finished with a .211 average in 76 at bats.  

Garcia was cut by Houston and he signed with Philadelphia in '83.  He started the season at AAA Portland where he batted .345, earning him a promotion in May.  He hit .288/.344/.415 in 131 plate appearances while playing three infield positions.  His OPS+ of 111 proved to be the only time he would crack 100 in his career. 

He played very little in '84 and hit .233 in 60 at bats.  After three hitless at bats in '85, he was released and his career was over.

Flipside:  Whoa! The June 8 highlight is from a game the Astros lost.  It is rare for Topps to mention achievements in a losing effort.

Oddball:  The night before Garcia's Game 3 World Series start was filled with drama.  One article states that Garcia's brother John was arrested for possession of hashish.  Kiko bailed him out and did not get home until 4 AM.  Another report states his brother Tony was arrested for scalping tickets with Kiko posting bail.  Somewhere in there lies to truth, but either case, it was no way to prepare for the biggest game of your life

History:  Garcia hit .239/.286/.323 in parts of 10 big league seasons. He gained national acclaim for his Game 3 performance in the '79 series, but his career was otherwise unremarkable.  He never came close to winning a starting job after he left Baltimore and the O's eventually did alright with Cal Ripken at SS.   

#202 1982 Toronto Blue Jays

The Blue Jays of 1982 were led offensively by Damaso Garcia who not only led the team in batting average but also in steals (54) and runs (89).  Willie Upshaw was the main source of power with 21 HR and 75 RBI.

On the mound, Dave Stieb was the man.  Although he looks something like a daytime soap star in this hat-less picture, don't let that fool you.  He led the team in ERA, wins (17),  complete games (19), shutouts (5), innings (288), and strikeouts (141).

Flipside:  Topps included just 24 Blue Jays in the set and including manager Bobby Cox.  Only 8 pitchers made the cut.  Mark Bomback with 8 games started and 8 relief appearances gets the biggest snub.  I'd say it was his 6.03 ERA but that didn't stop Topps from giving Jerry Garvin and his 7.25 ERA a card.
No Hall of Famers in this lot but Cox will certainly have his day in the sun.

The Starting Nine:
C Ernie Whitt / Buck Martinez
1B Willie Upshaw
2B Damaso Garcia
SS Alfredo Griffin
3B Garth Iorg / Rance Mulliniks
LF Barry Bonnell
CF Lloyd Moseby
RF Jesse Barfield
DH Wayne Nordhagen

The DH slot was a weak point for the team as Nordhagen slugged just .319 in 197 plate appearances.  Others who tried but failed were John Mayberry, Otto Velez, Dave Revering, Glenn Adams, Hosken Powell, and Al Woods.
Garcia had a breakout year but was very impatient (21 BB) and had little power. Upshaw was the only batter with more than 58 RBI.
Young Jesse Barfield hit 18 long balls but had just 13 doubles.  Whitt and Martinez combined for 21 homers but the rest of the crew lacked punch.  Bonnell and Iorg had OK averages but Griffin was a black hole on offense.  22 year-old Lloyd Moseby hit .236 but his best days were yet to come.  

That is a lot of buts, however the most telling stat is that Upshaw was the only player with more than 49 at bats to post an OPS+ over 100.

Pitching Staff:

SP Dave Stieb  38 GS
SP Jim Clancy  40 GS
SP Luis Leal  38 GS
SP Jim Gott 23 GS
RP Dale Murray 11 Saves
RP Roy Lee Jackson 6 Sv
RP Joey McLaughlin 8 Sv

Pitching and defense helped the franchise out of the cellar for the first time as the won 78 games.  Cox used a four man rotation most of the year as Stieb, Clancy, and Leal logged 804 innings and made 72% of Toronto's starts. 

A bullpen by committee was used as the three righty firemen seemed interchangable with ERA's between 3.06 and 3.21.  No other hurlers reached the 60 inning mark. 

Oddball:  The Blue Jays only used 13 pitchers all year which seems mind boggling these days.

#206 Ken Oberkfell - St. Louis Cardinals

I always remember Ken Oberkfell with a beard but he didn't appear with one on a Topps card until he played with the Braves.  This is his fourth Topps card and is a lot like his first two cards in the '80 and '81 sets.

Player: Undrafted after high school Ken Oberkfell, opened some eyes when he hit .351 in his first year splitting time between Rookie and A ball.  He had brief looks with the Cardinals in '77 and '78 but went 1 for 9 and 6 for 50.

Oberkfell made the team in 1979 and eventually worked his way into the starting lineup at secondbase.  He batted .301 in 435 plate appearances and showed good plate discipline walking 57 times while whiffing just 35. 

Although injuries caused him to miss some games, Oberkfell's production on the field was very consistent for the Cards.  From '80 to '83 he batted between .289 to .303 with OPS+ ranging from 100-119.  He gradually transitioned from second to third base where he led the NL in fielding percentage in '82 and '83.  In the '82 World Series he batted .292 with a pair of steals for the champion Cardinals.

In '84 the Cardinals traded Oberkfell to the Braves for Ken Dayley and Mike Jorgensen. Oberkfell was consistent for Atlanta but his production was a notch below what he did in St. Louis.  In four seasons with Atlanta he batted between .269 and .280 with OPS+ of 84 to 100. 

The Braves traded Oberkefell to the Pirates late in the '88 season but he wouldn't stay in Pittsburgh long.  After a 5 for 40 start to the '89 season he was dealt to the Giants where he played a reserve role.  He raised his average to .269 by the end of the year and helped San Fran win the pennant. 

Oberkfell spent the next two years of his career in a utility role for the Astros hitting .207 and .229.  He signed with the Angels for the '92 season and after spending half the year at AAA, worked his way back up and hit .269 as a reserve in what turned out to be his final season.



Flipside: Oberkfell was pretty much a singles hitter.  He never had more than the 36 extra base hits that he had in 1980.  In 16 seasons he struck out just 356 times compared to 546 walks.

Oddball:  He didn't bat leadoff often, but Obie excelled in the role.  In 40 career at bats leading off the game he had 16 hits in 40 at bats (.400), walked 5 times and didn't strike out once. 

Yeah it is a small sample size, but hey, still kind of weird.

History:  Oberkfell was a throwback to players of an earlier generation. The top ten comparable players on baseballreference.com all were retired before he debuted.

In 16 seasons Oberkfell batted .278/.351/.362 with a career OPS+ of 97.  He displayed good range and good hands at thirdbase and finished his career with 5.2 dWAR. 

Oberkfell recently stepped down as manager of the independent Newark Bears.  The team was struggling badly (24-52) and Oberkfell also had to deal with a medical issue.

On a side note, Newark pitcher Mike Ness threw a no-hit shutout in July despite six errors behind him. Yikes!



#303 Miguel Dilone - Cleveland Indians

Although Miguel Dilone had played in parts of nine seasons this is just his fifth Topps card.  Like Ernie Whitt in the prior post, Dilone had a four player rookie card in the '78 set.  Unlike Whitt's card, Dilone was surrounded by lesser known players Clint Hurdle, Willie Norwood, and Dave Bergman.  This card breaks a streak of sorts since the last ten positional players have been shown in the batters box during game action.  Usually when a batter wears one batting glove they wear it on the bottom hand.  The switch hitting Dilone is posing with a left-handed swing, but I'd bet he was swinging right-handed in practice before this picture.

Player: 17 year-old Miguel Dilone signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1972 and two years later after a dynamite year at A-ball (.414 OBP, 85 SB) he was called up to the parent team at the tail end of '74.  Dilone played in 12 games mainly as a pinch-runner.

The next two years Dilone was a September call up, but other than stealing a few bases, made little impact.  He made the Pirates opening day roster in '77 but hit poorly and was shuttled back to the minors. He made his annual September appearance but ended the year hitting .136 in 44 at bats.

The Pirates, not sure if Dilone would ever amount to anything other a pinch-runner, traded the speedster to the A's before the start of the '78 season.  Oakland gave him a chance as their starting left fielder but was benched after five weeks.  He was used often as a pinch runner and got a few starts a week batting an unimpressive .229/.294/.271 in 292 plate appearances.  The A's were enamored with his speed and ran him often as he stole 50 bases but was thrown out a league high 23 times.

Dilone got another opportunity in the starting lineup but it didn't work out and he was jettisoned to the Cubs in July.  Chicago used him primarily as a pinch-runner and he ended the year batting .220 in 137 plate appearances. 

Dilone started the 1980 season at AAA and was sold to the Indians in May.  Cleveland plugged Dilone into the lineup and he responded with seven multi-hit games in his first ten games.  The hits kept falling and the Indians found room for him playing him in all three outfield spots as well as DH.  Dilone hit a surprising .341 in 566 plate appearances with 65 stolen bases.  Dilone started the '81 season slow but gradually heated up enough to hit .290 with 29 stolen bases.

The slap hitting Dilone again got off to a poor start in 1982. Then as he heated up he hit three home runs in a five week span.  After hitting just two prior home runs in his career, Dilone's swing got longer as he was swinging for the fences and fell into a slump.  He lost his starting job and batted .235 with 33 steals.  Never a strong defender despite his speed, he made nine errors in just 97 games in the outfield.

The 1983 season would see Dilone start the year on the Indians bench.  He did little to earn more playing time and was traded twice in September, first to the White Sox and a week later to Pittsburgh.  The strange year ended with a .183 average in just 81 trips to the plate. 

Dilone signed with the Expos in '84 and had a nice year as a spare outfielder.  He hit .278 with 27 steals while getting caught just twice.  He couldn't repeat the success and was released in July of  '85.  He finished up in San Diego and batted .200 in 130 at bats.  Dilone couldn't find a job and retired with 267 steals and a .265/.315/.333 line in 12 years.

Flipside:  That '80 season is quite an outlier. It was his only season where Dilone played enough to qualify for a batting title and he finished 3rd in the AL.  I wonder how many players have had one qualifying season and hit for as high an average?

Oddball: Three games at thirdbase in 1978 in Dilone's fielding register really stand out.  A's manager Jack McKeon loved using pinch runners and pinch hitters late in games. Twice in blowouts he put Dilone at the hot corner after he got in the game late.  Then in an August 22 game, McKeon played all his cards trying to beat Earl Weaver and the Orioles.
The O's were up 4-0 after two innings and the A's scratched out single runs in the third and fifth.  McKeon started pushing the buttons in the seventh and got another run on a sac fly when he used a pinch hitter and two pinch runners in the inning including Dilone.  Now down 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth, A's thirdbaseman Taylor Duncan hit a one out single.  McKeon then tabbed pitcher Rick Langford to run for Duncan who scored after a pair of singles.  Outfielder Tony Armas replaced Langford and went to leftfield with Dilone to third.  Now tied at four runs a piece both teams threatened to score but came up empty in the ninth.  McKeon even used another pitcher as a pinch runner when he put in John Henry Johnson to run for Rico Carty.
In the top of the tenth with one out Doug DeCinces hit a grounder to Dilone who booted it and then threw it away for a double error.  Following an intentional walk and groundout, Rick Dempsey plated both runners with a double and the O's held on to win 6-4. 
McKeon used four pinch runners, two pinch hitters and two defensive subs trying to win this game.  I'm sure his frenetic use of the bench gave him an edge in some games but it bit him in the butt here.

History:  Dilone was an ultra-aggressive baserunner who was successful in 77% of his steal attempts. But he was a one tool player who had seemed to rescue his career with a shocking season in 1980.  Looking back, his batting average on balls in play that year was .371 which was 115 points higher than any season prior. 
Dilone lost his left eye a few years ago while coaching youth baseball in the Dominican Republic when a ball ricocheted off a fence and struck him in the face.