2015 eBay purchase: Sunday Sweet Lous

I was buying a couple things on eBay for Tim at GSNHoF a week or two ago when I noticed the seller had some stuff for a few of my player collections.  I grabbed a few cards I'm showing off on tonight's TMM post as well as this trio of Sweet Lous:

Lou Whitaker 1983 Donruss

Ah yes, the Donruss set produced the year I was born.  Whitaker gets a close-up portrait from what must be spring training in this early set from the product.  This card includes his 1982 stats, and that would be the year he really figured things out, hitting .286 with 15 HR and 11 steals while teasing even greater things to come.

Lou Whitaker 1984 Fleer

Fleer's 1984 set has a reasonably clean design that looks a bit dated more than 30 years after its release, but it's still solid as well.  His most recent stats here come from 1983, the first of his five straight All-Star seasons; he would win three consecutive Gold Gloves and Silver Slugger awards at the position while he was at it.  A .320 AVG, .380 OBP, 12 HR, 17 steals, and 206 hits for a (BBR) WAR of 6.7 (tied for his career high) earned him those accolades.

Lou Whitaker 1992 Stadium Club

I should just buy up every Stadium Club set I don't own because regardless of how many PC cards I find in them, there isn't a set I don't like to admire when I get the chance.  Though I don't always 100% approve of the designs, the photography is always worth the price of admission, like this great shot of Whitaker's 1992 card.  And Lou had reason to be pretty happy--he tied his career-best WAR of 6.7 from '83 by clubbing a second-best season total of 23 HR, knocking in 78 runs while scoring 94, and getting on base at a .391 clip.  That didn't earn him an All-Star nod--it was Roberto Alomar's position to lose--but it was still a nice season for him late in his career.

I still have a ton of Whitakers from Justcommons to scan and post, but for now his collection stands at 76/290.  When I have the others ready I look forward to showing them off, along with a couple other Tigers!