2019 Sportlots purchases: the Core of the Roar in '84

It's been more than 35 years since the '84 Tigers went wire to wire and won it all, and while I was still in diapers when that happened, I love that team and many of its players to this day.  That made me think of a fun way to show off another group of Sportlots pickups featuring some of my favorite Tigers PCs.

No, I didn't grab these from Sportlots--they've all been in my collection for years.  But a great way to kick things off today is to point out how successful some of Detroit's drafts were in the 70s, with choices that gave the Tigers many of the key players that starred for them the following decade.  1978 Topps just happens to have highlighted most of these guys on its multiplayer prospect cards!  Let's take a quick look at some of those drafts before we get to the cards:

1974:  Detroit takes future catcher and slugger Lance Parrish at #16 overall.  Lance hit more than 200 homers for the Tigers and made six All-Star teams before leaving as a free agent.  In '84 he posted a career-best 33 homers, won  Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards, and chipped in two homers and five RBI in the postseason.  By the way, the 10th round of this draft saw the Tigers select a high school pitcher named Mark Fidrych.

1975:  OF Jason Thompson was Detroit's 4th-rounder and he went on to a decent career, though he was gone before '84.  A guy who did stick around, for 19 seasons, was 2B Lou Whitaker, selected one round later.  The should-be HOFer formed an iconic double play pairing with SS Alan Trammell, won the 1978 AL ROY, and was an All-Star from 1983-87.  In 1984 he matched Parrish's feat, winning his second Gold Glove and Silver Slugger, and in the playoffs he accounted for nine runs, six of them in the World Series, serving as a reliable table-setter.

1976:  Detroit's most successful draft included a second round SS from San Diego named Alan Trammell, whose 20 years in Detroit were finally recognized by HOF voters.  Six All-Star appearances, four Gold Gloves, three Silver Sluggers, and the left half of one of the best double play pairs of all time will do that.  So will posting one of your career best regular seasons before going off in the playoffs for 13 hits, 3 HR, 7 R, and 9 RBI on your way to being named MVP of the World Series.

A couple rounds later the Tigers selected another high school pitcher from California, righty Dan Petry, who'd be a reliable part of the '84 rotation along with the ace they took next, BYU righty Jack Morris.  Morris won nearly 200 games for Detroit, and in 1984 he went off for 19 victories, including a memorable no-hitter, then won all three of his postseason starts, including two complete games in the main event.  He padded his HOF resume with rings in '91 and '92, with the former being considered one of the greatest performances in the history of the game.

Oh yeah, and two rounds later Detroit selected another SS (its third of four in eight rounds) out of Cal-Poly named Ozzie Smith.  He wouldn't sign and was instead chosen by the Padres in the fourth round the next year.  I wonder whatever happened to him?

1978:  The final piece of the puzzle wasn't pictured with the guys above because he was drafted the same year those cards were made.  Detroit used the 12th overall pick this year on Michigan State baseball/football star Kirk Gibson, and he rewarded the team with some outstanding play in the mid-80s, with 1984 the start of a nice five-year run that culminated in one of the greatest World Series homers ever.  But first he would be named MVP of the '84 ALCS against the Royals, then pop a pair of long balls ("He don't wanna walk you!  He don't wanna walk you!") in the game 5 clincher.

So as you can see, four drafts in a five year span in the 70s were the key to Detroit winning it all 35 years ago.  Now let's look at some new cards of that talented core:

These three players only had one or two cards each so we'll get to them first.  Both Gibby items are of him as a Dodger, but that's cool given how iconic his '88 game 1 homer was.  Up top is the gorgeous 2002 Topps Tribute (a base card, if you can believe it) while a 2002 Fleer Fall Classics insert called Series of Champions sits below.  I definitely need more of the older Topps Tribute in my life.

I repeated the vertical/horizontal pairing with Tram.  Both hail from 2005 Donruss brands with the top being a Donruss Greats Souvenirs insert and the bottom being the first of his two base appearances in Donruss Champions (#204).  I'm not sure why they made non-relic versions of the Souvenirs card since the name makes less sense without one, but whatever.

Sweet Lou is one of my supercollections, so I was glad to notice at some point that his 1986 Sportflics Decade Greats appearance wasn't on my checklist.

I was able to fix that and pick up the card, which he shares with Cal Ripken Jr. and Robin Yount in the infielders group of "Best of the '80s."  What a fun set!  A smiling Yount is the easiest to see in my scan but you can also make out Lou in the field, but not a sleepy Cal in the dugout.

While those three guys have player collections and albums here, I haven't done the same for the other two because I don't chase them as much, so it was easier tracking down new stuff I was interested in.  One of those players was Morris, whom I managed to get over the century mark (107 cards) thanks to this purchase.

You know I love me some Sportflics--I think I scored 12 total this time--so I was thrilled to find four cards starring Jack:  two from '86 and one each from the following two years.  Nolan Ryan graces the second card which highlights three players with no-hitters:  Morris' from '84, Ryan's four up to that point, and Dave Righetti's from 1983.

With the stuff made during his career out of the way the rest are a nice mix of sets that focus on or include retired players:  2001 Topps American Pie, 2003 and 2004 Donruss Team Heroes, 2004 Absolute Memorabilia (the rainbow foil hobby version, numbered to 1349), and 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game.  Go ahead, pick your favorite Fleer Greats/Greats of the Game design, there's no wrong answer!

The rest of the Morris stuff includes four cards from 2005 Diamond Kings:  base, Black and White parallel, Gallery of Stars, and Heritage Collection.  Like Fleer Greats you'd be hard pressed to find a bad DK design!  Speaking of Greats, I found Morris' card from my favorite version--the 2000 product that was the first "Fleer Greats of the Game" after the name was used in a Sports Illustrated set in '99.  The last base card is the only one today of Jack with a different team, 2005 UD Classics.  And the other two you see here are from Panini's 2013 Pinnacle Awaiting the Call insert--regular and Die-Cut--which I appreciate more now that Morris and Tram are no longer "awaiting" anything!

Last up today is Parrish, whose five new cards are a mix of big and small.  On the larger end are Donruss Action All-Stars jumbos from 1983 and '85, skirting the year I'm highlighting today.  Then again, they present stats from the previous year and earlier, so it ends up working out quite nicely.  Lance made the AL All-Star team in 1980 and '82-'86, and in '84 he joined Whitaker, Chet Lemon, Tram, Morris, and Guillermo Hernandez in repping the Tigers.

The other trio brings back Sportflics one more time, one from 1986 and two that were made the following year.  The second from the latter is a "Best in Baseball" subset offering that highlights catchers in the AL, which also includes Don Slaught (with the Rangers at the time, though I remember him more with the Pirates) and the Red Sox's Rich Gedman.  I could have added one or two more Sportflics cards of Parrish but stuck with the ones of him as a Tiger, at least for now.

That's it for the '84 Tigers this time, but I still have four more posts left that'll celebrate some more Tigers favorites!

2017 Sportlots purchases: on this day in '84 he roared

I was all set to post my purchases from last Saturday's show before I caught this in my Twitter feed:

On this day in 1984: pic.twitter.com/vAIIedXQvD

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) October 14, 2017

33 years ago today the Tigers completed one of their best seasons in franchise history with an 8-4 Game 5 victory over San Diego to win their fourth (and most recent) World Series title.  ALCS MVP Kirk Gibson opened the scoring with a first-inning two-run bomb off of Padres starter Mark Thurmond, but when he came to the plate in the bottom of the 8th, Detroit was holding onto a one-run lead with 3B Marty Castillo and 2B Lou Whitaker on third and second and one out.

Hall of Fame Padres manager Dick Williams visited his Hall of Fame reliever Goose Gossage on the mound to discuss walking Gibson with first base open and setting up an inning-ending double play.  Ever the competitor, Gossage talked his skipper into going after Gibby, prompting a scene captured on video for posterity in which Hall of Fame Tigers manager Sparky Anderson noted to Gibson, "He don't wanna walk you!  He don't wanna walk you!"

Gibson made him pay by absolutely tattooing a no-doubter to the right field upper deck, giving the Tigers a four-run cushion they wouldn't relinquish:1984 AL Cy Young and MVP Award-winner Willie Hernandez needed just four batters to get the final three outs, and ended things by getting Hall of Fame Padre Tony Gwynn to fly out to left.  (By the way, I'm mentioning all these HOFers since none of the players on that Detroit team ever gained election.)

I was too young to enjoy the victory at the time but fortunately my family made sure I grew up remembering that '84 team.

So, flash forward to 2017.  I made my biggest combined Sportlots purchase to-date, grabbing more than 1,000 cards, a few of which went out in trade packages, but most of which have remained with me.  Everything is scanned but it'll take me a while to get each card cropped, labelled, and ready for posting.  However, as I mentioned, Detroit's earlier tweet inspired me, so today marks the first day of the great Sportslotting of 2017, starring one Kirk Gibson:

Since I already had a pretty good portion of Gibson's regular issue stuff from products that came out during his career (and a few after), get ready to see lots of oddball stuff, especially stickers, things from boxed sets, coins, and other miscellany.

This scan includes cards from 1982 (Drake's), '84 (Donruss and Fleer), '85 (Drake's again), and '86 (Fleer Limited Edition, Fleer Star Stickers, Leaf, Topps Glossy Send-Ins, and True Value).  Definitely some interesting stuff with just a couple regular base cards.

This group is pretty similar to the last one.  We start with 1987 (Fleer Game Winners, Fleer Limited Edition, and Topps Tiffany), make a longer stop in '88 (Fleer Glossy, Fleer Star Stickers, Score Rookie/Traded, Sportflics, and Topps Tiffany) and finish with the start of '89 (Bazooka).  Almost everything here is from a boxed set, and of course 1989 begins the run on his Dodgers cards.

This scan proves two things:  I found a ton of '89 stuff (almost everything here is from that year), and Fleer produced a buttload of sets that year!  In order we have these Fleer products:  Baseball All Stars, Baseball MVP's, Exciting Stars, Glossy, Heroes of Baseball, League Leaders, Superstars, and Wax Box Cards.  It's almost as if he did something in '88 to merit all the attention.  An oddball Kay-Bee issue (from the usual partnership with Topps) breaks the brand monopoly, though the Wax Box card, cut from the bottom of a box, is probably the coolest get here.  I may just have another to show you in a future post!

We'll finish up 1989 in this scan with the first eight cards you see:  Score Hottest 100 Stars, Sportflics, Topps Ames 20/20 Club, Topps Cap'n Crunch, Topps Glossy Send-Ins, Topps Hills Team MVP's, and a pair from a Woolworth's/Topps collaboration.  Then we begin the new decade with another Topps/Ames partnership, this one covering All-Stars.

This scan mostly closes the book on the store and retail issues (you might see more in a bit!) but my focus was on the second of my old-school Sportflics pickups.  While the more modern versions were always going to look better, these hologram cards were super cool in the 80s.

Now we get into the 90s and much more mainstream stuff, though first up is an oddball from the 1991 Classic Game set (purple?  Really?)  Gibby's Dodgers issue from the same year's UD set follows.  Then we get a pair of '92s:  the Stadium Club Pirates card (which I think is the last I needed of him with that team) and Topps Gold, the second and final Royals appearance.  After those come a pair of '94s in Leaf and Collector's Choice Silver Signature (not sure how those got out of order).  The final three cards begin a nice run of '95s:  Collector's Choice SE Silver Signature, Donruss Top of the Order, and Emotion.

1995 was pretty much the last year Kirk appeared on cardboard while he was playing  as his career ended after that season; His only '96s are three Collector's Choice issues.  Thankfully, '95 was a good year to be collecting the OF that reunited with his original team.

This scan starts with five more for '95:  Score Gold Rush, Select Certified, SP Championship and its die-cut parallel, and Upper Deck Electric Diamond.  Then all of a sudden we jump ahead to 2002 with Fleer Fall Classics, a Topps American Pie base card and Red Sluggers insert, and Upper Deck World Series Heroes.  No oddballs here, just plenty of Tigers cardboard and cards once again celebrating Gibby's iconic 1988 Game 1 homer.

This last group of vertical regular issues is all playoffs, all the time.  From 2004 I grabbed one of Kirk's Donruss World Series Blue cards, plus both of his Tigers entries from that year's fantastic UD Legends Timeless Teams product.  Last up is a 2013 Hometown Heroes Curtain Call insert--take a stab at which home run that highlights, why don't you.  As you might guess, the Tigers-centric Timeless Teams cards are my favorite here, and they remind me that I really should try to see if I can finish up a team set at some point.

Just three horizontal cards this time:  1989 Topps Big, 1989 Fleer Glossy World Series, and 1995 UC3.  I've always considered the latter to be superfluous because of Pinnacle's Sportflix brand, but while that had a hologram kind of style, I guess UC3 shoots for a 3D look.

And now we start heading away from standard card formats and spin in circles instead.  Here you see Topps Coins from 1987 and 1989 plus a 1990 King B Disc.  You may just see similar items in future Sportlots posts!

This final scan covers all of the smaller stuff, mainly stickers and minis.  Items 1 and 3-5 are Topps Stickers from 1981, '82, '83, and '87, respectively.  Between the '81 and '82 Topps Stickers is a Fleer Stamp from 1982.

The next four stickers hail from Panini's 1989 sticker book, including a pair highlighting the Dodgers' World Series win.  Three more Topps items then continue the 1989 run:  Mini Leaders, Topps/O-Pee-Chee Sticker Backs, and Stickers.

Moving on to the bottom, items 1 and 3 are Panini stickers from 1990 and '95.  I must not have been collecting the latter because they don't look familiar to me at all.  In between those we have a tiny Topps Micro offering, something seen here fairly often when it comes to my PCs, and this one was made in 1992.

Closing out this post is a horizontally-oriented sticker that appropriately enough was made in 1984 by Topps.  Gibby's is the half I care about, but he shares this dual-player offering with former Red Sox (and still brother of Trevor) Glenn Hoffmann.

That's an awesome 80 new cards and oddball issues added to my Gibson PC, which ends the day at 282, just a couple short of his career stolen base total, oddly enough.

I'm looking forward to showing y'all the rest of my huge Sportlots purchase soon, though I'll likely try to get a few other things posted first.  I may not have them all done by the time we have a World Series champion, but while I'm working I'll be happily thinking about the from 33 years ago!

RIP '84 Tiger Dave Bergman

I was saddened today to learn of the passing of former Tigers 1B Dave Bergman.  A member of the '84 champs, he was apparently struggling with bile duct cancer for a while until succumbing at the age of 61.

I actually saw one of Bergman's final appearances with the Tigers during the '84 team's 30th reunion last year, and though I couldn't make him out from my left field seats, he was definitely looking run down, almost unrecognizable, even:

Despite his tragic passing, this seems like a great time to remember a guy not everyone outside of Detroit was familiar with, but still a player that was important to his Tigers teammates and fans.

Dave was a second-round pick of the Yankees back in 1974 out of Illinois State.  He appeared in just 12 games in parts of two seasons with the Bombers, then was sent to the Astros as a PTBNL late in 1977.  After three-plus seasons in Houston he was flipped to the Giants in 1981, and there he enjoyed a pretty solid three years.  Still, in March of '84 he was on the move once again, traded to the Phillies, then to Detroit (along with ace closer and Cy Young/MVP-winner Willie Hernandez) on the same day (essentially a three-team deal).

Detroit would prove to be his home for the remainder of Bergman's career, and with the Tigers he'd average almost 100 games per year for his nine seasons in Motown, primarily as a 1B.  '84 proved to be the apex of that career, but what a high it was as he combined with slugging DH/1B Darrell Evans to form a pretty good platoon at the position for a team that roared out to a lead it never relinquished.  Although he went hitless in his five World Series ABs, he did collect a hit, steal, and run in his only plate appearance in the ALCS against the Royals.

You might think, then, that he wasn't really memorable that season, but that's where you'd be wrong.  On June 4, the Tigers faced the Blue Jays at home, and although Detroit had run out to their amazing start, Toronto wasn't that far behind.  Going into the bottom of the 10th the game was tied at 3.  New pitcher Jimmy Key allowed a single to Lance Parrish, who moved up to second on a Darrell Evans bunt.  Roy Lee Jackson came on and got Rusty Kuntz to ground out, then walked Chet Lemon.  With 2 on and 2 out, Bergman stepped to the plate.  The players battled back and forth for 12 pitches, and then #13 proved lucky for the batter as Bergman launched a moon shot into the right field upper deck.  The game-winner was his first career Tigers homer and it couldn't have come at a better time.  Check out the video here for yourself:

I still get goosebumps thinking about that season and I was only a year old!

So while he wasn't the most famous, even locally, the game and the world are poorer today with his passing.  As my way of remembering him, here are the 19 Bergman cards I could find in my collection:

His '78 Topps RC (what a set for Tigers rookies!) gets its own scan because it's great.  As I mentioned, he'd been shipped to Houston from New York, so he gets an Astros hat on this card.  Joining him is future Rockies/Pirates manager Clint Hurdle.

This bunch is a mix of singles and cards I have from complete sets.  In order they are:  '85 Topps, '86 Topps, '87 Donruss, '87 Topps, '88 Donruss, '88 Topps, '89 Donruss, '89 Fleer, and '89 Topps.  The '85 Topps is my favorite since it includes his stats from the championship season.

Continuing the collection are cards from:  '89 Upper Deck, '90 Bowman, '90 Donruss, '90 Fleer, '90 Leaf, '90 Score, '90 Upper Deck, '91 Donruss, and '92 Score.  Although he'd go on to play 87 games during the '92 season he never got a farewell card in any of the 1993 products.

Rest in peace, Dave, and thanks for everything you did for this team and the game, from a Tigers fan who will always remember you well.

2014 COMC pickups #5: 1984 was 30 years ago?!

The last bunch of my COMC pickups thus far this year have a pretty cool theme:  star players from the Tigers' 1984 World Series title.  I'm pretty sure you've all heard of them before, so I'll just get right to it:

Kirk Gibson 2002 Topps Archives Reserve

Gibby was the fire that fueled this team to victory, and his pair of game five homers, including the second off a stubborn Goose Gossage, comprise what's likely my favorite World Series memory ever.

To honor that, here's a sweet looking card that reprints a Gibson from...1988?  Whatever you say, Topps.  I just love the Refractor-y look, and for $0.50 I couldn't go wrong.  Archives Reserve had some amazing looking base cards and hits, and if they could bring it back at a realistic price point, I'd probably jump all over it.  I know, I know, I'll keep dreaming.

Kirk Gibson 2005 Classic Clippings Official Box Score (#1671/1988)

Speaking of 1988, Gibson's OTHER big World Series moment, which I hear is slightly more famous than his heroics of 1984, occurred on October 15, as this box score insert reminds us.  If you've seen more than one of these you know that Fleer cut down the box score to highlight the moment the card celebrates, and as you might expect, since Gibby was pinch-hitting and, you know, ended the game, he's right there at the bottom.  This is a cool concept that's been used just a bit in the last decade and I wouldn't mind seeing more of it.  Baseball is a game that relies upon and celebrates its history, so why not?

Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker 1993 Finest

Besides Gibson, how about the legendary double play combo that included the 1984 World Series MVP and the All-Star, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger 2B who often set the table and scored lots of runs?  I scored this pair from the iconic '93 Finest set for around $1 as I was just about out of credit a month or two ago, and I immediately knew it would be fun to show them off together.

Lou Whitaker 2001 SP Legendary Cuts Debut Game Bat bat

However, I did land a card of just Whitaker to show off as well, this sweet bat relic that cost me just $5.  My Tigers PC is also home to a couple other Tigers from the same set--Trammell and Freehan.  This "Sweet" Lou is just a bit sweeter, though, since it's my first relic of the should-be HOF second baseman.  A bat card is certainly appropriate for a guy who hit .276 with 244 HR in his 19 seasons, matching up well with Hall member Ryne Sandberg, who never won a title like Lou did.  Anyway, I hope to land a "real" certified auto (this one's not quite what I would count) to put together a sweet trifecta!

With the site still in rebuilding mode (though for the better, it'll be great!), I may take a month off from buying things on COMC, but rest assured you'll see more new stuff from there on this blog soon.  If you need that fix in the meantime, please head over to Too Many Manninghams, where I'm showing off my Michigan-related pickups from the first few months of 2014.