5 Baseball Cards that Growl from the Ivy
They may look cute and cuddly, but they have a real bite
Grrrrrr!!!! Bill Madlock turns 74 years old today.
To celebrate that birthday, I present five baseball cards that all fit a theme inspired by the great batsman. A theme that will present itself as we roll along…
1967 Topps Lee Thomas (#458)
Thomas had a relatively short career in the majors, appearing in a total of 1027 games from 1961 through 1968. In that time, the rightfielder and first baseman showed plenty of power, blasting 106 home runs…including 24 as a rookie.
Thomas had some adventures in the field, though, and found the going tough once his power and average started to wane. By the time he hit his 30s, he was with the Cubs. Though he looked great on his 1967 Topps card, Mad Dog managed just a .229 average with three homers for Chicago in 152 games over two summers.
He finished up with a stint in Houston before playing in Japan in 1969 and in Triple-A in 1970. In all, Thomas played for six different big league teams.
Thomas stayed in baseball, though, eventually working his way up to the general manager’s seat with the Phillies. You might remember that he was at the helm when Philly built their super fun 1993 World Series team.
1976 Topps Bill Madlock (#640)
Like Thomas, Madlock played for six different big league teams, though he lasted nearly twice as long in the majors — 15 seasons. Along the way, Madlock won four National League batting titles, including back-to-back belts as a member of the Cubs in 1975 and 1976.
Madlock tended to miss a decent amount of games, though, playing 150 or more just twice and making it into 140 contests only three other times. Thanks to that somewhat limited playing time and a fairly steep decline phase that saw him make his last appearance at age 36, Madlock finished with “just” 2008 hits despite all the hardware and a .305 lifetime average.
And, despite his Mad Dog moniker, Madlock often appeared on his cardboard with one of the most genial grins the game has ever seen. Exhibit A: his 1976 Topps card, complete with cuddly Cubs sleeve patch.
1987 Fleer Update Greg Maddux (#U-68)
Everybody knows *now* that Greg Maddux was one of the greatest pitchers, not just of his generation, but of all time. But he wasn’t much of a hobby star back when he made his cardboard debut as a member of the Cubs. It was hard to stand out among rookie cards of sluggers like Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Wally Joyner, Bo Jackson, Pete Incaviglia, and other hitting standouts like Barry Bonds and Will Clark.
It didn’t help that Maddux’s one true rookie card, in the base 1987 Donruss set, made him look like the kid who sat in the back corner of your typing class.
That fall, he made the cut in Topps Traded and Fleer Update (above), where he’s starting to take on a more poetic look, at least in hindsight. The bright Wrigley sunshine and classic Cubbies home uniform help a lot.
Of course, collectors started to take notice the next year when Maddux went 18-8 and especially when he won 20 games — and the Cy Young Award — for the first time in 1992. By then, “Mad Dog” was already starting to lose some of its ironic feel.
1998 Score Rookie & Traded Lance Johnson (#RT71)
Lance Johnson was a triples monster over the first seven full seasons of his career, leading the American League (White Sox) four times and the National League (Mets) once. He was also a consistent 30-steal threat during those years and hit 40+ three times.
But after topping out with 21 triples, 50 stolen bases, 227 hits, and a .333 batting average in 1996, Johnson never played more than 111 games in a season again. The Mets traded One Dog to the Cubs in August of 1997, and he stayed there through 1999.
He finished up with 18 games for the Yankees in 2000.
In between, collectors got to see Johnson in Cubs colors. For my (commons box) money, this Score card, showing him running in front of the ivy, is one of the best.
2001 Fleer Platinum Fred McGriff (#370)
How you picture Fred McGriff on the baseball diamond probably depends on your age to some extent and definitely on when you started watching the game and/or collecting.
My old mind projects McGriff on the sheet I keep hanging inside my forehead as a Blue Jay first. But then I remember that he had some great years with the Braves, and then visions of Padre Crime Dog bubble to the surface. Usually in that order.
But then, what about that late Hall of Fame push with the Devil Rays? And wasn’t there some non-Jay blue mixed in there somewhere? Dodgers, maybe?
The big problem for me when it comes to post-Atlanta McGriff is that those years all fell during my hobby Dark Ages, when other pesky matters of life pulled me away from the cardboard. So, while I read about McGriff’s exploits online and even watched them on TV from time to time, I wasn’t pulling his cards out of wax packs anymore.
And that addition of a tiny hunk of concrete reality — a baseball card — seems to work wonders when it comes to locking in memories.
But, hey, the good news for me now is that most of the cards issued during that late-1990s/early-2000s period are new to me now. Including the 2001 Fleer Premium above that not only confirms McGriff’s Wrigley exploits but also drops me back into the very earliest days of my collectordom.
Of course, the 1981 Fleer design also makes me think there just could be a delicious error embedded somewhere within that 8.75 square inch rectangle.
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OK, that’s the rundown. Did you pick up on the theme?
If not, don’t let that whiff “dog” you all day. Just enjoy these (Cubs) cards for their baseball beauty. I mean, as long as you enjoy the hobby, no silly little hidden-thread game can get you down.
Doggone it.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam