5 Baseball Cards to Help You Chill on Labor Day
These guys have the grilled fired up
Tomorrow’s Labor Day — to paraphrase Frank Loesse, thank the baseball gods and pass the wax-wrapped confection.
As all of us working folks settle in for an extra day of charred burgers, cardboard mounds, and dwindling diamond dreams (wait ‘til next year!), I thought it might be fun to celebrate some of baseball’s working class.
So here are the cards of some dudes who showed up pretty much every day, ready to work (play). Sometimes, they played like stars, but mostly they just played their hearts out.
Here’s a little limelight for a few of the game’s unsung heroes.
1986 Topps Bill Russell (#506)
Bill Russell was probably the least ballyhooed of the Dodgers’ famed Four Horsemen of the Infield-alypse in the 1970s and 1980s.
But long after Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, and Davey Lopes had climbed out of the Ravine, Russell was still manning shortstop in Los Angeles.
In all, Russell played in 2181 games as a Dodger, most in L.A. history and second in franchise history to Zack Wheat, late of the Superbas and Robins.
Russell also had some of the most boring, work-a-day baseball cards of all time. This one is just about a perfect exemplar.
1979 Topps Ed Kranepool (#505)
Ed Kranepool spent his entire 18-year-career with the Mets and managed to put up just 4.2 WAR in all that time.
If you’re not a SABR-toothed tiger when it comes to stats, consider that Kranepool spent most of his career as a first baseman and managed just 118 home runs.
Still, he kept plugging away, and the Mets kept plugging him into the lineup. That included 112 games during their fabled 1969 season.
In all Kranepool appeared in 1853 games for the Mess , still the franchise record.
Oh yeah — Kranepool was also an original Met. His teams went a combined 1257-1649.
No wonder he’s looks so hat-off end-of-his-rope on that 1979 Topps card of his, issued just months before he hung up his spikes.
2000 Topps Tony Fernandez (#198)
Fernandez had four different stints with the Blue Jays, and he needed every one of them to make this list.
With 1450 games played for Toronto, the late All-Star shortstop edges out Carlos Delgado by 27 appearances as the franchise leader.
It took him 17 years to get it all done, but he just kept coming back. And, as evidenced by his 2000 Topps card, he wasn’t afraid to get his uniform dirty even in his late 30s.
1992 Bowman Garret Anderson (#298)
Garret Anderson overcame this preppy rookie card that made him look like a country club intern to become one of the most durable grinders of his generation.
Anderson played 150+ games for the Angels for eight straight seasons (1996-2003) on his way to 2013 total games played for California/Anaheim/Los Angeles.
That’s more than two full seasons ahead of second-placer Tim Salmon.
The only real knock on Anderson in this regard is that he finished up his 17-year career with the Dodgers. Of course, L.A. is his hometown, so we can cut him some slack for taking his retirement tour in rival gear.
1984 Topps Bert Campaneris (#139)
When I first saw Bert Campaneris on his 1984 Topps card, I thought he was a coach.
He was old looking, for one thing. And he hadn’t been in my 1983 cards, for another.
It was only years later that I realized how accomplished Campy really was.
And it was only very recently (like, this week) that I realized he was still the A’s leader in games played, with 1795.
Remarkably, Campaneris hung around the majors for another seven years, six seasons, and 300+ games after leaving Oakland before finally wrapping things up at age 41.
—
Which gamers do you think need a little extra celebration this Labor Day weekend?
I’d love to hear your picks.
Until next time, I’ll be here tapping on the keyboard with a stack of Dave Concepcions and Frank Whites to keep me company.
Thanks for reading, and and I’ll try to save a couple streamers for you after the Labor Day parade passes through town.
—Adam