5 Founding Members of the John Mayberry Club
It's a 1983 Topps subset you didn't even know existed!
Former All-Star first baseman John Mayberry turns 75 today.
He’s also one of the guys who waited for me to get my act together and start collecting.
And, as it turns out, Mayberry was one of several players who finished up with remarkably similar offensive profiles (traditional stats division) and had cards in the 1983 Topps set.
Here is a rundown of some members of the John Mayberry Club, illustrated by their 1983 Topps baseball cards.
John Mayberry (#45)
Mayberry spent parts of 15 years in the big leagues, doing most of his damage with the Royals from 1972 through 1977. He followed that up with five slugging seasons that made him one of the first stars for the expansion Toronto Blue Jays.
The Jays traded Mayberry to the Yankees in May of 1982, and he hung up his spikes after the season. That makes this a career-capper card that shows his final stats to good effect.
Overall, Mayberry hit .253 with 255 home runs and 879 RBI, along with 1379 total hits.
Andre Thornton (#640)
Thornton was one of those guys whose power numbers always impressed me when I read them on the backs of his baseball cards — three 30+ homer seasons for the Indians from 1978 through 1984.
I don’t think I ever got to see him play, even on TV, because Cleveland was, uh, Cleveland — not a very good baseball team most years. I must have seen him pinch hit in the 1984 All-Star Game, but I don’t remember that.
Besides his powerful swing, Thornton also has a pretty powerful personal story.
In total, Thornton played 14 years in the majors and hit .254 with 253 home runs and 895 RBI, collecting 1342 total hits along the way.
Jason Thompson (#730)
And Thompson was another of those “why isn’t his card worth more guys” who tempted me with his past power numbers. He hit 31 homers with 105 RBI for the Tigers in 1977, then followed up with three more seasons of 20+ dingers.
After the strike-torn 1981 season, Thompson returned to 30/100 territory in 1982, this time for the Pirates. He never scaled those heights again and, in fact, never made it to even 20 home runs.
But that didn’t keep me from setting his cards aside into my “star” pile for most of the 1980s, even after he played his last game (for the Expos) in 1986.
All told, Thompson played parts of 11 seasons in the bigs and racked up 208 home runs among his 1253 hits. His lifetime batting average was .261, and he drove home 782 runs.
So, yeah, Thompson falls a bit short of Mayberry and Thornton in counting numbers, but he did it in fewer seasons (and his career WAR is about the same, if that’s your bag).
Tony Armas (#435)
My first real memory of Armas is that he set the record for most putouts in a game by a right fielder (11) in 1982 — I can thank 1983 Topps #1 for that little tidbit.
Deeper into that set, of course, I learned that Armas had major league power, too, having connected on 85 long balls for the A’s over the three previous seasons.
And in the summers that followed, Armas kept right on cranking — 36 home runs in 1983 and an American League-leading 43 in 1984 (also topping the league with 123 RBI).
Those two big seasons came as a member of the Red Sox, for whom Armas would play two more years before wrapping up with three go-rounds for the Angels.
In all, Armas collected 1302 hits, 251 home runs, and 815 RBI while batting .252
Larry Parrish (#776)
Parrish is one of a group of guys who are an imperfect fit for this club in any number of ways, but who at least fit the basic shape of the thing from a numbers standpoint.
Others who might fit here (and might surprise you in so doing) include Bobby Murcer, Jesse Barfield, and Kirk Gibson.
As for Parrish, he spent 15 years in the majors, performing at a sustained All-Star(ish) level for both the Expos (eight years) and Rangers (seven years). He threw in a 1988 swan song with the Red Sox before heading to Japan for a couple seasons.
All in all, Parrish hit .263 in the majors with 1789 hits, 256 home runs, and 992 RBI.
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You could no doubt find more members of the John Mayberry Club to include in this list. Heck, I already gave you a few names to look into.
And you could do this with other sets, too, seeing as how Mayberry played for quite awhile and appeared on quite a few cards.
Mayberry’s not the only one who has his own Club, either. How about a 1976 Topps Felix Milan Club?
Or a 1984 Donruss Mike Stenhouse Club?
Or, would you believe, a 1991 Score Lonnie Smith Club?
My point is, I’ve just handed you another exquisite (aka “ridiculous”) hobby time waster. What you do with it is up to you — handle it responsibly.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam
Another that comes to mind for this club is Richie Zisk, who also had a 1983 Topps card. His career average is a bit higher though.
As a Royals fan, John Mayberry was a fixture of my childhood.