My Favorite Pennant Races, Card by Card
Now with 20% less homerism!
Here we are, heading into the last 11 days of August and, all of a sudden, the 2022 baseball season is winding down. And that can mean just one thing … pennant races!
And, with every memorable pennant race comes those little cardboard mementos that will live with us forever.
So, in honor of the excitement to come, I present five of my favorite pennant races ever, and one baseball card that always, always reminds me of those those special moments gone by.
1983 Topps Mike Schmidt (#300)
Everything started for me from a baseball and hobby perspective in 1983. And, even though the Reds were my team from the beginning, they were your basic flea spit by about the second week of April. So, down the stretch, I picked my horse — the Philadelphia Phillies and my emergent favorite player, Michael Jack Schmidt.
This card still makes my tummy flutter.
1985 Topps Dave Parker (#175)
Unlike in 1983, there were some actually tight races in 1985. Even more importantly, my Reds entered September with at least a mathematical chance at the postseason, and a healthy dose of the credit for that went to The Cobra himself. This card reminds me that just about anything — including redemption — is possible.
1987 Topps Doyle Alexander (#686)
The 1987 pennant races were breathtaking, especially in the American League East. And then … well, the postseason was even more epic. But, though the Detroit Tigers lost the ALCS to the eventual World Series champions (the Twins), they made the deadline deal of the decade in bringing in Doyle Alexander, who went 9-0 down the stretch. It only cost them a future Hall of Famer (John Smoltz) for the privilege, but that deal also made this card a classic.
1991 Upper Deck Terry Pendleton (#708)
I really wanted to put 1990 here since my Reds won a World Series, but the truth is, the actual pennant races were a bit bland that summer. In 1991, though … man! The Reds fell behind quickly, but the underdog Braves were a story for the ages, and their eventual worst-to-first triumph was a narrow one, squeaking by the Dodgers by a single game in the West. And then … that October! Even as a youngster, my ticker stuttered more than a few times.
This card of the N.L. MVP, one of Pendleton’s first with the Braves, brings it all racing back
1993 Topps Barry Bonds (#2)
Look, I realize this card shows Bonds with the Pirates, but he’s turned around enough to imagine that he’s with the Giants … just like he was for the first time in 1993. That was also the first season Barry really turned on the power jets, and it was also also the last time we had a real pennant race (OK, division-title race). The Braves edged out San Francisco in the West by a single game, winning 104 to the Giants’ 103.
Ridiculous.
The next year, MLB split each league into three divisions and introduced the wild card. As punishment, the baseball gods hammered down a players’ strike on all our heads and cancelled October. Even baseball gods can hold out without their diamond fix for so long, though, and we awoke to a new baseball world in 1995 — including wild cards.
But us oldsters always have this action-packed Bonds card to remind us of how things used to be.
—
How about you?
What pennant races were your favorites? And which baseball cards bring the memories flooding back?
I’d love to hear your stories!
Until next time, enjoy the race for those final 18 playoff spots while you rip $100 one-card packs looking for the special redemption slip for a buyback version of the seat license that will give you exclusive access to purchase the Bowman Purple Diamond Chrome Refractor Prism card of the 2031 second-round pick once removed.
And get off my lawn!
—Adam