2001 UPPER DECK DECADE 1970s SINGLE BAT GAME USED PART XX

 

                              "Now Batting #8 Gary Carter......." The man known as "The Kid" Gary Carter from September 1974 to September 1992 this 11 time All-Star (Named MVP 2 times),1 World Series Championship(1986 New York Mets), 3 time Gold Glover,3 Silver Sluggers is our subject in this latest installment. Gary was the 2nd best catcher in the National League to many people (Ted Simmons another Hall of Famer who could claim he was 2nd best as well) behind Johnny Bench.

               Gary wasn't always a catcher when he broke into the line-up you would find him playing in the outfield since the Expos were keen on Barry Foote as their catcher as well other names like Terry Humphrey,Jose Morales & Bob Stinton. 

 

 

Just imagine these 4 guys all fighting to play catcher for the Expos against Gary.

                  Gary was a remarkable leader when he was calling a game much like Johnny Bench was with Cincinnati. He would always have a good attitude & ya rarely see him without a smile during an interview. Gary played until 1992 he had a special tribute set that was in the 1992 OPC set 

 

                     In my opinion I thought this was a nice tribute to him & leave it to a Canadian product to out do the USA version would you agree it showcased when Gary rookie in a picture to when he decided to call it a career as well show pictures of all the stops Gary had in his career.

                 Gary as most collectors knew that fighter for the Leukemia Society in honor of his late mother who died from it when he was 12 years old, so if ya were to ask him to do a TTM he would sign if ya helped him make a donation to help the cause. Gary was also a collector of cards too I just have to wonder how many cards he gotten through the years that he collected ya have to wonder what he would think about the way the market has changed & such. Gary was finally admitted on his 6th ballot for Cooperstown in 2003(He was the first full-time Montreal Expos player to be inducted) unfortunately Gary said good bye to the baseball world in 2012 at the age of 57. So does he deserve to be in this set remarkable my answer is yes even though he started in the mid 1970's he proved to be among the league leaders & as I mentioned before in my opinion he is the 2nd best National League catcher behind Johnny Bench now only if the New York Mets would do the right thing retire #8 in honor of him especially after what he did to help them with the pennant chase in 1986. Its sad that the Washington Nationals didn't carry over when they moved from Montreal in 2005 the retired Expos numbers 2 of which are part of this set #8 for Carter & #10 in honor of Andre Dawson (#10 also was retired for the Le Grande Orange Rusty Staub) instead they reissued the retired numbers after all its a new team new franchise new rules which is stupid but the people of Montreal can still feel good knowing inside the Belle Centre where the Les Habitants (Montreal Canadians Hockey team of the NHL) has a banner showcasing the Expos Pride with a banner of the retired numbers along with other Canadians great hockey players like Guy LeFleur,Maurice 'Rocket' Richard & many others to name a few.

You can see it hanging on the left side of the picture shown here.

A Close up view of the Banner.

                            So what is your view does Gary get your vote to be in the set or not until the next installment where our subject is George Foster & I am sure that Gary would agree with fellow Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby when he signed autographs where Rogers once said "Any ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American, He's a Communist." 

2001 UPPER DECK DECADE 1970s GAME USE BAT PART XIX

 

                            "Now Batting #33 Eddie Murray......" The man they called Steady Eddie played for Baltimore the first time around from 1977 to 1988 then he went to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers for the first time as well from 1989 to 1991 then went to other coast again but this time with the New York Mets for 2 years before heading back to the American League in 1994 to play for the Cleveland Indians then rejoining Baltimore in 1996 then in 1997 he went to Anaheim to earn his Angel wings after that he returned to Chavez Ravine for the 2nd time for a 9 game stint before calling it quits.  The switch hitting first baseman came from a baseball family his brother Rich also played the game he was a first baseman for the Giants for 2 years but it was Eddie who made the Murray boys a name. It was his rookie season of 1977 that Eddie delighted the Baltimore crowds with his raw power of hitting Home Runs (27 to be exact) that Baltimore had been missing after 6 years when they traded off a player named Frank Robinson to the Dodgers, later that year Eddie was named the American League Rookie of the Year winner. 

                    Eddie was a quiet leader during his time with the Orioles Eddie won 3 Gold Gloves(1982-1984) 1 World Championship (1983) a 7 time All-Star (He got elected an 8th time but he was with the Dodgers then).  Despite not being a media friendly person cause of how they approached him for comments Eddie showed why he was a leader he helped a young kid out in 1981 when he made his Major League Debut then helped him when he struggled with slumps as well when he needed a break from 1 of the coaches & understood why this same player in 1983 beat him in votes for the MVP that year the player Cal Ripken Jr. 

                      Eddie always had a soft spot for the people in Baltimore even when he left them to play with the Dodgers & Mets. On June 30 1995 Eddie while with the Cleveland Indians made history by collecting his 3000th hit a single against the Minnesota Twins off of Mike Trombley. On September 6th 1996 1 year after Cal Ripken Jr passed Lou Gehrig consecutive games streak Eddie came up against Detroit's Felipe Lira taking him deep for his career #500 home run unfortunately the Orioles would lose to the Tigers 5-4 in 12 innings with that blast Eddie would become the 3rd player in MLB history to have 3000+ career hits & 500+ Home Runs for a career since then Rafael Palmeiro,Alex Rodriguez,Albert Pujols, & Miguel Cabrera all joined Eddie along with the prior members Willie Mays who was the first to do such act followed by Henry Aaron (Another member of this bat line-up). In 2003 Eddie entered the hallowed Halls in Cooperstown along with another member of this line-up of Gary Carter.  So does Eddie have what it takes to be in this set yes he does he helped Baltimore to the World Series in 1979 even though he started career late in the 1970s, so whats your say my readers does Steady Eddie make in your books or does his attributes only happen after the 1970s share your comments below until then I am reminded of Rogers Hornsby once saying about signing autographs for kids "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign an autograph for a little kid ain't An American, He's a Communist." until next time when the line up features Gary Carter.

2001 UPPER DECK DECADE 1970s GAME USED BAT PART XVIII

 

                               "Now Batting #19 Fred Lynn......" The USC Trojan star outfielder first bursted on the Major League scene in September of 1974. The following spring of 1975 everyone in the American League learned to know about the Red Sox rookie twin powers the other twin power was Jim Rice. Most of Fred Lynn's exploits during his rookie season were described 49 years later in a special insert set from Topps Heritage called "The Fred Lynn Files" a 10 card insert set. It was in 1975 on June 18th at Tigers Stadium Fred hit 3 Home Runs & a Triple just narrowing hitting 4 homers in a game just by few inches hence why he ended up at 3rd base for the triple he had 10 RBIs. A week later after the Reds beaten Fred's Red Sox in World Series Fred made history by winning the Most Valuable Player Award & Rookie of the Year Award (Later in 2001 another Rookie phenom did the exact same thing that Rookie was Ichiro Suzuki) Fred had won the R.O.Y. by earning 23½ 1st place votes the other ½ 1st place vote went to his teammate Jim Rice the story goes had Rice not been sidelined with a broken wrist due to being hit by a pitch by Vern Ruhle of the Detroit Tigers the voting might have been closer. 
               
                  It was in 1976 when he was playing in Minneapolis against the Twins Fred made a catch off the bat of Dan Ford that caught the eyes of Warner Fusselle to talk about on a syndicated show making its debut in 1976 that host Mel Allen said about the Catch 'How About That' that show was "This Week in Baseball" for many of the early years of the show Fred Lynn's catch would be shown in the ending credits. Then in January of 1981 Fred found himself being traded to the California Angels for Frank Tanana & Joe Rudi. Fred struggled his first season with the Angels due to being limited to 76 games cause of a knee injury however Fred bounced back in 1982 where he would help the Angels make the playoffs unfortunately despite winning the 1982 ALCS MVP his Angels were eliminated by the Milwaukee Brewers in a best of 5 series. Fred found himself in the spotlight again in 1983 this time in Fred's hometown of Chicago at Comiskey Park for the 50th Anniversary of the Mid-Summers Classic All-Star Game on July 6th in the bottom of the 3rd Inning off San Francisco Giants pitcher Atlee Hammaker  (It was the 54th edition cause between 1959-1962 cause they played 2 All-Stars games those seasons & there wasn't a game played in 1945 due to WWII) when on a 1-2 pitch he hit the first Grand Slam in All-Star Game history it was his 4th Home Run in All-Star play & helping breaking the American League losing streak of 13 games at the time again Fred was named MVP. 2 interesting things about that game Jim Rice his former teammate also homered in the game as I mentioned it was the 50th Anniversary of the Mid-Summer Classic Babe Ruth hit the 1st in All-Star Game play also at Comiskey Park but that was in 1933. After the 1984 season Fred filed for Free Agency & signed a 5 year deal with the Baltimore Orioles Fred played with them from 1985 until August of 1988 when found himself being traded to the Detroit Tigers in hopes that his mighty bat would return to help the Tigers to the pennant sad to say the Tigers lost the American League East Pennant by 1 game behind the Boston Red Sox. In the winter of 1989 Fred signed a year contract with the San Diego Padres after the 1990 season Fred retired from the game. 

               Fred was an 9x All-Star player 4x Gold Glove winner does he deserve to be honored to be in this set in my opinion even though he played the 2nd half of the 1970's & he was a star during those years I believe he earns the right to be included more so then someone like Bud Harrelson who was featured on the blog back on April 4th of this year. So what's your take on Fred Lynn's remarkable run in 1970s does he get your vote or not let me know in the comments below next up in our series is Eddie Murray until then I am reminded of Rogers Hornsby once said about signing autographs "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American, He's a Communist."