GAME 4

The Royals defeat the Twins and hand them the first loss of the season. George Brett and Wally Joyner power the Royals to the win, and Kirby Puckett goes 0 for the game and drops his average to a season low .640. 


Wally Joyner, one of the many hot young rookies from 1986. Growing up as a collector, my friends and I were psyched up as the rookies of 1985 sets were hitting their stride. We are talking Clemens, Puckett, Gooden, Saberhagen, Eric Davis, Orel Hershiser and many other fringe prospects. Going into 1986 we knew there were plenty of young studs that could make collecting a lot of fun that year, Barry Bonds, Pete Incaviglia, Will Clark, Jose Canseco, and Wally Joyner. Joyner was given the unenviable task of replacing Rod Carew at first base in Anaheim. But he did it, and did it very well. He hit around 300 for most of the season, and made his only All-Star team as a rookie. Although most of those above mentioned rookies, several of them ended up wrapped up in the steroid scandal that would rock the sport within the next ten years. Some, as early as 1988, were thought to be using, and I don't even have to mention which one, but he was Wally's main rival as ROY competition. Going into that next summer, two good friends of mine, Jeremy and Dave, plus my brother and his friend Brian, we all had our favorite players. Brian was Kirby Puckett, my brother's was Kent Hrbek, mine was Jose Canseco, Jeremy took Rickey Henderson and Dave had Wally Joyner. Of the 5 of us, I think Jeremy won the contest of super collector because by that time in Rickey's career most of his card were available for about 20 cents. The camaraderie and competition that it brought to the 5 of us was something that I will never forget. We played 2 on 2 or 3 on 3 baseball all summer, every summer and even though we didn't have "full teams" we used our imagination and modified rules, with ghost runners and other tweeks. It's something you don't see kids do a lot anymore, and has caused MLB to modify elements of the game to attract a "younger" demographic. But here is my thought on that: It's always been a great game, and those who don't see the beauty in it never will no matter how much you change it. 

Of all of our favorite players, obviously the two best were Puckett, and Henderson, which were cemented in baseball history by their respective inductions into Cooperstown in the 2000's. Hrbek and Joyner in a group of fantastic 1st basemen in the 80's and 90's that also included Mark McGwire, Will Clark, Eddie Murray, Fred McGriff, Mark Grace and others. Canseco, well while having a borderline HOF career, seems to take the woe is me road after the release of his book, "Juiced" in 2005.  Partly because he thought that he was blackballed in 2002 by the league. I remember him saying that he would not have been a major league player had it not been for the steroids, but then in a documentary on the Peacock streaming service, he said that he always had the talent, but the drugs helped him stay in the league. I still think he had a great career, just think he needs that attention. 

Wallace Keith Joyner, on the other hand, remained a solidly productive player for 15 years. Helped the Padres reach the 1998 World Series, where they were soundly bounced in 4 games by the Yankees. He achieved 2000 hits and had a solid .288 lifetime batting average. From Nike posters proclaiming the Big A as WALLY WORLD and replacing a legend at 1st, to a solid MLB career Joyner was under rated in that crop of rookies, but ended up with one of the more respectable careers of the group. He will always bring to mind those days as baseball obsessed teenager.



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