Sega's World Series Baseball and 1994 Topps

  The 1974 season was pivotal for the franchise. Mainly for an 18 year old kid from Phoenix, AZ. Robin Yount made his big league debut in a Milwaukee uniform and would continue to do so for the next 20 years. Unfortunately Yount's first year was not his best. All around it was Don Money who would be at the top of the list. You can see, the core of the Brewers early 80's teams come together even this early. Money, Yount, Charlie Moore and Gorman Thomas were already on the team. On the Pitching side, longtime starter Jim Slaton was there soon to be joined by others later in the 70's.  Don Money lead the Crew in Games, AB's Runs, Hits, SB's and Average. His hit and ab totals in 74 were career highs, and he made his first All Star Game that year. Money was inducted into the Brewers Walk of Fame in 2005.  On a personal note, Don Money was the first player I saw in my very first pack of baseball cards in 1980. I was able to get him to sign, that card, about 30 years later...

   Once again Jim Colborn was the top hurler for the Crew. He lead the team in numerous categories. Games, Complete Games, Shutouts, Innings, Hits, Batters Faced, Strikeouts, Wins and WHIP.  Among those season highs, Franchise records were set with Games, Complete Games, Innings, Strikeouts, Hits, Batters Faced and Wins. He became the first Brewer Pitcher to break the 20 win barrier. This was impressive as the team only won 74 games on the season, finishing 3 games ahead of the Indians but a distant 23 games behind East Champion Baltimore.  In 1973 Colborn had 3 cards listed in Beckett. Pictured is his 1973 Topps card. The most expensive of the 3 items is his Linnett Portraits Card #99. Booking for 5.00 dollars.  Colborn pitched a total of 5 more seasons including 2 more with the Brewers and retired after the 1978 season. He made the ALL Star team in 73, but did not appear in the game. He was added to the Milwaukee Brewers Wall of Honor in 2014, He also appeared...

  The top hurler for the Crew in 72 was Jim Lonborg. Acquired in the trade with the Red Sox that also brought 72's top hitter in George Scott. Lonborg stayed in brew town only one year. He led the team in Shutouts, Innings, Hits, batters faced, walks, strikeouts, Sac Hits and wins. Ironically 1972 was the 3rd straight year where no Brewers hurler won more than 14 games. Tough times indeed, but considering the poor records it's still impressive that the starters were able to win that many games. After completing his 15 year major league career, Lonborg returned to school at Tufts University and became a dentist. A nice trivia nugget is that in the Boston based sitcom Cheers, Former Red Sox pitcher and bar owner Sam Malone, the picture that hangs in the bar is that of Lonborg. Malone, played by Ted Danson, wore the same number for the Sox as Lonborg. After the 72 season he was traded to the Phillies. The Brewers recieved in return Don Money. Apparently the Phils had some kid name...

 1972 brought the Brewers, perhaps their first true superstar. Tommy Harper was a solid player in 70 and 71, and his trade to the Red Sox in the off season brought George C. Scott among others to Milwaukee. In his first season in Milwaukee Scott led the team in several offensive categories including AB, R, H, 2B, 3B, RBI, K, GIDP, SLG% and OPS. Scott was a colorful player, one of his most famous quotes was to mention that his necklace he wore was made of the teeth of second basemen. He had a name for his glove as well. "Black Beauty helped him win 8 gold glove awards at first base. Ironically when the Brewers traded him back to the Red Sox in the late 70's it brought to them another first basemen who is synonymous with Brewers baseball. Cecil Cooper, and one who would hold down the position until the late 80's. According to an account from former Brewers Owner and Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, Scott was the first Brewers player to earn $100,000, which he achieved in 197...

  Once again, Marty Pattin lead the sub par Brewers pitching staff. Once again leading the team in Wins, Innings Pitched, Games Started, Shutouts, Hits, Batters Faced, Intentional Walks, Strikeouts, Runs, Earned Runs. Jim Slaton made his first appearance this year, and with other than a brief stint in Detroit in 1978 was a mainstay in the Crew's rotation into the 80's. Unlike the previous season, Pattin won on Opening Day against the Twins besting Jim Perry in front of 18000 plus at the old Met Stadium. In 50 years those two teams have only faced each other on Opening Day 3 times. In 1971 Pattin had a complete game on Opening Day, a 10 strike out performance, and a game where he walked 4 but two received intentional passes. In his two years with the Crew,  Pattin pitched in 73 games, starting 65. 20 Complete games, 5 shutouts, 498 innings pitched giving up 429 hits. He faced 2014 batters, 191 Runs with 180 earned. 144 walks and 330 strike outs. He finished 2 games over .500 wi...

 The second year of Brewers baseball wasn't much better that the first. In 1971 the Crew ran 28 position players out trying to find the right combo again to try and be more competitive in the American League West. They would move to their familiar home in  AL East in 1972. Among those making their crew debut in 1971 were Darrell Porter, Jose Cardenal, and Dick Schofield, who ended up retiring at the end of the season. The star, though, turned out to be Dave May. May became a consistent performer for the Brewers after coming over in a trade with the Baltimore Orioles. He led the team in RBI, Reached on Error 12, grounded into 18 double plays, and hit a team leading .277. He later became the player that brought Hank Aaron back to Milwaukee. He would return to the Crew as they pushed for a division title in 1978.  May spent a total of 12 years in the majors and after retiring in 1978 spent a couple years in the Braves system as a roving hitting instructor in 81 and 82. ...

  The Brewers pitching staff was not very good, but several of the players still are talked about today by die hard fans. Ken Sanders is the one that comes immediately to my mind, but the highest rated hurler in the Brewers inagural season turned out to be Marty Pattin.  Pattin was part of the blockbuster trade that sent one of Milwaukee's first stars to the team. George Scott. I am sure that we will spill plenty of ink on Scott later in the decade. I remember Pattin from his 1980 Topps card, which was my first year of collecting. Pattin was selected by the Seattle Pilots and came to Milwaukee in 1970. He led the team in Complete Games, Innings, Batters Faced, Strike Outs, Doubles Allowed, Double Plays and Wins. Pattin had a 12 year career, And while leading the team in victories that first year he did earn his first victory until May 10th in the first game of a double header with the Washington Senators. He pitched 1 inning, striking out 1 and facing 3 batters. After retiring...

  The first year of Brewers baseball in 1970 was interesting to say the least. Leaving Spring Training and not knowing whether or not they would be playing a sophomore season in Seattle or head east to Milwaukee or they would all become free agents. On April 1, the moving trucks spent the night in Las Vegas and awaited word on which way they would be going. Later in the week the trucks spent two days in Provo Utah, still waiting word. Finally Milwaukee car salesman Bud Selig and a team of investors came through to bring the Pilots east. They spent the season in the AL west, and finished 65-97 and 1. The Brewers finished 33 games behind the first place Twins. But 5 years after the Braves left for Atlanta, MLB had come back to Milwaukee. Selig was a major factor in that move. Bud had been a minority owner in the Braves, and had, unsuccessfully, lobbied to keep the team in brew town. Selig was like many young men and had fallen in love with the game early on. Heartbroken and devastate...

 Twins avoid their first losing steak of the season but pounding the Seattle Mariners 11 to 5. Kirby Puckett adds two more home runs to increase his league leading total to 14.  George Kenneth Griffey Jr. The Kid, Junior. #24. The man who scored the run that saved baseball in Seattle. What more can you say about Griffey that hasn't already been said. He was the star of the Mariners from the moment he put on the uniform. Expectations were big, and he didn't disappoint.  His dad, Ken Griffey Sr, was a solid player for the Reds, and Yankees among others for more than 15 years. Junior was at the ballpark hanging with guys like Pete Rose, Dave Concepcion, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Johnny Bench. He learned to play the game, and play it well. He was never included in the shadow of the steroid scandals that troubled the sport for more than a decade. Griffey played his heart out for the Mariners. Without Griffey, Buhner, Martinez, Johnson and the rest of the comers and goers in the ...

 Twins fall victim to the hot bats of the White Sox. Robin Ventura leads the charge with 2 home runs in the 15 to 6 victory. 9 years before the strike shortened 1994 season Topps decided to take a chance by commemorating the first US Olympic team in history in the 1985 set. We all know who the star of that subset was, Mark McGwire. In just 3 short years it became the most sought after card of the decade. And in a related note, in the background of the Big Mac card you will see a partial stadium billboard advertising Marlboro cigarettes. Ironically the same type of advertisement sent the editors over at Fleer into a tizzy just 4 years later with several variations of the Randy Johnson rookie card. Although the Johnson was noticed after the infamous Billy Ripken F(*# Face card which is probably they reacted like that to Johnson promoting cigs. I guess it could also be that the 18 year tobacco law was into effect by then, so they would have had to edit that anyway. But I digress, Vent...

 The homerdome is living up to it's name as the Twins "really destroy the White Sox 16 to 5." The Twins are a game and a half ahead of the Brewers in the AL Central Division. Remember this was the 1994 season, the first with the Wild Card and the 3 division format and the Brewers were still three years removed from moving to the NL Central.  Pedro Munoz had a promising talent, the dreaded "potential" tag that he never quite lived up to. In 517 Major League Games he hit a respectable .273 with 67 HR and 252 RBI. One of those HR, and 4 of those RBI will be discussed a little bit later in this post. Munoz played in over half the games in 94, thanks to the strike, and his average hit a high point of .320 in late July. I said in my initial post that if I had any interactions with the players or attended games that they played it that I would mention them in the blog to make it more interesting. Well Pedro was one of those players. I have kept a running log of games t...

 Twins return to their winning way, knocking out 26 hits in a 14 to 6 rout of the White Sox.  Kent Hrbek raises average over .400 with a 4 for 5 performance.   Once again, love this card, like the Puckett as it features the home whites. A picture of concentration as the ball comes in. Kent Hrbek was one of the greatest players in Twins history.  A great hometown player who started and stayed with his hometown team. Growing up in the shadows of old Met, and the hitting the winning home run in his debut at Yankee Stadium. Runner up to Cal Ripken as ROY in 1982, All Star game and the Cover of Sports Illustrated also came in 82. Runner up to Willie Hernandez in 84 MVP race,and keeping the Twins in the race until the end of the season.  One game I will not forget was also in 84. Shortly after the team was sold to the Pohlad's the Twins were on the verge of first place in the AL west.  Close game and the pitcher decides to walk Hrbie intentionally to pitch t...

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 ster...

 Game 3 Twins 11 Royals 10  George Brett and Felix Jose go a combined 7 for 10 in a losing effort. Brett also records his 1 SB of the season.  What better way to honor the career of George Brett than to have his last Topps flagship card than this beautiful shot. One of the best pure hitters of my generation, or any for that matter. The only player to win batting titles in 3 different decades (70's, 80's, and 90's). 3000+ hits, two World Series apperances and led the Royals to their first title. Had the Yankees not been a late 70's powerhouse Brett potentially could of had at least one more ring. He was, and still is, the face of the Royals franchise. I remember in 1988 after I had received a Jose Canseco autograph from mailing in a card to a show, I got hooked on collecting signatures. The first one I got back from an actual request from a player was Jim Presley of the Mariners. It started a 2 year contest between myself and two close collecting friends. We got some pre...

 Ah, the joys of old school gaming. Trying to get the hang of the the controls, thinking that I'm still playing MLB20!  Game 2 Twins 11 Royals 3 Scott Erickson goes the distance striking out 17. Kent Hrbek raised his average on the year to .500. 1994 Topps Scott Erickson #365 1994 was not a good year for Erickson, other than his no hitter against the Brewers it was an up and down year. I'm pretty sure that after a down season in 93 and 94 and the financial fall out from the strike led to the Twins trading Erickson to the Orioles at the trading deadline in 1995.  I never got to see Scott pitch in person, however the run he went on in 1991 that helped clinch the division and sent the team on the path to a second championship in 4 years was an amazing sight and has to rank in the top 10 pitching seasons in Twins history.    His 1994 card, a standard action shot shows Erickson in his powerful best. After his career ended and he married Lisa Guerrero,  Erickson ...

 Back in 1994 I started my obsession with baseball video games, when in late spring of that year I picked up my copy of Sega's World Series Baseball off of layaway at the Kmart store that I worked at. A few years earlier some of my dorm mates at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, MT, had wasted countless hours playing Sports Talk Baseball and Football, but this was the start of what continues to this day.  Living in and growing up in MN of course my brother and I were Twins fans, and so setting up the season of course we picked the Twins. (Once we figured out that we could only play one season at a time, we decided to each play every other game.) By 1994 I had pretty much stopped collecting cards, until... we started getting boxes, at work, from a company in Texas called "Vintage Sports Cards" And what they were was basically full boxes of Junk wax era cards that ranged anywhere from 10 bucks up to 30 bucks depending on brand. Some of the boxes I picked up included 1988 ...