the final tributes that should have been - gcrl in 1988, part 2

i didn't break any wax in 1988 for the first time since 1978.  if i had, i would have been a little peeved at not finding any steve garvey or ron cey topps cards.  sure, they both failed to finish the season (cey was released by the a's and garvey was injured in may) but i had never collected a set without them in it.  garvey, at least, got a card in the 1988 score set, but the poor penguin got no final tribute.  it's time to right that wrong.

first up, though, is the 1988 topps card that should have been, as created by travis at punk rock paint.

awesome.  i did my part by creating the back

that's 2332 games played, with 1143 runs scored, 2599 hits, 272 home runs and 1308 rbi.  only 479 walks, which is one of the big complaints you hear about the garv when it comes to the hall of fame question (he topped out at 43% in his third year of eligibility).  he was the 1974 mvp, the mvp of the 1974 and 1978 all star games, the 1978 and 1984 nlcs mvp, won 4 gold gloves, and played in 5 world series in 11 years (winning 1) and hit the biggest walk-off home run in padres history.  his number 6 is retired by the padres, but not the dodgers, although it was in mothballs for quite some time after he left.

he still holds the national league record for consecutive games played, ranks 76th all time in hits, and is in the top 100 in a bunch of categories - good and bad. as far as the dodgers' leaderboard goes, he is 9th in games played, 5th in hits, 3rd in doubles (first in los angeles dodger history), 6th in home runs, 5th in rbi, and the list goes on.

it's tough to find a photo of ron cey in an a's uniform, other than the one on his 1987 topps traded card.  i finally succeeded, and so here is his 1988 topps card that should have been:

it didn't turn out too badly, i don't think.  here's the back with complete penguin stats:

the penguin played in 2073 games and hit 316 home runs.  he was an all star 6 times, played in 5 post seasons, including 4 world series (winning 1) and was the co-mvp of the 1981 fall classic.  he hit more home runs off of tom seaver (8) than he hit against any other pitcher, with steve carlton a close second.  his 316 homers is currently good for 110th all time, which isn't too bad.

cey shows up on the dodger franchise leaderboard quite a bit as well.  he is 6th in the all important war category (behind 4 hall of famers and willie davis), and is 9th in extra base hits.  his 228 home runs as a dodger were the most in los angeles dodger history until eric karros came along, and he still sits 5th all time in that category for the entire franchise history.

next month, i think i'll fill in some of the gaps in the history of the infield, like the missing 1984 topps traded davey lopes card.