two two tudor - ttm triumphs

today i will feature some more through the mail goodness, this time courtesy of the guy who traded places with pedro guerrero during the 1988 pennant chase - john tudor.  i recall being surprised that the trade was made and even more surprised when the trade was described as 'addition by subtraction' (i was naive to guerrero's effect on team chemistry).  still, it was hard to ignore the acquisition of one of the best lefties in the bigs.

at the time of the trade, tudor had a 2.29 era in 21 starts.  with the dodgers, he made 9 starts and had a 2.41 era.  his whip did rise from 1.12 to 1.30, but he still pitched pretty well.  he made a start in the 1988 nlcs (5+ innings, 4 earned runs) in game 4 - the 12 inning dodger win that saw mike scioscia hit a game tying two-run blast off of dwight gooden in the 9th and kirk gibson hit the game winner off of roger mcdowell in the 12th.  he also started game 3 of the 1988 world series, but left after just 1.1 innings pitched due to injury.

tudor returned to the dodgers in 1989, but was able to make only 6 appearances due to injury.  he rebounded with a great 1990 season for the cardinals, going 12-4 with a 2.40 era but retired after the season.  he and dean chance are the only non-hall of famers to throw 10 or more shutouts in season, post world war ii (the others are bob gibson, sandy koufax, juan marichal, bob feller, and jim palmer).  today also happens to be his 57th birthday, but i'm the one on the receiving end.  on to the cards.

here's what i consider to be his best dodger card, his 1989 topps

it's a dodger stadium card, and a night card, and a nice mid-delivery shot to boot.  he also signed a 1989 fleer

a 1989 upper deck

and a 1990 upper deck card.

that card is kind of the yang to the '89 topps' yin.  still dodger stadium, but under bright sunshine and he's getting the ball back from the catcher.

and, lest we forget that tudor started out his career in the northeast, he also returned a 1981 topps

and a 1984 donruss.

i wish i had sent him one of his fantastic o-pee-chee variations to sign.

oh well, happy birthday and thanks john tudor!