1978 topps dodgers in 1982 part 2

hey, charlie hough.  why don't you kick off this second part of the evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers 1982 post by showing us how to grip a knuckleball.

thanks!  in 1982, for the first time in his career, charlie hough made no relief appearances.  instead, the rangers used him exclusively as a starter and he responded by going 16-13 with a 3.95 era in 34 starts.  he pitched 228 innings and threw 12 complete games, 2 of them shutouts (one a 2-hitter and the other a 3-hitter).  thus began a 9-year string of 10 or more victories for hough as a ranger.

tommy john was in action on his 1982 topps base card, but was denied an in action card.  

go figure.  he also wrangled his way onto the yankees' team leader card 

thanks to his 2.63 era in 1981.  dave righetti actually had a lower era (2.05), but i assume that the rules for era-title qualifying were the same in 1981 as they are in full regular seasons.  that is, a pitcher must pitch an average of 1 inning per game, so 162 innings pitched is the typical minimum.  in 1981, the yankees played 108 games, and righetti had only 105.1 innings pitched to john's 140.1  in 1982, john's era rose to 3.66, but it was still the lowest on the staff as righetti's also ballooned, all the way to 3.79.  john was just 10-10 in 26 starts, but had 9 complete games and 2 shutouts for the bronx bombers before he was traded to the angels at the end of august.  

california was making a run for the pennant, and picked up john for some veteran moxie.  he went 4-2 with a 3.86 era in his seven regular season starts for the angels, and then was 1-1 in the alcs against the brewers.  he was the winner in game 1, but the loser in game 4; a game that turned out to be his final postseason appearance.  for whatever reason, john was not included in the topps traded set in 1982.  i might have to fix that with a card that should have been.  we'll see.

there's a lot of yellow on lee lacy's 1982 topps card.

with dave parker out with a thumb injury for a good part of the season, lacy got some solid playing time for the bucs in right field.  he also played left, center and even a couple of games at third base over the course of the 1982 season.  along the way, he hit .312 with 5 homers, 31 rbi and 40 stolen bases. one of his home runs was an inside-the-park job off of randy jones of the mets.

rick rhoden, in contrast to lacy, is going for the all black look on his 1982 topps card.  all the way to his mustache.

rhoden made 35 starts for the pirates in 1982, winning 11 and losing 14.  he had an era of 4.14 and had 6 complete games and 1 shutout.  his shutout was a 6-hitter against the braves in which rhoden helped his own cause by going 2 for 4 at the plate with a double and two rbi.  in fact, rhoden helped his cause quite a bit during 1982, as he hit .265 with 3 home runs and 12 rbi on the season.

elias sosa was shown as an expo on his 1982 topps base card, 

but he spent the year in detroit.  that's why we have the 1982 topps traded set, which put sosa in motown gear.

sosa joined the tigers towards the end of spring training and wound up spending the entire year, but only that year, on their roster.  he made 38 appearances for detroit, going 3-3 with 4 saves and a 4.43 era in 61 innings of work.  right after the season ended, sosa was on the move again as he had his contract purchased by the padres in october of 1982.

hey - look at don sutton's 1982 topps base card

and then his 1982 topps in action card

not a lot of variation there, although topps did put the photo with a tad more action on the appropriate card.  in 1982, sutton was toiling for the astros for most of the season.  he was 13-8 with a 3.00 era in 27 starts for houston when they dealt him to the brewers for kevin bass and two other players near the end of august.  down the stretch, he was 4-1 in his 7 starts for the brew crew, with two complete games and a shutout (a 7-hitter against the tigers in his second american league start).  his biggest victory, however, came on the last day of the season when the brewers and orioles started the day tied atop the american league east.  sutton outdueled jim palmer that day, throwing 8 strong innings to lead the brewers to a 10-2 victory and a division title.

sutton was also the winning pitcher in game 3 of the alcs against the angels, and he went on to start games 2 and 6 of the world series against the cardinals.  he took the loss in game 6 as the brewers failed to close out their first world series championship, but he didn't pitch well in either start.  like john, sutton was left out of the 1982 topps traded set.  i'll be sure to correct that oversight.

so there were 16/27 members of the 1978 topps dodgers featured by topps in 1982.  and, we'll get tommy back in 1983.  here's the tally to date:

baker 12 (1971-1982)

burke 2 (1978-1979)

cey 11 (1972-1982)

davalillo 14 (1963-1974, 1978-1979)

forster 11 (1972-1982)

garman 8 (1971-1973, 1975-1979)

garvey 12 (1971-1982)

goodson 6 (1973-1978)

grote 15 (1964-1976, 1978-1979)

hooton 11 (1972-1982)

hough 11 (1972-1982)

john 19 (1964-1982)

lacy 10 (1973-1982)

lasorda 8 (1954, 1973-1974, 1977-1981)

lopes 10 (1973-1982)

martinez 9 (1971-1976, 1978-1980)

monday 16 (1967-1982)

mota 18 (1963-1980)

oates 10 (1972-1981)

rau 9 (1973-1981)

rautzhan 2 (1978-1979)

rhoden 8 (1975-1982)

russell 13 (1970-1982)

smith 16 (1967-1982)

sosa 9 (1974-1982)

sutton 17 (1966-1982)

yeager 10 (1973-1982)

teams represented so far:  20  (dodgers, indians, colt .45's, pirates, white sox, astros, mets, a's, red sox, angels, expos, cardinals, braves, cubs, orioles, giants, phillies, yankees, rangers, tigers)