THE ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN
1987 TOPPS BATTLE
1987 TOPPS BATTLE
Thorzul's Pack:
By my count, our March 9th battle ended with the
readers granting me a pity victory over dayf, 5-3. I
hope I can justify those votes by pulling through with
some good stuff in the decisive seventh game.
Let's tear in.
6 Ruben Sierra Record Breaker -- "Youngest Player to
Switchhit HR's in Game"
701 Willie Randolph (Current Stat Profile: Mets
manager; likes to put hand in shirt.)
618 Tom Kelly
757 Nolan Ryan
555 Dennis Rasmussen
174 Henry Cotto
688 Juan Beniquez
591 Spike Owen (Fused with Gum)
225 Mike Smithson
391 Jay Howell (So green, so yellow, so...awesome.)
482 Daryl Boston
267 Howard Johnson
134 Rich Yett
502 Dick Schofield
178 Cecil Fielder (2nd Year. Man, I love how those
spring training shots make it look like the horizon
stretches on forever. Behind Prince's daddy here
there could be 500 uninterrupted miles of orange
groves or desert. Not sure which, since I'm too lazy
to research where Toronto spent their springs back in
the '80s.)
36 Eric King
567 Greg Mathews
By no means is this the perfect pack, but it's one
that can compete. It's been an honor to participate
in this battle.
Dayf's Pack:
I started to open my pack for this battle and noticed the wrapper looked a little crinkly. I checked the other packs of 87 Topps I had lying around and they were crinkly too so I didn't think much of it. I ripped the thing open and saw this:
Ok... normally the back side is facing up when you open old wax. Oh well, it's rare, but not unheard of. Too bad Rob Wilfong got a face full of wax though. I flipped it over to see the back card and...
there's also wax on Ernie Camacho. I guess we won't be seeing Barry in this pack, will we? I wish I could remember where the heck I got this pack. Too late to turn back now... ready troops! CHAAAAAARGE!251 Rob Wilfong - Waxy Wob Wilfong's brother James played pro ball in 1978.
204 Sammy Stewart - Not only does Sammy have the freaky radioactive socks on his jacket, but the register is off so now the Red Sox logo is in 3D.
111 Alfredo Griffin grimaces in pain from a printing smear that catches him right upside the head.655 Jesse Barfield - Nice swing by Jesse who is also about a millimeter off register.
118 Bobby Valentine - The first perfectly centered, perfectly printed card is an obnoxious manager. Is he still managing in Japan?
158 Tim Tuefel - More printing problems. The ever so slightly off orange makes his uniform look like a piece of Fruit Stripe gum.
219 Cecilio Guante - Yes! I have another excuse to link the "You Are A Pirate" song! Cecilio's Pirate Name is Legless Gus Cooke.242 Rick Mahler - Brave in the hizzouse... Rick is seen in his classic "how did I end up on this crappy team??" pose.
341 Mike Brown - I have nothing witty to say about Mike Brown.
Spring Fever Baseball card - This card just looks old. like it's been lying on a shelf in the garage for ten years. I don't have a lot of confidence in the rest of this pack...
708 Scott McGregor - Long time pitcher for the O's. The back of the card tells me he is active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He must have gotten along great with Earl.
145 Charlie Kerfeld - Here's Big Charlie guzzling beer after the 'Stros clinched the division title in '86.761 Greg Pryor - Aw jeez, can I get some sympathy votes too?
511 Steve Lyons - Yeah, Psycho! In the hideous red jersey.
784 Cal Ripken Jr. - They searched the pack and left Cal??? The searchers must have been looking for Mike Greenwell instead of Barry...602 Gary Carter All Star - Not a fan, but I'll take any Hall of Famers I can get my hands on right now. Did you know Gary Carter led the league in game winning RBI's in 1986? Can you guess who he was tied with?
64 Harry Spillman - Back to reality. This guy has a career OPS+ of like, 12.
353 Ernie "Macho" Camacho - I'm not sure if Berman nicknames will help or hurt me at this point, but I'm desperate enough to try anything right now.
There are the packs! Vote for the Cheap Wax Championship winner now!!!
11 comments:
I vote for Thorzul, although the Cal Jr. makes it closer.
Charlie Kerfeld > Nolan Ryan
A Winner is Junkie
OBTW, the Jays have held their Spring Training in Dunedin since their inception in '77.
Oh the agony of choice. But we vote for Thorzul.
Thorzul's got this one. Sorry, dayf. It might've been closer if it weren't for those "3-D" cards.
Thozul's miracle game 6 win is all for naught as Alfredo Griffin lumbers home in the bottom of the ninth after a Cal Ripken Jr. 4-3 dayf pulls it out.
Ripken tied it up in the 9th for Dayf but Bobby Valentine's controversial decision to put in Charlie Kerfield from the pen will forever haunt the franchise after Ruben Sierra blasts a dinger from the opposite side of the plate to win it in 10. Thorzul lifts the trophy.
This actually turns out to be incredibly close. After a horrible start, Dayf ends up with 2 HOFers to Thorzul's 1 (assuming Ruben Sierra, Fat Cecil and Rich "Not" Yett don't make the Hall). What turns this is the number of All-Stars and decent vets that Throzul pulled. The deciding blow was Harry Spilman. I don't know why, but I hated Jamie Quirk and Harry Spilman.
Thorzul wins, Thorzul wins, the-e-e-e-e Thorzul wins.
dayf sympathy vote
Thorzul for the win.
Okay, I'm keeping dayf in the fight. Cal AND Scotty McGregor. I freely admit my biases.
Thorzul because of the Nolan Ryan.
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