Today I turn my attention to the modern players. PSA uses 1970 and beyond as the dividing line. Because there are so many players, I'm just going to do those with last names A - M today. Tomorrow I'll cover the rest.
Roberto Alomar - never
Jeff Bagwell - never - we start with two guys that didn't play in major media markets, and they get no recognition from Topps.
Johnny Bench - six times - 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 Bench went on a pretty good run in the late '70s and early '80s. I'm surprised he didn't get the hundreds in the early '70s when he was dominating the league and winning MVPs.
Bert Blyleven - never - another small market guy.
Barry Bonds - six times - 1994, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2005, 2006 While six times is pretty good, I think Topps shied away from him since he was such a polarizing figure.
George Brett - nine times - 1981 thru 1989 The guy was a hit machine during this span and that was hard to ignore.
Lou Brock - one time - 1972 The guy was a stolen base machine and that was ignored!
Rod Carew - ten times - 1975, 1976, 1979 thru 1986. See George Brett
Steve Carlton - one time - 1973 His one and only time was the season after he won 27 games for a last place team
Gary Carter - never - Surprised me, especially since he played in New York
Dennis Eckersley - one time - 1998 - An end of the career number
Rollie Fingers - never - No love for bullpen guys
Carlton Fisk - never - Bench got six but Carter and Fisk get nothing. Very odd
Rich Gossage - never - see Rollie Fingers
Ken Griffey - four times - 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000 Four seems low for a guy of his stature
Tony Gwynn - never The guy was a hitting machine like Brett and Carew. How was he overlooked?
Ricky Henderson - one time - 1986 Looks like Topps limits the stolen base guys to just once
Trevor Hoffman - never - see Rollie Fingers and Rich Gossage
Catfish Hunter - one time - 1976 He gets his hundred after he signs with the Yankees
Reggie Jackson - twelve times - 1975, 1976, 1978 thru 1987 He is the big leader at this point, with a dozen times. He leads not only in appearances, but consecutive appearances (ten).
Derek Jeter - five times - 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2014 Figured he'd have had a bunch more.
Randy Johnson - one time - 2002
Chipper Jones - one time - 2008
Pedro Martinez - one time - 2007 - He wins three Cy Youngs and gets just one hundred, and it comes when he is with a New York team
Paul Molitor - two times - 1981 and 1992
Joe Morgan - two times - 1977, 1978 Two MVPs, two hundreds
Eddie Murray - one time - 1985
Interesting list for sure. Mr. October with a dozen is startling!
ReplyDeleteYankees = New York = Topps bias.
DeleteNow I'm curious about who were the least memorable players who were given hero numbers over Gwynn, Maddux, Carter, and Fisk.
ReplyDeleteWow. Reggie is the Mr. 00 as well. It's sad that my three favorite players (Gwynn, Henderson, and Maddux) only have one 00 between them.
ReplyDeleteAlthough with Barry, they did that have one year where they made like 8 billion cards of him for the main set.
ReplyDelete