The other day on one of my other blogs -- I'll let you guess which one -- I made one of those sweeping statements that makes me so lovable.
I said that if it wasn't for Alan Trammell, the 1984 World Series champion Tigers could have boasted a complete team of players with mustaches. Stupid clean-shaven Trammell. No wonder no one's letting him in the Hall of Fame.
Of course, that's me being facetious all over the place. I'm sure there were at least a few other Tigers on that team who chose not to mustache. Why they did -- when everyone else on the team looked so bitchin' -- is incomprehensible to me.
But to find out how prevalent the mustache was on that team, I had to go to my 1985 Topps set and present all of the Tigers in that set here now in the latest edition of Joy of a Team Set:
I am astonished by how clean the scanner is right now.
By my count, I was off just a little on the mustaches.
Here is the tally:
Mustache:
Lemon, Rozema, Wilcox, Jones, Parrish, Johnson, Garbey, Hernandez, Bergman, Petry, Brookens, Gibson, Herndon, Morris, Berenguer, Terrell
No mustache:
Kuntz, Baker, Monge, Castillo, Whitaker, Lopez, Scherrer, Grubb, Trammell, Bair, Evans, Pittaro
It is 16-12 in favor of the mustache. That's a ratio that is not quite worth my sweeping statement. But it is notable that the only major non-mustache players on that team are Whitaker, Trammell and Evans. It's probably where my mustache statement came from -- on any given day, seven mustache men were on the field. And the starting pitching staff was loaded with facial hair.
Anyway, let's go through the traditional Joy of a Team Set tally:
Favorite card runners-up: 5. Juan Berenguer; 4. Kirk Gibson; 3. Lance Parrish; 2. Dave Rozema
Favorite element on the back: Dude ...
Famous error card: none.
Team's claim to fame: The '84 Tigers won the World Series with one of the best-known "out-of-the-gate" starts of all-time. The 1985 Tigers started 6-0, but were sabotaged by injuries to starting pitchers and an ineffective bullpen and sank to third in the AL East.
Player I've talked to: None, although a former co-worker has a story about how nasty Tom Brookens was to him once.
Most interesting card: Without a doubt, Dave Rozema.
It's Rozema's last card with the Tigers, and he appears to be saying to all the fans, "cheers".
Former or future Dodgers: Kirk Gibson, Lance Parrish.
Favorite card in the team set:
#333 - Willie Hernandez
It's no coincidence that he's wearing a mustache.
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