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Joy of a team set: chapter 4


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.

Comments

steelehere said…
Doug Baker's card is a personal favorite of mine as he went to my High School and the school is listed on the back of his card. One of his high school baseball teammates was John Elway.
acrackedbat said…
some of the most handsome cards I've seen on your blog. ;) I'm only missing one card to complete my 85 Team set...#133 Bob/Ray Boone - no mustaches.
Jamie Meyers said…
I've met three of those players. Brookens was kind of a douche. Sid Monge was friendly and Lance Parrish should have an award named after him, he was so nice. 16 out of 28 players with 'staches seems well above average for any team.
BaseSetCalling said…
I love Tiger Stadium baseball cards.