One-card wonders, update 14

(NOTE: The post is updated with a ranking by team of all the One-Card Wonders, also song links).

 

The last time I did one of these posts, I mentioned I wanted to tackle some of the 1980s sets to see exactly how many One-Card Wonders came out of that decade. I had my doubts. Three major sets starting in 1981. Four starting in 1988. Five starting in 1989. Good luck.

The mission here is finding players who had a single card in a major set and then never again. But this was 30 years after the 1950s, the golden age of One-Card Wonders.

Then I received a healthy stack of 1985 Donruss wants in a TCDB trade with Mokolai. These all should have been very familiar names, I was still following baseball pretty well at the time, lot of childhood guys still around.

I was confident until this card appeared. OK, Charlie Mitchell. I have no idea who that is. It practically knocked me over with surprise.

But I shouldn't have been surprised because a little while ago I received some '85 Donruss in a trade and this card knocked me over:

OK, Russ Stephans, who is not wearing a regulation Major League Baseball hat and is pretty pleased about his chest hair, I don't know you.

But I shouldn't have been surprised about THAT card either because there's been a certain card sitting in my Dodgers binders for years.

1985 Donruss Tony Brewer is a One-Card Wonder, too.

That's three Rated Rookie cards from '85 Donruss that are One-Card Wonders.

Well, actually, there are four.

1985 Donruss is really punching holes in my theory that you couldn't produce One-Card Wonders very easily in the 1980s.

And it wasn't done either.

Each of those three guys didn't appear on his own card in another major set. Just 1985 Donruss. So that's seven One-Card Wonders in '85 Donruss. Pretty impressive.

It's even more impressive when you look at 1985 Fleer. That set is just as big as the '85 Donruss set, yet there are no One-Card Wonders in '85 Fleer.

How about Topps? They were still clinging to the idea that You Better Damn Well Have Served Your Time Before Appearing On One Of Our Cards, and I love them for it, but -- another surprise -- there are two cards in the 1985 Topps set that did not show up in Donruss or Fleer that year, nor in any other major set in any other year.

Two legendary players right there. And I'm shocked that I just found nine One-Card Wonders from a single year in the 1980s.

I wanted to cover a few more years from the '80s all in one post, but there's no time for that. I'll try to tackle that during the next episode.

For now, here are the 1985 sets added to what I've determined already:

1957 Topps

#191 - Joe Margoneri, Yankees

#266 - Ken Kuhn, Indians

#276 - Jim Pyburn, Orioles

#321 - Red Murff, Braves

#337 - Rene Valdes, Dodgers

#386 - Lyle Luttrell, Senators

 

1958 Topps

#65 - Von McDaniel, Cardinals

#83 - Bob Hazle, Braves

#96 - Joe Durham, Orioles

#126 - Stan Palys, Reds

#129 - Jim Derrington, White Sox

#131 - Bobby Henrich, Reds

#151 - Buddy Pritchard, Pirates

#182 - Joe Caffie, Indians

#218 - Dick Rand, Pirates

#231 - Lloyd Merritt, Cardinals

#243 - Larry Raines, Indians

#283 - Ray Shearer, Braves

#322 - Harding Peterson, Pirates

#376 - Charley Rabe, Reds

#391 - Dave Melton, Athletics

#442 - Phil Paine, Cardinals

#449 - Gene Fodge, Cubs

#451 - Joe Taylor, Cardinals

#461 - Ed Mayer, Cubs

 

1959 Topps

#49 - Bill Hall, Pirates

#91 - Herb Moford, Red Sox

#120 - Chuck Coles, Reds

#121 - Bob Conley, Phillies

#126 - Eddie Haas, Braves

#134 - Jim McDaniel, Pirates

#140 - Charlie Secrest, Athletics

#192 - Charley Beamon, Orioles

#211 - Bob Blaylock, Cardinals

#214 - Marcelino Solis, Cubs

#254 - Zeke Bella, Athletics

#281 - Walt Craddock, Athletics

#283 - Russ Heman, Indians

#321 - Bob Giallombardo, Dodgers

#362 - Dolan Nicols, Cubs

#504 - Ossie Alvarez, Tigers

#522 - Gene Snyder, Dodgers

#529 - George Bamberger, Orioles

#532 - Mark Freeman, Athletics

#537 - Rodolfo Arias, White Sox

#539 - Gary Blaylock, Cardinals

#544 - Lee Tate, Cardinals

 

1965 Topps

#169 - Dave Vineyard, Orioles
#494 - Jay Ritchie, Red Sox
#529 - Jerry Fosnow, Twins
#543 - Ed Connolly, Red Sox 

1967 Topps

#344 - Ossie Chavarria, A's
#388 - Arnold Earley, Cubs
#489 - Doug Clemens, Phillies
#497 - Ron Campbell, Cubs

1969 Topps:

#317 -- Bruce Look, Twins
#361 -- Gary Holman, Senators
#378 -- Jose Herrera, Expos
#437 -- Luis Alcaraz, Royals
#632 -- Jon Warden, Royals

1974 Topps:

#8 - George Theodore, Mets
#33 - Don Newhauser, Red Sox
#37 - Dave Sells, Angels
#77 - Rich Troedson, Padres
#421 - Dan Fife, Twins
#457 - Chuck Goggin, Braves
#573 - Mike Adams, Twins 

1975 Topps

#288 - Bruce Ellingsen, Indians
#407 - Herb Washington, A's
#508 - Bob Hansen, Brewers
#524 - John Doherty, Angels
#587 - Chris Ward, Cubs
#651 - John Morlan, Pirates 

1977 Topps

#118 - Rick Jones, Mariners
#132 - Chip Lang, Expos
#137 - Jeff Terpko, Rangers
#616 - Tommy Sandt, A's
#641 - Dan Larson, Astros 

1978 Topps:

#224 - Jerry Tabb, A's
#303 - Sam Hinds, Brewers
#311 - Jose Baez, Mariners
#386 - Bob Gorinski, Twins
#502 - Pat Rockett, Braves
#516 - Gary Beare, Brewers
#521 - Steve Staggs, Blue Jays
#591 - George Zeber, Yankees
#667 - Jeff Byrd, Blue Jays
#719 - Randy Elliott, Giants 

1979 Topps:

#172 - Mike Bruhert, Mets
#222 - Bob Beall, Braves
#292 - Don Reynolds, Padres
#336 - Bobby Thompson, Rangers
#363 - Craig Skok, Braves
#371 - Jeff Holly, Twins
#427 - Andy Replogle, Brewers
#658 - Taylor Duncan, A's
#676 - Johnny Sutton, Twins

1980 Topps:

#59 - Eddy Putman, Tigers
#72 - Fred Howard, White Sox
#156 - Tony Brizzolara, Braves
#221 - Joe Cannon, Blue Jays
#233 - LaRue Washington, Rangers
#291 - Randy Scarberry, White Sox
#347 - Harry Chappas, White Sox

1981 Topps:

 #491 - Gordy Pladson, Astros

1982 Topps:

#356 - Denny Lewallyn, Indians

1984 Topps:

#116 - George Bjorkman, Astros
#159 - Darryl Cias, A's
#163 - Lorenzo Gray, White Sox
#337 - Kevin Hagen, Cardinals
#382 - Chris Nyman, White Sox
#474 - Greg Bargar, Expos

1985 Topps:

#367 - Keefe Cato, Reds
#514 - Jeff Cornell, Giants

1986 Topps:

#451 - Mark Brown, Twins
#502 - Glen Cook, Rangers
#567 - Jeff Barkley, Indians

 

1987 Topps:

 

#387 - T.R. Bryden, Angels

1994 Topps:

#491 - John Hope, Pirates (maybe)

1985 Donruss:

#31 - Tony Brewer, Dodgers
#40 - Charlie Mitchell, Reds
#42 - Russ Stephans, Royals
#46 - Doug Loman, Brewers
#491 - Scottie Earl, Tigers
#504 - Ralph Citarella, Cardinals
#535 - Vic Rodriguez, Orioles

1986 Donruss:

#32 - Johnny Abrego, Cubs
#42 - Rick Surhoff, Rangers
#461 - Dave Leeper, Royals
#510 - Steve Engel, Cubs
#595 - Carlos Ponce, Brewers

 

1981 Fleer

 

#49 - Jeff Twitty, Royals

#130 - Gary Weiss, Dodgers

#220 - Sheldon Burnside, Reds 

 

1960 Leaf

#61 - Vic Rehm, Braves

#62 - John Gabler, Yankees

#91 - Fred Hopke, Phillies

#93 - Wally Shannon, Cardinals

#99 - Marshall Renfroe, Giants

#108 - Tom McAvoy, Senators

#114 - Stover McIlwan, White Sox

 

As you can see, there have been plenty of OCWs in the 1980s so far, I need to pay a little more attention to my research. How could I forget about those six OCWs in 1984 Topps?

 

I promised last time that I'd see where individual teams rank in terms of the most One-Card Wonders so far. So here that is:

 

1. Athletics - 11

2. Braves - 10

2. Cardinals - 10

4. Cubs - 9

5. Twins - 8

5. White Sox - 8

7. Indians - 7

7. Reds - 7

9. Brewers - 6

9. Orioles - 6

9. Pirates - 6

12. Dodgers - 5

12. Rangers - 5

12. Royals - 5

15. Red Sox - 4

16. Angels, Astros, Blue Jays, Expos, Giants, Phillies, Senators, Tigers, Yankees - 3

25. Mariners, Mets, Padres - 2

Teams like the Marlins, Rays and Diamondbacks have zero so far and I don't expect them to ever enter the list because they didn't show up until the '90s and I don't know if I'll ever try to figure out OCWs for that decade.

 

And now, here are some 1985 One-Hit Wonders for your listening pleasure/displeasure.

 

 

Radioactive - The Firm

Cry - Godley & Creme

In My House - Mary Jane Girls

Axel F - Harold Faltermeyer

Perfect Way - Scritti Politti

Go For Soda - Kim Mitchell

All right, I just ran out of time to finish this. I'll add links to the songs/videos when I get off work or tomorrow.

Sorry to leave a half-done post here, but I wanted to get something up before the weekend. Rock on.