1980 Topps A.L. Future Stars: Damaso Garcia, Rick Peters, Doug Corbett

There were 16 different players receiving Rookie of the year votes in 1980 and not a single one of them was included in the 1980 Topps set. So I am continuing my flood of 1980 rookie cards. Here are 3 A.L. players. None of these players are household names but both Doug Corbett and Damaso Garcia were All Stars during the '80s.

Damaso Garcia: Garcia saw limited action with the Yankees in both 1978 and 1979. He was part of a 6 player trade in which the principle players were Rick Cerone and Chris Chambliss. Garcia would play in 2 All Star games and win the Silver Slugger award while on the Blue Jays. He was 4th in R.O.Y. voting in 1980.

Rick Peters: The switch hitting center fielder hit .291 as a rookie in 1980. His production fell in 1981 and he missed the entire 1982 season on the D.L. with an elbow injury.From 1983-1986 he was with the A's organization splitting time between the Major League club and their AAA club in Tacoma. He was 6th in R.O.Y.  voting with a 2% share.

Doug Corbett: With 8 wins and 23 saves in 1980 Doug Courbet was 3rd in R.O.Y. voting. In the strike shortened 1981 season he led the league in appearances and games finished. He was also the sole representative of the Minnesota Twins in the 1981 All Star Game. Unfortunately, he never saw action.

1980 Topps N.L. Future Stars: Leon Durham, Bill Gullickson, Dave Smith

In 1980 there were a total of 16 players receiving Rookie of the Year votes. Guess how many of those 16 players were included in the 1980 Topps regular issue? Anybody?.... Bueller?.... Bueller?

That's right. NONE. Zero, or in the spirit of the World Cup, nil.

Granted, none of these players would set the league on fire. Most were fairly mediocre players. Still, 0 for 16 has to be some kind of record. 

As usual, this is where I like to fill in the blanks. so here are some of the National League R.O.Y. candidates:

Leon Durham: Leon played most of his minor and major league career at first base but with first base occupied by 1979 N.L. MVP Keith Hernandez. Durham spent most of 1980 in the outfield. At the end of the season he was dealt to the Cubs for Hall of Famer, Bruce Sutter. Durham was one of 3 players to receive a single Rookie of the Year vote. He was Tied for 7th in the N.L. with 1%.

Bill Gullickson: In 1980 Gullickson set the record for strike outs in a single game by a rookie pitcher with 18. That record would later be broken by Kerry Wood in 1998 with 20 K's for the Cubs. Gullickson was 2nd in R.O.Y. voting with 44% of the vote.

Dave Smith: In 1980 Smith had 7 wins and 10 saves to help the Astros to their first ever post season. Smith became the Astros all-time leader with 199 career saves until Billy Wagner surpassed him in 2003. Smith cam in 5th with an 11% share of the N.L. R.O.Y. votes.

1982 Topps Tony Gwynn

Another devastating loss was dealt to the sports world when Tony Gwynn succumbed to cancer Monday. A native of Southern California, Gwynn played college ball at San Diego State and was taken by the Padres in the 3rd round of the 1981 draft. After 20 years on the same team, Gwynn returned to coach at his alma mater.  

Gwynn made his major league debut in July of 1982, hitting .289 in 54 games. An impressive stat for anybody except Tony Gwynn. His .289 rookie batting average was a career low for Gwynn who batted .338 lifetime and led the league in batting average 8 times. In fact he was one of the top ten hitters 15 of his 20 seasons in the majors.

1978 Topps Chuck Noll

A legend of the NFL passed away on Friday, Chuck Noll died at the age of 82. The man behind the "Steel Curtain" guided the Steelers dynasty to 4 Super Bowl victories in 6 years.

I couldn't decide whether to depict Noll as a player or head coach when creating a card in honor of this legend. I eventually chose to incorporate the 1978 Topps baseball manager's format onto a 1978 Topps football card. This allowed me to showcase the man as both a player for the Cleveland Browns and as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

As a player Noll was used initially as a "messenger guard". He would alternate downs bringing in plays from the bench. After 7 years playing guard and linebacker for the Browns, Noll retired at the age of 27 to pursue a coaching job at his Alma Mater, the University of Dayton. He was passed over for that job but was given a job with the Los Angeles Chargers of the AFL. From 1960-68 Noll was a defensive coach for the Chargers then the Colts. In 1969 he was hired as head coach by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

1959 Topps Boyd Dowler

On the football side of Topps, rookie cards were seldom made for the player's actual rookie year. So making Cards That Never Were of the NFL Rookies of the year is kinda like shooting fish in a barrel. Boyd Dowler was used primarily as a quarterback in a single wing formation at Colorado. The formation they used would be similar to a wildcat formation today. Selected 25th in the draft by Green Bay, Dowler was made a flanker under Vince Lombardi in his first year as head coach. His 549 yards and 4 touchdowns was enough to earn the Rookie of the year award.