The Major League All Star game is played mid-season between representatives of the American League and the National League. Tony was named in 15 All Star teams during his career, all for the National League. Usually being selected for the All Star Team earned you an All Star card in the Topps set. Tony's 1987 All Star card pictured above is in my opening blogpost.
Card Number 9: Topps 1988, 402 (All Star Card)
Tony had one 'at bat' in the 1987 All Star Game, but didn't get a hit. This is a great card though.
The back of his card compared the number of runs he scored with other players. Despite having the most hits and the best batting average in major league baseball, he was fourth on the list of runs, 4 behind Tim Raines.
Tony was on a third card in the Topps 1988 set.
Card Number 10: Topps 1988, #699 (Padres Leaders)
The Team Leaders cards were included to tell you who the best player in each team was for all the different aspects of the game. Tony was the leader on all the batting side, except for home runs and RBI. Tony only hit 7 home runs and his RBI stat was 54, a long way behind team leader John Kruk.
The person with Tony on the team leaders card is catcher Benny Santiago. Benny was another Padres All-Star in the 1980s. Strangely he wasn't named on the back of the card as a leader in any of the stats, and yet there he is on the front. I have a little sub-collection of cards featuring Tony and someone else. This looks like a photo taken during a training session, but I'm not sure why Topps didn't try to get a picture of Tony with one of the successful pitchers.
Total: 10/394
Santiago won the NL ROY Award in 1987 and had a solid season. I'm sure Topps was trying to capitalize on his popularity with card collectors and Padres fans.
ReplyDeleteThat's very likely. He was a great player. It was the second year in a row Topps had a catcher on the Padres leaders card. Terry Kennedy was on the 87 leaders card.
Delete