Topps Cards That Should Have Been: Fred McGriff and the 2001 Cubs

 

Hey, guys, did you know that despite falling within the cutoff for Topps Traded, and receiving a card in Bowman Heritage, Hall of Famer Fred McGriff doesn't have a Topps base card as a member of the 2001 Cubs? 

Like Tim Raines in the 2001 Traded set, all that Fred McGriff got with his crucial addition to a new roster was a relic card. No base. Topps had a surprising amount of blindspots during that Traded set. But McGriff, one of the most high-profile stars dealt at the trade deadline, was indeed one of them. Fans would have to wait til 2002 to receive a card of McGriff in a Cubs uniform. 

Still, in 42 games in Chicago during the second half of the 2001 season, McGriff hit .282 with 41 RBIs and 12 home runs. Incredible numbers that gave McGriff his seventh, but not last 100+ RBIs season and his ninth, but not last, 30+ home run season. Even at 37, McGriff could still mash, and the Cubs reaped the benefits.

While we're here, though, it's important to note that while the Cubs were buyers at the 2001 trade deadline, and though they took on many crucial pieces, they still ended the season in third place thanks to a humiliating August skid that even an extended early September break couldn't save them from. Yes, they'd be alright eventually, and would come back with an even more impressive team in 2003, but this Cubs team gambled and lost. So, here are some of the other players Topps neglected to document during their 2001 flagship year:

Longtime utility man Miguel Cairo had a rough start to the 2001 season. After the 2000 campaign, where he'd been a key infield piece for the Devil Rays, Cairo was cut. He signed a deal with the Oakland Athletics, but days before the 2001 season would begin, Oakland would trade Cairo to the Cubs in exchange for Eric Hinske, who would later be dealt to Toronto for Billy Koch in one of many deals that Billy Beane would regret later. The Cubs were familiar with Cairo's work, he was an infield option for them before the Devil Rays brought him on, so they were fine slotting him in. In 66 games he hits .285 with 35 hits and decent enough defensive play. Behind both Eric Young and Ricky Gutierrez he was a decent enough backup. Ultimately, as the Cubs would deal for someone else I'll be discussing in this post, Cairo would be cut again and claimed by St. Louis. If you can believe it, Cairo's career lasted for another 10 years after this.

It famously took Gary Matthews Jr. a while to figure out the major leagues. You all remember his excellent 2006 campaign with the Rangers, and some solid work with the late 2000s Angels. It took him a few years to get there, and in 2001 he was a pretty one-dimensional outfield bat. As the starting option in center field, Matthews hit .217 with 56 hits, 30 RBIs and 9 homers in 106 games. A later acquisition, which I will discuss here, would be the death nell for Matthews in Chicago, and he'd be cut soon after, to be picked up by Pittsburgh.

Signing with the Cubs as a free agent a few seasons after being a big piece of the trade that brought Jeff Kent to San Francisco, Julian Tavarez was a decent enough relief specialist that had proved in Colorado that he could start games. The Cubs called his bet, and 28 starts out of Tavarez, resulting in a 10-9, 4.52 ERA season that also finished with Tavarez' highest strikeout total, with 107. Despite his utilization as a pure innings eater, Tavarez enhanced his value and versatility. As a result, Tavarez would be a key piece in a trade that would also bring Cubs farmhand Dontrelle Willis to Miami, while bringing a much more consistent starting option in Matt Clement to Chicago.

I think the value of the reliever has gone up in the last ten years, which is too bad, because had it not, Kyle Farnsworth would have been a much bigger deal at the time. For sixteen years, Farnsworth was nothing more than a solid, consistent relief guy who'd make 60 or 70 appearances per year and just work. His most consistent years were in Chicago, where he was a staple of the early 00s bullpens. 2001 was his best season, as he held a 2.74 ERA over 76 games, striking out 107. It would be a season that would need a year or so to recover from, but it was the surest sign of Farnsworth's dominance over his tenure with the Cubs. 

Now back to the trade deadline acquisitions. After breaking in with the 90s Braves teams, Michael Tucker had become a serviceable outfield bat for the Reds. The Cubs pulled a nice deal for Tucker in July and plugged him in as their new centerfielder, to replace Gary Matthews Jr. finally. Tucker was an improvement, hitting .263 with 31 RBIs in 63 games, and a 1.2 WAR in that time, his best numbers since Atlanta. Like Tavarez, this season would result in a crucial offseason deal, as Tucker would be dealt to Kansas City for a player to be named later. 

And as for the upgrade at 2nd base, the Cubs went with Delino DeShields, the longtime infield bat who'd been struggling in Baltimore following an excellent 2000 campaign. DeShields was picked up a week after the O's cut him, and went to work, hitting .276 with 16 RBIs and 12 stolen bases, bringing him to 450 overall. DeShields would stay for the 2002 season and then quietly retire. 

I was going to go 'well why didn't they make it' and then I realized that a lot of the people they picked up were people in their mid-to-late 30s who didn't have a ton left to work with, so that kind of answers that. Either way, good that they finally get Topps representation, even through this project. 

The Stars Are Out: April 2023

 

With the close of the first month of the 2023 season means it's time for the first check in of customs of famous people throwing out the first pitch at MLB games. There was a wide variety over the course of this month alone, so I figured I'd post a bunch now rather than waiting for the end of May.

I actually didn't do too many ex-MLBer customs this year, because even if there were some fun deep cuts, I worried they'd be too recent, even for me, from when they retired. Like Sergio Romo threw one out the other day, and he retired A MONTH AGO.

So Fred McGriff is a nice exchange, he's been retired for roughly 20 years now, and he just now gained entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and deservingly so. I'm glad the Blue Jays were able to recognize him at the beginning of the year, as his Jays days were some truly dominant years for McGriff, even if he'd be a bit more successful playoff-wise in Atlanta.

These April customs do cross over to other sports, especially football. Nick Sirianni brought the Eagles to the Super Bowl in only his second year as head coach, and already the fans have rallied around him in a way somehow a bit more endearing than their [fleeting] admiration for Doug Pederson. Sirianni got a warm welcome at Citizens Bank Park for his first pitch.

Meanwhile, Travis Kelce, the Chiefs' Super Bowl hero, decided to throw out his first pitch not in Kansas City, as one might think, but in Cleveland, owing to his own Ohio roots. I'm glad he got his hometown hero moment there, as the entire Kelce family has had a very nice year so far. Unfortunately, I don't recall the pitch being particularly accurate..

Similarly, after going from a walk-on to a Championship QB, Georgia senior Stetson Bennett got a hero's welcome at Truist Park to throw out his first pitch. A close relative actually worked with Bennett last year, he's the real deal and a great guy. I hope he finds success with the Rams, however eventual that may be.

...so Meg Thee Stallion threw out a first pitch in Houston. She's, uh, pretty open about her Houston roots, a lot like fellow rapper Travis Scott, and since she's huge as hell on the pop charts right now, the Astros invited her down. I'm not quite sure if her mega-stardom is gonna last, so she at least got to do this while the Astros were still defending champs.

On the other side of the music spectrum, Luther Campbell, lead singer of the controversial late-80s rap group 2 Live Crew, is still around, and got to throw out a first pitch in Miami, which is pretty cool. The Marlins don't show up a lot in these posts, and when they do they get some interesting picks.

Now, for one of the least subtle images I've ever had to use for this one. Bert Kreischer's gotten absolutely huge as a stand-up in the past few years, and he's got his own movie coming out next month. It doesn't shock me, knowing his onstage persona, that he threw out his Guardians first pitch sans shirt. It'd be weird if he did it otherwise.

Theo Von, who I remembered from Last Comic Standing back in the day, is just beginning to reach some of the stardom that Kreischer's swimming in right now. Von is doing a lot of podcasting and comedy networking, and I think he's made something of a name for himself in his third decade of stand-up. Glad the D-Backs could have him throw one out.

Sentimental favorite for last. Aisha Tyler came up hosting Talk Soup for a bit, then had roles on Friends and Criminal Minds, became a fan favorite for voicing Lana on Archer, and has hosted Whose Line is it Anyway on the CW for the last 10 years. Yes, it is still a show, and she's been an awesome and loose host. She's also like the second Giants fan to be a Whose Line performer, though her throwing one out at Oracle Park was a lot more likely than Greg Proops doing it, sad to say. Aisha's awesome, she had a lot of fun photos for me to choose from, and it's cool that she's a Giants fan.

Hopefully there'll be more fun ones of these coming in May.

2023 Hall of Fame Veterans Committee Results: Crime Pays

 I didn't have time this week to do a probability post for the Veterans Committee vote that was scheduled for this week. Purely because it would be a can of worms no matter how I opened it.

Sixteen baseball personnel had a list of eight former players from the 80s, 90s and 00s to potentially induct into the baseball Hall of Fame. Three of those names, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro, were admitted steroid abusers. One more was Curt Schilling, who, as qualified as he is, is genuinely detestable as a human being. Then you have Albert Belle, which is the quintessential lay-person's 'HOW IS HE NOT IN', two great players with savage second half drop-offs in Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy and...Fred McGriff.

Looking at this field, and knowing what I would do, as opposed to baseball writers and personnel, I just figured it wouldn't go well for me. I take the Howard Bryant approach of thinking no one who cheated and took steroids should be allowed in the Baseball Hall of Fame. And yet so many baseball fans don't want to think about that and go 'Bonds should be in', etc. 

And I feel like this argument keeps gestating and gestating and the people who want him and Clemens in are never gonna see the immoral part of the steroids thing like I have. As a baseball person, yeah, sure, Barry Bonds is an all-time figure. But at a certain point, his production became more about the artificial advantage and less about god-given right. Same with Clemens. Whereas Murphy and Mattingly are proponents of the pre-steroid era, where great players would just slow down as they hit their 30s and there wouldn't be any trainer with a syringe going 'play for 10 more years'. 

The only players I liked on this ballot, and had any real want of entry for, were McGriff, Mattingly and Murphy, and I was just convinced that because of the steroids guys, none of them would get in. I'd made the McGriff argument for about 10 years on my HOF ballot posts, that McGriff was one of the best pure hitters of the 90s, that he should be in if Baines, Bagwell and Alomar are all in, and that if the 1994 season was a full year, he'd have 500 homers and this wouldn't be a question. It's just none of the sportswriters seemed to agree with me, despite...obvious signs that he was a HOF-caliber hitter for 16 years. 

And so going into today, I was...dreading the outcome. Because I knew there were enough steroid-faithfuls in the voting committee, and I knew that something would seep through. I was at a friend's place doing other shit when the news broke, and I felt scared to even check.

The results of this ballot was the strangest thing. Like, I did not expect the one guy who deserved to get in to actually get in. With all the hubbub about the other guys, all the years that they've put up electable people only to vote in either no one or just some executives, I...wasn't thinking it'd be like this.

But yeah...Fred McGriff is a Hall of Famer. And NO ONE ELSE IS. I was...shocked. Overjoyed, but shocked.

My favorite stat from this ballot was that none of the steroids guys got more than 3 votes of 16. Which means even some of the balloters that would have a bias, like Frank Thomas, Lee Smith and Ken Williams, didn't go for Bonds even then. The next-most votes-getter was Mattingly with a 50% tally, which is kinda fitting I suppose. Maybe Mattingly gets in eventually. But...for McGriff, like Smith and Baines before him, to get in for being a great player and a great guy who didn't come near steroids with a ten foot pole...that is healthy as hell, and a righting of a potential wrong.

I am overjoyed with the results of this ballot. If anybody out there is saddened that 2 or 3 people that genuinely cheated to get ahead in the game didn't get into the Hall of Fame, don't worry, as Carlos Beltran will probably be getting in a month from now.

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: 2004 Fred McGriff

 

I am still firm in my belief that Fred McGriff should be a Hall of Famer. And if so, this would have been his final Topps card. Not that the Dodgers one we got in 2004 was bad, it was just outdated.

Fred McGriff's 2003 would have been a fine way to go out. After a year and a half doing well for the Cubs, McGriff signed with the Dodgers, ironically the same offseason Eric Karros signed with the Cubs. McGriff only played 86 games in 2003, hit .249 with 13 home runs. Not a great deal went on, and McGriff was let loose after the season ended.

But the longtime hard-hitter was picked up in 2004, by the team he had returned to greatness with, the Tampa Bay Rays. McGriff was the first superstar in Tampa, the first All-Star in Tampa, and was the flagship hero there until the 2001 trade to Chicago. So of course they'd welcome him back and give him a shot at making the team out of Spring Training. McGriff was 40, but he still wanted to play. 

The eventual MLB gig for McGriff in 2004 was a bit disappointing. In 27 games, the Crime Dog only hit .181 with 7 RBIs and the final two of his trademark home runs. McGriff was released midseason, retired, and that was the end of that. I do appreciate that his last games were played for the Rays, as it's a very poetic close to his career, but I just wish they'd have been a bit better.