Born in 1960: Mel Hall

. . . such promise never attained . . . not fast (only 31 career stolen bases and 25 career triples), limited power (134 homeruns in over 11 years) and now under investigation for sexual assault.

Mel Hall made some spectacular catches in the outfield, mostly because of his slow start at the ball, playing out of position or his desire to be flashy. Talk about someone who played baseball for all the wrong reasons . . .

This 1984 Topps card # 508 shows Hall running . . . probably from the law . . . take the cap off and his mugshot is right there too.

Hall did have a solid minor league career; hitting 32 HR's, driving in 125 runs and batting .325 in 1981 for the Cubs minor league affiliate in Iowa . . . that was his career highlight . . .

Played for the Cubs (1981 - 84), the Indians (1984-86), Yankees (1989-1992), two teams in Japan and retired in a San Fransisco Giant uniform in 1996.

Not much else to say except; he was a disappointing Cub and born in 1960 (being that is a "special irregular feature of mine). Next player presented will be of more notable worthiness.

Cubs Leaders from 1986 ?

An unexpected benefit of collecting baseball cards and this new world of blogging, one gets the opportunity to look back and report on history. Though most of my collection is "stuck in the sixties and seventies" I have recently discovered a new appreciation for the "modern" cards as well.

So I was looking at my Cubs cards from that overproduced wood grain border set of 1987 (I know that set does not constitute "vintage" or "modern" but nonetheless it is "history").

One card popped out like a sore thumb to me: the Cubs Leaders card # 581. For the record the Cubs were lousy in 1986, posting a 70-90 record and coming in fifth in the NL East.

While this card displays the back of Ron Cey and Steve Trout (two nice guys), makes me stop ad wonder what they were actually talking about but in either case neither of them were team leaders in any major category. The back of this card lists all the leaders in various categories and no mention of Cey or Trout anywhere.

In doing some extra research I did find this:

Cey led the team in games played at third base with 77

Trout led the team in "intentional base on balls" with 13

So that's it . . . two players who contributed nicely for the 1984 NL East Division Championship team; with Cey leading the team in HR's and RBI's and Trout going 13-7 (yes that 1984 team)but team leaders from 1986 . . . not !

The 30-40-50-100 Man

For those of you who are new to baseball (under 21 years of age) or dont bleed Cubbie Blue there once was a 2nd baseman who was pretty darn good.

He was elected to ten (10) all-star games, won nine (9) gold glove and seven (7) silver slugger awards. He has one NL MVP (1984) award in his pocket and his uniform number (#23) is hanging on a foul pole at Wrigley Field. His two game-tying clutch homeruns in a June 23rd, 1984 game has been "officially" named after him . . .

Ok . . . no big secret here . . .the "pretty darn good" 2nd baseman is Ryne Sandberg, Duh !

While 1984 is his MVP year, I will take note of his 1990 year (coming in fourth in MVP ballots): What is so special about 1990 ?

Sandberg hit .306, had a .559 slugging average and . . . . hit 30 doubles, 40 HR's, had 50 walks and drove in 100 RBI's (exactly); a 30-40-50-100 Man ! As an aside, he is one of only threee players ever to hit 40 HR's (1990) and steal 50 bases (1985) in ones career (joining Brady Anderson and Barry Bonds).

Score appropriately named Sandberg "Man of the Year" for 1990 ! I still call him the 30-40-50-100 Man !