1981 Kellogg's Card Backs #54 - #46 Lots of Text Even for a Guy Who Played 20 Years

Lots more writing to talk about on the 1981 Kellogg's card backs.  It is really small print for someone my age.  Another reason that more writing is included - the cards are larger than other years as the 1981s are standard baseball card size (3.5 x 2.5).

Kellogg's still managed lots of text for guys who played a long time.  Topps didn't always do that, skipping text when there were lots of years of stats.

#54 Joe Charboneau  Less than a month into the season he had a nickname (Super Joe) and a few months later a song ((Go Go Charboneau) that was #1 on the charts in Cleveland.  He quit in 1977 while in the minors due to lack of playing time but he returned in 1978.  Not on the card - the odd things he did and the fizzle of his career due to injuries.

#53 Paul Molitor - Rookie of the Year in 1978.  His lifetime average is .300 after three seasons.    

#52 Tommy John - won 43 games in the previous two years, the most in MLB.  He's called "The Bionic Man" because hit left elbow had to be rebuilt due to injury.  The doctor told him in 1974 that he'd never pitch again.   Not on the card - cool that the procedure is named for him instead of Dr. Frank Jobe.

#51 Alan Trammell - made the All-Star team.  He was mentioned as a likely permanent fixture on that team.  Not on the card - Not a bad call since he did make five more All-Star teams.

#50 Steve Carlton - won his third Cy Young Award tying him for the most all-time.  He is now the career leader in strikeouts for a lefty and he's got six career one-hitters.  Not on the card - he never threw a no-hitter but he was quite a hitter.  He hit 13 homers and batted .201 for his career.

#49 Rick Burleson - named the team MVP the Red Sox in 1979 and 1980.  A trade to California is mentioned.


#48 Carl Yastrzemski - he had 100 hits for 20 straight seasons.  Only Cobb and Aaron can join him in that category.  Not on the card - Pete Rose ended up with 23 staight seasons of 100+ hits while Yaz and Cobb had 20 in a row.

#47 Dave Kingman - missed lots of games after being injured crossing home plate.  This also led to his newspaper column being canceled in Chicago.  Not on the card - Chicago newspaper writer Mike Royko parodied Kingman's column in a rival paper.

#46 Lee Mazzilli - he stole 41 bases in 1980 and now has 122 in his Met career.  The Mets are so poor in the SB department that he already has a club record.  Not on the card - I didn't look up which record he held, but he only finished with 152 as a Met and Jose Reyes had 370.  Lee played nine more seasons and never surpassed 17 steals