1980 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs - #22 - #24

 Back to more 1980 Kellogg's cards.  Kellogg's did a much better job with the text than Topps did in the 1978s that I looked at recently.

Two of the three cards in this group feature stars from the 1979 World Series.  

#24 - Eddie Murray

The card back mentions Murray's .154 average in the 1979 World Series and includes a note that he was hitless in his last 21 at-bats.  Ouch. 

I didn't know that he didn't start switch-hitting until 1975 as a minor league player.  

All five Murray boys played professionally. 

Not on the card - Murray had the highest average in the majors in 1990 but he didn't win the N.L. batting title.  How does that happen?  Murray ended the season with a .330 average but Willie McGee hit .335 in the NL before a late season trade to the A.L.  McGee went on to hit .274 in 29 games with the A's but he had enough plate appearances to qualify for the N.L. batting title.  McGee's total for the season was .324 and the A.L. leader was George Brett at .329.  

McGee and Murray are quite opposite when it comes to MVP voting.  Murray ranks 24th all-time in MVP shares making him the highest ranked player to never win an MVP award.  He was second twice along with seven other top-11 finishes in the voting.  McGee only got MVP votes in 1985, but he won that year.  

FYI - I was surprised to see the next highest names on the MVP list who never won the award - #31 Mike Piazza, #34 Manny Ramirez, and #39 David Ortiz.  Al Kaline, Mel Ott and Derek Jeter are not far behind.  

#23 - Dave Parker

Parker was on lots of commercials in the early 1980s.   He was one of the biggest stars in the game. 

6-foot-5 and intimidating at the plate.  That was fun to watch.

He hit .310 in 1979 after winning batting titles in 1977 and 1978.  

Kellogg's mentioned that Parker was a speedster with 20 stolen bases.  His numbers dropped off after 1979 and he ended up with 154 career steals.  

In 1979 he won a Gold Glove, All-Star Game MVP and his team won the World Series.  That was his third gold glove.   

#22 - Larry Hisle

Hisle was on Kellogg's cards twice - 1970 and 1980.  None in between.  Why?

It's odd that he got a card in 1980 after being injured for most of 1979.  He had great years in 1977 and 1978 so it is a surprise that he wasn't in the 1978 or 1979 sets.  

He starred in baseball and basketball in high school.  

Not on the card - Hisle never returned to full-time play after his injury in 1978.  Getting back to playing after a torn rotator cuff was not an easy thing to do in 1979.  

Not on the card - he was the first DH in MLB history - in the pre-season.  Sure, that doesn't really count and Ron Blomberg was the first DH in a regular season game.  

More about Blomberg.  The Yankees were at Boston so Blomberg got in the game before the Boston DH - Orlando Cepeda, who went 0-for-6 in the game.