1983 Kellogg's #46 - Greg Minton

• When this card was printed Greg Minton was coming off an All-Star season in which he went 10-4 with 30 saves and had a 1.83 ERA. Greg finished 3rd in NL Cy Young Award voting and 8th in NL MVP voting
• Minton didn't do as well in 1983. He was 7-11 with 22 saves and had a 3.54 ERA.
• Greg seemed to find his pitching groove in late July, but by that time the damage had already been done to his ERA.
• Minton and Gary Lavelle were an effective lefty/righty tandem in the Giants' bullpen in the late 70s and early 80s.
• Minton pitched for the Giants until his release on May 28, 1987. He then pitched for the California Angels through the 1990 season. 

Card Tribute: Greg Minton

• Greg "Moon-Man" Minton had a long and successful career with the Giants as a relief pitcher. He started with the Giants in 1975 but did not stick with them for an entire season until 1979. 
• 1975: 1-1, 6.88 ERA in four games (two starts)
• 1976: 0-3, 4.91 ERA in ten games (two starts)
• 1977: 1-1, 4.50 ERA in two starts
• 1978: 0-1, 8.01 ERA in 11 games
• 1979: 4-3, 4 saves, 1.81 ERA in 46 games
• 1980: 4-6, 19 saves, 2.46 ERA in 68 games
• 1981: 4-5, 21 saves, 2.88 ERA in 55 games. Hitters Don't Gopher Greg - June 8, 1981 Sports Illustrated
• 1982: 10-4, 30 saves, 1.83 ERA in 78 games, NL All Star, 6th in NL Cy Young voting, 8th in NL MVP voting
• 1983: 7-11, 22 saves, 3.54 ERA in 73 games
• 1984: 4-9, 19 saves, 3.76 ERA in 74 games (1 start)
• 1985: 5-4, 4 saves, 3.54 ERA in 68 games
• 1986: 4-4, 5 saves, 3.93 ERA in 48 games. Gave up Pete Rose's last career hit (#4,256) on August 14.
• 1987: 1-0, 1 save, 3.47 ERA in 15 games. Released on May 28. Greg signed with the California Angels on June 1 and pitched for them from 1987-1990.
• Was a pitching coach and a manager in the Angels organization for a few years after his retirement.
• Vote for your favorite Greg Minton card on the right. :)

1977 Topps #489

1978 Topps #312

1979 Topps #84

1980 Topps #588

1981 Topps #111

1982 Topps #687

1983 Topps #470

1984 Topps #205

1985 Topps #45

1986 Topps #310

1987 Topps #724.

1982 Topps Baseball Stickers - Giants

Darrell Evans

Vida Blue

Milt May

Johnnie LeMaster

Greg Minton

Larry Herndon

Enos Cabell

.

Jack Clark

The 1982 Topps Stickers. I like the 1981 stickers better, probably because I collected them. By 1982 I had started buying complete sets instead of buying from the packs. The packs were a lot more fun, but they were expensive if I wanted to collect more than 1-2 sets a year.

1983 Topps Giants - Part 4 (pitchers)

Greg Minton (#470) was 7-11 with 22 saves and a 3.54 ERA in 73 games.

Andy McGaffigan (#68T) was 3-9 with 2 saves and a 4.29 ERA in 43 games (11 starts).

Al Holland (#58) didn't pitch for the Giants in 1983. He and Joe Morgan were traded to the Philadelphia Phillies after the 1983 season for Mike Krukow, Mark Davis, and a minor leaguer.

Atlee Hammaker (#342) was 10-9 with a NL-leading 2.25 ERA in 23 starts. He pitched in the All Star game and was rocked. He gave up seven hits in 2/3 of an inning, including a grand slam to Fred Lynn. Here is a "where are they now" article written in about 2005.

Renie Martin (#263) was 2-4 with 1 save and an ERA of 4.20 in 37 games (6 starts).

Jim Barr (#133) was 5-3 with 2 saves and a 3.98 ERA in 53 relief appearances in 1983.

1982 Topps Giants - Part 5 (more pitchers)

Tom Griffin (#777) didn't pitch for the Giants in 1982. He was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates before the season for Doug Boyland. Griffin pitched in 6 games for the Pirates and was released on May 15. That was it for Griffin's career.

Rich Gale (#38T) was 7-14 with a 4.23 ERA in 33 games (29 starts). Renie Martin (#66T) was 7-10 with a 4.65 ERA in 29 games (25 starts) in 1982.

Greg Minton (#687) was 10-4 with 30 saves and an ERA of 1.88 in 78 games.

Eddie Whitson (#656) didn't pitch for the Giants in 1982. He was traded to the Cleveland Indians before the season for Duane Kuiper.

The Giants made a lot of off-season moves with their pitching staff. Even though Topps caught two of the new pitchers on its traded set, several others didn't get 1982 Topps Giants cards:

Atlee Hammaker (12-8, 4.11 ERA in 29 games - 27 starts)

Alan Fowlkes (4-2, 5.19 ERA in 21 games - 15 starts)

Fred Breining (11-6, 3.08 ERA in 54 games - 9 starts)

Dan Schatzeder (1-4, 7.29 ERA in 13 games - 3 starts)

Mike Chris (0-2, 4.85 ERA in 9 games - 6 starts)

Andy McGaffigan (1-0, 0.00 ERA in 4 games)

Mark Dempsey (0-0, 7.94 ERA in 3 games - 1 start)

Scott Garrelts (0-0, 13.50 ERA in 1 game)

1980 Topps Giants - Part 5 (more pitchers)

Tom Griffin (#649) was 5-1 with a 2.76 ERA in 42 games (4 starts) as a right-handed setup man in 1980.

Pedro Borbon (#627) didn't pitch for the Giants in 1980. He was released at the end of spring training in 1980. Borbon signed with the St. Louis Cardinals on April 30 and was 1-0 with 1 save in 10 games before being released on May 27. That was Borbon's last stint in the major leagues.

Greg Minton (#588) was 4-6 with 19 saves and a 2.46 ERA in 68 games.

Ed Whitson (#561) was 11-13 with a 3.10 ERA in 34 starts. He was an NL All Star but didn't pitch in the game.

Randy Moffitt (#359) was 1-1 with a 4.86 ERA in 13 games. He didn't pitch between May 10 and August 17.

Ed Halicki (#217) was 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA in 11 games (2 starts). He was placed on waivers and selected by the California Angels on June 20, 1980. Ed finished the season with the Angels then was released after the season.

Others who pitched for the Giants but did not receive a 1980 Topps Giants card:

Allen Ripley (9-10, 4.15 ERA, 23 games-20 starts)

Alan Hargesheimer (4-6, 4.32 ERA, 15 games-13 starts)

Al Holland (5-3, 7 saves, 1.75 ERA, 54 games)

Mike Rowland (1-1, 2.33 ERA, 19 games)

Bill Bordley (2-3, 4.70 ERA, 8 games-6 starts)

Fred Breining (0-0, 5.40 ERA, 5 games)

Phil Nastu (0-0, 6.00 ERA, 6 games)

Jeff Stember (0-0, 3.00 ERA, 1 start)

1977 Topps Giants - Part 5 (more pitchers)

Jim Barr (#609) was the #2 starter for the Giants in 1977. He had a bit of an off-year --- Jim was 12-16 with a 4.76 ERA in 38 starts.

Greg Minton (#489) was 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA in two starts in 1977. He spent most of the season in AAA Phoenix where he was 14-6 with a 4.86 ERA.

Randy Moffitt (#464) was 4-9 with 11 saves and a 3.59 ERA in 64 games.

Gary Lavelle (#423) was the Giants' lone representative to the 1977 All Star game. He pitched the 4th and 5th innings allowing one hit and striking out two batters. Gary was 7-7 with 20 saves and a 2.05 ERA in 70 games in 1977.

John Montefusco (#370) was 7-12 with a 3.49 ERA in 26 games (25 starts). He missed about six weeks from late May to early July.

Others who pitched for the Giants in 1977 but didn't receive a 1977 Topps Giants card:

Bob Knepper (11-9, 3.36 ERA in 27 starts)

Lynn McGlothen (2-9, 5.62 ERA in 21 games - 15 starts)

Terry Cornutt (1-2, 3.86 ERA in 28 games - 1 start)

Tommy Toms (0-1. 2.08 ERA in 4 games)

1979 Topps Giants - Part 4 (pitchers)

Gary Lavelle (#311) was 7-9 with 20 saves and a 2.51 ERA in 70 games. Gary was an underrated reliever in the late 70s and early 80s.

Charlie Williams (#142) didn't pitch for the Giants in 1979. He retired after the 1978 season. Charlie started with the New York Mets in 1971 and then was traded to the Giants in 1972 for Willie Mays. Williams pitched for the Giants from 1972-1978.

Vida Blue (#110) was 14-14 with a 5.01 ERA in 34 starts. He led the Giants in both wins and losses.

Greg Minton (#84) had a nice season as a set-up man. He was 4-3 with 4 saves and a 1.81 ERA in 46 games.

Randy Moffitt (#62) was 2-5 with 2 saves and an ERA of 7.71 in 28 games. Randy was injured and pitched only three times after June 19 (once in August and twice in September).

1986 Topps Giants - Part 6 (more pitchers)

Vida Blue (#770) was 10-10 with a 3.20 ERA in 28 starts.

Mike Krukow (#752)was the ace of the staff in 1986. He was 20-9 with a 3.05 ERA in 34 starts. Mike was an All Star (he pitched a perfect 9th inning) and finished 3rd in Cy Young Award voting.

Mike Jeffcoat (#571) didn't pitch for the Giants in 1986. He spent the season at AAA Phoenix (54 games, 7-2, 4.20 ERA)

Dave LaPoint (#551) didn't pitch for the Giants in 1986. He was traded to the Detroit Tigers in December 1985.

Jim Gott (#463) was 0-0 with one save and an ERA of 7.62 in 9 games (2 starts). He didn't appear in a game after May 8. He also started two games for AAA Phoenix but pitched only 2.2 innings combined in the two starts.

Scott Garrelts (#395) was 13-9 with 10 saves and a 3.11 ERA in 53 games (18 starts). He was a starter until July 2 then from July 6 to the end of the season he came out of the bullpen.

Frank Williams (#341) was 3-1 with one save and a 1.20 ERA in 36 games.

Greg Minton (#310) was 4-4 with five saves and a 3.93 ERA in 48 games. Here is a link to Greg's entry in the book Giants: Where have you Gone?.


Others who pitched for the Giants in 1986 but didn't receive a 1986 Topps Giants card:

Terry Mulholland (1-7, 4.94 ERA in 10 starts--15 games total)

Steve Carlton (1-3, 5.10 ERA in six starts)

Bill Laskey (1-1, 1 save, 4.28 ERA in 20 appearances)

Mark Grant (0-1, 3.61 ERA in 4 games)

Chuck Hensley (0-0, 2.45 ERA in 11 games)

Randy Bockus (0-0, 2.57 ERA in 5 games)