1982 Topps Baseball Stickers - Giants

Darrell Evans

Vida Blue

Milt May

Johnnie LeMaster

Greg Minton

Larry Herndon

Enos Cabell

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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.

1981 Topps Stickers Giants

Greg Minton

Terry Whitfield

Larry Herndon

Milt May

Darrell Evans

Jack Clark

Vida Blue

Ed Whitson

Stickers are great! Here are the Giants stickers from the 1981 set. These were available in my area and I collected about 2/3 of the set. One of these days I need to get a box, open the packs, and stick them in an album. Fun! :)

1983 Topps Giants - Part 1

After a promising 1982, the Giants (#171) stumbled in 1983. Joe  Morgan signed with the Philadelphia Phillies and his replacements (Brad Wellman and Duane Kuiper) didn't exactly strike fear into opponents. Other players weren't as productive in 1983 as they were in 1982, and the pitching faltered a bit. The Giants finished 79-83 and fell to 5th in the NL West.

Team Record: 79-83 (5th in NL West, 12 games behind the LA Dodgers)
Team Attendance: 1,251,530 (9th of 12 teams)
Team Batting: .247 (10th in NL)
Team Home Runs: 142 (2nd in NL)
Team ERA: 3.73 (9th in NL)
Team Fielding: .973 (12th in NL)
League Leaders: Atlee Hammaker (ERA, 2.25)
NL All Stars: Darrell Evans (1B), Atlee Hammaker (P), Gary Lavelle (P)

Frank Robinson (#576) managed the Giants from 1981 until the bottom fell out in 1984. He had some success at first (.558 and 3rd place in the second half of 1981, .537 and 3rd place in 1982), but the Giants struggled in 1983 (79-83) and fell down hard in 1984 (42-64, .396) before Frank was dismissed. Robinson also managed the Cleveland Indians from 1975-1977, the Baltimore Orioles from 1988-1991, and the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals from 2002-2006.

Milt May (#84) batted .247 with 6 HR and 20 RBI in 66 games. He was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates on August 19 for Steve Nicosia.

Bob Brenly (#494) was the starting catcher and batted .224 with 7 HR and 34 RBI in 104 games.

Others who caught for the Giants in 1983 but didn't receive a 1983 Topps Giants card:

John Rabb (.231 with 1 HR and 14 RBI in 40 games)

Steve Nicosia (.333 in 15 games)

Jeff Ransom (.200 in 6 games)

1982 Topps Giants - Part 1

After three rough years, the Giants had a very nice year in 1982 and almost managed to steal the NL West title. On September 1 they were 9 games out of first place. The Giants went 20-7 in September and got to within 1 game of the lead on September 26. They finished 2 games behind but it was an exciting last couple of weeks. The most memorable moment for me was the final weekend of the 1982 season. The Braves, Giants, and Dodgers were all within two games of each other. The Dodgers knocked the Giants out of contention on Saturday. The Giants returned the favor on the last day of the season when Joe Morgan hit the game-winning home run to knock the Dodgers out.

The time between the departure of Willie Mays and the Roger Craig "Humm-baby" years was a tough time to be a Giants fan. The 1978 and 1982 seasons were the only rays of sunshine during that era.

The Giants managed to win 87 games despite not having many guys even in the top ten in statistical categories. As seen below, the Giants were fair at best in most of the team statistics. One thing that helped the Giants in '82 was their patience at the plate. They were first in the NL in walks and second in on base percentage.


Team Record: 87-75 (3rd Place in NL West, 2 games behind Atlanta)

Team Batting: .253 (9th in NL)

Team Home Runs: 133 (4th in NL)

Team ERA: 3.67 (7th in NL)

Team Fielding: .973 (11th in NL)

Awards: Joe Morgan (Silver Slugger - 2B)

NL All Stars: Greg Minton (P)



Milt May (#242) batted .263 with 9 HR and 39 RBI in 114 games.

Bob Brenly (#171) batted .283 with 4 HR in 180 at bats.

Others who caught for the Giants but did not receive a 1982 Topps Giants card:

Jeff Ransom (.159 in 44 at bats)

1981 Topps Giants - Part 1

• Dave Bristol didn't manage this team. He was replaced by Frank Robinson before the season.

• Overall record: 56-55 (4th in NL West); 1st half: 27-32 (5th); 2nd half: 29-23 (3rd)

• Team batting average: .250 (8th of 12 teams)

• Team HR: 63 (6th of 12 teams)

• Team ERA: 3.28 (3rd of 12 teams)

• Team fielding: .977 (8th of 12 teams)

• Chris Bourjos didn't play for the Giants in 1981. He played his last major league game on October 5, 1980. After the 1980 season he was traded to Houston with Bob Knepper for Enos Cabell. Chris played in the minors through the 1983 season.

• Al Hargesheimer was 1-2 with a 4.34 ERA in six games (3 starts) in 1981. He spent most of the season as a starter for AAA Phoenix.

• Mike Rowland was 0-1 with a 3.45 ERA in nine games (1 start) in 1981. He went 15-7 in 25 starts for AAA Phoenix. 1981 was his last big league season.
  
  

• Milt May was the starting catcher. He played in 97 games and batted .310 with a .376 on base percentage. He didn't have much power (2 homers in 316 at bats).
  
  

• Dennis Littlejohn played his last major league game in 1980. He spent the 1981 season with the AAA Phoenix Giants, where be batted .270.
  
  
  
  

• Mike Sadek was at the end of the line as a backup catcher. He was 35 in 1981 and played in only 19 games (.167 in 36 at bats). He played his last game before the strike and was released before play resumed.

• Bob Brenly caught in 14 games for the Giants after the strike. He batted .333 in 45 at bats.

• Jeff Ransom played in 5 games in 1981 (.267 in 16 at bats). He was the second youngest (20 years old) player in the NL in 1981.