1980 Kellogg's #42 - Vida Blue

• Here is another Kellogg's Vida Blue card
• After the first two months of the 1980 season, Blue was 8-2.
• He was named in a paternity suit in June 1980. The suit was from a child a woman claimed he had fathered in 1967 (before he started his professional baseball career)
• Blue had to miss the 1980 All Star Game due to a bad back
• Vida Blue finished the 1980 season with a 14-10 record and a 2.97 ERA

1981 Kellogg's #23 - Vida Blue

• While Vida Blue was with the Giants he was often used as the club's representative in the Kellogg's sets.
• Blue got Kellogg's Giants cards in 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1982
• Blue also had Kellogg's cards when he was with the Oakland A's in 1972 and in 1976.
• Vida had problems with substance abuse, but he was usually a productive pitcher for the Giants. 
• Blue was an NL All Star in 1978, 1980, and 1981

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.

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! :)

1982 Topps Giants - Part 4 (pitchers)

Vida Blue (#430) didn't pitch for the Giants in 1982. He was traded to the Kansas City Royals on March 30, 1982.

Al Holland (#406) was 7-3 with 5 saves and a 3.33 ERA in 58 games (7 starts).

Allen Ripley (#529) didn't pitch for the Giants in 1982. He was traded to the Chicago Cubs before the season for Doug Capilla.

Doyle Alexander (#364) didn't pitch for the Giants in 1982. He was traded to the New York Yankees on March 30 for Andy McGaffigan and Ted Wilborn.

Gary Lavelle (#209) was 10-7 with 8 saves and a 2.67 ERA in 68 games. This is a cool card (in fact it was my vote for "best Gary Lavelle card"). I can imagine him signing one for me -- I went to a lot of spring training games during that time period.

Fred Breining (#144) was 11-6 with a 3.08 ERA in 54 games (9 starts) in 1982.

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)

1980 Topps Giants - Part 4 (pitchers)

John Montefusco (#195) was 4-8 with a 4.37 ERA in 22 games (17 starts). He missed six weeks from mid-July to late August and also didn't pitch in the last three weeks of the season.

Bob Knepper (#111) was 9-16 with a 4.10 ERA in 35 games (33 starts).

Gary Lavelle (#84) was 6-8 with 9 saves and a 3.42 ERA in 62 games.

Vida Blue (#30) was 14-10 with a 2.97 ERA in 31 starts. He was on the NL All Star team but didn't pitch in the game.

John Curtis (#12) didn't pitch for the Giants in 1980. He became a free agent after the 1979 season and signed with the San Diego Padres.

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)

1987 Topps Giants - Part 4 (pitchers)

Juan Berenguer didn't pitch for the Giants in 1987. He was released by the Giants after the 1986 season and signed with the Minnesota Twins, where he won a World Series ring. Juan continued to pitch in the majors through the 1992 season.

Vida Blue didn't pitch for the Giants in 1987. He became a free agent after the 1986 season and signed with the Oakland A's. Vida abruptly retired during spring training in 1987 and it was rumored that he had failed a drug test.

Mike LaCoss led the Giants with 13 wins in 1987. He was 13-10 with a 3.68 ERA in 39 games (26 starts). LaCoss was picked up by the Giants in 1986 after he was released by the Kansas City Royals. He continued to pitch for the Giants until his release in 1991.

Frank Williams didn't pitch for the Giants in 1987. He and two minor leaguers were traded to the Cincinnati Reds after the 1986 season for Eddie Milner. Frank had a tough go of it after his playing career -- he was in a bad car accident in 1989 and ended up homeless in Vancouver, Canada after a divorce. He died of a heart attack in 2009.

Mark Davis was 4-5 with a 4.71 ERA in 20 games (11 starts) for the Giants in 1987. He was traded with Chris Brown, Keith Comstock, and Mark Grant to the San Diego Padres on July 5
for Kevin Mitchell, Dave Dravecky, and Craig Lefferts. He became an All-Star reliever with the Padres in 1988 and 1989. Mark was the NL Cy Young Award winner in 1989.