I remember when the Triple Cheeseburger debuted at McDonalds in 1992. This beast was a thing of beauty. I was always a fan of the two cheeseburgers but when this sweet concoction was created, I fell in love with burgers all over again. Part of why the memory sticks with me so much is that they were coming out in conjunction with the ’92 Dream Team cards and cups. You got the cards with the Triple and a few other items. The cards and the burger were “limited time” items so I jumped all over it. It didn’t last too long and I stepped up to the counter one day and it was just gone. No warning, just no more Triple. I thought about it periodically over the next several times I went but eventually, I moved on.
I didn’t think about that burger again until McDonald’s reintroduced it in 2015. Life is funny like that. Even when you really enjoy something, if you go long enough without it, you start to find other things to take its place and it eventually fades from your memory. You could never forget about the Big Mac because it’s always there. Even if you aren’t ordering it, you see it out of your peripheral and you think, yep, the Ole Big Mac. That’s sort of what happened with Saved By the Bell. Yeah, I know; I loved that show a little too much. But it’s still on in syndication at weird hours of the day so I can get my DVR to record some episodes and quench my Kapowski thirst anytime. The same can’t be said for “Hey Dude”. I loved that show too but it doesn’t show up in any current DVR searches. So SBTB will always rule because it’s nostalgia we can still enjoy.
Music is a little different because we can download just about anything from iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify. But there are still groups that get lost in the shuffle because “Metallica”, “Journey”, and “Pearl Jam” are still touring somewhere. What about “Oasis”? Remember how great they were? Or the original “Everclear” group? “Counting Crows” is still touring but they aren’t releasing new music per se. Their last release was 2014 and if you go to their show, you are still going to hear “Mr. Jones“. You aren’t going to hear much “Better Than Ezra” or “Fuel” on playlists today but that doesn’t mean they didn’t kill it in the 90’s. You have to truly be from the 90’s to appreciate non mainstream 90’s music.
But here is the point. Not being relevant today doesn’t mean that you weren’t big time back then. There are plenty of things that were awesome in the 80’s and 90’s and would still be awesome today if given their proper amount of respect. McDonalds thought enough of the Triple Cheese to bring it back. Whether you know or remember the “Counting Crows” or not, you can still go see them in Hartford CT on 8/15! “USA High” is not “Saved By the Bell” and Elena Lyons is not Tiffani Amber-Theissen but it doesn’t mean she isn’t worthy of our time and admiration! Sometimes we get too hung up on the mainstream and we forget that there can be greatness hiding just behind the headlines. We just aren’t used to looking beyond the spotlight.
The same can be said for Baseball Players from my youth. We all remember Ken Griffey Jr., Bo Jackson, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire and Nolan Ryan. And we absolutely should because they were dominant players. Some are in the Hall of Fame, ESPN makes a “30 for 30” about some of them every year and some of are still visible around the league. But what about the rest of the 80’s/90’s baseball? We had more than 20 stars at any given time throughout the 80’s but we tend to only celebrate the elite of the elite. Some of the other players just don’t get remembered by collectors today because they aren’t in the Hall or they don’t have a statue outside of their stadium or they didn’t do anything crazy enough to warrant a tell-all book. But between the white lines, they were absolutely star players.
I have somewhat of a side project that I work on from time to time where I add some autographs of the players that have been forgotten over time. These guys may not have been forgotten in their hometowns or in the stadium they played most of their career. But by and large, these players have faded into the stat books and the modern day collector will only see them if they journey back to an 80’s set to try and collect it. Let’s take a look at a few of the players I put in this category and the autographs I have of them in my collection. I’m sure I can do more of these in the future if this is the sort of thing you enjoy. I know I enjoy it!
Gerald Perry
We’ll start with an Atlanta Brave, Gerald Perry. I will say that the other players are going to have had better careers than Perry but as a Braves fan in the 80’s, there was Dale Murphy and then there was Gerald Perry. He played on some horrible teams in Atlanta from 1983-1989 but he put together a solid stretch of seasons with his best overall coming in 1988. He hit .300 that season with 8 homers, 74 RBI and 29 stolen bases. He never had much pop but did steal some bags over the years. He had 42 in ’87. His ’88 season was good enough to have him designated the Team MVP in ’89 Donruss. He also earned his lone All-Star appearance in ’88. I still don’t have an auto on a Braves card but I have this sweet yellow ’90 Classic!
George Bell
Here is a guy with a better resume over his career and a player that is typical of the star I am referencing in this piece. George “Taco” Bell hit for a cool .278 career average, topping .300 twice in ’86 and ’87. That is a pretty solid feat for a player with his pop in the 80’s. He hit 31 and 47 home runs during those seasons and hit double digit bombs in every season from ’84 to ’93, with at least 20 in 8 of those 10 seasons. He won the AL MVP in 1987 with a .308 avg, 47 home runs and 134 RBI. He also only struck out 75 times in 660 AB’s. That is a MONSTER season! He also scored 111 runs that year. George, or Jorge, was a legit badass! I have this sweet ’87 Fleer signed by Bell.
Jesse Barfield
Bell’s teammate, Jesse Barfield, made the two the Canadian version of “The Bash Brothers during the 80’s. While Barfield didn’t quite have the average that Bell had, he clubbed his share of home runs and made the middle of that lineup deadly. While his ’87 season wasn’t bad at all, his best year came in ’86. He hit for a .289 average, 40 home runs, 108 RBI and scored 107 runs. The biggest difference at the plate between he and Bell was he struck out 146 times in the ’86 season. But he more than made up for that with his fielding and laser arm. He won 2 Gold Gloves and is widely accepted as the best arm in the majors during the 80’s. He led the league in assists from 1985-1987. Look at this laser!! My autograph for Barfield is this ’85 Topps.
Glenn Davis
Davis didn’t have as long of a career as Bell and Barfield but he played lights out in Houston from 1984-1990. Like Perry, he also earned a Donruss MVP card. From ’85 to ’90, he mashed 164 home runs! He struggled hitting for average with his best season coming in at .271 but he only had one season with more than 84 K’s, which is pretty solid for a power hitter. He finished his career with a .991 fielding percentage and was a 2x All-Star. He also finished second in the NL MVP voting in 1985 behind Mike Schmidt. With great offensive statistics, he is most likely remembered as part of one of the worst trades in MLB history when he was sent to Baltimore for Steve Finley, Pete Harnisch and Curt Schilling. That is a tough one. How about an ’86 Leaf autograph?
Tom Henke
Tom Henke is strangely a forgotten man when collectors think of dominant closers. We remember Lee Smith, Dennis Eckersley and a few others but many forget about “The Terminator”. Perhaps it is because he did most of his damage in Toronto and Blue Jays players from the 80’s tend to be overshadowed by Yankees, Red Sox and Athletics during that time. Henke was an absolute beast, finishing his career with 311 saves and an ERA of 2.67. Henke was a hulking 6’5 and could mow down hitters at an unbelievable clip but his glasses always made him a little less scary to me. Of course, I never stepped into the batters box against him either. He sits 24th on the all time saves list and is ahead of names like Goose Gossage, Bruce Sutter, and Rod Beck. This ’85 Donruss is the autograph of Henke in my collection.
Ramon Martinez
Ok, so Ramon wasn’t even the best pitcher in his family. But this is a guy that the hobby was all over in the late 80’s. He had all the tools to be a long term superstar in the league. Ramon was bigger than Pedro, at 6’4, but Pedro’s career was bigger than life so it’s really unfair to compare the two. Ramon had a great win/loss percentage with a 135-88 career mark. He won 20 games in 1990, finishing 20-6 with a 2.92 ERA, only to finish 2nd in the Cy Young voting to Doug Drabek and his 22-6 Record with a 2.76 ERA. You’ll likely see Drabek at some point if I make this a series. Martinez also had 100+ K’s in 8 consecutive seasons from 1990-1997. He threw a no-hitter in 1995 and he Struck out 18 Braves in 1990 to tie the Dodger record set by Sandy Koufax. I have this sweet 1990 Fleer signed by Martinez.
Bret Saberhagen
Saberhagen is another fire baller that crushed it during the 80’s. He topped the 20 win mark twice in his career going 20-6 with a 2.87 ERA in 1985 and 23-6 with a 2.16 ERA in 1989. He won the Cy Young award both of those seasons. He finished his career with a 167-117 Record and 3.34 ERA. His ERA got crushed from ’95 on. He was a 3x All-Star, World Series Champ and WS MVP (1985), won a Gold Glove in ’89 and pitched a no hitter in 1991. His career hit a little bump when he was traded to the Mets in 1992 but it’s the Mets so that’s not all that surprising. Overall, Saberhagen should be remembered as a dominant pitcher during a stretch where power hitters were really starting to rise. I have this nice oddball “’86 Baseballs Best” signed by Mr. Saberhagen.
Ruben Sierra
This was probably my favorite non-Braves player to collect in the late 80’s. He had some really cool cards and he too got the MVP treatment from Donruss in 1990. Sierra played 20 years in the big leagues and while he had some heroics in the Bronx later in his career, his time in Texas is what I will always remember. He played there from ’86 to ’92 and smashed 170 home runs and knocked in 756 runs. He also hit over .300 in 1989 and 1991. His best complete season was most likely 1989 when he hit .306, mashed 29 home runs, collected 119 RBI and scored 101 runs. He also had 14 triples that year. He finished 2nd in the MVP voting that season. Sierra is one player that doesn’t get the respect in the hobby that he should. I respect him enough that I added this ’91 Fleer autograph to my collection!
Tim Wallach
Nothing I say here will give him the same amount of respect that’s given to him by @29Collector, the super collector of Tim Wallach, but I’ll do my best! Wallach played 17 seasons and was a 5x All-Star, 3x Gold Glove and 2x Silver Slugger winner. From 1980-1992, he played for the Montreal Expos and was one of the biggest stars on the team. His best season came in 1987 when he hit .298 with 26 home runs and had 123 RBI. He had 10 consecutive double digit home run seasons from 1982-1991 and finished as high as 4th in MVP voting during that stretch. Wallach finished his career with 2,085 hits, 260 home runs and 1,125 RBI. He had a very nice career and was fun to collect. I have this 1984 Topps Autograph in my collection.
Lou Whitaker
Lou was the middle infield teammate of Alan Trammell for many years, playing his entire 19 year career in Detroit. Trammell was recently elected into the Hall of Fame so maybe “Sweet Lou” will get more consideration now. Whitaker played 2B and finished his career with a .276 average, 244 home runs, 2,369 hits, 1,084 RBI and 143 stolen bases. He played at least 109 games (1981 shortened season) from 1978 to 1993. He won ROY in 1978, went to 5 straight All-Star games from 1983-1987 and won 3 consecutive Gold Gloves from 1983-1985. He won Silver Slugger in ’83, ’84, ’85 and ’87 as well. He is in the Top 10 of 17 career categories for the Tigers. Sweet Lou is well known by collectors my age but is overshadowed by Ryne Sandberg, Cal Ripken, Ozzie Smith, Barry Larkin, Rod Carew, Joe Morgan and Trammell in collecting circles. Sweet Lou deserves more love and I love this Autographed ’86 Fleer.
What are your thoughts on this list of players? I’m convinced that these will be some of the guys we look to 50 years from now when we are naming top players from the 80’s. Young collectors may not know these names all that well but when we start looking at the 80’s as somewhat of a vintage era, these players will deserve to be in the discussion. I think these guys deserve to be in any collections that include top players from their generations. Sometimes you have to look a little past the glitz and glam of the “Hall of Fame label” to find some great collectible players. Sometimes we overlook greatness because of the elite around them. You have to admit, while we all loved Phoebe Cates in “Fast Times”, Jennifer Jason Leigh was pretty hot too!
J-Dub