Saturday, January 5, 2013

#21 - Joe Morgan MG


For several seasons, Topps provided small pictures of each team's manager on a team picture card. The practice was discontinued in the 1982 edition, but Donruss and Fleer, Topps' new competitors, featured manager cards in their sets.

Topps quickly returned managers to their cards in 1983 and varied what they put on the back: Career records, team checklists, and team leaders for the season were all used.

The 1991 set features team leaders. Our first manager is Boston's Joe Morgan, not to be confused with former MVP and Hall of Famer Joe Morgan. A veteran of several teams, the start of Morgan's career was delayed when he served his country in the Korean War. He debuted with the Milwaukee Braves and had small stints with the Kansas City A's, Phillies, Indians and Cardinals. 1990 was Morgan's third year as the Red Sox skipper and he piloted the team to their second division title in three years.

Career Stats

Manager Stats
 

1990 Red Sox Stats

 Ellis Burks and Roger Clemens were the clear batting and pitching leaders.  Note that Burks only led the Sox with nine stolen bases.  I suppose that's not that unusual, though: last season Alex Rodriguez led the Yankees with 13 stolen bases.  I believe that the last team to lead their team with so few stolen bases is the 1962 Twins with outfielders Bob Allison and Lenny Green recording eight swipes each.

UPDATE: Slight grammar revision.

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