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Card of the Week: 1984 Topps #705 NL Active Stolen Base Leaders

Posted by Andy on June 26, 2010

(Click images for larger versions)

Ahh, the 1984 Topps set. This one is pretty well-liked by many collectors. As Night Owl has pointed out, the design is a fairly straightforward evolution of the successful 1983 set. (He also ranks it as the 8th best set of the 30-some main sets produced in the 1980s by Topps, Fleer, Donruss, Score, and Upper Deck.) Ben Henry of The Baseball Card Blog puts both 1984 Topps and 1984 Topps Traded in his top 30 sets of the 1980s (his list includes 53 sets.) Ben includes a nice writeup of the set on that post.

The card I chose, NL Active Stolen Base Leaders, isn't terribly representative of the set since it's a multi-player card from a small subset. Click those links above to see examples of more traditional cards from the set. I picked this particular card because of the three intriguing players featured.

Let's start with Joe Morgan. This the only Morgan card I've ever seen that shows him in the pinstriped home Phillies uniform. (I'm tempted to count the 1984 Fleer "Reds reunited card".) Morgan spent just one year with the Phillies and, despite a .230 batting average still had a 116 OPS+ and 3.4 WAR.

A stat like WAR really helps show just how incredible Morgan was at his peak. Most players never even sniff a 10.0 WAR season but Morgan had 3 of them (1972, and of course the incredible seasons of 1975 and 1976.) In those 2 middle years of 1973 and 1974 he managed WARs of "only" 9.9 and 9.1.

Check out Morgan's overall lead in WAR from 1972 to 1976:

Rk Player WAR/pos Age G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Pos Tm
1 Joe Morgan 51.0 28-32 742 3257 2610 565 792 146 20 108 427 592 267 310 63 .303 .431 .499 .930 *4 CIN
2 Rod Carew 33.2 26-30 743 3242 2854 431 983 134 38 32 338 310 256 175 69 .344 .407 .452 .858 *43/D MIN
3 Cesar Cedeno 32.5 21-25 719 3100 2769 466 826 160 23 104 400 278 347 276 85 .298 .365 .485 .850 *8 HOU
4 Johnny Bench 32.1 24-28 736 3168 2711 423 719 140 9 142 542 409 460 39 13 .265 .359 .481 .840 *2/9537 CIN
5 Bobby Grich 32.0 23-27 749 3205 2665 414 701 136 24 69 293 443 491 75 42 .263 .374 .410 .784 *4/635D BAL
6 Reggie Jackson 31.8 26-30 725 3032 2635 436 724 144 10 149 480 342 582 101 36 .275 .361 .507 .867 *98/D OAK-BAL
7 Pete Rose 31.5 31-35 801 3774 3304 574 1038 201 36 31 309 419 246 31 20 .314 .396 .425 .821 *75/9 CIN
8 Mike Schmidt 28.0 22-26 625 2548 2115 358 532 104 14 131 373 374 618 74 35 .252 .369 .500 .869 *5/643 PHI
9 Sal Bando 26.8 28-32 778 3221 2737 384 678 115 11 108 440 409 372 36 13 .248 .348 .416 .764 *5/6D4 OAK
10 Jim Wynn 25.3 30-34 712 3002 2419 466 594 95 13 111 377 539 493 72 42 .246 .381 .433 .814 897 HOU-LAD-ATL
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/25/2010.

That, my friends, is what we call a blowout. Incidentally, he has just as big a lead when looking at just Batting Runs, too.

Two other things of note about that list above:

  • With 3 players in the top 7, the Reds should have been called the Big WAR Machine.
  • Check out who's at number 3...our next subject.

Cesar Cedeno might be the most underrated player in the last 40 years. A lot of people have never even heard of the guy, which is almost inexplicable. Cedeno came up with the Astros fairly close to the time when they traded Morgan away to Cincinnati. Interestingly, Cedeno later went to the Reds a couple of years after Morgan left there, too.

Cedeno's peak was at nearly the exact same time as Morgan's, and as you can see above he racked up the 3rd most WAR in all of MLB from 1972-1976.

Here are the leaders (1901-present) for career WAR among centerfielders (minimum half career games in CF):

Rk Player WAR/pos From To Age
1 Ty Cobb 159.4 1905 1928 18-41
2 Willie Mays 154.7 1951 1973 20-42
3 Tris Speaker 133.0 1907 1928 19-40
4 Mickey Mantle 120.2 1951 1968 19-36
5 Joe DiMaggio 83.6 1936 1951 21-36
6 Ken Griffey 78.4 1989 2010 19-40
7 Duke Snider 67.5 1947 1964 20-37
8 Jim Edmonds 67.2 1993 2010 23-40
9 Kenny Lofton 65.3 1991 2007 24-40
10 Jim Wynn 59.8 1963 1977 21-35
11 Andruw Jones 58.7 1996 2010 19-33
12 Richie Ashburn 58.0 1948 1962 21-35
13 Willie Davis 57.2 1960 1979 20-39
14 Carlos Beltran 54.7 1998 2009 21-32
15 Cesar Cedeno 52.2 1970 1986 19-35
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/25/2010.

Cedeno's 15th all-time, ahead of Bernie Williams, Johnny Damon, Ellis Burks, Vada Pinson, Fred Lynn, Kirby Puckett, Eric Davis and anybody else you don't see above. His 1972 seasons ranks as one of the 10 best by a centerfielder from the last 40 years based on batting runs above replacement:

Rk Player Rbat Year Tm G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS Pos
1 Bobby Murcer 58 1971 NYY 146 624 529 94 175 25 6 25 94 91 60 .331 .427 .543 .969 *8
2 Fred Lynn 56 1979 BOS 147 622 531 116 177 42 1 39 122 82 79 .333 .423 .637 1.059 *8/D
3 Jim Edmonds 54 2004 STL 153 612 498 102 150 38 3 42 111 101 150 .301 .418 .643 1.061 *8/D3
4 Bernie Williams 54 1998 NYY 128 578 499 101 169 30 5 26 97 74 81 .339 .422 .575 .997 *8/D
5 Ken Griffey 54 1997 SEA 157 704 608 125 185 34 3 56 147 76 121 .304 .382 .646 1.028 *8/D7
6 Brady Anderson 53 1996 BAL 149 687 579 117 172 37 5 50 110 76 106 .297 .396 .637 1.034 *8/D
7 Ken Griffey 53 1993 SEA 156 691 582 113 180 38 3 45 109 96 91 .309 .408 .617 1.025 *8D/3
8 Rickey Henderson 49 1985 NYY 143 654 547 146 172 28 5 24 72 99 65 .314 .419 .516 .934 *8/7D
9 Cesar Cedeno 49 1972 HOU 139 625 559 103 179 39 8 22 82 56 62 .320 .385 .537 .921 *8
10 Brian Giles 47 1999 PIT 141 627 521 109 164 33 3 39 115 95 80 .315 .418 .614 1.032 *89/7D
11 Jim Wynn 47 1974 LAD 150 656 535 104 145 17 4 32 108 108 104 .271 .387 .497 .884 *8
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/25/2010.

I've limited my discussion of Cedeno to a couple of all-encompassing stats but I encourage you to look more at his career and get to know this relatively anonymous guy who was once a major star player.

Larry Bowa, meanwhile is at the other end of the spectrum, so to speak.

Since 1901, Bowa has the worst batting runs above replacement in all of MLB:

Rk Player Rbat From To Age G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Pos Tm
1 Larry Bowa -307 1970 1985 24-39 2247 9103 8418 987 2191 262 99 15 525 474 569 318 105 .260 .300 .320 .620 *6/4 PHI-CHC-TOT
2 Alfredo Griffin -306 1976 1993 18-35 1962 7330 6780 759 1688 245 78 24 527 338 664 192 134 .249 .285 .319 .604 *6/45 CLE-TOR-OAK-LAD
3 Ozzie Guillen -294 1985 2000 21-36 1993 7133 6686 773 1764 275 69 28 619 239 511 169 108 .264 .287 .338 .626 *6/5347 CHW-TOT-ATL-TBD
4 Bill Bergen -291 1901 1911 23-33 947 3228 3028 138 516 45 21 2 193 88 81 23 0 .170 .194 .201 .395 *2/3 CIN-BRO
5 Tommy Thevenow -290 1924 1938 20-34 1229 4484 4164 380 1030 124 32 2 456 210 222 23 3 .247 .285 .294 .579 *645/3 STL-PHI-PIT-CIN-BSN
6 Ed Brinkman -268 1961 1975 19-33 1846 6640 6045 550 1355 201 38 60 461 444 845 30 35 .224 .280 .300 .580 *6/547 WSA-DET-TOT
7 Ski Melillo -250 1926 1937 26-37 1377 5536 5063 590 1316 210 64 22 548 327 306 69 64 .260 .306 .340 .646 *4/56 SLB-TOT-BOS
8 Don Kessinger -249 1964 1979 21-36 2078 8529 7651 899 1931 254 80 14 527 684 759 100 85 .252 .314 .312 .626 *6/453 CHC-STL-TOT-CHW
9 Mark Belanger -248 1965 1982 21-38 2016 6602 5784 676 1316 175 33 20 389 576 839 167 75 .228 .300 .280 .580 *6/45 BAL-LAD
10 Everett Scott -248 1914 1926 21-33 1654 6373 5837 552 1455 208 58 20 551 243 282 69 60 .249 .281 .315 .596 *6/54 BOS-NYY-TOT
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/25/2010.

Now, this shouldn't be misconstrued to mean that Bowa was the worst hitter in the big leagues. Clearly, there were many, many guys far worse than Bowa who were so bad that they didn't get enough playing time to amass such a big negative number. Bowa was, perhaps, the worst hitter among players good enough to deserve to play every day for a whole bunch of years. Just don't forget that he was good enough to play every day for a whole bunch of years.

Bowa's overall runs above replacement (RAR) for his career was +198, so he made up for his offensive deficiencies by being a really good defensive player at the most important defensive position (SS).

Since we're at the end of the post, let me just comment on the back of the card a little bit. I always like this dark blue back. Topps used very similar designs for all of the backs of their 1980s sets, but this one used by far the boldest colors.

It's amazing that Rickey Henderson, already a star in 1984, doesn't appear on the lists on the back of the card. These days, he's on the top of the all-time stolen base list.

Related posts:

    Card of the Week: 1980 Topps #671 – A’s Future Stars
    Card of the Week: 1973 Topps #593 Jack McKeon MGR
    Card of the Week: 1983 Topps #451 Ted Simmons Super Veteran (plus a bonus HOF poll)
    Card of the Week: 1969 Topps #466 John Boccabella
    Card of the Week: 1981 Topps #130 Larry Gura

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 26th, 2010 at 7:00 am and is filed under Card of the Week. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

11 Responses to “Card of the Week: 1984 Topps #705 NL Active Stolen Base Leaders”

  1. DavidRF Says:
    June 26th, 2010 at 8:49 am

    Henderson played in the AL. Had he been playing in the NL that year, he would have been on the *front* of that card, as he was already ahead of Larry Bowa.

    Here are the MLB Active SB leaders after 1983:

    681 - Joe Morgan
    649 - Bert Campernaris
    516 - Cesar Cedeno
    468 - Davey Lopes
    449 - Omar Moreno
    427 - Rickey Henderson
    346 - Willie Wilson
    344 - Rod Carew
    341 - Amos Otis
    314 - Julio Cruz (lots of cruz's... its "cruzju01")
    303 - Larry Bowa
    276 - Don Baylor
    272 - Jose Cruz ("cruzjo01")
    263 - Dave Concepcion
    262 - Mickey Rivers
    253 - Dave Collins
    246 - Tim Raines
    243 - Al Bumbry
    242 - Gene Richards
    241 - Garry Maddox
    225 - Claudell Washington
    223 - Miguel Dionne

    ... which brings us to the end of the list on the back of that card. Surprised to see so many AL-ers (though some had been traded there (Lopes))

  2. Devon & His 1982 Topps blog Says:
    June 26th, 2010 at 8:58 am

    Awesome card. I have to say tho... it's really not surprising Rickey wasn't in the list yet. He'd only been playing since late '79 & one of his seasons was strike shortened. So, for him to make it onto the list for the card, he would have had to total 681+ steals thru 1983. That's basically 4 full seasons to get nearly 700 stolen bases. Impossible.

    Cedeno has a very cool name on top of being awesome

  3. Andy Says:
    June 26th, 2010 at 9:11 am

    So dumb of me regarding Henderson and AL vs NL.

  4. Andy Says:
    June 26th, 2010 at 9:18 am

    After 1983 Henderson had 423 SB. I had expected him to be on that list on the left because I didn't realize that one was NL only.

  5. DavidRF Says:
    June 26th, 2010 at 9:35 am

    I used a script to create the table in @1, but its turns out that bb-ref does active career leaders for any season really easily with the "Cumulative Batting" pages:

    http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/1983-cumulative-batting.shtml

    Just sort the SB column.

    Cool feature.

  6. Frank Clingenpeel Says:
    June 26th, 2010 at 9:37 am

    The one player on the DavidRF list I feel was the MOST underrated was Bert Campaneris -- an excellent shortstop, base-stealer deluxe, power hitter {one year he nailed about 22, I believe}, and true "leader by example". Plus, anyone who could spend a majority of his productive years toiling for Charley O. should at least get a prominent mention in these blogs -- if not a few votes for sainthood.

  7. sfduke76 Says:
    June 26th, 2010 at 3:29 pm

    Another underrated player that appears on these lists (as well as in the post above at:Oh, To Be Young(?) In The 1960’s) is Jimmy Wynn. Morgan, Cedeno and Wynn were all developed in the Colt 45s/Astros system in the 60s (also Rusty Staub, Larry Dierker, Bob Watson, John Mayberry). Lots of talent came through that system that just never got put together at the big league level...to the eternal frustration of their fans.

  8. DoubleDiamond Says:
    June 26th, 2010 at 4:25 pm

    Having been a young adult during Cedeno's 1972-1976 period (hard to believe that I'll be 58 on my next birthday), although in an American League market, I do remember his accomplishments well. What I also remember, although vaguely, is that Cedeno was for a while a suspect in a murder back home in the Dominican Republic, but he was eventually cleared of it. This may have served to cause some folks to steer clear of giving him the recognition he deserved.

    Back when there were both a Monday night and a Saturday afternoon game of the week on NBC, when the Astros were playing at home at those times, theirs was often the backup game shown if the primary game was rained out and also shown in the markets of the teams in the primary game (unlike Fox's NFL-like strategy of preferring to show viewers their hometown teams), since they were not likely to be rained out in the Astrodome, which was the only domed stadium at the time. So I got to see Cedeno and his Houston teammates more than they'd otherwise have shown up on national T.V.

  9. Andrew Says:
    June 26th, 2010 at 6:43 pm

    Billy Hamilton's page on this site says he had 914 SB, but the card above says 937. Where did the extra 23 stolen bases come from?

  10. JDV Says:
    June 28th, 2010 at 2:45 pm

    I've gotten myself in trouble on this subject before with Vizquel, but I can't concur with the statement, "Bowa was, perhaps, the worst hitter among players good enough to deserve to play every day for a whole bunch of years". I get the point, but I still considered Bowa to be a very capable offensive player for the same reasons as Vizquel...a lot of hits, enough XBH (though with his legs, rather than from driving the ball), great base-running, and great contact hitter who made his outs count (very underrated statistic...a ground ball to the left side that advances a runner is nothing but an out on the stat sheet, but it can win games).

    Separately, my all-time favorite, Carew, who is second on that '72-'76 WAR list, would certainly have scored even better if the years were '73-'77. Can the list be re-done with the best totals from any five-year period?

  11. JeremY Says:
    June 30th, 2010 at 8:46 pm

    I have an idea for next Card of the Week.

    Billy Ripken 1989, the infamous "F*** Face" card.

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