Card of the Week: 1988 Score Rookie & Traded #39T Calvin Schiraldi
Posted by Andy on August 25, 2010
I have blogged about this card before but I like it so much that I'm doing it again.
How many cards feature pictures of two Hall of Fame players where neither one is the subject of the card? That's what we have here, as Ryne Sandberg and Andre Dawson are visible in the background at Wrigley Field. Can anybody come up with another such example of a card? As we know, Sandberg is in the background on lots of baseball cards, but I can't think of any other card with two HOFers.
This card comes from the 1988 Score Rookies & Traded set, an update set to the regular issue of 1988 Score. This set is quite similar to the regular issue set, with the exception of the orange color, which was not one of the featured colors from the base. I dedicated an entire blog to looking at all 110 cards from this set.
Schiraldi is best-remembered for being a goat in the 1986 World Series, in which he lost 2 games. This is ironic, given that even though he's best-remembered for this, he still isn't given nearly as much blame as he deserves, whereas Bill Buckner gets way more blame than he deserves.
People forget about Schiraldi's performance that helped the Red Sox get past the Angels. He closed out 4 out of 7 ALCS games in 1986, striking out 9 and walking 3 over 6 innings. He did allow 3 inherited runners to score, getting a blown save in one game, but he pitched well overall.
Schiraldi finished his career as one of 84 pitchers with at least 20 wins and 20 saves in no more than 600 career IP.
August 25th, 2010 at 9:21 am
I have commented on this card in the past - during the Dave Bergman 1983 topps discussion...
I like this Lee Mazzilli card from the 1983 set - I show it here because it ALMOST fits your criteria of 2 HOF players in the background.
http://www.checkoutmycards.com/Cards/Baseball/1983/Topps/685/Lee_Mazzilli
You will notice a rather dejected Robin Yount at SS as Lee touches third base during an obvious Home Run trot. If you look at the game log for Maz during 1982, you will see he had 1 game with a HR against Milwaukee (Sept. 12). Then in the box score you will find the 3B for the Brewers that day was (just off frame) Paul Molitor.
I can't recall any cards fitting the description Andy describes (2 HOF in background), but there are a lot of cards to check.
August 25th, 2010 at 9:23 am
Weird, I remember reading your comment on the Bergman post but didn't recall you specifically mentioning this Schiraldi card. As you can see from the link to my original post, I noticed this a while ago, back when Dawson was still a "future HOFer"...heh.
August 25th, 2010 at 9:45 am
Sorry, I meant the Mazzilli card (that I had mentioned before in the other post) - It was the blog version of dangling my participle.
No, I had never noticed the Schiraldi card (with Ryno and Hawk). I never paid too much attention to the "supporting players" in other people's cards except for when it was Thurman Munson (my favorite player growing up)...like the 1971 Vada Pinson (I like to see it as Vada out at the plate - I guess I can check it in the game log). Yikes, I have been carrying that opinion for 30 years.
http://www.checkoutmycards.com/Cards/Baseball/1971/Topps/275/Vada_Pinson
August 25th, 2010 at 9:50 am
Funny, I've always thought of that card as Pinson and Munson breakdancing way ahead of their time. 🙂
August 25th, 2010 at 10:02 am
I do like the breakdancing theory...
But I believe I have my proof. June 24th, 1970 - day game. Pinson is thown out at the plate by Bobby Murcer trying to score on a sac fly. I choose to believe this is play depicted in the card. Baseball Reference dot com coes through for me yet again.
Now to check the 1976 World Series card (1977 topps set) when Monson is trying to score, with Bench standing on home plate...I don't feel too good about that one.
August 25th, 2010 at 10:16 am
Back in Tidewater in 1985, I got an International League ball signed by Shiraldi (still with the Mets organization at the time) on the sweet spot. It sits in my "Mets" wing of my autographed ball collection, right between Mookie Wilson and Gregg Jefferies, and above Tom Seaver, Gary Carter, and Dwight Gooden. Buckner is on a baseball card in the same general area.
August 25th, 2010 at 10:27 am
You sure that's Dawson? It seems that would be CF is Sandberg is at 2B. That could be Darrin Jackson, who played a lot of CF for the Cubs in 1988, or Dave Martinez, who started most of the games at CF.
Assuming that it's an early season game, it could be an April game against Pittsburgh or a May game against Houston.
August 25th, 2010 at 10:30 am
Based on where the photographer is standing, it's unlikely to be the CF. I went through the relevant gamelogs, too, and couldn't find a day game played by a guy with the right color skin. (I think Jackson is the only guy to play CF for the Cubs that year who is as dark as the person in the photo.)
August 25th, 2010 at 11:28 am
What's with the white outline box in this set? It's like they were trying to frame the picture and missed.
August 25th, 2010 at 11:29 am
Never thought about it Djibouti...I guess it was a way of breaking up the very large photo without actually blocking it.
August 25th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
This is an interesting category.
I found two cards with 1 HOF in the background but I couldn't find any with 2.
The 1974 Topps #193 Tom Walker has Willie Mays near the batting cage in the background.
The 1974 Ron Santo #270 has Leo Durocher walking in the background. It must be a picture from the 1972 spring training because Durocher left for the Astros during the 1972 season.
August 25th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Ahhh, Calvin, What could have been! A big star in college at Texas. 1st round pick of the Mets in 1983. Ironic he was a goat in the Mets WS win in 1986. I can still hear the Shea crowd serenading him with chants of Caaaal-Vin!
My memory was always that he helped the Sox get to the series. Although BR shows that he was third in saves for the BoSox that year. He did have 6 saves in August out of the 9 saves the staff recorded that month.
Think if he would have taken PED's like his college teammate the Rocket, things would have turned out differently? Or was he just a wild power pitcher who overmatched lesser competition?
August 25th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Interesting that you assume he didn't take PEDs just because he didn't have a long and successful major-league career.
August 25th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Andy,
I never thought of it that way. Not a bad point.
August 25th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
I like the quote at the end of the card by Don Baylor, regarding Schiraldi:
"He's a big guy who can come in and strike people out. Sometimes you need that. Sometimes you don't want those ground balls."
August 25th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
i had a basketball card, i forget who (someone from the Heat) of the player guarding Michael Jordan. i was like, "awesome, a Michael Jordan card...oh wait."
August 25th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
For a moment, when I saw the Facebook posting of this blog entry, I thought this was going to be about the quite forgettable Calvin Maduro, one of at least three players with the first name of Calvin to play for the Orioles in the late 1990s/early 2000s time period. When Calvin Pickering started at DH against the Yankees on Sunday night, September 20, 1998, it marked the 2,633rd consecutive game in which Baltimore had a player with the first name of Calvin in the starting line-up.