Robert Chisholm, who is fast becoming my favorite member of KOD contributed all of these wonderful update cards for his Toronto Blue Jays. Robert did a top notch job contending for more than half a season last year with his over matched Jays in a stacked AL East. His team eventually faded, but Robert's enthusiasm never did. In KOD 14 he has a chance to re-write history and not let the Jays fold down the stretch like they did in real life by losing their final 7 games, including a 3 game series sweep by the streaking Detroit Tigers.. Toronto finished 96-66, but in the pre-Wild Card era earned a trip to the golf course and not the post season. The Jays had plenty to be happy about in 1987. George Bell hit .308 with 47 homers and 134 RBI's en route to winning the AL MVP Award. Folks in Motown still to this day debate that Allan Trammell was a much more worthy choice, and since their boys won the division it's a hard case to argue. Toronto's young outfield of Bell, Moseby and Barfield could pick it and hit it. All 3 had more than 20 homers. Barfield had a howitzer in right field. Moseby swiped 39 bases and we all know that Bell was the most feared slugger in '87. With Willie Upshaw hitting less than 20 homers and batting in the .240's a young Fred McGriff was making his case for the 1st base slot. "Crime Dog" hit over 20 homers and slotted into the DH spot, which is not where you want to put a 23 year old up and comer. The lineup was strong and so was the bench. Rance Mullinicks hit .310 with 11 homers in 320 AB's as a platoon / bench player. A young Cecil Fielder crushed 14 homers in just under 200 plate appearances.
In a year where the bats dominated the arms Toronto led the AL with a 3.74 ERA. While most of the players weren't yet "juiced" the ball seemed to be. Even a slap hitter like Wade Boggs hit over 20 homers. Jimmy Key was the ace going 17-8 with a 2.76 ERA. He was a lefty who never seemed to throw a pitch in the middle of the plate. Dave Steib (13-9, 4.09) posted numbers that were a bit higher than his norm, but he was still a top notch go to guy in the rotation. Jim Clancy (15-11, 3.54) stepped up to fill the void the Steib might have left. The 4th and 5th slots were troublesome, so the Jays acquired Oriole veteran Mike Flanagan down who started 7 games and posted a 3-2 record with a 2.37 ERA. In a desperation move they gave 3 starts to a 48 year old Phil Niekro who had absolutely nothing left in the tank. Three Blue Jay relievers had double digit wins, which tells you that this team can come back from any deficit. John Cerutti split time between the pen and the rotation. Jeff Musselman and Mark Eichorn were middle relievers/setup men who notched some wins. Tom Henke, who saved 34, is the closer. His 0-6 record indicates that he is no sure thing in the 9th inning.
In total Robert produced 15 cards to round out the Topps '87 set for Toronto.
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