Jimmy Wynn – 1974 Topps
September 24, 2010
Popped him up!
It was kind of unusual to find an action shot of ‘failure’ before the 80′s. But here’s one. Jimmy Wynn, the Toy Cannon, a underrated player because of his home park (The Astrodome) and his skills (three true outcome in the speed / defense era).
Did you realize his OPS+ for his career was 128? That’s even with a totally horrific 1971 (.203 / .302 OBP / .295 SLG and a -0.9 WAR) and a bad final year in 1977. In 1976, he hit .207 with only 17 homers and still had a OPS+ of 107 and a WAR of 3.2.
His 1974 season with the Dodgers (32 bombs, 108 RBI, and 14 fielding runs) made him a legit MVP candidate (he finished 5th. Two teammates, Garvey and Marshall, beat him but Wynn had more WAR than both of them combined).
Put him in a uniform starting in 1993 and I bet he’d still be playing today – smashing homers, drawing walks, running a little bit.
Yet, the kids and collectors in 1974 saw him popping up in a game against the Giants in Candlestick. I wonder if Topps did that to anyone else?
Oops…
September 25, 2010 at 1:42 am
There are a few examples of players looking goofy playing the game on older cards:
http://nightowlcards.blogspot.com/2008/11/your-best-interests-at-heart.html
(I’ve got to rescan that Palacios card. I don’t know how it disappeared).