1990 Topps Doyle Alexander

I don't like to harp on the bad stuff, but unfortunately for Doyle Alexander, Topps includes Losses as a statistic on the back of their cards. This card came as a little bit of a surprise to me not because the Tigers were particularly bad that year. (They were, 103 Losses as a team.)

More so because, the previous season, Alexander earned his first and only All-Star appearance and had previously been a Cy Young candidate. He wasn't even the guy that got picked because every team had to be represented because Alan Trammell made it too. But as the saying goes, past performance does not guarantee future results. The Tigers went from 14 games over .500 in 1988 to 44 games under .500.

Alexander was credited with 18 of those Losses.

The burden may have been too much for Alexander to bear as that was his final season.

1990 Topps Kevin Mitchell

The recent success of the San Francisco Giants reminded me of their most impressive season from my childhood in 1989. They jumped from 4th place in the NL West in 1988 to 1st the following season in large part to today's subject, Kevin Mitchell.

 

Despite coming in third in the ROY voting in 1986, it was still a bit of a shock that his numbers took so big of a leap during the 1989 season. According to the back of his 1990 Topps card, Mitchell led the league in Home Runs (47), RBIs (125) and Slugging Percentage (.635).

 

 

According to his Baseball-Reference page, he also lead the league in OPS (1.023), OPS+ (192), Total Bases (345) and Intentional Walks (32). That last one isn't much of a surprise because if you're hitting as many home runs and driving in as many runs as Mitchell was that year, you're going to be walked a few times.

 

I find it a little odd that the blurb mentions that "two of Kevin's uncles played minor league baseball" on the back when Mitchell had just completed an MVP winning season. Or that he went 2-4 with a run and an RBI in his first All-Star game appearance. Or that he won the Silver Slugger award.