1986 Topps, John Tudor

#710 John Tudor

Well, I finally made it back from my trip and I had a great time. I'm still waiting on some pictures that Dustin took so I can write a little trip recap. But I hope to get that up by the middle of the week or so. In the meantime, I still have some '85 Classic sigs to catch up on.

Here is another card of John Tudor. A while back, Rod, of Padrographs, decided that he wanted to collect the '86 Topps set again and he bought a box off of ebay for cheap. I have a decent selection of '86 Topps, but I was only seven years old when the set came out and the cards I have are not in the best of shape. So, following Rod's lead, I headed over to the bay and picked up a box for about $15. I still have all the cards in the box, sorted by team, and that was one of the first places I went to check for cards of the '85 Cardinals. That is why I have four cards in a row to show on here from the set. I guess I didn't think I would actually get all four signed. Otherwise, I might have expanded my search a bit.

I'm pretty sure that I had this card in 1986 and I probably still have it today, but in worse condition. All this time, I thought that John was an All-Star in 1985 because that is what the card says. But when I posted my first Tudor card, I discovered that he never made an All Star team, not even in 1985.

John finished the '85 season 21-8 with a 1.93 ERA. That certainly is All Star caliber and would have been Cy Young caliber if it wasn't for a young Dwight Gooden. But, apparently, John started off the season with a 1-7 record through the first two months. His poor start eventually killed his All Star chances. But after the shaky start, he went on a tear by going 20-1 throughout the rest of the season. I have no idea what his record was around the All Star break, but I would guess that he was only a few games over .500.

So here is the question I have. Are all Topps All Star cards from the '80s of players that they thought should have been an All Star or do some sets actually have only All Star cards of players that made the All Star team? I always assumed that the cards were of actual All Stars, but after this discovery I, do not know what to think.

Usually, I would post another card since this card is a repeat player, but I am still gettting back into the swing of things and one card will have to do for tonight. Stay tuned for two new ones tomorrow.