Tuesday, May 7, 2013

1981 Donruss, Dennis Walling


#144 Dennis Walling

Next up from the '81 Donruss set is Dennis (AKA Denny) Walling. Denny played in the Majors for eighteen seasons with the A's, Astros, Cardinals, and Rangers. He spent the bulk of his career in Houston and played both corner infield and outfield positions as well as a bit of center field. He was basically a fourth outfielder/fifth infielder type that racked up 456 appearances as a pinch hitter in his career.

He did see some significant playing time in the mid-'80s, though, when he played in 100+ games and had 300+ at-bats from 1985-1987. His best season during that span was the Astros NL West winning 1986 season. That season he had career highs in games and at-bats and that resulted in career highs in home runs (13) and RBI (58). He also hit .312. Not bad for a career .271 hitter.

I sent this card to Denny at the end of January and I had it back a week later.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 109/100

1 comment:

Paul Hadsall said...

Nice-looking autograph on a colorful card. :-)