New Galarraga card from his Expo days below. Would've been nice to have some of those Colorado cards with big numbers, but this card looks like it'll be useable in lower cap leagues:
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/pl ... 1988/3/281I'm grateful for the new cards, but like everyone else, I have my favorites and wonder when or if we'll get any of the following cards:
Joel Horlen, 1964, 13-9, 1.88, league leading .935 WHIP
Joel Horlen, 1967, 19-7, league leading 2.06 ERA, league leading .953 WHIP
Gary Peters, 1963, 19-8, league leading 2.33 ERA
Gary Peters, 1966, 12-10, league leading 1.98 ERA, league leading .982 WHIP
Gary Peters, 1967, 16-11, 2nd in league 2.28 ERA
Below are links to Horlen and Peters' '60s game cards that show those seasons:
Horlen -
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/pl ... /1660/1/60Peters -
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/pl ... /1660/1/60Tommy John: This poor guy played a record 26 big league seasons and couldn't throw a fastball hard enough to break a pane of glass, but somehow managed to win 288 games on guts, guile, grit, wits and determination and still can't get in the HOF. His best card is worth a meager $5.39 mil and NEVER gets used. How about giving us his best season, which was ended prematurely when hot headed Dick McAuliffe took issue with a series of pitches and charged the mound. John separated his shoulder trying to tackle McAuliffe and was done for the season.
In 177 IP, John was 10-5 with a sparkling 1.98 ERA. Every AL hurler who finished with a better ERA than John in 1968 (Tiant, McDowell, McNally, McLain) has his 1968 card included in the ATG set as arguably their best season, but John won more career games than any of them and can't get his best card included.
Aside from Tommy John's 1968 season, a couple of other notable players stand out as being deserving of a card that can pitch every 5th day:
1980 JR Richard: 10-4, 1.90, .924 WHIP, 119Ks in 113 innings. His season and career were ended by a mid-season stroke, though he valiantly attempted a comeback.
1981 Nolan Ryan: 11-5, career low and league leading 1.69 ERA for this HOFer in a strike shortened season.
Like a lot of other people have already mentioned, while I remain grateful for the new cards, I fail to understand why SOM just doesn't include every card for every season in which it issued a card set. It's not like they have to reinvent the wheel for these cards. All that's needed is pricing.
Any concerns that issuing some of the cards from the mystery card games in the ATG series will cannibalize sales in the mystery card game are misplaced, as it seems that the small but devoted followers of the mystery card game like that format and will play it regardless of the players being used in the ATG series.
What bothers me is the lack of rhyme or reason or an apparent rationale or plan for determining which players get which seasons. I've seen many good proposals, such as all MVPs, all CYA winners, best seasons for all HOFers, All Stars for every season, leaders for each season in various hitting and pitching categories, cards requested by the community, etc., etc., and most, if not all of the new and existing cards obviously fall into some of those categories, but many players fall into those categories and can't get a card and we get no feedback from SOM on the selection criteria.
All in all, I like what I've seen so far of ATG8, but like many others, wish that a far greater number of cards had been issued. - Bernie