Bruce Robinson Knew His Wirth/Werth

And gave new meaning to "up the middle"

Note: When you click on links to various merchants in this newsletter and make a purchase, this can result in this newsletter earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

1979 Topps A’s Prospects (#711) - Card of the Day

By all appearances, Topps came up with a Bruce Robinson rookie card template somewhere along the line.

First, you had to place Robinson right there in the middle, because he was the centerpiece.

I mean, not only was Robinson the A’s first-round pick in 1975, he was also a catcher. A lefty-hitting one at that. And he showed through five summers of minor league seasoning that he could play 100+ games, bat in the high .270s, and pop a few home runs.

So, yeah, Robinson was the centerpiece.

Next, you led off with a guy who also had plenty of minor league experience, but who overcame a less loftier beginning to show real promise. A fourth- or fifteenth-round draft pick, say, who looked like a future Gold Glover or 15-game winner.

Finally — and this is the key, and the one with the most specific requirements — you found your anchor man. The one to run the last leg of your Bruce Robinson rookie card.

This last guy had to have been drafted in 1974, had to have the potential to last 3-4 years in the majors, and, most importantly, had to be named “Worth” or “Wirth” or “Werth” or “Value” or “Vowlyou” or some similar such.

Topps was able to give this formula a dry run in 1979, after Robinson debuted with the A’s in August of 1978 and made 28 appearances for them, including 25 starts behind the dish.

So The Real One flanked Robinson with Dwayne Murphy and Alan Wirth, and away they went.

But there was a complication, because after watching him hit .250 with few walks and little power, the A’s decided to sell his rights to the Yankees before Spring Training started the next year, 1979.

The Yanks salted Robinson away at Triple-A Columbus but did call him up in September after he played 102 games for the Clippers and hit .250 (again) with nine home runs.

That cup of coffee yielded six appearances, including five starts as the Bombers’ catcher. It also bought him another lengthy stay in Columbus in 1980. He showed some pop again, hitting 12 homers in 104 games.

That convinced the Yankees to give Robinson another shot in September, and it also gave Topps another shot at deploying their Robinson RC template.

And so it was that in 1981, after a one-year cardboard hiatus, Bruce Robinson took up his pre-ordained spot in the center of a Topps three-player rookie card.

This time, the backstop landed on card #424, adorned with a fresh new airbrushed Yankees cap:

Picking up the role of future star/above-replacement player leadoff man from Murphy was Tim Lollar, future 16-game winner and October goat for the Padres.

And on the right-hand side was Dennis Werth, another catching prospect, another 1974 draft pick (19th round), and another cog in the Robinson rookie card flywheel.

Alas, 26-year-old Robinson went hitless and struck out four times in five at-bats with the Yanks that month. He was back in the minors in 1981, but his playing time dwindled to just five games with the Single-A Fort Lauderdale Yankees.

He’d be back in Triple A in 1982, then again in 1983 and 1984…but for the Pirates and A’s, respectively. His last stop was as a player-coach for the Single-A Modesto A’s, where he lent his tutelage to a young Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire.

Today, none of the three — Canseco, McGwire, and their long-ago coach — could be called young, but at least we can wish Bruce Robinson many more as he celebrates his 70th birthday.

The Missing (Subliminal) Rookie Card

In between Robinson’s two three-player rookie cards, when he might have again shown up with the Yanks, he didn’t.

But Topps did issue a Bombers Future Stars card in 1980, anyway. It’s such a remarkable card (apparently), that I ended up writing about it twice over on the website!

Once, with regard to Darryl Jones, right here.

And once, as (subliminal) evidence that Brad Gulden wasn’t all (or was more than) he appeared to be, right here.

—

And thus wraps our Two-Fer Tuesday edition of the Silly, where every card or player is so nice, we have to type them twice!

Hope your week is going faster than a Darryl Jones checklist.

Thanks for reading.

—Adam