Donruss Knew the Truth About Terry Kennedy
And Carmelo Anthony spoiled a night at the ballpark
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1983 Donruss Action All-Stars Terry Kennedy (#11) - Card of the Day
By 1983, Terry Kennedy was already an All-Star and MVP candidate, on his way to crashing conversations about who was the best catcher in the game.
After all, Kennedy hit 21 home runs for the 1982 Padres, five more than team runner-up Sixto Lezcano. That was also the biggest homer total for a San Diego player since Dave Winfield hit 34 in 1979, and no Friar would top that number until Kevin McReynolds smacked 26 in 1986.
Those aren’t huge numbers, but that’s the point — no one hit home runs for the Padres in the early 1980s. For Kennedy to withstand the wear and tear of 140+ games behind the plate and lead the team in long balls was something special.
As a point of comparison, Gary Carter played more games in 1982 than Kennedy did, and The Kid also led the Expos in homers.
Darrell Porter played (a lot) fewer games than Kennedy and finished second to George Hendrick in Cardinal home runs.
Carlton Fisk played 135 games and finished fourth on the White Sox in home runs.
Lance Parrish led the Tigers in homers while playing just 133 games.
All of which is to say that Kennedy could hold his own with the best in the game when it came to providing his team with an ever-present rock behind the plate and a top-flight (for that team) power source.
And in those years, Kennedy was hitting for good average, too, usually in the neighborhood of .280 or better.
So it’s little wonder that Donruss included Kennedy in their debut oversize set, the 1983 Action All-Stars, even though he technically wasn’t an All-Star in 1982.
In their third season making baseball cards, Donruss decided to try something a little different, a little bigger, to stand out against Topps and Fleer.
Enter the Action All-Stars, a 60-card set featuring the biggest names in the game, each on his own 5” x 3 1/2” swath of cardboard with two pictures on the front and a fairly typical Donruss back:
One interesting note and departure from the norm is that Big D did include full stats for the more veteran players:
These puppies were issued three to a cellophane pack and also came with a Mickey Mantle puzzle card featuring three pieces — as opposed to the Ty Cobb puzzle issued with base wax packs that year.
As has been the case with just about every set with an odd size, the Action All-Stars had a tough row to hoe right from the start. How could you store these? How could you show these? Would you ever be able to unload your seven Tim Lollar doubles?
And, of course, who was Tim Lollar?
Well, as it turned out, Lollar was the ace of the Padres staff in 1982 — he took the rock every five days and spent seven innings or so chucking it to Terry Kennedy, one of the best in the game.
Today, Kennedy turns 68 years old.
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Carmelo Made — and Ruined — the Night
My parents took me to my first baseball game in June of 1984. The Padres were playing my Reds at Riverfront Stadium, and I was in hog heaven from the time our Dodge pickup rolled out of our driveway Saturday morning until my head hit the pillow back at home Sunday night.
Got to see Terry Kennedy. Would have been even better if the Reds had won.
But the upstart Padres were having none of that, and Carmelo Martinez made sure of that by hitting the only home run of the night. I had a wad of 1984 Topps cards with me at the stadium, and I’m pretty sure Martinez’s Cubs pasteboard was in the group.
You can read more about that outing, that card, and how Carmelo made the Cubs-to-Pads transition right here.
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That’s it for the Tuesday edition of ye olde silly rag.
Except for to say…I wouldn’t mind taking in another game at cookiecutter Riverfront, even if I had to watch Carmelo Martinez beat the Reds again.
Nostalgia is just that powerful.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam