George Vukovich Had that Olympic Spirit
Cleveland's entry into the 1980s out-of-nowhere hitter parade
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1985 Topps George Vukovich (#212) - Card of the Day
If you were looking for a surprise batting title contender heading into the 1984 season, you probably couldn’t have imagined a repeat of 1983.
After all, that was the summer when Wade Boggs shocked the world by hitting .361 to win the A.L. batting crown and lead all of baseball.
Surely, the hitting races of 1984 wouldn’t — couldn’t — hold any similar surprises. Right?
Well…
Barbaro Garbey gave us pause on that front in April and May when he stayed above .400 for weeks and weeks as the Tigers marched toward history.
In the National League, Tony Gwynn did his best Boggs impression, batting .351 to win his first title after finishing his minor league days with relatively little fanfare.
And in Chicago, Ryne Sandberg did a little bit of everything, including hit for average, as the Cubs sayed in the East hunt all year long (and eventually won the division).
Of course, back in the A.L., Yankees teammates Don Mattingly and Dave Winfield staged a thrilling, down-to-the-wire race that wasn’t decided until the final day of the season. Boggs, meanwhile, “slipped” to just .325, landing him third behind the Bronx twins.
None of those players were favorites to challenge for a batting crown entering 1984, but they all showed up and made the summer a memorable one.
Compared to the hot spotlight that shone on all of those breakouts throughout the long season, hardly anyone noticed Indians outfielder George Vukovich at all. No real surprise there, since the Tribe was the Tribe and going nowhere fast, and since Vukovich was a low-power, middling-average type of player who had never garnered as many as 340 at-bats in a season.
And in 1983, he had hit just .247 in 312 ABs.
Not exactly the sort of thing to make fans or collectors sit up and take notice.
But turn over Vukovich’s 1985 Topps baseball card, and you’ll see that something interesting happened on the way to diamond oblivion during the 1984 season:
Yep, not only did Vukovich log a career-high 437 at-bats, but he also hit .304. That would have tied Harold Baines and Cal Ripken Jr. for ninth place in the A.L., but with just 474 plate appearances, he fell 28 short of qualifying for that official placement.
Even so, things were looking up for Vukovich as he headed into his age-29 season. But even though he made his way into 149 games in 1985, his batting average tumbled a full 60 points, all the way to .244. That cost him playing time in right field, with his overall starts dropping from 110 to 108.
That was all the incentive the Indians needed to clear the way for first-round draft pick Cory Snyder, who debuted in June 1986 and claimed the RF job.
By that point, Cleveland had sold Vukovich to Japan’s Seibu Lions. He spent two seasons in the Japan Pacific League before heading back to America for an 89-game last hurrah in the Tigers’ minor league system in 1988.
It went south fast for John Vukovich, but for one shining cardboard moment, he was among baseball’s upper class of hitters, even if you had to dig to find the evidence.
Today, Vukovich turns 68 years old.
Traded for the Legend
Vukovich was one of five players — along with Jay Baller, Julio Franco, Manny Trillo, and Jerry Willard — the Phillies traded to Cleveland in December 1982 in exchange for Von Hayes.
Hayes went on to become something of a Phillies legend and also a big enough star to land in special sets like the 1987 Kraft Home Plate Heroes offering.
I took a look at that gem, which Hayes shared with Robin Yount (among others) in this article on Wax Pack Gods.
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That’s a wrap for this Monday. Hope your week is full of great baseball memories, old and new.
And maybe a bowl or two of 1987 mac & cheese.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam
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