Today’s Lineup…
😼 Card of the Day - Eating the canary
🔧 A wrench in the machine
1982 Topps Scott McGregor All-Star (#555) - Card of the Day
Scott McGregor hit the baseball lottery at least twice in his life.
The first time was when the Yankees selected him with the 14th pick in the first round of the 1972 draft out of El Segundo High School.
That’s heady stuff for any player, let alone an 18-year-old kid.
But of course, to win that sort of baseball lottery, you also have to have scored well in the baseball genes straw-draw and worked your tail off to make the most of your talents.
McGregor spent parts of the next five summers in the Bombers’ minor league system, generally pitching well enough to move upward at a steady clip.
Then, in June of 1976, McGregor won the baseball lottery again — the pitching lottery, to be more precise.
On the 15th of that month, the Yankees traded McGregor, along with (deep breath) Rick Dempsey, Tippy Martinez, Rudy May, and Dave Pagan to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for Doyle Alexander, Jimmy Freeman, Elrod Hendricks, Ken Holtzman, and Grant Jackson.
That’s a lot of talent going both ways, but the salient name here is McGregor, who found himself in O’s Arm Factory that had churned out 20-game winners for a decade like Pete Rose churned out betting slips.
Among that honor roll were names like Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar, Jim Palmer, Pat Dobson, and Mike Torrez. Ross Grimsley would turn the trick a few years down the line with the Montreal Expos.
So, would young lefty McGregor become the next winner in the stable of young arms groomed by manager Earl Weaver and pitching coach George Bamberger?
(OK, so Weaver was sort of infamous for not knowing a lot about pitching, but several — including Palmer — said the skipper had a keen eye for good pitching and went out of his way to acquire it).
Well, it didn’t take McGregor long to get his chance, debuting with the Orioles in September of 1976, then sticking with the big club in 1977. He won 15 games in 1978, 13 in 1979, and …
At age 26, McGregor joined the vaunted 20-win club in 1980, finishing with 20 exactly. Alas, his performance was something of an afterthought because the 100-win Orioles lost the division title to — yes — the Yankees, and teammate Steve Stone went 25-7 to win the American League Cy Young Award.
Heck, McGregor didn’t even make the All-Star squad for his efforts.
That would change in 1981, though, when McGregor went 13-5 with a 3.26 ERA during the strike-torn campaign and landed in his only Midsummer Classic.
And that’s where we come in, with our 1982 Topps All-Star card up there.
If McGregor hadn’t just eaten the little yellow bird right before that pic was snapped, he certainly had reservations for Chez Canari after the big game.
Maybe that look is a combination of knowing he had finally arrived and anticipating what was still to come — parts of seven more seasons in the bigs, 18 wins in 1983 en route to a championship with Baltimore, an overall record of 138-108 with a 3.99 ERA.
There are tons of McGregor baseball cards you can collect, including multi-player rookie cards with both the Yanks and O’s. But you’d be hard-pressed to find one that captured the man at his diamond peak quite like this one.
Scott McGregor turns 70 years old today. Happy birthday!
1980 Fleer Team Stickers
Since McGregor joined the Big 20 Club in 1980 and then made his only All-Star team in 1981, it seems fitting that we follow on here with some Fleer goodies.
As you know, Fleer made their big splash in 1981 with their debut set (not counting 1963). Sure, some consider 1981 Fleer to be more of a mud smudge than a splash, but still.
The year before, while McGregor was doing his thing, Fleer was also doing what would become Fleer’s thing by issuing a set of team logo stickers. They mixed and matched styles for each team, for a total of 109 “cards.”
And on the back of each card, Fleer reprinted one of the Laughlin World Series cartoon cards that they’d been issuing since 1971. Here is one that’s both tremendous and painful as a Reds fan:
See? Fits today’s Orioles theme, too. I wouldn’t leave you hanging.
—
That’s all the black and orange I can stand for today. The O’s have been beating my teams in the World Series since before I even had teams. I need to go lick my wounds a little.
And maybe some 1982 Fleer Stamps. Those oughtta taste pretty yummy by now.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam
More cardboard fun: