1988 Topps Podcast: February 2025

Thursday, February 27, 2025

Guy Hoffman #496

This week, James from the Remember That Guy podcast joins us to talk about a Guy! It's Guy Hoffman! Hoffman played baseball at Bradley University and had an interesting discovery story that involved Harry Caray and a future Illinois Senator. Guy quickly rose through the White Sox system and was called up in 1979, bounced between AAA and Chicago, and played briefly for the 1983 AL West Champs. He later signed with the Cubs and was traded to Cincinnati putting together decent seasons in 1986 and 87. Guy later played in NPB for Oryx.

Topics: Mike Lange, Bradley University, the Shadid family, Guys!

Listen:

Links:

Card 496 on ⁠Beckett⁠
⁠Remember That Guy Podcast ⁠
⁠RTG podcast Episode⁠ with David and Matt⁠
Guy Hoffman inducted into local ⁠Hall of Fame⁠
Joe Labek and his ⁠40 K game⁠
1980 Topps Guy Hoffman ⁠Future Star⁠
Grandma's Scorebook and ⁠Marilyn Monroe connection⁠!
Guy and Guyette ⁠numbers retired
Mike Lange highlights:

Monday, February 17, 2025

Dave Palmer 732/79T

This week, a guy who overcame a lot of injuries to put together a 10 year career for Montreal, Atlanta, Phillies, and Tigers...it's David Palmer! Palmer grew up a couple hours from Montreal in Glens Falls, New York. He came up and started fast, but multiple surgeries took a couple full years from Palmer. He missed out on 1981 and didn't get a chance to help the Expos in their only playoff appearance. When he went to Atlanta, pitched a 5 inning perfect game in 1984 and was the team's best pitcher in 1986. He also had a couple notable lowlights like starting a brawl against the Mets and falling on his face for the Phillies.

Listen:

Links:

Card 732 on ⁠Beckett⁠
Card 79T on ⁠Beckett⁠
SABR Bio by ⁠Norm King⁠
Palmer's Perfect* Game SABR ⁠Game Story⁠
⁠15 of 15 Cardinals outs⁠ of the game
⁠Dave Palmer Day⁠!
Braves/Mets ⁠Brawl:⁠

⁠Face Plant:

Monday, February 10, 2025

Buddy Bell 130/13T

This week, one of the best defensive third baseman of all time...it's Buddy Bell! Buddy (David Gus Bell) was the son of a big leaguer and he had a quick path to the majors. He had a decent bat, but a fantastic glove, winning 6 straight Gold Gloves and finishing his career with the 3rd best defensive WAR ever among third basemen. Buddy played 18 seasons and never made the playoffs, spending the bulk of his best years in Cleveland and Texas. He finished his career with 2500 hits and has one of the highest WAR totals of any player not in the Hall of Fame. He went on to manage three teams and spent 54 years in baseball before retiring. Two of his sons played in MLB and one managed, making the Bell family one of four three-generation MLB families.