The Cubicle of the Unique - Member #6 Bob Welch

It's time again for another inductee into The Cubicle of the Unique.  Before we move on to our new inductee, let's take a look at the winning image of the previous member Danny Tartabull.

This was a very close vote among all three nominees and the most votes I have had for any Cube member.  In the end, the 1987 Topps Rookie Cup card prevailed by one vote.  I love the old Mariners logo and I think this was the last year it was used before they went to the stupid M's logo.  Thanks to everyone for voting and special thanks to Brian at Play at the Plate for allowing me to plug the post after not getting any comments.

Moving on to new business and that is welcoming a new member to our exclusive club.  Since every general position is now covered (C, IF, OF, SP, RP), it'll be a little tougher to decide now.  But I think I have picked a pretty good pitcher to be the 6th member of The Cube.

Ladies and gentlemen, the sixth inductee to The Cubicle of the Unique.

Starting Pitcher

Bob Welch

(sound of one hand clapping)

Bob Welch had a 17 year major league career with two teams the L.A. Dodgers and the Oakland A's.  Welch first gained notoriety in the 1978 World Series when he struck out Reggie Jackson with two runners on to save the game (but not the Series) for the Dodgers.  He would pitch the next 10 years in LA, garnering some nice numbers (of course pitching in LA is a lot like hitting in Coors numbers can be skewed).  He was traded to Oakland during the 1987 offseason and proved to be a big part of their "near" dynasty during the late 80s.  His best season, by far, was 1990 when he went 27-6 with a 2.95 ERA.  Reason #493 why WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is stupid, Welch's WAR for 1990 was 2.5 meaning a replacement pitcher that year would've won 24 games at a minimum.  Quick, somebody sign that guy.  Following the 1990 season. Welch's age started catching up to him and he lasted four more years with not nearly the succes of his early career.  He retired during the 1994 strike with 211 career victories.

Career Highlights

1990 A.L. Cy Young Award winner, also finished 9th in MVP voting

Finished in the top 10 in Cy Young voting 2 other times

2 time All Star Selection (1 in each league), including starting the 1990 game for the AL

Pitched in 4 World Series, winning in 1989 with Oakland

Pitched in a total of 8 League Championship Series

Career Lowlights

 His career ERA was nearly 1.50 higher during the postseason

Votes for Mr. Welch's enshrinement plaque will be accepted for one week on the left sidebar.  As a sidebar of my own, I think Bob Welch should have gotten more love from Hall of Fame voters than he did.  I don't think his career was worthy of the Hall, but he deserved more than 1 vote.  As always you voting is highly encouraged and appreciated.

The Cubicle of the Unique - Member #5 Danny Tartabull

It's time again for another inductee to The Cubicle of the Unique.  Once again here is the explanation of the Cube for you new viewers.  Before we get to the new member let's take a look at the accompanying image for our latest member Steve Bedrosian.

Steve Bedrosian was a tough call because he had no real memorable photos.  This was my choice by default as well, just for the feathery 80s hair.  Thanks to everyone for voting, remember this is a lot more fun for everyone with active participants.

Moving along to the newest inductee.  Last time I promised an outfielder to go in with pick #5 and this time I will deliver.  If he were here I'm sure he'd say 'That's correct, Johnny." (Bonus points if you get the reference)

Ladies and gentlemen, the fifth inductee to The Cubicle of the Unique

Outfielder

Danny Tartabull

(sound of one hand clapping)

Danny Tartabull had a 14 year major league career with 6 different teams.  He was originally drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in 1980, but was selected in the short-live free agent compensation draft by the Mariners in 1983.  He was selected as a member of the 1986 Topps All Star Rookie team, while finishing 5th in the competitive AL Rookie of the Year race. After the 86 season he was traded to the Royals where he had arguably his greatest success.  He spent five years in KC finishing in the top 20 in MVP voting twice.  Following the 1991 season, the Yankees (who else?) made Tartabull the highest paid player at that point in a free agent signing.  He was pretty good in New York but at the trade deadline in 1995, the Yanks shipped him to Oakland for aging slugger Ruben Sierra in a perceived salary dump.  He spent his last full year with the White Sox in 1996 to moderate success.  His last year in Philadelphia lasted a total of 3 games following an ankle injury and he quietly retired.

Career Highlights

1986 Topps All Star Rookie Team

One of the few two-time Donruss Rated Rookies (1985,1986)

AL All Star starter in 1991 (his only All Star appearance)

Had 3 30 homer seasons and 5 100 RBI seasons

Appeared in two different episodes of Seinfeld as well as an episode of Married with Children

Career Lowlights

Appeared in 1406 career games with no postseason (tied for 83th most all time)

Votes for Mr. Tartabull's enshrinement plaque will be accepted for one week.  The poll is on the left below Peak Features in case you didn't see it.  As always, your votes are highly encouraged and appreciated.

The Cubicle of the Unique - Member #4 Steve Bedrosian

Since I still don't have 2011 Topps, I can't show off my Diamond Giveaway cards today.  So I figured why not have a new inductee into The Cubicle of the Unique.  For those of you new to The Cubicle of the Unique, an explanation is provided here.

For the rest of you, let's share the winning image of inductee #3 Benito Santiago.

This had to be the winner.  In my mind this is one of the most iconic cards of all time and definitely the most iconic "common" card.  After many years of sub par photography along came 1991 Topps and this classic overhead shot.  The runner up cards would have easily won for some other players, but nothing was beating this card.  Thanks all around to the voters from last time.

Moving right along, it's time to induct another member to The Cube.  We have so far enshrined a staring pitcher, an infielder, and a catcher, so I had two ways to go with this one.  I chose to go with a relief pitcher next saving an outfielder for slot #5.

Ladies and gentlemen, the fourth inductee to The Cubicle of the Unique.

Relief Pitcher

Steve Bedrosian

(sound of one hand clapping)

 Steve Bedrosian had a 14 year major league career with 4 different teams.  He began his career in 1981 with the Atlanta Braves and pitched there until a December 1985 trade to the Phillies.  Philadelphia was where Bedrosian has his best individual success, culminating with his winning the NL Cy Young Award as a closer in 1987.  From 1989-1990, Bedrosian was the closer for the Giants, but did not have the same success as with the Phillies and was traded to the Twins before the 1991 season.  He only pitched one season in Minnesota (no info for 1992...hurt? retired?) and in 1993 rejoined the Braves for three years before calling it a career.

Career Highlights

1987 NL Cy Young Award 

1987 Rolaids Relief Award winner

7th in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 1982

Pitched in two World Series, once on the winning side in 1991 with Minnesota

1987 National League All Star (his only appearance)

Had an awesome Billy Mays-esque beard

Career Lowlights

For some reason, his salary decreased following his Cy Young Award season from $1.05 million to $925,000

Had a 7-15 won loss record in 1985, his lone year as a starting pitcher

Votes for Mr. Bedrosian's enshrinement plaque can be entered by comment, as always.  The candidates are the cards shown above.  Once again, your votes are encouraged and highly appreciated.

*UPDATE* - I have added a poll in the upper left hand sidebar for your voting pleasure.

The Cubicle of the Unique - Member #3 Benito Santiago

Before we induct the third member to the Cubicle of the Unique, I will share the winning image of our second inductee Walt Weiss.

For me it was 50-50 with this card or the 95 Topps back mentioning the John Fogerty classic "Centerfield," so I am content with this selection.  I have redesigned The Cube a little (and probably will again eventually).  You can see all inductees into The Cube here.  Thanks very much to our one voter, BA Benny, last time (cmon people it's just a comment).

In viewing the potential third inductees to The Cube, I noticed a small trend.  There will be quite a few catchers.  So why not add as our third member of the Cube one of the two newest candidates, a catcher and a baseball card icon.

Ladies and gentlemen, the third inductee into The Cubicle of the Unique.

Catcher

Benito Santiago

(sound of one hand clapping)

Benito (or Benny to Topps) Santiago had a 20 year career in the major leagues playing for 9 different teams.  He is probably most remembered for his time with the San Diego Padres winning 4 Silver Sluggers and 3 Gold Gloves in his 7 years there.  After his contract ran out in San Diego spent the rest of his career with one or two year stints on many clubs.  Santiago had a serious off season car accident in which he suffered a broken pelvis costing him most of the 1998 season in Toronto.  He had a slight career resurgence in San Francisco in the early 2000s before ending his major league career in 2005 with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Career Highlights

1987 N.L. Rookie of the Year

Set major league record for consecutive game hitting streak for rookies with 34 in 1987.

5 time N.L. All Star, 2 as a starter

2002 N.L.C.S. MVP with the Giants

Career Lowlights

Led the NL in catching errors 6 times and passed balls 3 times

Led the NL in Grounding into Double Plays in 1991

Linked to steroids in both the Mitchell Report and Game of Shadows during his Giants stint

Votes for Mr. Santiago's enshrinement plaque can be entered by just leaving a comment.  The candidates are shown above.  For me the winning image is a no-brainer, but I will go with the majority once again.  As always, your votes are both encouraged and appreciated.

The Cubicle of the Unique

 The Cubicle of the Unique

Jim
Deshaies
2001

 Walt

Weiss

2006

Benito
Santiago

2011

Steve

Bedrosian

2001

Danny
Tartabull
2003

Bob

Welch

2000

t

The Cubicle of the Unique - Member #2 Walt Weiss

Before we move on to inducting member #2 to The Cubicle of the Unique, I'll share the winning image to accompany Jim Deshaies.

This was actually my choice also and the reason I put picture of the backs up.  I liked it for the mustache obviously, but also because the picture on the front didn't have the 'stache.  After reading this story on Night Owl Cards I decided to reread the back.  It turns out in 1987, Jim Deshaies was "widely regarded as one of the top #4 starters in baseball."  If that doesn't say induct him then nothing does.  Thanks to all that participated in the voting.

Now that we have that put behind us, let's prepare for the next member of our exclusive club.  Since I went with a pitcher first, I decided to go position player next.  With lots of players to choose from I decided to go with the first Rockie.  That's right no punishment for the "Coors Effect" here.

So without further adieu, let's introduce the second member of The Cubicle of the Unique

Shortstop

Walt Weiss

(sound of one hand clapping)

Walt Weiss played for 4 different teams (A's, Marlins, Rockies, Braves) in his 14 year major league career.  Weiss was A.L. Rookie of the Year in 1988, the third of three consecutive ROYs for The Athletics.  He was traded during the 1993 expansion draft to the Marlins for a player that began that day as his teammate, catcher Eric Helfand, and a PTBNL (Scott Baker).  After a year in Florida, Weiss joined the Rockies as a free agent and was their starting shortstop for 4 seasons.  He ended his career as the 3 year stopgap to Rafael Furcal in Atlanta.  He finished his career with 1207 hits.

Career Highlights

A.L. Rookie of the Year 1988

Participated in 3 World Series (missed in 1990 due to injury in ALCS)

NL All Star Starting Shortstop in 1998 (only appearance)

High school alma mater baseball field named for him (Well do you have one?)

Career Lowlights

Led NL (but not majors, thank you Jose Valentin) with 30 errors in 1996

As with last time, your votes will determine the card (back or front) to be used as the enshrinement plaque for Mr. Weiss.  Eventually I will start using a poll, but for now your comments, as always, are appreciated.

The Cubicle of the Unique member #1 Jim Deshaies

As mentioned earlier, I am starting a Hall of Fame for players that were not only good enough to get on the ballot, but were good enough in the mind of one voter to be in the company of the greatest ever.  This "Hall" shall be known as the Cubicle of the Unique (short form: The Cube).  I have tried to wrap my mind around how to induct members.

Should I start from the beginning?  Should I start from the present and work my way back?  Should I go alphabetically?  Should I use random.org?  The answer to all of those of course is no.  I plan on going in a completely arbitrary order somewhat based on the cards I want (or have) to post.

But that left me with the big question...who will get the honor of being the first inductee?  I was debating between a player related to the Rockies in some way (who will be #2) or who I consider the best player out of the group.  Instead, I chose a pitcher with a 12 year career, a win-loss record of 84-95 and an ERA of 4.14.  I will explain why shortly.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the inaugural member of the Cubicle of the Unique

Starting Pitcher

Jim Deshaies

(sound of one hand clapping)

Top to Bottom: 1988 Score, 1992 Topps, 1993 Fleer

You may be thinking to yourself WWWWHHHHAAAATTTT?  I will be honest, in researching the list of players and I saw Jim Deshaies I was prepared to list 1,001 reasons why he shouldn't have gotten one vote.  But then I checked his Wikipedia page (that's right, only the BEST research tools for you) and saw a story.  Mr. Deshaies actively campaigned, tongue-in-cheek, to get not into the Hall of Fame, but to get one single vote.  How could I possibly start The Cube without inducting the one player that wants in first?  Well, the answer to that is to choose someone else, but it's my blog so I didn't.

Career Highlights

Holds the modern day record for consecutive strikeouts to begin a game with 8.

Finished 7th in N.L. Rookie of the Year voting in 1986.

Had 6 seasons of double digit wins (high 15)

Led the league in 3 categories in 1994.

Career Lowlights

Those 3 categories were Games Started, Earned Runs Allowed, and Home Runs Allowed

Now with our first inductee comes the plaque.  Since this is a card blog, I decided to use a baseball  card. (Well, D'UH!!).  Above are the three candidates for the enshrinement plaque.  I have my personal favorite, but I will go with the majority.  Let me know what you think of The Cube.

The One Vote Club or Someone Thinks You Belong

To me, one of the more fascinating things about baseball is the Hall of Fame voting.  Belated congratulations to Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar from the Quarry.  Enough will be and has been written about Mr. Blyleven and Mr. Alomar for me to spotlight them.  What I intend to do is start a one vote Hall of Fame.

Every year when the ballot results are announced everyone is focused on who made it, who should've made it, etc.  My eye is usually scanning the bottom of the list to see who got very few votes.  Over time this feature will spotlight those players that one person voted for to join the greats of all time.

This is not meant to belittle or demean the careers of any of these players.  Quite the opposite is intended.  I want to celebrate the players, while not good enough to get serious consideration to join the select group of the best of all time, that had good enough playing careers to warrant one person to say...He belongs there.

If you think this might be an interesting topic to explore, let me know.  If you don't, I'm still doing it but I appreciate the feedback.  Stay tuned for Inductee #1.