Episode 59: Upper Deck 1990 Baseball Card Collector Michael Unger, Part 4

May 17, 2022

If you’re a fan of Michael Unger’s 1990 Upper Deck baseball card project, then it doesn’t get better than this episode of The K.P. Wee Podcast—which features a non-stop stream of sports history, trivia, game deconstructions, and remembrances. Enjoy this return visit from a fan favorite known to baseball card collectors through his social media handles udeck1990@Twitter or upperdeck1990@Insta.

Michael and K.P. do a deep dive into some of the exciting (if sometimes forgotten or obscure) players that Michael has been posting about daily as he works his way systematically through each of his 1990 Upper Deck baseball cards. His social media posts have created a community through which he and K.P. initially connected and became friends. 

Highlights from this episode:

• (2:44): Michael shares the story of former baseball manager Rene Lachemann being pranked by pitcher Larry “Mr. Jello” Andersen in 1982 when the two were with the Mariners.
• (6:07): K.P. relives the story about Rene Lachemann cursing out Tom Candiotti during spring training in 1984 with the Brewers—for throwing the knuckleball. The irony? Lachemann went on to be the manager of the first-year expansion Florida Marlins in 1993, and the Marlins’ Opening Day starter was none other than Charlie Hough, a knuckleballer.
• (13:17): Michael talks about the evolution of the teams that he followed and why, going from the Mets to the Dodgers (a team he used to dislike) to the Blue Jays to the Yankees. He reminisces on his two favorite “biggest comebacks” in baseball, one with the 1986 Mets and the other with the 1992 Blue Jays. He mentions why he had conflicting emotions about the comeback with the Mets.
• (18:17): K.P.  explains why he thinks Terry Pendleton (who played for Rene Lachemann in 1995 and whose card Michael recently tweeted) wasn’t “unlucky” to have gone 0-for-5 in five World Series appearances as a player (1985, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1996), pointing out sometimes “it’s a player’s own doing” (and bringing up Chris Paul and the 2022 Phoenix Suns, who were blown out in Game Seven of their second-round series vs. Dallas). With regard to Pendleton, K.P. refers specifically to key at-bats in the 1992 World Series against Toronto (vs. Tom Henke in Game Two and David Cone in Game Six) and the 1996 Fall Classic vs. the Yankees (vs. Jimmy Key in Game Six). During this part, K.P. also wonders how Atlanta pitcher Pete Smith could bunt foul for strike three in 1992 Game Six even though this (bunting) was something that pitchers always worked on during spring training!
• (28:39): Michael mentions Darryl Strawberry and how he became conflicted when the Straw Man joined the Yankees (since Michael started out as a Mets fan).
• (30:01): Michael talks about his time being a writer for a sports/NHL betting site in 2011 and how the riots in downtown Vancouver (the 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot) made him stop writing about sports and dedicate his life to science communication. 
• (32:11): K.P. talks about his love for the Boston Bruins and the disappointments along the way. He also admits being happy that the Bruins beat the Canucks in 2011 (even though K.P. lives in Vancouver).  
• (35:35): Michael talks about his love for the Edmonton Oilers and how he felt as a kid when Wayne Gretzky was traded—before steering the conversation back to baseball and discussing Reds star Joey Votto. 
• (38:28): And in response to Michael’s comments about Strawberry’s changing teams, K.P. brings up Ray Bourque going from the Boston Bruins to the Colorado Avalanche and what he thought about goalies Ron Tugnutt (signing with Columbus instead of returning to Pittsburgh) and Ed Belfour (signing with Dallas instead of returning to San Jose). 
• (39:30): Finally, after all the hockey chatter, K.P. switches back to baseball, saying he believes that the rules concerning rookie statuses in baseball and hockey (hockey again) need to be changed to how the NFL does it: a player’s first year (regardless of how many games he appeared in) should be counted as his rookie year, and that’s it. K.P. brings up Todd Worrell, whose card Michael posted recently on Twitter. Worrell was on the mound in the 1985 World Series for the Cardinals, trying to close out a championship in Game Six—before being named the 1986 NL Rookie of the Year the following year. K.P. also brings up hockey’s Ed Belfour (4-12-3 in 23 regular-season games in 1988-89 and played in the 1990 playoffs before winning the Calder Trophy in 1990-91) and Ken Dryden (who was the 1971 Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP before winning the Rookie of the Year award the next season). He mentions the NFL rookie rule—which made Tom Brady (2001) and Kurt Warner (1999) not classified as rookies even though they were in their first years as starters in 2001 and 1999, respectively.
• (42:30): Michael mentions how he doesn’t think a rookie card should be the most valuable card for an athlete. He discusses how voters viewed closers and looks back at the 1986 NL rookie class, rattling off the names of prominent first-year players from that year.
• (46:45): K.P. brings up Pittsburgh’s winning a game despite going hitless against Cincinnati from the day before, which leads to a discussion about Kevin Gross’s 1992 no-hitter vs. the Giants. Michael shares an old story about Gross.
• (49:12): K.P. talks about seeing the Carlos Quintana card that Michael had tweeted (and talking about how he cared about Quintana or Joe Hesketh or Greg Harris or Jeff Reardon because they were all Red Sox players), which leads into a discussion about Michael’s favorite baseball cards just based on the cards themselves: 1983 Topps Mike Norris and 1984 Topps Scott McGregor. Michael also shares his thoughts on Quintana. 

 

And if you’re interested in learning more about two of the online reference sites Michael regularly consults, visit the Society for American Baseball Research or the Baseball Reference website.

Click here if you would like to hear previous episodes of The K.P. Wee Podcast.  

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