Crime Dog Stacks

As you may know, I chose a Fred McGriff mini as my #WalletCard, and while I'll share a number of posts on what the Crime Dog is up to, I wanted to share some recent McGriff additions to my collection.

While I prefer to see McGriff in a Braves uniform, I'm not going to exclude pre and post-Brave cards from my collection, especially when they are sweet minis like these from 1989 Topps. The first above and last below (oops), is his Mini Leaders card.

Just looking at Fred's stats from his years in Toronto, it's amazing that he didn't make an All-Star team in any of his last three seasons there, considering he hit over 30 home runs and his lowest season batting average was .269. In 1989 he even finished 6th in MVP voting for the AL. I guess it makes more sense when you look at who was at first base for the American League that year, Mark McGwire and Don Mattingly. Luckily his All-Star seasons were coming in San Diego, Atlanta, and even Tampa Bay.

The second mini is from 1989 Topps UK minis, and I really like the design on this one. Wouldn't mind seeing a modern set designed off of this. If this has been done and I've missed it, somebody tell me!

We're hitting almost everywhere the Crime Dog played in the post, as we start off with a Padres card from 1992 Donruss, of the McDonald's MVP variety. McGriff is one of 26 that make up this checklist. Cal Ripken Jr. also has a card in this set, which I'm now adding to my wantlist. I'm finding that acquiring cards like these is becoming one of my favorite parts of collecting. The back of this card is pretty sharp, too.

I was pleased to see McGriff show up on the 2014 A&G checklist, too.

Now that I've gotten started here with McGriff I just don't want to stop, so I'll hit some of his later other career stops.

In 2001 Fred was coming off an All-Star appearance in 2000. He was traded mid-season to the Cubs. Here we have a gold parallel from 2001 Topps that shows Fred's signature swing. 

In 2001 at 37 years old, McGriff combined for 31 homers and 102 runs batted in while hitting .306. This is my only McGriff relic, from 2001 Topps Traded & Rookies 

Part of what inspired this post was seeing some discussion on McGriff's Hall of Fame credentials. For now, he'll continue to Await the Call. 

And now that I'm over 10 cards of McGriff in hand, I think I can call it a player collection.