#61T Jeffrey Leonard

Some women I know would kill for those lips.

IMPACT FACTOR 2/10: Leonard didn't have much left when he joined Milwaukee in a trade for Earnie Riles. After one pretty poor half-season, he left as a free agent. He had a decent season the following year for Seattle and then called it a career after 1990.

#37T Tom Filer

Very interestingly, just like the card before (Cecil Espy) Filer appeared in the big leagues briefly several years before he saw long-term time there. He appeared in 8 games in 1982, 11 games in 1985, and then 19 games in 1988.

IMPACT FACTOR 2/10: Filer put together a couple of decent years for Milwaukee and was then released. Only one guy ever hit more than 1 homer off Filer. Say it ain't so, Jose.

#7T Don August

IMPACT FACTOR 2/10: The Brewers gave up Danny Darwin to fetch August as well as Mark Knudson. Darwin produced a lot more for the Astros than both guys combined for Milwaukee. August gets a couple of point for a 4th-place Rookie of the Year finish in 1988.

#769 Cecil Cooper

Why this card is awesome: Because the screwing continues. Like the Phillies and Mariners, the Brewers got raked through the mud by Topps. In Milwaukee's case, it was assigning pretty pathetic card numbers to their star players. Cecil Cooper is not a HOFer and he was out for a lot of 1987, but the guy deserved a number ending in 5 for sure.

Cooper is rocking the beard and sunglasses, an awesome look!

Cooper is currently the manager of the Astros, and he's a great signer through the mail. Go ahead and send him a card and a SASE care of the Astros, and you'll get it back, personalized no less, in a matter of weeks.

Cool stat: From 1980 to 1983, Cooper had 3 seasons with 120+ RBI. Nobody else did it more than once. From 1970 to 1990, only Cooper and Jim Rice has as many as 3 seasons with 120+ RBI and a batting average of .300.

#742 Mark Clear

Why this card is awesome: Because this card is a bit of an optical illusion, making clear look like one of his legs is about 2 feet shorter than the other.

Cool stat: Clear was lucky. He finished with a career ERA+ of 109 but didn't really deserve it due to all the hits and walks he gave up. In fact, he has the highest career WHIP of anybody with an ERA+ that high, minimum 700 IP. (If I lowered the innings limit a bit, Mitch Williams would slide into the #1 spot.)

#718 Mike Felder

Why this card is awesome: Because I can imagine Mike saying "Felder? I didn't even touch her!"

OK, OK, I may be getting a bit punchy as we near the end of this set. I will say that Felder's helmet looks like a big boy helmet that he has yet to fully grow into.

Cool stat: Felder had two career 5-hit games. In one of them, he also scored a career-high 4 runs.

#692 Mike Birkbeck

Why this card is awesome: Because of the interesting "SULLY" patch we can see on Birkbeck's shoulder. I did a search and I gather that is was to honor somebody named Bob Sullivan, who I think was equipment manager or something like that. I emailed Thorzul about it but never heard back. Oh well.

Cool stat: Among pitchers with an ERA+ of 250 or better in their final season, Birkbeck had the best WHIP (minimum 20 IP.) Or, for pitchers with a WHIP under 0.9 in their final season, Birkbeck had the best ERA+.

#670 Dan Plesac

Why this card is awesome: Because Plesac is one of the best relievers from the last 20 years and nobody knows it. He came in as a very effective closer for the Brewers in the last 1980s and pitched effectively through his final year with the Phillies at age 41 in 2003. Way to go, legendary scout Ray Poitevint!

Cool stat: Plesac had one of the best-ever final seasons for a 40+ year old pitcher with at least 30 IP.

#639 Brewers Leaders

Why this card is awesome: Because unless I am mistaken, this is the only card in the 1988 Topps set that prominently features a person who was neither a manager nor a player in 1987. Yeah, there are lots of cards with guys in the background who don't qualify, but that's Tony Muser on the left (and Glenn Braggs on the right.) Muser finished up as a player with Milwaukee after the 1978 season and was a coach with the team later. Eventually, he became manager of the Royals from 1997 to 2002.

Cool stat: Check out the back of the card, on the offensive side. Molitor and Yount were just massive forces on the field. A .353 batting average for Molitor, 9 triples for Yount, 45 stolen bases for Molitor, 103 RBI for Yount...it goes on and on. Still, these guys get very little national recognition. I was surprised (very pleasantly) by how easily they both got elected to the Hall of Fame. And for an almost totally meaningless stat, the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers tied for most players that year with at least 3 triples.

#616 Jay Aldrich

Why this card is awesome: Because I wonder if this the only card in the set that spells out "New Jersey."

Cool stat: Aldrich had a short career and it's tough to find much of note, but he did once appear in 8 straight games without allowing an earned run.

#592 Dale Sveum

Why this card is awesome: Because Sveum is clearly looking at the famous hole in his bat. Don't know what I am referring to? Read all about it.

Cool stat: Sveum had one of the worst seasons, in terms of walks, with at least 120 strikeouts.

#566 Charlie O'Brien

Why this card is awesome: Because of the super-classic catcher pose. Look how small his chest protector is! Today, catchers wear something almost twice as large. Also, he's playing on the same minor-league field as Ken Williams.

Cool stat: Charlie O'Brien was THE worst hitting catcher of the late 80s and early 90s. In fact, of the 59 catchers to get at least 600 at bats total from 1987 to 1992, he had the lowest BA. But he must have been a good catcher because he stuck around for 15 years and won a World Series with Atlanta in 1995, doing what Greg Olson, Damon Berryhill, Javier Lopez, Eddie Perez, Johnny Estrada, and Brian McCann weren't able to do.

#538 Bill Wegman

Why this card is awesome: Because I like the little white "46" on Wegman's glove. Seems so old school to have to mark up your equipment manually for identification purposes. (These days, most guys are playing with their own custom models manufactured just for them.)

Cool stat: Wegman's name is forgotten outside of Milwaukee but over 1991-1992, among the 20 pitchers to throw at least 450 innings, Wegman had the 6th-best ERA+. Neutralized B-R.com stats suggest he deserved to go 30-19 over those 2 years, instead of the 28-21 he actually went.

#515 Juan Nieves

Why this card is awesome: Because the card cuts off right at the bottom edge of his waistband, leading one to believe that perhaps that's just a long blue skirt he's wearing.

Cool stat: Of the 128 no-hitters thrown since 1956, Nieves' is tied around 30th worst for game score.

#491 B.J. Surhoff

Why this card is awesome: Because of late bloomers. Surhoff was a Future Star in the 1987 Topps set. Here:

And Surhoff certainly was a future star, but it took him quite a few years to get there. Other than in 1987, he didn't slug over .400 until 1994.

Cool stat: Surhoff is one of 28 guys since 1980 to amass at least 1000 runs, 1100 RBI, 150 HR, and 125 SB. He put together a pretty damn good career. Some other surprising names on that list include Dale Murphy, Ruben Sierra, and Julio Franco.

#465 Paul Molitor

Why this card is awesome: Because, although I mentioned this already, Molitor got seriously ripped off on his card number. Yeah, he played in only 118 games in 1987, but he STILL led the league in runs scored and doubles while batting .353!! What does a guy have to do to get a card number evenly divisible by ten?

Cool stat: The only guy since 1956 with more 4-hit games than Molitor is Pete Rose. Pick any two guys off this list, and Molitor has more 4-hit games than them combined: Jim Rice, Tim Raines, Dave Winfield, Don Mattingly, Al Kaline, and Barry Bonds.

Hall of Fame count: 32

#441 Rick Manning

Why this card is awesome: Because Manning didn't play past 1987, you see his entire career stats on the back of this card. It's odd to see a guy start so young (age 20) and then end when he did (32.) Seems like most guys who make it to the bigs before age 21 either flame out by age 25 or last until 38 to 40.

Cool stat: Between 1975 and 1986, only three players had at least 2 HR, 1 3B, 1 SB and 1 sac hit every single season. Manning, Yount, and Frank White.

#417 Mark Ciardi

Why this card is awesome: Because despite making the big leagues, that fact on the back about him being a part of a ski team in high school may be the best thing we can say about him.

Cool stat: In the 1980s, Mark Ciardi's 1987 was one of the worst seasonal ERAs. Actually, Joel McKeon's 1987 was even worse and we just saw his card recently.

#362 Juan Castillo

Why this card is awesome: Because this card is from several years before the Rockies existed, there is way too much purple on it. The purple name banner that all the Brewers cards have is bad enough, but the vast sea of purple behind Castillo is way over the top.

Cool stat: Castillo had just 101 career hits, but did have one 4-hit game in 1987 against Oakland.

#337 Jim Gantner

Why this card is awesome: Because with those shades and the laid-back shot, Gantner looks like one cool dude.

Cool stat: Gantner was a good player, as far as middle infielders from the 70s and 80s go. I like the fact that he spent his entire career with one team. Let me use him as an example of some cool new data on Baseball-Reference.com. Check out Gantner's splits page and scroll down to the "Count/Ball-Strikes" section. You can now see on which counts Gantner attempted stolen bases. For example, we can see that he got 29 stolen bases on the first pitch or with a count of 1-0. You can also see that he was 7-for-7 when attempting to steal on 0-2 pitches. (NOTE: the pitch data is not yet complete before 1988, which is why not all of Gantner's career steals are accounted for.)