Saturday, November 10, 2012

1980 TCMA Burlington Bees Baseball #5, Dave Grier

Not sure why it took 700+ posts to cover my girlfriend's hometown team, but here we are: the Burlington (Iowa) Bees! (Our family histories stretch back to Iowa and other Midwestern areas, but we actually met in Massachusetts.)

Like many lower-level squads, the Bees swapped affiliations over time. As pictured, they served Milwaukee, back when the Brewers were still in the AL. Today, they're linked with the Los Angeles of Anaheim Angels.


Excuse me, Mr. Grier, but are you any relation to Wally Moon?


No reason, just wondering.


Dave Grier pitched well in Burlington, going 16-8 with a 2.74 ERA in 1980 (minor league stats). Milwaukee bounced him around the farm system for three more years, hoping for similar success, but he dropped to about .500 in other cities and called it quits at age 25.

The Bees checklist includes 29 players, above average for TCMA team sets.
  1. Steve Gibson
  2. Kevin McCoy
  3. Mike Donovan
  4. Mark Lepson
  5. Dave Grier
  6. Greg Dehart
  7. Orlando Gonzalez
  8. Steve Manderfield
  9. Brian Thorson
  10. Duane Espy MGR
  11. Vince Pone
  12. Jesse Vasquez
  13. Al Walker
  14. Ty Coleman
  15. Steve Norwood
  16. Rich Bach
  17. Greg Cicotte
  18. Mike Anderson
  19. Kurt Kingsolver
  20. Walt Steele
  21. Jorge DeJesus
  22. Juan Castillo
  23. Mark Higgins
  24. Kirk Downs
  25. John Evans
  26. Curt Watanabe
  27. Stan Levi
  28. Karl McKay
  29. Bengie Biggus

Value: This #5 cost $2 at MinorLeagueSingles.com and team sets run $15-20 on eBay and elsewhere. (Infielder Juan Castillo's the only future major leaguer, so few people break the set for singles.)

Fakes / reprints: TCMA reprinted several 1980 teams for "collector kits" in later years. Those cards come with black backs and originals have blue.