Monday, July 18, 2011

1979 TCMA Wausau Timbers Baseball #5, Dave Stockstill

A sporting guy named Stockstill, huh? Do you think he ran extra wind sprints to shed that "slow guy" image? (Just kidding Dave, don't thump me.)


Dave Stockstill's pro career started fast, thanks to good power with the bat and a strong outfield arm. This half-blank card back should reflect time with two Cubs rookie league teams in his first season (1978), which preceded an impressive .933 OPS and league MVP award playing for Wausau in 1979.

Though he jumped up the minors quickly to AAA, Dave plateaued there, first for Chicago and later in Texas, stuck behind a veteran Rangers outfield of guys like Billy Sample, Gary Ward, and Larry Parrish. (Given Sample's middling stats at the plate, I'm surprised Stockstill didn't get a 1984 call-up.)


TCMA offered two designs for their minor league team sets, full-color or black-and-white, no doubt charging less for the latter and its cheaper card stock. No one from Wausau's 1979 team set the sport on fire, though Harmon Killebrew's son Cam played one of his pro seasons in their outfield alongside Stockstill.

Value: Dave cost $2 at MinorLeagueSingles.com, typical of non-star minor league cards from that era.

Fakes / reprints: Haven't seen any in the marketplace.

3 comments:

Orioles Magic said...

Cool card man! Dave and his brother, whose name I'm blanking on right now, both work in the front office for the Orioles.

Matthew Glidden said...

Oh yeah? Good for Dave; I always like to hear about those career baseball guys.

Anonymous said...

Bother is John, wow what a old picture of David-he has hair-good guy all around