1981 Topps Enos Cabell

The front: Another Shea Stadium photo. Cabell played in one day game at Shea in 1980, a 3-2 Astros win on August 3. Cabell was 1-5, batting second and playing 3B.

 

The back: His 195 hits in 1978 set the team record at the time.

The player: Cabell was one of the first players whose value was shown by advanced analytics to be less than what was perceived by the general baseball community. Cabell, known as a nice guy with a winning attitude. In the 1983 Baseball Abstract, Bill James wrote “Sparky [Tigers manager Sparky Anderson] is so focused on all that attitude stuff that he looks at an Enos Cabell and he doesn’t even see that the man can’t play baseball. This we ballplayer, Sparky, can’t play first, can’t play third, can’t hit, can’t run and can’t throw. So who cares what his attitude is?” To Cabell’s credit, he handled the rip in a good-natured way. Overall, Cabell hit .277 with 60 HR and 596 RBI in 1,688 major league games.

 

The man: A cousin of former major leaguers Dick Davis and Ken Landreaux, Cabell is Special Assistant to the GM for the Houston Astros. Cabell encountered legal trouble during his career (suspended after admitting cocaine use in the Pittsburgh drug trials) and after his career (sued by Titans quarterback Vince Young for using Young’s nickname to sell products without his permission.

 

My collection: I have 28 of his cards, from 1975 to 1987. I would be interested in trading for 1973 Topps #605, 1976 Topps #404, and 1977 Topps #567.