Wood vs. Wood #120

Last time, 1987 won easily, 8-0. They're bringing out the star power with this one.

This Bob Purkey card was originally owned by a kid named Bob Bolton. Purkey was a veteran knuckleballer coming off of several solid seasons who would have by far his best year in 1962. He started the season 7-0 en route to a 23-5 record and 2.81 ERA. Unfortunately, he hurt his arm in spring training 1963 and was unable to duplicate that success. Still, in 13 seasons for the Pirates, Reds and Cardinals, he went 129-115 with a 3.79 ERA, certainly a respectable career. After his playing days he owned an insurance agency and did some announcing for the Pirates. He died in 2008.

I don't know who owned this Eddie Murray card; it's one of the few I didn't get out of a pack or schoolyard trade in 1987, I didn't get it until I was an adult. Murray was one of the best first baseman of all time, and was only the third player ever with 3,000 hits and 500 home runs, joining Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. Murray's profile has never been as high as stars like that, though. He played at a consistently great level for many years but never had a truly dominant year; his only HR and RBI titles came in the strike-shortened 1981 season. In fact he only had five 30-home run seasons and his career high hit total was only 186. He also largely avoided the media after some unfair criticism early in his career. After 12 terrific years in Baltimore, he was traded after the 1988 season to the defending champion LA Dodgers, but only hit .240 as the team sunk to fourth place. Before the 1992 season he signed as a free agent with the Mets, who ended up imploding due to the failures of their other big acquisitions, Bobby Bonilla and Vince Coleman. This wasn't Murray's fault, but he failed to live up to expectations in both LA and NY. He finished his career as a baseball nomad, helping the Indians and Orioles in their playoff runs in 1995 and 1996, and ended his career in 1997 with brief stints for both LA teams. He finished his career with a .287 average, 3,255 hits, 560 doubles, 504 HR and 1,917 RBI. He had a good batting eye, with 1,333 walks compared to 1,516 strikeouts. He is the all-time leader in sacrifice flies (128). In 44 postseason games he hit .258 with 9 HR and 25 RBI, including four home runs in World Series play. After his career he has been involved in a variety of charitable endeavors but was also implicated in former teammate Doug DeCinces's insider trading scandal, paying over $300,000 to the SEC in 2012.