1981 Topps Dave Winfield

 

The front: What a great photo of a great player. Really shows Winfield's distinctive batting stance. This is Shea Stadium, and that's Willie Montanez on deck. There were two day games at Shea where Montanez batted behind Winfield. The first was a 2-1 Padres victory on May 3. The second was an 18-inning game on August 26. In that game Winfield hit a game-tying home run in the seventh inning. The Padres took the lead later in the inning but the Mets tied it in the ninth. After eight scoreless innings, the Mets intentionally walked Winfield with a runner on third and one out in the 18th. Montanez made them pay with an RBI single, and the Padres went on to win the game.

The back: While Winfield's multi-sport skills were well known (taken in the MLB, NFL, NBA and ABA drafts), it is forgotten that he was also a terrific pitcher. Perhaps in another era he could have been a Shohei Ohtani type.

The player: Dave Winfield was one of the all-time greats. He was a five-tool player who excelled at every part of the game. He was certainly one of my favorite players when I started following baseball and the Yankees. Looking back, some of his struggles may have been pressure to justify his big contract. Still, he had great success everywhere he played, finally winning a World Series with Toronto in 1992. In 2,973 games over 22 seasons, he hit .283 with 465 HR, 1,833 RBI and 223 SB. He was a 12-time All-Star and 7-time Gold Glove winner.

The man: Winfield has been heavily involved in charitable and business adventures going back to his days with the Padres, and has always had a wide variety of interests beyond sports. He started charitable work in his rookie season, and in 1977 the David M. Winfield Foundation was the first charitable foundation founded by an active athlete. In addition to his numerous charitable adventures, he has numerous business interests. In addition to his own company, Winfield is an Advisor to the MLBPA, investor in a fitness startup, and is on the board of directors of a publicly-traded SPAC.

My collection: I have 224 of his cards, from 1974 to 1996. There are still a lot more cards from his Yankees days that I would be interested in trading for, including: 

1982 Drakes #31

1983 Fleer Star Stickers #39

1983 Kellogg's #15

1984 Nestle #6

1985 Yankees Police #4

1986 Burger King #2

1987 Action Superstars #10

1987 Classic #11

1987 Drake's #5

1987 Indiana Blue Sox #4

1987 Kay-Bee #33

1988 Baseball Stars Series 2 #5

1988 Donruss Baseball's Best #244

1988 Drake's #12

1988 Fleer MVPs #43

1988 Fleer Mini #44

1988 Gray Series 1 #4

1988 Yankees Unlicensed #4

1988 New York New York #4

1988 Pacific #2

1988 Red Stars Series 2 #5

1988 Score Box Bottoms #8

1988 Sportflics Gamewinners #7

1989 Classic #32

1989 Fleer All-Stars #44

1989 Pacific #4

1989 Topps Box Bottoms #P

1989 Topps UK #84

1989 Kay-Bee #32

1990 Sportflics #87

1990 Hills #17

1990 Topps TV #34