Monday, April 16, 2018

Bring Back The Deans!

Last week's haiku featured a 1987 Topps card of the Seattle Mariners. It reminded me of the Team Leaders cards in general, and how Topps in 1986 "honored" each team's dean - the longest tenured member of the club. I always thought it was a cool concept, and I wouldn't mind if Topps brought that back.

1986 Topps #456 Braves Leaders (Dale Murphy)

I looked up and found which players would be honored if Topps did bring this idea back. Three teams traded their dean this past off-season: The Marlins (Stanton), Pirates (McCutchen), and Rays (Longoria). Who replaces them as the team's official dean?

Longest Tenured Players

 

2018 Topps #231 Joe Mauer

Twins: Joe Mauer (4/5/2004)

Cardinals: Yadier Molina (6/3/2004)

Mets: David Wright (7/21/2004)

Mariners: Felix Hernandez (8/4/2005)

2018 Topps #58 Ryan Zimmerman

Nationals: Ryan Zimmerman (9/1/2005)

Red Sox: Dustin Pedroia (8/22/2006)

Royals: Alex Gordon (4/2/2007)

Brewers: Ryan Braun (5/25/2007)

Reds: Homer Bailey (6/8/2007)

Orioles: Adam Jones (3/31/2008)
Tigers: Miguel Cabrera (3/31/2008)

2018 Topps #350 Clayton Kershaw

Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw (5/25/2008)

Yankees: Bret Gardiner (6/30/2008)

Rangers: Elvis Andrus (4/6/2009)

Indians: Michael Brantley & Carlos Carrasco (9/1/2009)

Giants: Madison Bumgarner (9/8/2009)

Braves: Freddie Freeman (9/1/2010)

Pirates: Josh Harrison (5/31/2011)

Rockies: Charlie Blackmon (6/7/2011)

Angels: Mike Trout (7/8/2011)

Astros: Jose Altuve (7/20/2011)

Diamondbacks: Paul Goldschmidt (8/1/2011)

2018 Topps #232 Nate Jones

White Sox: Nate Jones (4/8/2012)

Blue Jays: Aaron Loop (6/14/2012)

Rays: Chris Archer (6/20/2012)

Cubs: Anthony Rizzo (6/26/2012)

Padres: Robbie Erlin (4/30/2013)

Marlins: Derrick Dietrich (5/8/2013)

Phillies: Cesar Hernandez (5/29/2013)

Athletics: Marcus Semien (4/6/2015)

It's an interesting list. A few notable star players, but a healthy dose of unexpected guys. What do you think? Should Topps bring back the deans?


7 comments:

  1. I know I'd like that. Actually, I'm a fan of having subsets as part of the base set.

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  2. Crazy that the A's have had a complete roster overhaul in 3 years.

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  3. Cool concept for a post.... though it seems surreal to see Anthony Rizzo as the longest tenured Cub. In my mind, he's still relatively new to the scene!

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  4. Nice post! I'm also amazed that players like Rizzo, Trout and Archer are now the deans of their teams. And what's up with the A's?

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  5. I would love to see Topps bring these back.

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  6. Good research here! I do miss the "deans" and I'm surprised there are so many with a decade plus of time with one team. Oakland is just a revolving door; college basketball players stay in one place longer than A's players. It's a shame.

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  7. fantastic post! It's interesting to see how young a few of these teams really are. Mauer, Yadi and Wright should retire with their teams. It will likely not happen but I'd sure love to see it.

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