At first glance at 1983 Dickie Thon’s stats, you wouldn’t think he wouldn’t think he would have a monster card. However, he seems to do everything right and not have any weak spots. Thanks by way to Kevin Burghardt for the photo. You get to see a lot of these cool images that Kevin posts on the APBA Baseball group on Facebook.
In 1983, Dickie Thon was an All-Star and a Silver Slugger. He hit .286 with 20 home runs while stealing 34 bases. He walked 54 times which helped him to a .341 OBP. He scored 81 runs and drove in 79.
An interesting stat: Thon was intentionally walked 10 times.
Thon also led all NL shortstop in assists with 533 and proved to be a valuable asset in the field. He came in seventh in voting for the 1983 NL MVP.
| Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 Totals | 154 | 154 | 686 | 619 | 81 | 177 | 28 | 9 | 20 | 79 | 34 | 16 | 54 | 73 | .286 | .341 | .457 |
Dickie’s data
First, 1983 Thon’s card is fast and a fielding one SS-9. That’s always a good starting point for any player’s APBA card.
Thon’s 1983 hitting card is good all around especially given the era and the position he played. He has some power with extra base numbers 1-4-6. But he certainly also has speed numbers too. Thon has a 15-11, a 25-10 and a 51-10. With two 10s, that doesn’t make him ideal too ideal to lead off. At the same time, with a runner on second a 10 won’t score the run. It comes down to the grade of the opposing pitcher.
The fact that Thon has nifty contact numbers like 26-30 and 46-32 is probably due to the era he is playing but boy, that looks nice. Thon did strike out 73 times in 686 times which gives him three 13s.
If you’re wondering, this particular APBA card was published in 2021 which is why the 12 is in the familiar 23 spot.
Post-1983
Unfortunately, the 1984 season spelled disaster for Thon. One week into the season, he was hit squarely in the left eye by a pitch. It would end the season for him and affected him the rest of his career.
Thon did manage to play for nine more seasons for a solid if not spectacular, career.
Dickie Thon is a bit of a legend in our league. With a home run to tie the game, he helped the Iowa Division come back and win the 1984 All-Star Game. I remember Lance Parrish won the game in extra innings with his own homer.
There was much celebration that night especially by the manager who had both Thon and Parrish on his team. I won’t go into details but I will say a hot tub and a bottle of Southern Comfort were involved. Do not try this at home, folks.
Yes, this story gets told at pretty much every league get-together.
Thanks, Kevin!
As long as it wasn’t a hot tub full of Southern Comfort…..
Hi Tom,
“Thon was intentionally walked 10 times. Most likely, this was due to him batting before the cleanup hitter a good portion of the 1983 season.” This doesn’t make sense to me. Why would you walk someone to get to the cleanup hitter?
Also – I spotted a typo in your write up: “With two 10s, that doesn’t make him ideal to ideal to lead off.” I think you have one too many “ideal to”.
Please don’t think I am criticizing your post. I enjoy your blog very much.
No I appreciate it! I remember giving you tacit approval to critique my articles.
Must have had a brain fart about the cleanup sentence.
thanks, Dan!