Rich Zawadzki puts 1994 Albert Belle in pretty good company. He’s among the very few starters out there who has a power number at 55. Here’s his list and you can see that Belle is hanging with some pretty good hitters.
Belle had his detractors due to his attitude, that is for sure. I was never one for hatin’ on Albert Belle and no doubt the man could hit. In fact, he followed up his ‘94 season with an even better one. In 1995, he cracked 50 homers and 52 doubles to along with 121 runs and 126 rbis, all league leaders.
As for ‘94, it’s tough to believe that he didn’t lead the league in any category except total bases with 294. A relatively low figure but remember, it was a strike shortened season. Belle, himself got in 106 of Cleveland’s 113 games.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 Totals | 106 | 480 | 412 | 90 | 147 | 35 | 2 | 36 | 101 | 9 | 58 | 71 | .357 | .438 | .714 |
Two 1s and 55-0 will get you far in any league. Belle also hit .357 which accounts for his 25-7. Add four 14s to the mix and you have twelve automatic on-base chances against any pitcher. Power, hitting, and on-base make for a deadly offense threat.
In 1993, Belle was a speed threat, too. He stole 23 bases then. He tapered it down to 9 thefts in ‘94 but that was enough for a first column 10 with a few 11s in the second column.
Belle retired early at the age of 34 because of a degenerative hip osteoarthritis. He has the distinction of homering in his first game of his career and his last.
This is a solid hitting card.
However, Thomas, the card that I was referring to (in the link above) the 1995 Albert Belle Card.
As far as I can tell (in my cards) it is one of only 6 full time cards with a 6 on 55.
1921 Babe Ruth
1927 Lou Gehrig
1930 Al Simmons
1931 Josh Gibson
1937 Joe DiMaggio (Original Single Column Only)
1995 Albert Belle
Rich, you’re right. My mistake.
Should’ve used that card. :)
I believe their are other cards with a “0” on 55 (Chick Hafey, 1930) but not sure I have seen any others with single column EBH on 55.
Yes, King Albert’s ’94 card is really something. I’ve run a face to face league for over 30 years with, at various times, 3, 4 or 5 other managers, drafting from a pool of essentially every player in APBA history (MLB and Negro Leagues). The league is an all
A+ pitchers league with lots of ZZ’s, so averages and walks are really knocked down.
In his first four “seasons” (a total of 126 games- 504AB’s) Albert’s line looked like this:.276BA 46D 8T 49Hr 110RBI .690SLG .330OB
Wasn’t thus this the same Albert Belle card tht came with the first set of All-Time Baseball All-Stars? If so, I have the card & out is truly a Monster!!
I know the formulas have changed for APBA over the years, probably due to the pitchers receiving less A,A&C or the rare A&B rating but some of the cards I grew up playing from the 60s had some true power cards. Did they switch formulas to get more realism? Just curious:)
Shawn
I have the 1994 season Albert Belle APBA card and he is rated 2 outfielder.
Jeff Bagwell and Al Simmons have a zero on 55.
I took the 1976 Joe Morgan instead of Hormsby. You can’t beat all those 14*! And I had 1980 Brett batting 2nd. Ruth of 1921 batting 3rd and 1927 Henrik batting 4th. Foxx who I catching and batting 5th.