It always seems that the strangest cards come from sets during shortened seasons. In this case, this Doug Bair card hails from 1981 which was infamous for its split season due the labor dispute (sorry Reds fans!).
Bair’s 1981 card is the ultimate in all-or-nothing. In six plate appearances, he struck out four times and hit a homer (in case you’re curious like I was, he also popped to first base). His homer on May 20 was a key one in the Reds’ 10-7 victory over the Cubs.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 Totals | 35 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .167 | .167 | .667 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/13/2017.
Bair’s card in 1981 was pretty much on the money. He received twenty-one 13s but also five 1s.
In addition, he received these numbers:
- 12-25
- 14-30
- 15-23
- 45-36
- 52-27
- 55-21
- 64-12
- 65-35
That means even numbers like 34 and 54 result in 13.
Like the Major League, Bair split his time in 1981. He played for 24 games the Reds before St. Louis acquired him. Either way, the Grade D is deserved in this case as Bair had a combined unusually high 5.10 ERA in 54 innings.
The homerun in 1981 would be the only one he would hit in his career. In fact, it would be one of only five hits in the 15 years he would play pro ball.
