7/31 - Byron Evans

 

Name: Byron Evans

Team: Philadelphia Eagles

Position: Linebacker

Card Year: 1991

Card Maker: Topps - Stadium Club

Card Number: 151

This week's card features Byron Evans of the 1991 Philadelphia Eagles - a defensive co-captain with Reggie White on what was a very, very good defense.

Evans is described on the card as a "hard nosed middle linebacker" who "specializes in stuffing the run" which is backed up by the numbers from that season. 

The 1991 Eagles only gave up 4 rushing touchdowns during the regular season tied for 1st in the league. They also led the league in team defense for both rushing yards and yards per attempt with 1136 total yards and 3.0 yards / carry, respectively.

Evans had a solid season with 111 total tackles that year as well as 2 interceptions and 2 fumble recoveries, but he was one part of just a monster defense featuring three 1st team All Pro players in Defensive Tackle Jerome Brown, the aforementioned Reggie White - who had a 15.0 sack season, and Defensive Tackle Clyde Simmons. 

Despite this brutal defensive front and a 10-6 record, the '91 Eagles did not make it to the playoffs as the NFC east was won by the eventual Super Bowl Champion Washington Redskins, with the Dallas Cowboys taking a wildcard spot from 2nd place. 

While never receiving the accolades of his storied teammates, Evans was an integral part to the Eagles defense for the duration of his career from his rookie year in 1987 to his last season in 1994. His career was cut short due to a severe injury - a broken tibia and torn MCL on the same play against the Cleveland Browns in 1994. 

What's interesting albeit a bit frustrating about this card is The Sporting News' skills rating system which despite my best efforts, I could not find the criteria used to come up with the given numbers. Given Evans' strengths, it makes sense that he'd have his highest rating against the run, which 4.4 out of 5(?) feels accurate - I guess? According to oldsportscards.com, these Topps cards were in response to Upper Deck greatly improving the photography featured on their cards. This could provide some explanation for the limited content provided, as the high quality photography was the focus for this set.

While disappointing that his career ended far earlier than it likely needed to, Byron Evans was a reliable run-stuffing linebacker, for some superior Eagles defenses. He may not have the name recognition of some of his teammates, but one thing he will always have and we will always have - is this.

Sources

Philadelphia Eagles - where are they now

Pro Football Reference

7/24 - Gerald Perry

 

Name: Gerald Perry

Team: Atlanta Braves

Position: First Base / Left Field / Pinch Hitter

Card Year: 1987

Card Maker: Donruss

Card Number: 437

While training camp has started and the NFL season is beginning to rear its head, it's still July and that means it's baseball season - something that as a Detroit Tigers fan - I am actively trying to process as healthy a way as possible at the moment.

So regardless of my current feelings about baseball - I pulled a baseball card for this week's blog - Gerald Perry of the 1987 Atlanta Braves.

1987 being one of the final years the Braves would still be utilizing the logo shown at the bottom right of the card.

I'm always somewhat astounded (and I realize I probably shouldn't be about the use of that logo), but what is the most surprising to me is that logo made it until the late 80s. I had just been assuming that was their logo from the 50s and 60s, but boy was I wrong. It wasn't until 1990 that the Braves fully switched over to just the name and tomahawk logo they currently utilize. That just feels so recent, which I also know it isn't, but then I think about how long Cleveland kept their logo and team name, and well, as stated above - I guess I just shouldn't be all that surprised.

In any event, Gerald Perry was a long time member of the Braves organization. He was drafted by the Braves in 1978 in the 11th round and bounced around their system from then until 1989. He was then traded to the Royals in 1990 and was signed as a free agent by the Cardinals, where he remained for the rest of his career until 1995. 

1987, the year this card was made, was a pretty good year for Gerald Perry, being one of his only seasons in the Braves starting lineup. He was 8th in the National League in stolen bases (42), and the only first baseman on that list though he split some time playing left field. He was also third in hits (144) and second in RBIs (74) on the 1987 Braves squad, which while deserving of the starting position - also indicated how rough a spot that team was in - finishing 69-82 - good for 5th out of 6th in the NL west division.

His 1988 season was his personal best, leading the Braves in both hits (164) and batting average (.300) making his first and only All Star game as a National League reserve 1st baseman. While statistically this was Perry's best season in baseball, the Braves as a team were even worse than in 1987, finishing with a 54-106 a record that was just shy of being the worst in baseball that year - an honor held by the Baltimore Orioles who also had 54 wins, but one more loss at 107. 

By 1990, Perry had been traded to the Royals where he would start one season at DH as George Brett had the first base position firmly locked down. The remainder of his career was spent in St. Louis, mostly as a pinch hitter. The last fun fact that I was able to dig up on him was that he holds the record for hits by a pinch hitter for the St. Louis Cardinals with 70. So while seeing only time as a reserve in St. Louis, he made the most of that time. 

A highlight from Perry's 1987 Season - Cubs vs. Braves 5/31/87

Gerald Perry and his Controversial Homer off of Pedro Martinez from another Blog

Sources:

Pro Baseball Reference

7/17 - Tom Barrasso

 Name: Tom Barrasso

Team: Pittsburgh Penguins

Position: Goaltender

Card Year: 1991

Card Maker: Upper Deck

Card Number: 116

We've gone from a draft bust last week to a Stanley Cup champion this week in the 1990-1991 Penguins' starting goalie, Tom Barrasso. 

Barrasso's career started in with the 1983-84 Buffalo Sabres where as a rookie, he won both the Calder Memorial Trophy and the Vezina Trophy. One of only three athletes to have ever won both awards in the same season.

He remained the starter in Buffalo through the 87-88 season until being traded to the Penguins in 1988 for a third round draft pick, with playing time split between several goalies and a general drop in performance. 

His life then took a dramatic turn during his first season with the Penguins, as his then two-year-old daughter was diagnosed with cancer and was given just a 10% chance of survival. He took a leave of absence from the team to be with her during treatment, and miraculously she survived. As her health improved and she was able to go home, Barrasso returned to the Penguins.

His performance rebounded significantly in the 1990-91 season with his GAA dropping to  3.59 and a team record 27 wins with an additional 12 wins in the playoffs. However, just purely on vibes - this GAA still seemed really high. With hockey being the relatively low-scoring sport that it is, it just seemed odd that the best team's goalie was still nearly giving up 4 goals per game. 

My first thought was well, this is the early 90s Pittsburgh Penguins. They might be giving up a lot of goals, but then presumably they're scoring a lot as well. They have Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr! But that wasn't entirely the case - Lemieux missed most of the season with a back injury (he was back for the playoffs which surely helped) and Jagr was a rookie with a very respectable 27 goals, but he was not yet the monster he would soon become. 

What really carried this team was - all the other guys who were scoring goals. Mark Recchi and Kevin Stevens both led the team with 40 goals a piece and they had 7 players with at least 20 goals. They were only second to the Calgary Flames in average goals scored which was good because their GAA led by Barrasso was also the 4th highest in the league. However, given their overall depth and with Lemieux's playoff MVP performance in the playoffs, it ultimately did not matter. 

So while Barrasso did enough to get the Penguin's the team's first Stanley Cup, I still wanted to see if there was a league-wide trend in scoring, especially as previously stated - this was the Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr (and Wayne Gretzky and Theo Fleury etc.) era so below you can see GAA over time where 1990-91 is where the peak starts to drop off, and seemingly every team had a goalie giving up over 3.5 goals per game. Defense apparently just did not really matter in the 80s and early 90s.

Data from Pro Hockey Reference

Tom Barrasso went on to win another Stanley Cup in the 1991-92 season as Pittsburgh repeated. He also led the league in wins that season, while ending up 2nd in Vezina trophy voting behind Ed Belfour who Barrasso ultimately bested in the Stanley Cup Finals. His 19-year career ended with limited time in Toronto, Carolina, Ottawa, and St. Louis. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2023.

Sources:

Pro Hockey Reference

Sports Illustrated Vault

United States Hockey Hall of Fame

7/10 - Quentin Coryatt

Name: Quentin Coryatt

Team: Indianapolis Colts

Position: Linebacker

Card Year: 1997

Card Maker: Topps

Card Number: 359

I don't have particularly strong memories of the 1990s Colts besides them being very bad right before drafting Peyton Manning which, well, was the reason they were able to draft Peyton Manning.

The biggest reason I can't recall a whole lot about these Colts teams was that I was a very young child during this time - but the second biggest reason is that they were aggressively average. If you go through the seasons listed on Coryatt's card - the Colts finished with the following records:

1992: 9-7 - No Playoffs

1993: 4-12 - No Playoffs

1994: 8-8 - No Playoffs

1995: 9-7 - made it to the AFC championship game and lost to the Steelers

1996: 9-7 - lost in the wild card to the Steelers

Additionally, the 1991 Colts went 1-15 with the 26th ranked team defense according to Pro Football Reference so it only makes sense that they drafted Coryatt second overall after his impressive while brief time at Texas A&M. He was best known there for "The Hit" which broke TCU receiver Tyler McPherson's jaw in three places while knocking him unconscious.

Coryatt appeared to be a bright spot on what was a generally middle-of-the road defense throughout much of this time. The 1995 Colts were far and away the top defensive unit during this span ranking 5th in the NFL in terms of points against (316) and only giving away 8 rushing touchdowns. Coryatt led the team in solo tackles that season with 86 only to be very limited the following season due to a pectoral injury - one of what is alluded to many on the back of the card. He played the next two seasons for the Colts at a much lower level of production and finished his career seeing limited time with the Cowboys in 1999. 

One thing that intrigued me about Coryatt was his birthplace of St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. He is only one of eleven players ever to have been born in the Virgin Islands and only one (and the first) of five to have been born on St. Croix. 

Quentin Coryatt's career while not completely, was effectively summarized on this card due to the many injuries he ended up sustaining - a disappointing outcome for such a high draft pick. Luckily for the Colts, they did not pick Ryan Leaf in the 1998 draft, and the rest is history. 

Sources:

Horseshoe Heroes

Pro Football Reference