A 1980s Card Part 26- 1987 Topps Todd Worrell Record Breaker

Everyone loves the 1987 Topps set.  I think I would put it in the middle of the pack if I had to rank all of the 1980s Topps sets.  I guess the appeal is that the wood frame of the cards is similar to the 1962 Topps set, or something like that. 

Give me the 1962 Topps card all day. 

The first Cardinals card in the 1987 Topps set is a Record Breaker card for relief pitcher Todd Worrell, who set the Major League record for saves in a season by a rookie pitcher during the 1986 season.  Seems a little odd given that the most memorable moment of his career came before his rookie season while pitching in the Postseason for the 1985 Cardinals. 

He was a September call-up who stuck on the Postseason roster. 

Whitey Herzog used all sorts of pitchers in the closers role during the 1985 season, but Todd Worrell was used almost exclusively as the stopper during the playoffs.  He also did a pretty good job of covering first base during Game 6 of the World Series no matter what Don Denkinger called. 

The 1986 Cardinals were not very good, but Worrell still managed to save 36 games and set the Major League record.  Here is his 1987 Topps Record Breaker card......

Beyond the wood border, this Worrell card has another trademark of the 1987 Topps set, which is poor centering.  Possible on any Topps set, even today, but look at that top border.  That's pretty bad.  I actually like the action photo of Worrell and his high leg kick with the green background.  I am farily certain that every 1980s pitcher who threw hard had a giant leg kick and was incredibly slow to the plate.  Looks like the beautiful green concrete from Riverfront Stadium.  

Love those multi-purpose concrete bowls stadiums.  Surprised you cannot see the lines from the football field going across the diamond.  

Here is the back of the card.  

  

I would not have guessed that Doug Corbett had previously held the rookie saves record prior to Worrell.  I would have gone Lee Smith, or Jeff Reardon.  Worrell's record was broken by Kaz Sasaki in 2001 with the Mariners, but is currently held by former Braves closer Craig Kimbrel.  It's probably only a matter of time before we get a rookie closer who saves 50 games.  They will likely pitch 50 innings or less too.  

Worrell ended up pitching until 1998, accumulating more than 250 saves with the Cardinals and Dodgers.  Pretty remarkable that he got that many saves though.  

While he was hardly a bust, Worrell had an injury shortened career, and his opportunities to close out games were limited at several points.  He missed almost two whole seasons in the prime of his career with arm injuries, and he spent one season with the Cardinals as a setup man for Lee Smith trying to rebuild his value for a run at free agency. 

Worrell lost his job closing out games for the Dodgers during his first season with the team, and only managed 11 his second season in Los Angeles.  He was terrible both years.  The 1994 baseball strike was terrible for the game, but the time off seemed to help Worrell.  He saved 112 games during his final 3 seasons in the Majors.  When you do the math, Worrell was really only the primary closer for his team during 7 seasons, so the 250 number is pretty impressive when given a little more context.