Willie Upshaw: First to 100 RBIs

Published by Toronto Mike on June 19, 2008 @ 14:31 in Toronto Blue Jays

I'm featuring 1988 Topps Cards featuring members of my beloved Blue Jays that are featured on this blog.

Willie Upshaw was part of our string of dominance at first base. Not only did his name sound great coming out of Murray Eldon's mouth but he's the answer to a great Blue Jays trivia question. Name the first Blue Jay to record 100 RBIs in a season...

The answer, of course, is Willie Upshaw with 104 RBIs in 1983. Upshaw tailed off near the end of his career, just in time for Fred McGriff to take over, but he was a key part of our first competitive teams. I'll never forget that 1984 June night I saw him hit a grand slam at Exhibition Stadium. That same night, Dave Winfield hit two grand salamis. It wasn't a good night for pitchers ERAs.