Mike Boddicker
Profile
Mike Boddicker hits the triple crown for his Iowa cred: born in Iowa, attended Iowa, and had his life saved in Iowa. Mike was born in Cedar Rapids and raised in Norway. He attended the University of Iowa*, bypassing the Montreal Expos who drafted him out of High School. He had a pretty successful career, winning an ALCS MVP, a World Series**, a Gold Glove and is in the Orioles Hall of Fame. However, just after his career was over he discovered a lump in his neck and doctors at the University of Iowa help defeat his cancer.
* Boddicker has the 2nd highest WAR of any Hawkeye (31.3), just behind Jim Sundberg (40.5) and just above Cal Eldred (15.8)
** Boddicker is also the 2nd Hawkeye to win the World Series (1983). First was Jim McAndrew with those Miracle Mets of 1969, and just beat out Sundberg who won with the Royals in 1985.
Personal Notes
A fun oddity in collecting players who aren't super stars is you sometimes get an oddity in their most valuable card. Now excluding the generically high priced (memorabilia, autograph, insanely low print), a player's typical high priced card would be his rookie card. However, with Boddicker it is not his 1981 Topps Rookie Card, but a 1984 Topps Team Leader card. Of course, it helps to have a young Cal Ripken Jr. share the card with him!
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