If You Build It, They Will Come

        Profile Joe Decker was born in Storm Lake* and played in MLB for the Chicago Cubs and Minnesota Twins for 9 seasons.  His best season was his 1974 season** in which he went 16-14 with 11 complete games. * Not the only professional baseball player from Storm Lake. Julie Gutz played for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League ** Also on that Minnesota team was Dick Woodson from Oelwein Personal Notes I'm pro card sets covering every league, every tv show and movie, historical event, etc.  Because, that gives us gems like Joe Decker's Senior Professional League card, and the world is better off with more remnants of history. Collection Notes I have 4/28 (14%) cards in my collection.

Profile Kevin Tapani was a pitcher in the MLBs for 13 seasons.  He had his best year in 1991 with the Minnesota Twins as they won the World Series and Tapani finished 7th in Cy Young voting*.  A workhorse pitcher, he had over 150 innings 10 times, and double digit wins 8 seasons.  Kevin was born in Des Moines**, but was raised in Michigan. * While he was 7th, he was 3rd on his own team, with Scott Erickson and Jack Morris getting more votes.   ** Other modern MLBers from Des Moines: Casey Blake, Jeremy Hellickson, Todd Belitz, Jerry Hairston, Tom Drees, Matt Macri, Joe Magrane, Mike Mahoney, Joel Hanrahan, Benj Sampson, Todd Sears, and new 2020 addition Derek Hill. Personal Notes Kevin Tapani wasn't in Iowa much, but I do have a special spot for him in my collection.  That is because he was part of my favorite baseball team of all time, the 1991 Minnesota Twins.  Led by my favorite player, Kirby Puckett, the team went from last place to World Series ch...