Everybody wants to make a good first impression, and when you’re young you really have to prove yourself.

Same goes for when you start a new job or find yourself in a new community.

No matter how much we want to knock it out of the park early on, though, sometimes that’s darn near impossible. That goes double if you’re carrying a lot of baggage or inheriting a lot of baggage in your new gig.

That’s the situation the Texas Rangers found themselves in as the 1972 season dawned. They weren’t a new team, exactly, as they winked into existence as part of the 1961 expansion class. But back then, they were the Washington Senators, v. 2. After 11 lackluster seasons in the capital, though, and with only one winning campaign under their belts, owner Bob Short moved the team to Arlington for the 1972 season and changed their name.

Voila! The Texas Rangers were born.

Except … the Senators went 63-96 in 1971, and the Rangers didn’t do much in the offseason to polish up the product for their new digs. Indeed, they finished 54-100 in that first season down south and correspondingly drew a paltry 663,000 fans.

After another slow start in 1973 and with attendance still looking bleak, Short needed something to boost his team’s profile.

As it so happened, there was a young Texas high-schooler named David Clyde wrapping up his prep career that spring, and the lefty flamethrower was drawing rave reviews from several franchises. There were even whispers along the line of “the next Sandy Koufax.” Wouldn’t it be great if Short could snag the youngster and keep him in the state?

Well, by virtue of their putrid record the year before, the Rangers held their Clyde destiny in their own hands, and they drafted him with the first overall pick that June. He signed on with the caveat that he’d make his first two professional starts in the Majors before heading to the minors for some good, old-fashioned seasoning.

And so, on June 27, 1973, David Clyde made his Big League debut just 66 days after his 18th birthday. He won, defeating the Minnesota Twins, 4-3.

(Card image courtesy of COMC.com.)

1993 Keebler Texas Rangers – [Base] #106 – David Clyde

Check Prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check Prices on eBay (affiliate link)

On July 2, he lost to the Chicago White Sox and should have been done with the Bigs for awhile, but he pitched well enough to turn all that on its ear. Instead of an express trip to the bushes, Clyde was inserted into the Rangers’ rotation on a permanent basis, and ended up logging 18 starts. The fact that he went 4-8 with a 5.01 ERA left Texas management undeterred, and they brought him back for another go.

By the next Opening Day, Topps had latched onto the young phenom, too, granting him a solo rookie card in their 1974 set. Heady days.

But heady days tend to run into reality, and, after a 3-0 start to the new season, reality struck Clyde hard. In particular, a colossal argument erupted between new Rangers manager Billy Martin and general manager Bobby Brown about how to handle the youngster.

In the end, Brown resigned and Clyde sat for a month before splitting time between the rotation and bullpen to finish 3-9, 4.28.

He started 1975 still in the Rangers rotation, but he blew out his shoulder after one start. A trip to the minors didn’t fix things, and he underwent surgery in 1976.

Two more seasons on the farm left Clyde as an outsider in Texas, and they traded him along with Willie Horton to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for John Lowenstein and Tom Buskey in February of 1978. Though Clyde did land a spot in the Cleveland rotation, his results weren’t much better — 11-15, 4.66 ERA in two seasons by the lake.

And then … he was done, at the age of 24.

Clyde did make a comeback attempt in 1981 with the Houston Astros, but he couldn’t advance beyond Triple-A and decided to hang up the spikes for good. That might have been the last we heard from him, but snack-maker Keebler stepped into the breach in 1993.

That year, the Elfin folks produced a massive set of 446 Texas Rangers cards featuring black-and-white images of a huge chunk of the dudes who had dawned the red, white, and blue over the team’s two decades of existence.

David Clyde made the cut, and we got one last look — and one last reminder — of the guy who became the poster child for how not to handle a hot young pitching phenom.

Check out the entire series of 2019 Spring Training Challenge posts here.

Since it’s your absolute favorite set, you probably know a lot about it, and you should be able to answer some basic questions, like … what’s the last card in that set?

Unless your favorite set is 1952 Topps (Eddie Mathews) or 1954 Topps (Ted Williams) or 1975 Topps (Hank Aaron) or some other set with similar star-power love in its upper reaches, there’s a good chance you’re coming up short here.

And you’re not alone.

First cards are pretty high-profile, appearing as they do on the top of so many rubber-band dented stacks. And cards in the middle are fair game for fame and fortune, too, provided they picture a hotshot rookie or a beloved Hall of Famer.

But the last card in a set?

Check Prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check Prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Well, those guys suffer from the same sort of dented edges and center creases that first cards do, but they suffer their slings and arrows at the bottom of everything. Not much exposure unless, again, the player is something special.

In Spring Training, though, every player is something special, right? I mean, these guys are in Big League camp and they all think — or at least hope and pray — they’ll make the Big League team. And some of them actually do make the Big League team.

And when that happens, there’s a better than even chance they’ll show up on a real live Major League Baseball card of their very own, even if that leaves them on the bottom of the pile, at the back of the set.

To celebrate these cappers who so often find their way to the commons bin but without whom no set could be complete, this here Day 23 of my 2019 Spring Training Baseball Card Challenge is dedicated to a last card … in particular, the last card in a set.

In particular particular, I want to talk for a minute about a last card that really ended something. You know, like Ron Blomberg effectively ended the hitting career of Mel Stottlemyre and players like him (AL pitchers, that is).

And it’s funny you should mention Blomberg, because about the time he became the first-ever DH in MLB history (April 6, 1973), collectors were digging into the first series of 1973 Topps baseball cards. It was a pretty standard Topps issue, as these things go, with 660 cards of all the good players and mediocre players and rookie players and players who led their league in stuff and team cards, even.

Oh, and the 1973 Topps set was issued in series (as alluded to by that “first series” bit above) — five series, with 132 cards in each series. That’s significant because it was the LAST time Topps issued their cards in series, adopting the practice of dumping everything all at once beginning in 1974. (“But, they started issuing cards in series again in 1993 …”  No.)

Put all those facts together and you’re left with the inescapable conclusion that the last card in the last series of 1973 Topps baseball cards represents the end of an era. So who landed on card #660?

Well, that would be none other than Fred Scherman, who spent 1969-73 doing some pretty nice bullpen work for some pretty good Detroit Tigers teams, including the American League East champions in 1972. His time in Detroit ended almost exactly the same time that Topps-by-series ended, as the Bengals traded Scherman and cash to the Houston Astros in exchange for Jim Ray and Gary Sutherland after that 1973 season.

After a couple of so-so campaigns with the Astros, it was on to the Montreal Expos, where Scherman finished up in 1976. Overall, he posted a 33-26 record with a 3.66 ERA and 39 saves.

And, of course, he scored the last-ever (real) Topps card issued in (real) series format. It’s a good-looking card featuring a head-and-shoulders shot of Scherman against the Yankee Stadium grandstand.

As the man said, you can’t always be first … but you can be last.

Check out the entire series of 2019 Spring Training Challenge posts here.

Thanks to the internet and the thousands of television stations vying for our eyeballs, you can find pictures or even videos of just about any player you want in their updated togs within a matter of minutes or seconds.

But in the old days, when I was a kid, we had to wait …

Wait for local the 11-o’clock news, which might flash a few frames of the hometown team’s happenings in camp.

Wait for the Sunday newspaper, which might have a story or two about Spring Training.

Wait for the season to start, and the Game of the Week.

Wait for the new baseball cards.

Especially the new baseball cards.

For a kid growing up in the 1980s, there was no better or more readily source of diamond information than our baseball cards. And, at least for me, I usually saw a player in his new uniform first on a two-and-a-half-by-three-and-a-half hunk of cardboard.

I’ve already written about that line that cards walked back then … about how some cards fell short and stuck with the old uniform while others were able to get a guy into his new laundry.

Here in Day 19 of my 2019 Spring Training Baseball Card Challenge, though, I’m thinking about the tweeners. You know, those cards that purport to show a player in his new uniform but that do so through trickery.

Yes, I’m talking about airbrushed cards.

Now, there are plenty of famous airbrushed baseball cards that I could lambaste here … 1978 Topps Greg Minton comes to mind, as does 1971 Topps Dick Williams … and 1973 Topps Vincente Romo … and 1977 Topps Sal Bando … and ….

Well, there’s a bunch of them.

Check Prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check Prices on eBay (affiliate link)

My choice today, though, hits a little closer to home and has the distinction of falling very late in the “glory days” of airbrushed cards — it’s the 1988 Topps Traded Buddy Bell.

I always appreciated Buddy Bell as a player and thought he looked like a friendly sort of dude based on his cards with the Texas Rangers, which popped out of packs in the early-to-mid 80s on a fairly regular basis.

Then, the Reds traded for the third baseman in July of 1985, and he helped build them into a solid contender who finished second in the old National League West for four straight seasons.

In that fourth summer, though, June of 1988, general manager Murray Cook shipped Bell to the Houston Astros in exchange for Carl Grovom.

Um, yeah … second place, here we come!

Truth is, Bell was struggling pretty bad, even though he had hit 17 home runs the year before. But with Age 37 staring you in the face, you just don’t know when a slump is really The End.

And it was pretty much The End for Bell, who picked things up just a tad for the Astros that summer, then spent an abbreviated swan song back with the Rangers in 1989.

In between, though, there was the business of getting Bell on some Houston cardboard.

Fleer and Score did the prudent thing and waited until 1989, when Upper Deck joined the fray and changed the hobby forever with their little photographic masterpieces.

But Topps couldn’t resist going to their drawing board — or airbrushing board, as it were — to squeeze Bell into their 1988 Traded set.

And so it is that Buddy Bell found himself standing or sitting in front of some dark, weathered wooden background, smiling big like he always does — though maybe with a hint of discomfort. “You aren’t going to post this, right?”

Oh yeah, Buddy. They posted it.

But not before adding a hovering, gloppy, rainbow-y yet somehow midnight-y Astros hat and jersey over your noggin and chest.

It’s like Grandfather of Snapchat, except both much more glorious and much more horrendous.

And we were there to see it all.

Check out the entire series of 2019 Spring Training Challenge posts here.

Ah, yes … who doesn’t love Valentine’s Day?

And, as it so happens, February 14 is also about the same time that pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training, marking the beginning of another Major League Baseball season. In the old days, it was also when new baseball cards made their way to most corners of the earth for the first time.

Yep, baseball and Valentine’s Day go together in a coincidental sort of way like school lunch and diarrhea. Or something.

To celebrate that pairing (baseball and Valentine’s Day, that is), I thought it would be fun to put together an All-Time All-Valentine’s Baseball Card Team. So I did.

All of the guys here have names that have something to do with our big sweetheart day, and they all have a baseball card or two to rub together.

And speaking of “together,” together these players form a complete lineup, and then some.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Rick Sweet, C

Rick Sweet made a total of 272 appearances for the San Diego Padres, New York Mets, and Seattle Mariners scattered over three Big League seasons from 1978 through 1983. He hit just .234 with six homers and 57 RBI over 815 plate appearances, but he did manage to pick up a handful of baseball cards along the way. Chief among them was this, ahem, sweet 1983 Topps issue showing Sweet (the man) in the tools of ignorance — the mitt, at least —  with the Mariners.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Pete Rose, 1B

Right. Pete Rose had all sorts of troubles after he came back to the Cincinnati Reds in the 1980s and became their manager, then their Bettor-in-Chief. He’s terrible and awful and broke baseball’s cardinal rule. Fine. All true.

But he was also one of the great players of the 1960s and 1970s, and it’s impossible to leave him off this team. Though Rose played all over the diamond, we’ll slot him at first base because that’s where he played most and because that fits the rest of our lineup best. And the card?

Rose cards don’t get much better than his second-year issue, 1964 Topps, which also happens to be his first solo card.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Bobby Rose, 2B

The California Angels drafted Bobby Rose out of San Dimas High School in the fifth round in 1985, and he made his Major League debut four years later. He was young at just 22 and touted in some circles as the Halos’ second baseman of the future, but Rose managed just 73 games over the course of the next four seasons. Still, he makes the cut at the keystone for our team, and he looks awfully good — in a Junk Wax sort of way — on his 1992 Topps card.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Coco Laboy, 3B

OK, this one may be a stretch, but …

“Coco” is not far from “cocoa,” and you can’t have all those tasty Valentine chocolates without cocoa. Besides, Coco was the third baseman for the original rendition of the Montreal Expos, and he has some cool early 1970s baseball cards. It’s hard to argue against the 1971 and 1972 issues, but I’ll take 1970 for all the dugout-in-the-background-golden-Topps-All-Star-Rookie-red-white-and-blue-first-year-Expos-uniform goodness it imparts.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Bobby Valentine, SS

Before Bobby Valentine was playing cards and dress-up between innings in the New York Mets dugout, he was forging a 10-year career as an actual Big League player. Like (Pete) Rose, Bobby V. played a lot of positions, though nowhere near as well as Pete did, at least if you consider the bat side of things. Among all those slots, Valentine spent the most time at shortstop, so he gets that hole for us, too.

Valentine had some solid 1970s cardboard, but we’re going with his 1972 Topps issue here because it’s so psychedelic and because Bobby looks like a shortstop in the shot.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Ellis Valentine, RF

In ten Big League seasons with the Expos  (6+), Mets (1+), Texas Rangers(1), and Angels(1), Ellis Valentine collected an All-Star appearance, some MVP votes, and a Gold Glove, along with 123 home runs and some other statistical goodies.

He also gave collectors a variety of baseball card looks, from scowls to smiles to poses to blank stares.

But if you know anything about baseball cards from the 1980s, you know the only choice for this list is his 1981 Topps issue. You know, the one where he has welded a dinosaur bone onto the front of his batting helmet to protect his grill? Yeah, that one.

That card, plus Valentine’s actual baseball skills, make him our right fielder.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Fred Valentine, CF

According to Baseball Reference, Fred Valentine’s nickname is, “Squeaky.” I’ll leave it to you to find out why.

For us, Valentine’s nickname is “center fielder,” by virtue of appearing in that slot more than just about anyone else on this list, even though he spent more time in right field. Sometimes, you just have to take one for the team.

You might be interested to know that Valentine picked up some MVP votes with the 1966 Washington Senators, who were a pretty awful team under a just-warming-up Gil Hodges. That nugget is all the more relevant when you realize that his beautiful 1967 Topps card, celebrating that ’66 campaign, is our pasteboard of choice here.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Candy Maldonado,  LF

Candy Maldonado was one of those guys who hit a decent amount of home runs (18 for the Giants in 1986) fairly early in his career (age 25), flashing promise that made us come back to his cards over and over, waiting for the BIG breakout.

That never came, but Candy did turn in a 15-year career that included three 20-homer seasons and 146 overall. His fielding was nothing to write home about, but he logged enough time in both right and left to make him a solid choice as our left fielder.

He’s also showcasing that powerful swing, while flashing some Los Angeles Dodgers blue, on his 1984 Topps card.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Jim Ray Hart, DH

Jim Ray Hart was a bona fide star beginning at age 22 for the San Francisco Giants in 1964. You may not know that, though, because he was generally overshadowed by a couple of ho-hum teammates name Willie McCovey and Willie Mays. Nevertheless, Hart finished second (to Dick Allen, tied with Rico Carty) in the ’64 National League Rookie of the Year award voting.

Hart also had five straight seasons with 20+ home runs, including two with more than 30, from 1964-68 before tailing off sharply thereafter.

And, while Hart’s primary position was at third base, his defense was generally considered … um … atrocious. So, left field, here he came!

And then DH, once he made the transition to the New York Yankees, as all aging sluggers must eventually do.

Still, he had some great cardboard, including a rather brutal 1974 Topps rendition where he’s actually listed as a designated hitter. Good enough to make him our DH.

But that’s not our card here … nope, we’re going with his sparkling 1965 Topps card, which reminds one (me) of the awesome ’65 Topps Tony Oliva issue.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Corky Valentine, Starting Pitcher (RHP)

Corky Valentine was a big (for the time), mean right-hander for the Cincinnati Reds who signed at age 19 and then spent six years working his way through the minor leagues and a stint in the Army before finally landing on the Big League roster in 1954. Sorta like the anti-Joe Nuxhall. Valentine pitched like a mini-workhorse (194 1/3 innings) as a rookie at age 25, but then fell off to less than 30 innings in 1955 … and never appeared in the Big Leagues again.

Corky did, however, garner one more or less perfect baseball card in that short time frame — this 1955 Topps beauty.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

John Candelaria, Starting Pitcher (LHP)

If you don’t know why The Candy Man is on this list, it’s possible you’re on the wrong website. But, just in case you’re not and just haven’t spent much time pouring through this particular corner of baseball history, John Candelaria was a monstrous (6’7″) starting pitcher who toiled in the Majors from 1975 though 1993. In 1977, at age 23, he went 20-5 for an NL-leading .800 winning percentage and with an NL-leading 2.34 ERA for the always competitive Pittsburgh Pirates.

He cooled down considerably after that, but the big lefty still managed 177 career wins against 122 losses on the strength of a solid 3.33 ERA.

Oh, and his nickname was The Candy Man, but you already knew that if you were paying attention above.

Candelaria’s career spanned well into the hobby’s boom years, so there are plenty of cards to pick from, but I’m going with 1976 Topps, where Candy channels Christopher Cross and models his “Ride Like the Wind” hairdo.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Don Rose, Relief Pitcher (RHP)

Don Rose might have been the most celebrated flower-named dude in the game in the early 1970s were it not for that hustling booger down on the Riverfront. As it was, Rose made his debut for the Mets in 1971 … then pitched for the Angels in 1972 … then spent 1973 in the minors … then pitched in two games for the San Francisco Giants in 1974.

All told, Rose made 19 Big League appearances, including four starts, and saved zero games in his 15 relief appearances.

Even with just 45 2/3 innings of total work, Rose still appeared in the 1973 Topps set on a pasteboard that may hold the record for the most total white space of all time

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Vance Lovelace, Relief Pitcher (LHP)

Sure, phonetically Vance Lovelace is the opposite of what you’d want for a Valentine’s day pitcher, but his last name is quite, um, lovely if you break it down — Love + Lace.  How delightful.

Which is not to say that Lovelace himself was so delightful on Big League diamonds, because his 0-0 record with 0 saves and a 5.79 ERA in 4 2/3 innings pitched for the Angels and Mariners is not the stuff of dreams. Except it is the stuff of dreams, because he played in the Major Leagues.

Did you?

The dream was only enhanced by the fact that Lovelace made his way onto a 1989 Fleer Major League Prospects card, right alongside Terry Taylor.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Candy Harris, Pinch Runner

The Baltimore Orioles selected Candy Harris in the third round of the 1966 January draft, and then lost him to the Houston Astros in the Rule 5 draft that November.

As per the rules of Rule 5, the ‘Stros put Candy right onto their roster and kept him there through 1967. During that summer, he made one plate appearance over six games.

Huh? That math doesn’t work, does it?

Well, it does if you’re a pinch runner, Skippy!

And so, seven years before Charlie O. Finley made waves by signing Herb Washington to be a PR for the Oakland A’s (for PR), Candy Harris filled the role for Houston. Never mind that he struck out in his only at-bat, attempted zero stolen bases, and scored zero runs.

Dude was a pinch runner in the Major Leagues.

And, appeared on a 1968 Topps Rookie Stars card as “Alonzo” Harris, right alongside Tom Dukes.

And then was done in the Majors. Which is beside the point entirely.

(Check out our other player card posts here.)

Want to see a video version of this article?

If the 1988 Score baseball card set had no soul — a fact we’ve already established — then what can you say about the 1989 Score set?

That it had no face? That it was never born at all?

Maybe.

After all, 1989 Score is kinda like rocks or dirt. You can find it everywhere if you want to, though you hardly ever want to. And no one really knows how it got anywhere in particular.

It’s just always been there.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link).

And while the brightly colored borders of 1988 Score at least give that set an identity, 1989 Score is about as anonymous as they come.

White borders.

Tiny fanned diamond at the center of card fronts to list player name, position, and team. Score logo in the upper right-hand corner.

The photography is decent in general, though many images came out dark or blurry. They certainly pale in comparison to what Upper Deck gave us in their inaugural set that same year.

And, yes, Score treated to us card-back color photos again, along with plenty of stats and verbiage.

Beyond the “need” to collect one of everything that came out, though, there was little that compelled collectors to stock up on 1989 Score, so we didn’t, for the most part.

When faced with such an uninspiring set, then, how do you go about picking the best card?

Even more than usual, it’s a subjective exercise, though you can apply a few principles …

• Look for a great photo.
• Look for a pleasing color scheme.
• Keep history in mind.
• Give some credence to player selection (i.e., star power is important).

With all that in mind, my choice for the best card from the 1989 Score baseball set is … Nolan Ryan, at #300.

This card offers a strong shot of The Ryan Express right at the end of his drive as he is releasing the ball. Some poor batter stands less than 60 feet away and has a split second to reconsider his career choice as the spheroid of doom rockets toward his body.

The orange diamond used for the Astros designation at the bottom of the card complements Ryan’s rainbow sleeves, and the purple bottom border works well with the crowd in the background.

And, by the time this card was issued, Ryan was gearing up for his first season with the Texas Rangers after having left Houston as a free agent in the off-season.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link).

In case you have forgotten the early 1990s, Ryan cemented his legend in Arlington and, in the process, pushed the value of all his cards toward the top of the heap for whatever set he appeared in.

So, yeah, this card checks all my boxes and is as good a choice as any for best card in the 1989 Score set.

Damning with faint praise?

Maybe, but the worst baseball card I ever owned was still better than the best bill anyone ever sent me. So, as paper goes, this one is pretty solid.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

(This is the 28th in our series of posts about the best baseball cards from the 1980s. Check out the rest of those posts here.)

Want to see a video version of this article?

Do you realize just how serious Craig Biggio was about playing second base?

I mean, did you know that he used to don a face mask, chest protector, and shin guards just to take his position behind Houston Astros pitchers?

Or that he wore his batting helmet — backwards — in the field?

Or that his mitt was the size of a Charlie Kerfeld, just in case something wild happened?

You say you didn’t know any of that?

Well, take a look at card number 561 in the 1989 Donruss set and you’ll see Biggio in all his tools-of-ignorance-second-base glory.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Now, sure, the position indicator at the top of the card next to Biggio’s name says “C” but we all know he was a second baseman. A Hall of Fame second baseman, in fact.

And, yes, Biggio’s page at Baseball Reference tells us that he played 428 games behind the plate in the Major Leagues. And that he won a National League Silver Slugger award at catcher the same year (1989) this Donruss rookie card was issued. And that he was an All-Star catcher in 1991.

But Biggio was a second baseman.

A Cooperstown second baseman.

Known for his grit and determination.

And what could be grittier and more determined than standing there at second base, as Biggio does on his 1989 Donruss card, in full battle regalia? Just waiting for a collision or some sort of hazmat situation?

Not much that I can think of.

And besides, we’ve already had a ton of catcher cards in this series of posts about the best baseball card from each base set of the 1980s. My pledge — to myself at least — was to limit the repeats and position overlaps, so I can’t include another catcher here.

Which means that Craig Biggio is a second baseman, as everyone already knows.

Because there is little doubt that the 1989 Donruss Craig Biggio card is the best card in the set.

Not the most iconic — that’s the Ken Griffey, Jr., rookie card.

Not the most valuable — again, that honor belongs to Junior.

But Biggio does well on both counts.

So, when you consider the whole package, no one can touch Biggio.

Consider …

• This is Biggio’s Donruss rookie card.
• A PSA 9 copy will cost you $5-10 on eBay (affiliate link). A perfect PSA 10 runs about $15. Both of those are cheap prices for the rookie card of a Hall of Famer, but it’s also a freaking miracle any card from this set can bring even that much money. This set still flows into the market from the depths of ancient stockpiles like water from an underground stream.
• The card looks great. Great.

Maybe not the design itself, because 1989 Donruss is pretty blah.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

But the Astros logo is in full display on the card front, and the normally ugly fadeaway top border matches almost perfectly.

The bottom border repeats that orange-to-yellow color scheme and makes the rainbow stripes on Biggio’s shoulders stand out even more than they would on their own.

And the picture sets it all off, of course.

There stands the future HOFer, crouched and focused on the action in front of him, waiting for something to come his way. Maybe it will be a runner or a batted ball or a thrown ball.

Whatever it is, you know Biggio will handle it with aplomb, because he has the tools and he’s ready to protect his turf.

Right there at second base.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

(This is the 26th in our series of posts about the best baseball cards from the 1980s. Check out the rest of those posts here.)

Want to see a video version of this article?

“Best 1981 Donruss baseball card” is an oxymoron on par with terms like “approving mother” and “effective hair regrowth”.

Donruss’s inaugural baseball set just wasn’t all that good. In most ways, it was pretty bad.

Bad photos.

Bad cardstock.

Small set size.

Gum stuck to card fronts.

But when you thumb through a stack of 1981 Donruss or peruse an online gallery of the cards, you’ll find there are a few that look OK. Maybe even good.

My personal favorite is the Jesus Figueroa Chicago Cubs/San Francisco Giants combo. But I’ve already written about that one.

And Gary Carter looks pretty good in his swing follow-through, but he “won” our 1980 Topps sweepstakes.

Other candidates include the lone single-player Tim Raines rookie card of the year, Danny Ainge looking rangy in the field, Willie Stargell crouched at first base, Nolan Ryan freight-training  a pitch toward home, and Byron McLaughlin with a right-at-you pitch delivery.

Even some of the many posed shots look pretty good from our perspective here in the 21st century — Pete Rose, George Brett, Dave Parker, and several others make fine displays.

But there is one card that combines good action, a clear shot of the player’s face, stadium ambiance, and a historical component that make it hard to beat …

That would be card #18 of Joe Morgan.

This pasteboard captures Little Joe on the ready at second base, focused intently on an unseen batter, waiting for the action to unfurl. Morgan peers out from under flipped-up sunglasses in quintessential 1980s style.

What’s cool about this card — besides all I’ve already mentioned — is that Morgan sports a Houston Astros road jersey with rainbow shoulder stripes.

Morgan had signed with the Astros as a free agent after the Cincinnati Reds let him walk after 1979, but Houston released him after the 1980 season.

So this is a point-in-time shot during an uncertain moment in a Hall of Fame career. Morgan would log a few more seasons, first with the San Francisco Giants, then helping the 1983 Philadelphia Phillies to the World Series, then wrapping up with the Oakland A’s.

But nobody knew any of that when this card came out. All we knew was that Morgan had not impressed in his return to Houston, where he began his Major League career in the 1960s, and was trying to hang on with the Giants.

And that he still looked brilliant there in his Astros garb with the dazzling Wrigley Field ivy as his background.

Is it the best card in the 1981 Donruss set?

It sure has all the elements to lift it head-and-shoulders above the rest … even if Morgan himself always had to take a front-row seat during team photos.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

(This is the second in our series of posts about the best baseball cards from the 1980s. Check out the rest of those posts here.)

Want to see a video version of this article?

Ken Landreaux once lived the baseball dream …

He was good enough in high school for the Houston Astros to select him in the eighth round of the 1973 draft, but he wanted more. So he headed to Arizona State, became a standout there, and raised his status enough for the California Angels to select him with their first-round pick (sixth overall) in 1977.

That put Landreaux just down the road from his hometown of Los Angeles (Compton) and kept him in the warm weather he’d always thrived in.

It was a good fit, and Landreaux found himself in the Major Leagues by that fall. In 116 games through the end of 1978, he struggled to put up big numbers (.229 batting averages, five home runs, 28 RBI) but showed enough speed and glovework to catch the eye of other teams.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

One of those clubs was the Minnesota Twins, who liked Landreaux enough to insist he be included (along with Dave Engel, Paul Hartzell, and Brad Havens) in the deal that brought Rod Carew to the west coast in February of 1979.

Though the move north might have been tough to swallow at first, Landreaux adjusted quickly and established himself as a budding star with the Twins in 1979, hitting .305 with 15 homers and 83 RBI.

He wasn’t the only reason to be excited in Minneapolis, either, as Minnesota crafted an 82-80 record that summer thanks to a young core of players and the guidance of manager Gene Mauch.

The Twins were inconsistent early in 1980, though, and they entered their April 23rd home game against Landreax’s old team, the California Angels, with a 6-7 record.

In that game at Metropolitan Stadium, things got much worse, as the Angels thumped the Twins, 17-0.

While Angels hitters were teeing off against Minnesota pitching, California starter Bruce Kison was nearly untouchable, allowing just four walks and a solitary hit.

That base knock came with one out in the bottom of the ninth at the hands of Kison’s former teammate … Ken Landreaux.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Kison retired Rick Sofield and Butch Wynegar after Landreaux’s double, but the no-hitter was gone.

While Landreax’s heroics did nothing to help the Twins that spring afternoon, it did serve notice that he was a man with tenacity, who never gave up. As it turned out, those traits would show up again and again over the next several weeks.

Game after game, Mauch wrote Landreaux’s name in the lineup, and game after game, Landreaux did what he was supposed to do — hit.

In fact, by the time the Baltimore Orioles rolled into Minnesota on May 31, 1980, Landreaux had hit safely in 31 straight games, a Twins record that stands to this day.

During that streak, Landreaux batted .392 to raise his season average to a hefty .356.

But against Scott McGregor on that final day of May, the hits finally ran dry. That in itself is nothing to lament too intensely, as McGregor was in the midst of a 20-win season and was a legitimate Cy Young contender.

Landreaux’s streak had been a rare bright spot in a dismal run for the Twins, though, and without it, there was little joy for a team that stood at 18-29 entering June.

Things didn’t get much better from there.

By the time Mauch was fired after an August 24 loss to the Detroit Tigers, the Twins were 54-71, and Landreaux’s average had fallen all the way to .272.  Minnesota finished strong (23-13) under Johnny Goryl, and Landreaux recovered to hit .281 on the season, but things were never quite the same.

On March 30 of 1981, just before the eventual strike-shortened season began, the Twins traded Landreaux to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Mathew Reeves, Kelly Snider, and Mickey Hatcher.

And so, after two years and heroics that most Little Leaguers can only dream about, Ken Landreaux was back home.

The marriage worked well, as Landreaux anchored center field and hit .297 with 18 stolen bases to help the Dodgers all the way to the World Series, where they beat the New York Yankees, four games to two.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Over the next few seasons, Landreaux continued to develop his wheels, reaching the 30-steals plateau twice and helping the Dodgers content most years.

By 1987, his playing time and numbers had slipped significantly, and LA released him after the season. Landreaux played a couple more years in the minors (for Baltimore and the Dodgers) and then retired.

On his career, Ken Landreaux batted .268 on the back of 1099 hits, collecting 91 home runs and 145 stolen bases along the way.

Any of those accomplishments would fulfill most boyhood baseball dreams beyond all realistic expectations, but Landreaux went even further beyond.

For one glorious stretch in the spring of 1980, he was Joe DiMaggio and Pete Rose.

Anything was possible.

(Check out our other player card posts here.)

The 1981 Donruss baseball cards may have been some of the ugliest and cheapest pasteboards ever produced, but they had a couple of things going for them …

First, they helped usher in a new hobby era (along with Fleer), effectively ending Topps’ monopoly (temporarily, at least).

And second, they took an unusual approach to an age-old problem.

Ever since Gutenberg started spitting out baseball cards from his new printing press way back in the 15th century, traded players and rookies have been the bane (and, eventually, the boon) of card manufacturers.

After all, it’s tough to keep up with player movement when Major League Baseball teams are basically free to swap guys at any time but your cards are pretty much static.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Topps is infamous for their airbrush jobs and hatless cards over the years, and Canadian counterpart O-Pee-Chee wrote a “traded to” message right there on card fronts, along with showing the card design of a player’s new team. Topps also addressed the problem head-on with their Traded sets, and Fleer followed suit with their Update issues. Donruss eventually did their part with Opening Day and The Rookies sets.

But in that first year of existence, Donruss settled on an approach that satisfied no one, but confused plenty of collectors.

In particular, Big D showed a traded player in whatever uniform he was wearing in whatever pictures they had on hand, but they designed the card around the player’s new team.

Sort of the OPC approach, but Donruss didn’t bother with any “traded” language. Even on card backs.

Well, at least the first time around … some of the players did get a “Traded to” bit tacked onto the top of their career highlights on card backs in later press runs.

So we’re left with Jesus Figueroa in a Chicago Cubs uniform, in Wrigley, but with a Giants frame and designation:

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Both without the “Traded to” tag on back …

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

And with …

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Similarly, we have the Cliff Johnson Cubs-A’s combo …

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

… the Bruce Sutter Cubs-Cardinals ensemble …

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

… the Jerry Martin redux of Figueroa’s Cubs-Giants getup …

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

… the Mike Vail Cubs-Reds Commemorative Edition Card …

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

… and the Ray Burris Cubs-Mets throwback special.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Yep, the Cubs traded Burris to the New York Yankees way back in May 1979, but Donruss couldn’t scrape together a photo that was snapped in the intervening 20-some months.

And lest you think this was a Cubs-only affliction, we get to see Darrell Porter in an unholy mixture of the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals:

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

And, Larry Milbourne with the Mariners and Yankees:

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

And, Willie Norwood with the Twins and Mariners:

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

And, Bob Owchinko with the Indians and Pirates:

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

And, Dave Edwards with the Twins and Padres:

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

And, Dave Roberts with the Rangers and Astros:

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

And, Geoff Zahn with the Twins and Angels:

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Did I miss any?

I don’t think so, but it’s possible. These things are everywhere, like dog hairs on a collie owner’s corduroys.

But, hey, at least the 1981 Donruss set is interesting.

And the card stock is thin enough that you don’t even have to turn the card over — you can read the back while looking at the front.

And … the photos are so fuzzy, you’ll want to curl up with them.

Just like a collie.

(Check out our other player card posts here.)

Want to see a video version of this article?

When Hall of Famer Randy Johnson made his way to professional baseball in the summer of 1985, no one knew quite what to do with him.

Here was a towering but skinny and awkward left-hander with a monster fastball but all sorts of control problems. He had been good enough in high school for the Atlanta Braves to select him in the 1982 Major League Baseball draft, but not until the fourth round.

Johnson said no thanks and instead headed to USC. Three years later, the Montreal Expos took him in the second round despite tepid scouting reports like this one from Larry Moore:

Shortarmer with M.L. fastball but change-up and curveball-slider pitch too big. Gives away change now and don’t like his inconsistency with all stuff. Poor fielder, no move to first, and I don’t see enough consistency to like major league, although he has the arm.

This time, Johnson signed his contract and reported to the Low-A Jamestown Expos. In eight appearances — all starts — the Future Unit racked up 21 strikeouts over 27 1/3 innings.

Of course …

He also gave up 24 walks and 22 runs (18 earned) for a sparkling 5.93 ERA.

Johnson was living up to his billing as having a death ray of fire for a left arm but also a wild streak that just might derail the whole thing. Much like fellow fireballer  Nolan Ryan in the late 1960s, it looked like the Big Unit Express might never leave the station.

But then again, it might.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

No one knew.

Johnson was just unlike any player we’d ever seen.

He was the tallest player of all-time.

He was a project and unlikely to make to the Major Leagues before his 25th birthday, if at all.

He had the physical tools to do something really special.

He had fatal flaws that might stop him cold at any moment.

Would Johnson be able to eventually tame that lightning in his arm, as Ryan had before him, and put together a real MLB career?

Or would he become the Shawn Bradley of baseball, unable to capitalize on his outsized potential?

It was impossible to tell — Johnson and his career were blank slates waiting for fates and the man himself to write his story.

The next year, 22-year-old Johnson reported to the Class A West Palm Beach Expos for his first full season of professional baseball. If things didn’t go well, it might be his last, too.

That summer, Johson also appeared on his first baseball card, in the 1986 Procards West Palm Beach Expos team set.

If you like a lot of whitespace on your cardboard, these cards would have been right up your alley. Blazing white borders with a thick white chunk of real estate at the bottom of the card swallow red piping surrounding the player photo. The Expos logo is prominent in the lower right-hand corner.

On Johnson’s card, he stands with his glove over a flat midsection, staring at the camera with a flat — or blank — expression. He almost looks out of place in his #32 uniform in front of the tree-lined diamond against a blue-sky day behind him.

It’s a pretty good metaphor for his status in the game — did he belong or not?

But the truly apt metaphor for Johnson at that moment was the back of his card:

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Does it get any more basic than this?

Birthdate … hometown … throws/bats … giraffe-style height and weight.

(And “throws” was apropos, too, don’t you think? No one was quite sure if he could pitch yet.)

The year the card was issued — 1986 — is listed at the bottom, along with the ProCards identifier.

And in between the bio stuff and the legal stuff, where you might normally expect to find stats and maybe a snappy line or two about a player’s accomplishments, there is just a big, empty white box, surrounded by a thin black border.

No numbers from his time at Jamestown.

No, “Randy hopes to one day scare the living shiste out of John Kruk.”

Just a blank slate, waiting for Johnson to write his baseball story.

Luckily for all of us, The Big Unit shook off his writer’s block and became a Nobel Laureate on the mound.

(Check out our other player card posts here. Check out the most-watched Randy Johnson rookie cards right here.)

Want to see a video version of this article?