For most of his career, Ryan was a silent enigma who went about his business of being a fireballer with occasional streaks of wildness who couldn’t quite crack the top tier of the pitching firmament.

While Steve Carlton drew comparisons to Lefty Grove and Warren Spahn, and Tom Seaver threatened to move into Walter Johnson territory, Nolan Ryan bounced from the New York Mets to the California Angels to the Houston Astros. He entered the 1989 season as a 42-year-old starter who had won 20 games just twice — way back in 1973 and 1974 — and having just signed a free agent contract with the Texas Rangers.

He had managed to outlast Carlton and held the all-time strikeout record, but Ryan had also never won a Cy Young award and finished in the top five just five times in his first 22 seasons. All indications were that the 1989 season would be a swan song for a flawed hurler who might have been a threat to throw a no-hitter a decade earlier but who was mostly an afterthought as the 1990s dawned.

Not Ready for Pasture Yet

Instead, Ryan looked solid out of the gate, winning two games in April and then finding his stride as spring turned into summer. His fastball was stifling, as always, his control was good enough for umpires to give him the benefit of the doubt on close calls, and his conditioning was outstanding.

By the end of the season, Ryan had racked up a 16-10 record with a 3.20 ERA and a league-leading 301 strikeouts.

At an age when most players were well into retirement, Nolan Ryan had found his third or fourth wind and captured the imaginations of fans everywhere. And it couldn’t have happened at a better time, as baseball was reeling from the Pete Rose scandal, a development that also deflated one of the most important cards in the hobby, the 1963 Topps Pete Rose rookie card.

And so it was that the Ryan Express picked up the kind of steam that he’d never had in his prime, and Nolan rolled on at 43 … and 44 … and 45 … and 46.

When he finally retired after the 1993 season, Ryan had sailed past the 300-win plateau, added two more no-hitters to his lore (for a total of 7 no-nos), and finished up with an inhuman 5714 strikeouts. Sure, he also set the all-time record with 2795 bases on balls, but we were willing to give him a bye on that front, especially since he had’t handed out as many as 100 free passes in a season since 1983.

A Chill in the Hobby Air

At the same time that Ryan was bull-rushing American League batters with his geriatric heat, that 1968 rookie card of his, the one (#177) that he shared with fellow New York Mets phenom Jerry Koosman, was demolishing the status quo of the hobby.

Every time Ryan took the hill, we knew he might throw a no-hitter or strike out 27 men. He was making history even if he’d been around long enough to witness most of what’s written in our history books.

And, in the era before really big men started slamming really big home runs on a regular basis, we were hungry for powerful heroes, and Nolan Ryan played the role of graying Superman to perfection.

We had to have his cards.

We had to have his rookie card.

And the price rose, from $50 to $100 to $500 to $1000 and beyond.

When Ryan was in the midst of his Texas resurrection, you could always tell when a dealer had a Ryan rookie at a card show by the level of buzz in the room. The moment you walked through the door, you would hear the murmuring and whispering, and soon enough you’d be pulled into the vortex of the crowd, directed by some Ryan Jedi force to the display case where young Nolan gazed up at you from under his hat brim with guarded hesitancy.

“How much you want for your Ryan?” would have been Google’s Number 1 search term among participants at a Ryan-blessed show had a baseball-card-show-specific search engine for the spoken word existed at the time.

Still Smokin’

As is usually the case with our Wax Pack Gods who achieve a truly iconic status, though, the buzz around Ryan dampened when he sauntered off into the Texas sunset. His cards stabilized in price, then softened a bit, and finally rebounded some when he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1999.

Ryan issues also slid down the same muddy hill that sullied the rest of the hobby in the new century, but that rookie remains one of the most celebrated pieces of cardboard in history.

The PSA population report shows that 6000+ Ryan rookies have been submitted for grading, which is more than twice as many as even the Rose rookie.

And if you want to buy a Ryan?

You can find them all over eBay, but be prepared to pay several thousand dollars for a really nice copy.

No matter what happens to the market in the future, the 1968 Topps Nolan Ryan rookie card stands as a reminder of the spellbinding power that a simple piece of cardboard can hold over little boys and grown men alike, especially when heroes are involved.

For even more information, check out our article about detailing Nolan Ryan rookie card value through the years.

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When Ivan Rodriguez first came on the scene in the very early 1990s, he brought a lot of hype with him.

Of course, many hotshot rookies have similar stories — they’re the next Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Rickey Henderson, or Steve Carlton.

But Rodriguez’s advance billing came with a grain of salt.

Sure, he was a great defensive catcher, but no one was quite sure if his bat could stand up to Major League pitching.

Unlike most young players, though, Rodriguez lived up to his promise and then some.

Not only did he develop into one of the best catchers ever behind the plate, he also built himself into a force at the plate.

Thanks to those efforts, Pudge will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, during the summer of 2017.

For longtime collectors, Rodriguez’s enshrinement brings back great memories of our hobby before the bust. He’s one of the last players from our youth who will make it to Cooperstown through the writer’s ballot — most of the rest will need help from the Veterans Committee.

To help you get in the mood for some old-time collecting with a Pudge-y flair, here are seven (in honor of Pudge’s uniform number) great Ivan Rodriguez cards from the early days of his career.

1989 Procards Gastonia Rangers Ivan Rodriguez

Back in the late 1980s, dedicated minor league cards staked their claim to the pre-rookie market much as Bowman would do a few years later.

When Rodriguez made his minor league debut for the Gastonia Rangers in 1989, both the Star Company and ProCards were there to chronicle the event on cardboard.

If you want a pure 1980s Pudge card complete with a back that looks like it came straight off your high school typewriter, though, the ProCards issue is the one you need.

And it can be yours for less than $50 most of the time, and occasionally less than twenty, with PSA 10 copies pushing toward $75 or more.

1991 Bowman Ivan Rodriguez

In 1991, Topps was still trying to figure out what to do with the resurrected Bowman line.

The set had debuted two years earlier as an oversized nod to the hobby’s past but, while collectors enjoyed the large and colorful photos, we were less enthused by the cards’ refusal to play nice with the rest of our 2-1/2″ X 3-1/2″ treasures.

The Bowmans were too big!

Topps trimmed the cards down to a standard size in 1990 and, in 1991 hit on the formula that would carry the set so far in subsequent years: rookie cards!

Among the 150 or so first-year cards in that 1991 set are standouts such as Jim Thome, Chipper Jones, Jeff Bagwell, Luis Gonzalez, and Kenny Lofton.

And, of course, Pudge Rodriguez.

For just a few bucks, you can have the first widely distributed Major League card of a Hall of Fame catcher … what could be better than that?

(PSA 10 copies sell for $150-200.)

1991 Topps Traded Tiffany Ivan Rodriguez

The more you look at the 1991 Topps base set, the more you realize it could have been a Bowman issue from the same era.

For their 40th anniversary set, Topps dropped all the garish borders and wild colors of the 1980s and went with a simple design that emphasized the player photo — and the company’s own celebratory logo.

Rodriguez didn’t appear in the full set, but T.C.G. made sure to include the rookie in their year-end Traded set.

Today, even the glossy “Tiffany” version won’t set you back more than $10 raw, though if you opt for a PSA 10 you’re looking at several hundred dollars.

1991 Fleer Ultra Update Ivan Rodriguez

Fleer helped kick off the era of “ultra premium” baseball cards with their 1991 issue named, appropriately enough, “Ultra.”

The hype around Ultra was soon surpassed by the glare of Topps Stadium Club, and the continued build-up of 1990 Leaf as Frank Thomas and Sammy Sosa launched their monster careers.

After a few years, it became apparent that Ultra was not really very limited, but this Pudge card is still one of his rookies and represents a piece of hobby history — the first card of a Hall of Famer in a  groundbreaking set.

Even if it is just an “Update.”

Today, this card can be yours for less than $30 in even the highest grades.

1992 Fleer Rookie Sensations Ivan Rodriguez

In 1992, Fleer caused a hobby “sensation” by issuing one of 20 “Rookie Sensations” cards in each of its jumbo packs of 35 cards.

Featuring big names like Jeff Bagwell and Frank Thomas, Sensations also offered up the first card of slugger Phil Plantier.

The cards were thick and shiny, and pretty limited, at least compared to most of the other material being pushed out by the millions that summer.

As the buzz around Plantier continued to grow, he pulled Sensations along with him, and they were the hit of the hobby most of that season.

While the Rodriguez card never got the kind of love that Plantier’s did, it’s still a solid early-career issue that you can buy for a few bucks or so on eBay, with PSA 9 copies hitting $100 or more and PSA 10s pretty much nonexistent.

1993 Upper Deck Ivan Rodriguez

This one is all about aesthetics.

By 1993, virtually every card was being produced in quantities large enough to paper your office walls, and you can pick this one up for less than a dollar these days.

But when it comes to a striking visual of a modern catching great, this one is hard to beat.

You can’t see much of Rodriguez’s face on this card, but you do get his intense eyes and a hint of teeth. Is he going to catch the ball with his mouth? Bite the batter?

Whatever Pudge has in mind, I wouldn’t want to cross him.

1994 Topps Stadium Club Ivan Rodriguez

Like the ’93 Upper Deck above, this Stadium Club issue won’t break your bank and it won’t give you much return on your investment down the line.

But, also like the UD card, Topps gave us an awesome glimpse into the on-the-field life of one of the game’s great catchers with this beauty.

Someone has just popped up, and Rodriguez is blasting out of his crouch to give chase.

If I had to bet, my money would be on this play ending in an out.

Another Rodriguez play — and card — worthy of the Hall of Fame.

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Ryan’s 1968 Topps rookie card, of course, led the way, and climbed to more than $1000 (check updated Ryan values here) by the time he hung up his spikes in 1993. That burlap-bordered beauty dragged along the rest of Ryan’s early-career cards, and soon collectors were paying three figures for pasteboards from 1969 through the mid-1970s.

Later cards weren’t all that far behind, and the years have done little to soften those prices.

But you don’t have to break the bank in order to stock up on vintage Ryan cards.

In fact, the list below contains 23 cards from throughout the career of The Ryan Express that you can pick up for a relative song.

First, though, a few ground rules …

For the purposes of this list, “vintage” means anything before 1990. You can quibble with this if you want, and I might, too, under other circumstances, but it makes perfect sense when you consider that …

I set out to include at least one card from every team for which Ryan pitched, and he didn’t catch on with the Texas Rangers until 1989.

Finally, in order to qualify for this list, a card has to be available today in NM or better condition for less than $100.

So there you go. If you can live with these terms, go ahead and soak in the vintage fireballer cardboard that follows.

(Click on the titles for each card to see copies currently for sale on eBay — these are affiliate links.)

1970 Topps – Mets Celebrate: We’re Number One! Nolan Ryan (#198)

The 1969 Miracle Mets are one of the most famous and inspiring teams of all time. Led from the dugout by the great Gil Hodges, the Mets were boosted by stellar pitching from Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman, as well as a colorful lineup, that took them all the way to a World Series championship.

In commemorating the Mets’ victory in the first-ever NLCS, Topps issued this “WE”RE NUMBER ONE!” card depicting a shirtless Ryan in the clubhouse with teammates Duffy Dyer, Tommie Agee, and Wayne Garrett.

It’s a rare light-hearted pasteboard moment for the man whose stare and power could frighten batters even from the confines of his baseball card. The best part is that you can pick this one up for less than $10 in ungraded condition and for under $50 when slabbed in NM shape.

1972 Topps Mets Team Card (#362)

Looking for Nolan Ryan’s last card as a member of the New York Mets? Normally, you’d turn to the Topps set issued during his first year with a new team, since card makers are generally a season behind in their photos — this year’s Mike Trout cards shows what he looked like last year.

But in 1972, Topps pushed Ryan into their high-number series and, since he was shipped to the California Angels in December of 1971, his new card reflected his new team affiliation. But the 1972 Topps Mets team card at #362 shows the team as it was during the summer of 1971, and that meant Ryan duly made his thumbnail appearance with his blue and orange teammates.

So Topps managed to sneak in one last Ryan Mets card while at the same time squeezing him into his Angels togs at the end of the set. Whew!

You should be able to find the Mets team card for less than $5 in nice raw condition, while a graded NM-MINT copy might run closer to $30.

1973 Topps  – 1972 Strikeout Leaders – Nolan Ryan/Steve Carlton (#67)

In 1972, Nolan Ryan led the American League with 329 strikeouts in less than 300 innings pitched. It was the first of 11 times that Ryan’s name would top the leader board, and it’s fitting that he and Steve Carlton appeared together on Topps’ strikeout leaders card the next year. Those two would battle for K supremacy over the next decade-and-a-half, with The Ryan Express finally steamrolling lefty.

Today, you can buy this card for less than $10 in raw condition and under $50 for graded NM-MT copies.

1974 Topps Nolan Ryan (#20)

Fresh off a record 383 strikeouts in his second season with the California Angels, Nolan Ryan was starting to make baseball people rethink the notion that he was just a one-dimensional pitcher. For this 1974 card, Topps captured the sight that was making batters from coast to coast quiver in the box as they awaited  Strike 3 — or for something a bit wilder but just as fast. This is the first base card on our list, and it’s a bargain at less than $30 raw and less than $80 in graded NM condition.

1975 Hostess Nolan Ryan (#58)

If you were a collector who didn’t eat sweets in 1975, then chances are you gave away, or threw away, your fair share of Hostess pastries that summer trying to collect the cards the cupcakery issued on the bottoms of family-sized boxes of their sweeties.

The good news was that you got three at a time, panel style, so you could at least show some restraint in your Twinkie-buying habits.

For his part, Nolan Ryan led off a sheet that also included outfielder Reggie Smith of the St. Louis Cardinals and hurler Joe Coleman of the Detroit Tigers, the cards separated by dotted lines that were meant for cutting.

While not all that rare, it’s an interesting period piece that you can find for less than $20 in ungraded condition, for either a nice hand-cut Ryan or the full sheet. Graded copies of the Ryan in NM-MT condition sell for less than $50.

1975 Topps – ’74 Highlights: No-Hitters Nolan Ryan (#5)

On September 28, 1974, Ryan racked up his third career no-hitter. Even though he had tossed two no-nos in 1973, it took Topps until 1975 to commemorate his untouchable-ness in cardboard, and even then he had to share the spotlight with the temporarily unhittable Steve Busby and Dick Bosman.

Still, it’s an early piece of ephemera dedicated to the budding Ryan legacy, and it can be yours for under $10 raw and less than $40when slabbed in NM condition.

1976 SSPC Nolan Ryan (#187)

As card companies sprouted like weeds in the infield of the hobby during the 1980s, veteran collectors continued to lament the fact that no one seemed committed to producing a pure product that focused primarily on presenting the players we idolized while eschewing fancy design elements. Inevitably, these hobbyists would point to the 1975 SSPC set as a prime example of such “purity.”

While most hardliners warned that SSPC was an unauthorized, unlicensed product and could be reproduced whenever the creators — or anyone else — decided to turn on the presses again, a fair number of player collectors added these to their master-set checklists. The fact that it was later revealed the cards were printed in 1976 and not 1975 likewise did nothing to dim enthusiasm for the SSPCs.

The Ryan card shows a typically sharp (for the time), nearly full-bleed photo of The Express in his Halos uniform and sells for less than $10 raw today. Even graded GEM MT copies trade for less than $50.

1976 SSPC Catfish Hunter and Nolan Ryan (#593)

Another SSPC card, this one shows two pitchers at different ends of the career spectrum, though we didn’t really know it then.

In his late 20s, Catfish Hunter was coming off a 23-14 record in his first year with the New York Yankees, but it would be all downhill from there, and “Jim” would be out of the league by 1979.

Ryan, a couple of years younger than Hunter, was just getting warmed up and would continue to build on his legend for nearly two full decades. The card is a contraband classic that you can find without too much trouble for under $10.

1977 Topps Record Breaker Nolan Ryan (#234)

Usually, when guys start breaking career records, it’s a pretty good bet that they’re rounding second and heading toward the end of their big-league journeys. And that’s probably what most collectors thought about Ryan when he appeared on this Topps card commemorating his feat of four 300-strikeout seasons. He was turning 30, and it was only a matter of time before his powerful right arm flew right off his body, after all.

As it turns out, Ryan wasn’t quite finished, as he went on to record two more 300-K campaigns and to pitch at the highest level until 1993. Nevertheless, his 1977 Record Breaker card is a great snapshot of early-career achievement that you can find for under five bucks when ungraded and less than $30 when slabbed in NM-MT condition.

1978 Kellogg’s Nolan Ryan (#51)

Nothing screams “1970s” like garish colors, blurry psychedelic backgrounds, sideburns, and Afros. The 1978 Kellogg’s Nolan Ryan card scores on all of those except the ‘Fro, and we don’t really know what was hiding under his Angel’s cap, right?

Angel on top, Devil underneath; business in the eyes, party in the hat?

Could be.

What we do know is that you can snatch up nice, solid NM copies of this card for less than $10, though you should beware of bowed and (Corn) flaking, cracked surfaces.

1979 Topps All-Time Record Holders: Strikeouts Nolan Ryan/Walter Johnson (#417)

When collectors first tore into wax packs of 1979 Topps, many of us thought we’d stumbled into an accidental treasure. How did Ty Cobb and Walter Johnson get wedged among our stacks of Ed Figueroas and Bump Willses? And does anybody recognize the mistake they made?

Soon enough, we realized that 1) the “All-Time Record Holders” were just a black-and-white device to give us some nostalgia with our record-holder education and 2) Lou Brock’s successful career denouement and assault on every imaginable stolen base records were the impetus for the subset’s existence.

Nearly 40 years later, this Nolan Ryan-and-Walter Johnson card is a happy byproduct of the Brock celebration, and one which foreshadowed Ryan’s strikeout march over the next decade-and-a-half.

Even better? You can score these all day long for about two bucks a pop (raw).

1980 Topps Nolan Ryan (#580)

This is Ryan’s last base card as a member of the California Angels, and it’s a beauty. While the angle of the image doesn’t leave the viewer staring down the barrel of The Ryan Express like his 1974 card did, the action seems almost more powerful somehow. Add in a clear photo and great complementary colors in the card’s design, and it seems all the more a bargain at less than $10 raw. You should also be able to snag a NM graded copy for less than $30.

1981 Donruss Nolan Ryan (#260)

In 1980, Ryan came home to Texas, and this 1981 card shows Ryan in his first season with the Houston Astros. It also happens to be part of Donruss’ first-ever baseball card issue, one of three major sets produced that year. But while Fleer and Topps settled for head shots of the powerful legend, Donruss caught him mid-delivery with the Wrigley Field brick and ivy in the background.

It’s not a gorgeous card, but it IS a perfect period piece that you can buy for less than $5 ungraded and for less than $50 in slabbed MINT condition.

1982 Donruss Diamon Kings Nolan Ryan (#13)

In their sophomore effort, Donruss rolled out their first Diamond Kings, miniature versions of paintings by renowned Hall of Fame artist Dick Perez. Each team had a representative, and it was none other than Ryan who was positioned in front of the blaring orange Astros rainbow. Today, you can buy the original Ryan DK card for around $1 raw and around $30 in graded MINT condition.

1983 Topps All-Star Glossies Nolan Ryan (#28)

Beginning in 1983, Topps inserted flimsy game cards that allowed you to accrue “points,” which could be redeemed for groups of 10 All-Star Glossy cards. These were the pasteboards that we all wanted Topps toissue as their base sets each year, because the card stock was thick and white, the photos were large and clear, and the design was minimal. In many ways, these were the harbingers of Topps Tiffany and the later move toward premium and super premium sets, and these days, you can buy the Nolan Ryan from this first issue for less than $5.

1983 Topps Nolan Ryan Super Veteran (#361)

In 1983, Topps dipped into their archives to recognize 35 “Super Veterans” who had been around the Majors for 10 years or more. The roll included such luminaries as Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt … and Gene Garber.

(30-Year-Old Cardboard shows them all to you here.)

And of course, Nolan Ryan made the list, too. It’s just that he and fellow Super Vet Carlton Fisk would be around for another 10 years and could have appeared in these types of subsets for decades. As it is, you can buy the Ryan SV for less than $40 in graded MINT condition.

1984 Topps – 1983 Highlights: Nolan Ryan, Carlton and Perry Surpass Walter Johnson (#4)

In 1983, Walter Johnson lost his 56-year hold on the all-time strikeouts record, and the mark didn’t fall just once.

Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, and Gaylord Perry each dropped The Big Train, in order.

Perry retired after the season, and Carlton surged into the all-time lead, but Ryan had plenty more up his right sleeve. Topps commemorated the event(s) with #4 in their 1984 set, and you can buy ungraded copies for less than $5. Even in graded GEM MINT condition, you should be able to find it for less than $35.

1984 Topps – NL Active Career Strikeouts Leader – Nolan Ryan-Carlton-Seaver(#707)

With all sorts of big records and milestones within sight in 1984, Topps took the opportunity to stuff more star power into their set with a series of active career leaders in the major statistical categories for both leagues. Card #707 showcased the NL’s best strikeout artists, with Ryan riding shotgun to Steve Carlton and Tom Seaver easing into third. Of course, plenty of Ryan’s strikeouts had come in AL and not the NL, but don’t let the facts get in the way of great cards like this. Pick it up for less than $5, and you’ll be happy Topps fudged.

1985 Donruss Action All-Stars Nolan Ryan (#20)

Card companies may have produced an infinite amount of product in the 1980s, but they were nearly as prolific when it came to the types of cards they offered. One of Donruss’ running specials was the Action All-Stars, which debuted in 1983 and showcased the biggest names in the game on the biggest cards in the game — 3 1/2″ x 5″, to be exact.

Nolan Ryan made his obligatory appearance in the black-bordered 1985 version, which sells for less than $5 ungraded and less than $40 when slabbed in MINT condition.

1986 Fleer Star Sticker Nolan Ryan (#102)

After a five-year hiatus, Fleer rolled out their second series of Star Stickers in 1986. These were full-blown Fleer cards with complete stats on the back, but you could peel away the front and plaster it on your notebook or TV screen if you were so inclined. Stick to the unslabbed version, and you can find the Ryan for less than $5, while a graded NM-MT copy goes for less than $15.

1987 Mother’s Cookies Nolan Ryan (#8)

Issued in packages of baked goodies in 1952 and 1953, and then given away as in-stadium promotions from 1983-1998, Mother’s Cookies cards were a regional issue with an unusually far reach — the entire west coast and both Texas teams. Collectors who appreciated the pure, clean look of SSPC enjoyed Mother’s Cookies cards since they featured full-bleed photos and little else besides a player name and rounded corners. This 1987 Nolan Ryan example sells for less than $5 raw and less than $20 in graded GEM MT condition.

1988 Score Nolan Ryan (#575)

Seven years after Donruss and Fleer joined the baseball card fray, Score showed up with an innovative set that featured premium (for the time) card stock and solid photography on the front AND backs of each pasteboard. As it happened, 1988 was also Nolan Ryan’s last year in Houston, and his orange-bordered Score card is a powerful snapshot of his amazing delivery even in his 40s. You can buy ungraded copies for less than $2 each, and even a perfect GEM MT graded specimen will set you back less than $80.

1989 Bowman Nolan Ryan (#225)

The baseball card field became even more crowded in 1989, when Upper Deck unveiled its premium offering and Topps resurrected the old Bowman name. But while all of the other major base sets showed Ryan in his Astros uniform, Bowman was able to take advantage of a later release date and captured The Express in his new Rangers togs.

The 1989 Bowmans never really clicked with collectors, owing in part to their larger-than-normal size (2 1/2″ x 3 3/4″), but they did set the stage for the later, more popular renditions of the brand. Today, they also provide an early look at Ryan the Ranger for less than $2 in the raw and around $50 for a slabbed GEM MT copy.

—

There you have them: 23 “vintage” Nolan Ryan baseball cards that won’t set you back more than a tank of gas (OK, maybe two in a couple cases). And, really, who needs to go anywhere anyway when you have your wax pack gods to keep you company?

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As Major League Baseball teams go, the Texas Rangers got a late start in life and came at it from an oblique angle.

When the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota (to become the Twins) before the 1961 season, Major League Baseball acted swiftly to accelerate their expansion plans. In particular, they spun up both the Los Angeles Angels and a new team in the nation’s capital … the new Senators.

When the owner (and general manager) of those Senators, Bob Short, couldn’t extort a new stadium from Washington, DC, by the end of the 1971 season, he agreed to move his franchise to Arlington, Texas. American League owners approved the relocation by a 10-2 vote, and the Senators were no more … again.

So, in the spring of 1972, the Texas Rangers began a trek that has now spanned more than 45 years and gained them entry into some exclusive clubs. Consider …

• The Rangers are one of two teams — with the Minnesota Twins — who were once known as the Washington Senators.
• The Rangers are one of eight current franchises who have never won the World Series.
• The Rangers are one of three expansion teams (Milwaukee Brewers and Washington Nationals) who started life in another city.
• The Rangers are the only MLB team in Texas who has never changed leagues.

And the list could go on and on.

In fact, the list of stuff to know about the Texas Rangers is way too big for one post or even one website to spell out in full.

They are the TEXAS Rangers, after all, and everything is bigger there, even if it hasn’t been around as long as others of its ilk.

So, instead of trying to dump every available fact about the Rangers in this space, we’ve instead pulled together all of the best resources about Texas’s second MLB team.

What you’ll find below are the best sites the web has to offer when it comes to learning about and keeping up with the Texas Rangers, all broken down into Lone-Star-bite-sized pieces so you can find what you’re looking for at any given moment.

Enjoy the ride, and check back for updates!

Table of Contents

Texas Rangers Baseball History

Even though the Rangers have only been around as the Rangers since 1972, that’s still more than 45 years worth of baseball to cover.

Luckily, there are plenty of sites to serve up your Rangers in lots of different ways. Here are some of the best we’ve found.

Baseball Reference Rangers Page 

If you were forced to pick just one website from which to get your baseball information for the rest of your life, you couldn’t do much better than Baseball Reference. This site give you all the stats and trivia you could ever need, and they even have some narrative pieces to remind you that baseball is a human game. When it comes to the Texas Rangers, you can begin your journey at BR’s team page.

You can also find more of the Rangers story on their BR Bullpen page.

Rangers History at Major League Baseball

Sometimes, you just need to go right to the source when you’re looking for information. And who better to tell you about the history of a Major League Baseball team than MLB themselves? You can check out the MLB Rangers history page here.

Note that MLB also provides a pretty interesting Rangers timeline.

Wikipedia Team History

Not surprisingly, Wikipedia checks in with a solid page full of interesting Rangers history and trivia. While you may not want to knock out research papers using Wikipedia as your only source, they’re hard to beat when it comes to up-to-date information about whatever topic you’re checking into.

The Texas Rangers are no exception.

Texas State Historical Association

As you might expect, the state of Texas is proud of its sports teams. To that end, the Texas State Historical Association has put together an account of Rangers history that is worth your time to check out.

ESPN Rangers History Page

ESPN may be losing its grip on the title of “The Worldwide Leader in Sports,” but they are still an authoritative source, and their Rangers history page is a good starting point for digging out information about the franchise.

Sports Team History

Sports Team History is a site devoted to … well … sports team histories. They do a good job of presenting a brief, general history of each team, as well as a timeline  and links out to visual histories around logos and uniforms. Their Texas Rangers page is here.

Encyclopedia Britannica

In decades past, hard-copy encyclopedias were often the best or only source of information about most topics. While physical books continue their slide into oblivion, there are still “encyclopedias” running around on the web, and Britannica maintains a strong presence. Check out their Rangers page for a good general overview and links to related topics like “Nolan Ryan” and “Fergie Jenkins.”

Sports E-Cyclopedia

The Sport E-Cyclopedia may not be a household name and their design is a bit dated, but they sure do jam a lot of information into each page. Check out their Texas Rangers entry for a detailed, narrative history of the club — but be prepared to spend more than couple of minutes on the site!

Reference for Business

Reference for Business is a site that presents narrative case studies and histories for businesses in a variety of industries. On their Rangers page, they run down the franchise story and then present about a dozen other references you can dig into for even more information.

Baseball Almanac

The voluminous Baseball Almanac website takes on the history of the Washington Senators and Texas Rangers on this mostly narrative page. Also included are all-time statistical leaders for both teams, as well as a handful of interesting “Fast Facts.”

City of Arlington Website

“What’s a City without Baseball?” reads the title of Arlington’s page devoted to the Rangers. Yeah, they get it, and their page is worth a (quick) read.

The Baseball Gauge

The Baseball Gauge serves up a series of baseball-related dashboards with a strong SABR bent. For instance, their Texas Rangers page shows the top Rangers pitchers and batters, in terms of WAR, since their inception as the new-look Senators in 1961. Other goodies abound on this site, too, and it’s another destination that might suck you in for far longer than you intended.

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Texas Rangers Players

Baseball Reference List of Rangers Batters

Baseball is all about the connections we make with teams and players, and you really can’t know a team without having a good handle on who has worn their uniforms over the years. No one does a better job of helping you make those connections than Baseball Reference, and their list of all Rangers batters will keep you busy for as long as you want (and more).

Baseball Reference List of Rangers Pitchers

Baseball Reference has you covered in terms of Rangers pitchers, too, from Rich Hand to Danny Darwin to Nolan Ryan and beyond.

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Texas Rangers Uniforms

Most Major League teams change up their look from time to time, whether to drive revenue through more jersey sales, to keep up with fashion trends, or just to freshen up outdated uniforms. The Rangers are no exception and have used several different uniforms throughout their existence. You can take a tour down the woolen/polyester/cotton memory lane with any and all of the following sites.

Major League Baseball

The MLB site provides descriptions of each major “look” sported by the Rangers over the years, as well as in-game photos featuring most of the togs. As a bonus, they also run down Texas’ logo changes (see the next section for more on Rangers logos).

Heritage Sports Art

Heritage Sports Art presents up-close views of most Rangers and Senators jerseys, and they also sell replicas if you’re in the market for some Texas gear.

Baseball Hall of Fame

If you want to be dazzled by the widest array of vintage baseball jerseys — and other artifacts — you can imagine, there is no better place than the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY. Little wonder, then, that the HOF jumps in to provide schematic drawings of all Rangers home and road uniforms over the years. An invaluable resource.

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Texas Rangers Logos

Logos change almost as often as uniforms, sometimes in lock-step, sometimes independently. Over the last five decades, the Rangers have employed at least seven different logos, and you can trace that history at either the MLB page listed above or at …

SportsLogos.net

SportsLogos.net shows standalone images of Rangers logos and jerseys, and they also sell various apparel featuring the Rangers colors and emblems.

Sports Logo History

The Rangers page at Sports Logo History lets you peruse all of the team’s logos and even vote for the one you like best. You can also click through to alternative and concept logos that never made it to the mainstream.

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Texas Rangers Baseball Cards and Collectibles

It’s almost inevitable that a die-hard fan will at some point want to acquire memorabilia related to their favorite team. Here are a couple of resources that specifically dig into Rangers baseball cards and collectibles.

Collectors Weekly

Collectors Weekly is a wide-ranging site covering all sorts of collectibles, from wristwatches to baseball cards to motorcycles. Rangers collectors will want to check out the team collectibles page.

Wax Pack Gods

Surprise! We cover most aspects of the hobby at various times, and the Texas Rangers are no exception. Check out our Rangers posts … and then check back again because we’re always adding new pieces.

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Texas Rangers Blogs

We’re fortunate to live in an age when we can find fresh information about our favorite teams all year long thanks to news sites and, especially, blogs. Here are a few of the best and most active blogs devoted to all things Texas Rangers.

Lone Star Ball

This is the SB Nation Texas Rangers blog and features multiple new posts every day.

Nolan Writin’

Another active Rangers blog, this one is part of the FanSided network.

One Strike Away

This blog is a bit more sporadic in terms of publishing schedule than the others on this list, but each post is in-depth and insightful.

Rangers Rounding 3rd

Billed as a “Texas Rangers Fan Site,” this blog keeps plugging away even when the Rangers’ season is over. A very active reader community (comments) makes this a good choice to add to your list of regular reads.

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Team Websites & News

While blogs are meant to be biased, sometimes you just need to know the facts. When you want to find out the latest news — or potential news — about the Texas Rangers, you might consider turning to …

Official MLB Team Site

If something happens “officially” with or around the Texas Rangers, you’ll read about it on their MLB site.

ESPN Rangers Page

ESPN still does a good job of keeping up on developing stories, so their Rangers page is a good place to look for breaking news or even rumors.

MLB Trade Rumors

If rumors are your bag, then you likely already know all about MLB Trade Rumors. Whether you want to find out about the Rangers’ plans for the off-season, their draft strategy, or their trade targets during the summer, their Rumors page should be ready to load in your browser at all times.

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Texas Rangers Social Media

The world is connected like never before thanks to the Internet and, especially, to social media. For baseball fans, that means we have the chance to interact in real-time with the athletes and teams we follow and form an even closer bond than in years past.

Here are the stops to hit if you’re looking to connect with the Texas Rangers on social media …

MLB Social Media Index

This is the team’s official social media listing, which includes various current initiatives.

Rangers Public

This is an aggregate page where the team shows their latest posts from various platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Facebook

This is the Rangers’ official Facebook page, where they post about once per day.

Twitter (@Rangers)

This is the Rangers’ official Twitter account, which is moderately active (several tweets per week).

Google+

The Rangers’ official Google+ account is a bit less active than their Facebook page.

Pinterest

You will find lots of snazzy red, white, and blue Rangers pins on the team’s Pinterest page.

Tumblr

The Rangers’ Tumblr specializes in animated GIFs. If you like short bursts of action, this site is for you.

Instagram

All sorts of great Rangers images abound on their Instagram account.

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Texas Rangers Television and Radio

If the Rangers are your team, then you want to watch them on television or listen to them on

the radio when you can’t be at the Ballpark in person. The team’s MLB site has information on both TV and radio affiliates.

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Texas Rangers Tickets

If you want to see the Rangers play in person, you’ll need tickets. While you can take your chances on getting the tix you want at the Ballpark, you could also plan ahead by visiting these ticket sellers online:

Rangers Tickets from MLB Tickets

Rangers Tickets from StubHub

Rangers Tickets from Vivid Seats

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Texas Rangers Books

Even when Texas isn’t playing, and even when baseball season is over, you can still read about the Rangers through books and e-Books. Here are some tomes you might enjoy:

Seasons in Hell

100 Things Rangers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

Ballgame! A Decade Covering the Texas Rangers from the Best Seat in the House

It’s Baseball Time in Texas!

Texas Rangers: An Interactive Guide to the World of Sports

Baseball Town – The Fall and Rise of the Texas Rangers

Texas Rangers (Favorite Baseball Teams)

Juan Gonzalez – Home Run Hero

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(Check out our other posts related to the Texas Rangers here and check back here for more of our ultimate team guides.)

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

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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.

But I don’t mean it’s difficult for a player to achieve Cooperstown enshrinement, though it undoubtedly is.

No, what I mean is that it’s really hard for us as fans (or writers or players or whatever you might be) to figure out who should be in the Hall of Fame.

Sure, some of the choices are clear — Willie Mays, in. Von Hayes, out (though it pains me to say that). But then there are all the in-between guys. Guys who either played for a long time and put up big overall numbers because of it, or guys who didn’t play all that long but were fairly blistering in their primes.

In that first group, you have dudes like Tommy John and Harold Baines.

In that second group, you find the likes of Albert Belle and Sandy Koufax.

And then, of course, there are the pariahs, guys who have somehow or another alienated a large swath of fans and voters. Guys like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Pete Rose, Curt Schilling, Vince Coleman. (OK, maybe Coleman has other issues affecting his HOF candidacy.)

On top of all that, you have shifting ideas about what makes a great player. More and more, modern evaluators of all types don’t care much about things like batting average, runs batted in, ERA, or pitching wins. At the same time, Sabermetrics has helped establish new standards with strange names like Wins Above Replacement (WAR), OPS+, ERA+, defensive runs saved, and on and on.

All in all, the picture is messy.

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But that also makes it fun. I mean, we’re no longer just debating whether Mike Trout is better than Mickey Mantle, but also the relative merits of Jim Rice and Bobby Grich. Did Rice’s dominance in the late 1970s and early 1980s in traditional areas like home runs and RBI trump Grich’s long-term excellence when viewed through more analytical lenses.

To this point, you’d have to say yes since Rice is in and Grich is out, but you’d get plenty of arguments these days if you said Rice was the better player overall.

So when I laid out my 2019 Spring Training Baseball Card Challenge, I knew Day 33 (today) would be particularly, um, challenging. Because today, I’m charging myself with talking about a card of a player who made it to the Hall.

I could have taken the easy route and picked out a Ken Griffey Jr. rookie or some achingly beautiful Frank Robinson card from the 1950s or 1960s. But, as great as those players were, they weren’t all that fun when it came to the Hall of Fame, because everybody knew forever that they’d both slide right in.

You want a guy who made the debate really fun? One of the first I can remember is Bert Blyleven.

A quick rundown of Blyleven’s Major League resume reveals …

• 22 years spread among five different franchises
• A 287-250 record with a 3.31 ERA
• 3701 strikeouts over 4970 innings
• A single 20-win season (1973)
• Three top-five Cy Young award finishes (1984, 1984, 1989) but no top-two finishes
• 430 home runs allowed, including 50 in 1986 and 46 in 1987
• A World Series championship with the 1987 Minnesota Twins
• A 1.198 career WHIP
• A 118 career ERA+
• 95 (!) career WAR

Basically, on the surface, Blyleven falls into that Tommy John-Harol Baines class of players who stuck around forever and consequently piled up a bunch of numbers. But those last three lines tell us something else.

They tell us that Blyleven was more than just an “accumulator” — he was an elite pitcher for two decades, at least by Sabermetrics standards.

In fact, JAWS has Blyleven as the 16th greatest starting pitcher EVER, nestled right between Phil Niekro and Steve Carlton, and far, far ahead of recent inductee Jack Morris. Like Morris, though, Blyleven had to wait a long time to get the Cooperstown call. In fact, it took him 14 full turns through the electorate, finally gaining enshrinement in 2011.

But Blyleven didn’t have to wait that long to get his due from everyone.

In 1984, Donruss complemented their breakthrough base set (you know, the one with the Don Mattingly rookie card), with a couple of oversize issues.

First, Action All-Stars returned for a second year, and Blyleven was included.

More pertinent for this discussion, though, “Be Home” Blyleven also found his way into the 60-card Donruss Champions issue. That set showcased then-current players who excelled in one phase of the game or another, then compared them to the all-time leader in that category.

For instance, Mike Schmidt was paired with Hank Aaron since both gents knew a thing or two about home runs.

Blyleven drew an even tougher comparison partner, as Donruss linked him on the career strikeouts list with the great Walter Johnson. Admittedly, Blyleven’s stats look anemic there in black and white underneath those of The Big Train, but the Dutchman would indeed eventually surpass Johnson’s mark of 3508.

And, while that Donruss card does mention Blyleven’s otherworldly curveball, it doesn’t touch on another area where he was at least within Johnson’s universe: shutouts.

While Johnson finished with an out-of-reach 110, Blyleven stands ninth on the all-time list at 60, just one behind Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan for pitchers who began their careers after 1960.

So, is Bert Blyleven in Walter Johnson’s class as a starting pitcher? Of course not, but he’s not as far removed as you might think on an average day full of hyperbole around players with bigger “names.”

And Blyleven is, absolutely, a deserving Hall of Famer … and a Champion.

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

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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.

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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.

By its very cobbled-together nature, a new team is unlikely to have much success right off the bat, and its players are unlikely to make huge impacts. But someone has to play everyday, and those guys imprint their names on team history.

So it was for the Seattle Mariners.

When the Mariners took the field for the first time in 1977, they brought Big League ball back to Seattle after a seven-year hiatus that came after a single season of the 1969 expansion Seattle Pilots. In case you don’t remember, Bud Selig bought that team and turned them into the Milwaukee Brewers.

In between, Seattle was granted an American League West franchise and set about building the team, where they ran into Mr. Bill Stein.

Stain had been drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 33rd round in 1968, then in the fourth round by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1969. He spent the next three seasons in the minors before appearing in 14 games for the Cards in 1972. After another 32 Big League contests in 1973, the Cardinals traded Stein to the California Angels in September for Jarry DaVanon. Before he could ever suit up for the Halos, though, Stein was on the move again, to the Chicago White Sox, who sent Steve Blateric to the Angels (later on).

Stein spent a couple of seasons trying to find his way with the ChiSox, appearing in 13 and 76 games before settling in to more regular work — 117 games — split between second and third base in 1976. In that “breakout” season, Stein hit .268 with four home runs and 36 RBI.

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That was enough for the Mariners to make him the 5th overall pick in the expansion draft that November, and he was off to Seattle.

With such a lofty draft slot, expectations were that Stein would become one of the Mariners’ first regulars, and he didn’t disappoint on that front. Starting 146 games at third and seeing action in 151 contests overall, Stein established career highs with 13 homers and 67 ribbies to go along with his .259 average.

With a  few Major League seasons under his belt, Stein had already seen his rookie card come and go, a 1976 Topps card that showed him in his White Sox uniform. Becoming a bona fide starter opened up a few new avenues for Stein’s cardboard aspirations in 1977, though, and he took advantage with his first Topps Mariners card … and a 1977 Hostess card.

Of course, Topps didn’t have real photos of these expansion team guys in their real expansion team uniforms, so it was off to the airbrush lab to make due. And, since Topps were the folks behind the Hostess cards, too, there was more airbrushing there.

And we’re left with a 1977 Hostess card of Bill Stein in his White Sox jumpsuit/overalls that makes it look like he walked right off the factory floor, slapped on a gaudy painted Mariners batting helmet, and headed to the ballpark.

High art?

Nope, but a great representative piece of the times, and of the year, and more than worthy as our entry here in Day 8 of the 2019 Spring Training Baseball Card Challenge.

I mean, what else could you want from a baseball card of an expansion team in their expansion year?

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

You know … like he had and OLD uniform at some point and then got a NEW one. Preferably accompanied by a new team for this exercise.

Now, if there was one thing that was tough for Topps and Fleer and Donruss and every other company to pull off in the 1990s and before, it was delivering cards of players in their new togs in a timely fashion.

I mean, if you were traded early in the summer, you might make it into the Topps Traded or Fleer Update set that came out in November or so. If you were traded as the pennant races heated up, though, there might not have been enough time to get you into your new uniform before the following spring.

Before 1981 — and the first Topps Traded set — you were definitely waiting until the next season.

And if you were traded in the off-season? Well, you might get an airbrushed job the following spring if you were lucky (but that’s a topic for another piece in this series).

All of that is a long-winded way to say that I wanted a card for this entry that captured a dude in his new uniform at an early stage of his new-team-hood.

And I kind of wanted it to be a base card, as opposed to a Traded or Update.

And I wanted it to be a star(ish) player.

Yep, I’m being picky, but I’m old and feel like I’ve sort of earned that right.

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Fortunately for me, another old dude pretty much fit my bill to a “T” — a Texas Rangers “T”, that is.

All through the 80s, I knew Charlie Hough as the ancient knuckleballer who was able to keep trotting out to the mound in Arlington precisely because he didthrowa knuckleball. Low velocity, easy on the body, hard to hit. You know the drill, right?

But there were a couple of things I didn’t much appreciate about Hough at the time.

First, he wasn’t all that old — younger than my dad, in fact, and Dad didn’t seem old then and doesn’t really seem old now. Probably never will to me.

And second, Hough pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers for ten years before he found his way to the Rangers. He was a decent minor leaguer for five years before — the story goes — he discovered the knuckleball while working with Tommy Lasorda and Goldie Holt before the 1970 season.

After making the change, Hough got to the Bigs almost right away, appearing in eight games for L.A. in 1970. It took another three years of part-time relief work, but Hough finally splashed down as an integral part of the Dodgers’ bullpen in 1973 at age 25.

Three years after that, he moved into the closer role and helped The Blue to some postseason glory.

By 1980, though, young hotshot Steve Howe was installed at the back of the ‘pen, and Hough became expendable.

On July 11 that summer, Dodgers GM Al Campanis outright sold Hough to the Rangers. Lots of folks probably thought Hough was done that point, especially since he was a ripe old 32 years of age and without a huge track record of success.

Topps was OK with it all, though, and they plopped Hough into their 1981 set at #371. The kicker is, the card showed Hough in his new Rangers uniform, complete with warmup jacket and white towel draped around his neck.

It was … a card of a player in his new uniform.

And, as it turned out, that white towel was not a white flag in any way, as the Rangers inserted Hough into their 1982 rotation. He stayed there through 1990, then wound down with two years each for the Chicago White Sox and the expansion Florida Marlins.

Hough finally retired at age 46 in 1994 with an even 216-216 record, supported by a 3.75 ERA.

And, of course, a place in our Spring Training Challenge.

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

(Check out our rundown of the most valuable 1981 Topps baseball cards.)

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.)

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