5 Baseball Cards that Could Manage Just Fine

Even if they couldn't hit their way out of a torn wax pack

Hey, today is January 21 — time to celebrate late Orioles and Rangers manager Johnny Oates, who was born on this day in 1946. (In case you’re wondering, the world would have to wait about 26 1/2 months to welcome John Oates, the musical Davey Lopes doppelganger.)

Since Oates was also a big league player for 11 seasons, he graced us with plenty of baseball cards. So today gives us the perfect chance to dig into some great player cards of guys who went on to make a name for themselves in the dugout.

Here are five of them.

1954 Topps Tommy Lasorda (#132)

It took Lasorda nine years to make it to the majors from the time he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers as a 17-year-old in 1945. His promotion came with this neato Topps rookie card, which put him on equal footing with Hank Aaron and Ernie Banks for the blink of an eye.

Unlike those gents, though, Lasorda only lasted parts of three seasons in the big leagues, finishing up with the Kansas City A’s, and a career mark of 0-4 with a 6.48 ERA, in 1956.

After four more seasons in the minors, though, Lasorda caught on with the Dodgers again, this time as a scout. It was just hop, skip, and 16 years from there to claiming the skipper’s chair in Los Angeles.

Lasorda ended up managing the Dodgers for 21 summers, winning four National League pennants and two World Series along the way. It all brought him back into the Aaron-Banks orbit when he landed in Cooperstown in 1997.

1976 Topps Johnny Oates (#62)

Oates never played more than 100 games in a season in the big leagues, never hit five home runs, never drove in as many as 35.

But his left-handed bat was good for near-league-average production in his prime, and he could handle the tools of ignorance well enough to manage a game and keep his pitchers rolling.

Those are valuable skills that kept him in the majors for 11 seasons and landed him on nifty cardboard like this battle-scarred action hero number in 1976.

Of course, younger generations remember Oates as a manager, first with the Orioles, then with the Rangers. His O’s never finished higher than second, never made the playoffs.

But Oates guided Texas to three division titles from 1996 through 1999, winning American League Manager of the Year honors in ‘96.

Sadly, Oates died of a brain tumor on Christmas Eve in 2004.

1978 Hostess Dusty Baker (#56)

Baker is an oddball on this list, because he was an actual star player during his 19-year career with the Braves, Dodgers, Giants, and A’s. In fact, he was a key contributor to four Dodgers division titlists, including three pennant winners and the 1981 World Series champs.

Thanks to that star power, which he cemented with a career-high 30 home runs in 1977, Dusty was a hot enough hobby target that he appeared in oddball issues that were mostly off limits to the other participants in today’s exercise — like this sunny, if slightly off-center, Hostess card.

Of course, Baker’s second act was even more glitzy than his first, and his 26-year managerial career is almost sure to deposit him in the Hall of Fame some year not too far down the line.

1984 Topps Bruce Bochy (#571)

Speaking of future Hall of Fame managers, they don’t come much more leadpipe-locked than Bochy. Even with an overall losing record, his five pennants and four World Series titles as a skipper have Abner Doubleday and the crew clearing a spot for his plaque.

Bochy’s playing days weren’t quite as fruitful, spanning nine seasons and producing a batting line of .239, 25 home runs, and 93 RBI. Like Oates, Bochy was slightly below average offensively (by measure of OPS+) but competent enough behind the plate to keep his spot warm for a good, long while.

That warm spot was San Diego from 1983 through the end of his playing career in 1987. That was perfect timing to land Bochy on this sunny, mustard-covered card the same year he’d take his only hacks in the World Series.

Bochy pinch hit for Bobby Brown in the top of the ninth inning in Game 5. With one out, the future skip singled off Willie Hernandez before the Tigers closer retired Alan Wiggins and Tony Gwynn to end the 1984 Series.

1988 Score Terry Francona (#297)

Either I forgot that Francona played for the Reds in 1987 or it never registered with me at all.

That latter is entirely possible given the exciting young talent Cincinnati fielded every night that season as they competed for the National League West title for the third straight summer.

It also didn’t help that Francona hit .227 with 3 home runs and 12 RBI. Hard to imagine why Cincy let him walk in free agency that fall.

Even so, Tito would stick in the majors for another three seasons before embarking on his managerial career, starting in the White Sox’ minor league system.

Things worked out pretty well for him later on, of course, as Francona was the man at the helm when the Red Sox broke their “curse” in 2004 and when they won again in 2007.

Even though Francona never got the Indians/Guardians the ring they crave, they did win a pennant under his watch. And his 1950-1672 record over 23 seasons will look pretty good on his Cooperstown plaque someday.

For now, Francona’s red-bordered Reds card in the first-ever Score set looks pretty good to these Cincinnati-tinted eyes.

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So which manager-as-player cards were your favorites? I could plaster this place with Pete Rose and Frank Robinson cards, but you already know I’m a Reds homer.

Besides, neither one of those guys would have made the Hall of Fame as a manager. One probably won’t make it as a player, either.

Not that a Cooperstown plaque is a criterion for inclusion here. It’s more of an evolving theme, a suggestion maybe, based on the five managers above.

Anyway, let me know your picks. I’m always up for a nostalgic walk down cardboard lane.

Thanks for reading.

—Adam