5 Baseball Cards that Owe It All to September
Even if no one noticed because of the Tigers, Cubs, and Padres (sorry, Royals)
In case you missed it in the big red circle on your wall calendar, Freddie Toliver made his big league debut 40 years ago today, for my very own Cincinnati Reds.
Now, how “40 years ago” translates to “1984” is a mystery I’m not quite ready to ponder. I mean, that should be 1944 or 1954, right?
At any rate, Toliver would become a semi-regular in wax packs across the land within a few years, so his arrival was momentous. To celebrate this anniversary, I thought we’d run through some rookie cards of a few guys — including Toliver — who debuted in September of 1984.
Here they are…
1985 Fleer Glenn Davis (#652)
Davis showed 20-homer power in his four years in the Houston farm system, but no one really expected that to translate into much in the big leagues. The Astrodome was where home runs went to die, and where power hitters went to lay down bunts, after all.
But after an uninspiring 18-game cup of coffee that began on September 2, 1984, and after two more months at Triple-A Tucson to start 1985, Davis was with the Astros for good by late June.
In 100 games that summer, he hit 20 home runs and settled in at first base. Thanks to Fleer’s foresight, collectors who believed could start hoarding the young slugger right away, hedging their bets a bit with Expos lefty Joe Hesketh.
Davis would go on to hit 30 or more home runs three times with the Astros before they traded him to the Orioles in 1991 for (wow!) Steve Finley, Pete Harnisch, and Curt Schilling.
Davis sort of fizzled in Baltimore, but that didn’t stop them from signing him to a big free agent deal after the 1991 season.
That allowed him to reunite with “brother” Storm Davis when Storm returned to the O’s for the 1992 season. The Davis-Davis bond is a special and unusual one, definitely worth reading about (stories are pretty easy to find online).
1987 Topps Kevin Mitchell (#653)
Kevin Mitchell signed with the Mets as an amateur free agent in November of 1980 after an open tryout when he was 18 years old. At least some sources say that Mitchell never even played baseball in high school.
No surprise, then, that he was a bit raw and required some seasoning, but he made a pretty straightforward march through the New York farm system anyway. By September of 1984, with the Mets still holding onto hopes of nabbing the National League East division title, they brought up their young third baseman (he debuted on September 4).
That, despite his hitting just .243 with 10 home runs for the Triple-A Tidewater.
His first foray in The Show didn’t go any better, as Mitchell hit .214 in seven appearances down the stretch for the Mets. He wouldn’t make it back to Flushing until 1986, when he broke camp with the big club out of Spring Training.
Playing at five different positions plus registering 23 pinch-hitting plate appearances that season, Mitchell made it into 108 games, hitting .277 with 12 home runs and 43 RBI. It was good enough to land him a third-place showing in National League Rookie of the Year balloting and some postseason sunshine (he hit .250 in the NLCS and World Series).
It was also enough to land Mitchell on his first batch of baseball cards that fall in the various update sets. But it was the action-packed 1987 Topps woody that found its way into the mainstream the next season as collectors fell in love (or in hate, depending on your tastes) with the classic set.
Of course, this card was outdated as soon as it popped out of the first pack since the Mets traded Mitchell to the Padres in the offseason…and San Diego flipped him to the Giants in July of 1987.
1985 Donruss Tom Browning (#634)
The Reds drafted Browning in the ninth round in 1982, a placement which doesn’t necessarily bode well for future major league success.
But Cincinnati was something of a baseball wasteland in those years, and Browning managed .500-ish records with ERAs under 4.00 as he climbed the Reds’ minor league ladder, all of which helped his cause.
By September of 1984, the Reds were still terrible, but Pete Rose was back in town, Dave Parker was starting to cook again, and Cincy had some exciting young hitters in the pipeline. And, on September 9, they had Tom Browning on the mound for the first time.
In three starts at the end of a lost season, Browning went 1-0 with a tiny 1.54 ERA, all but assuring himself of a long look in the spring of 1985. And, as it turned out, assuring himself of a smiling rookie card in the black-bordered 1985 Donruss set.
That card turned out to be one of the early surprise “hot” entries among 1985 cards as Browning not only secured a spot in the Cincinnati rotation but won 20 games on his way to a second-place finish in voting for the National League Rookie of the Year Award.
1986 Donruss Freddie Toliver (#612)
Here’s our man of the day, literally.
Toliver was initially drafted by the Yankees in the third round way back in 1979, and he pitched pretty well as a starter in parts of three minor league seasons. New York traded him to the Reds before the start of the 1982 season, though, in the deal that brought Ken Griffey Daddy to the Bronx.
The Reds soon bumped Toliver up to Triple-A, and he continued to pitch reasonably well. By 1984, he had three years at the highest minor league level under his belt, so the Reds finally decided to give him a September look.
He debuted with one inning of hitless, scoreless ball in a relief outing against the Dodgers on the 15th. Overall, he pitched ten innings in three games (one start) and posted a ridiculous 0.90 ERA.
Even so, it was back to the bushes for Toliver in 1985, at least until the Reds traded him to the Phillies as part of the Bo Diaz deal in late August. Toliver would spend the rest of the season in Philly, prompting Fleer and Donruss to include him in their 1986 sets.
While Toliver had to share that Fleer RC with some cat named Andres Galarraga, Donruss gave him the smiling solo deal you see above.
From there, Toliver would spend parts of five more seasons in the big leagues, splitting time between starting and relieving, and appearing in about as many Junk Wax wax packs as a man could hope for.
1985 Topps Traded Nate Snell (#110T)
I know Ian Snell is supposed to be a great pitcher, at least by modern standards. Mostly, I believe that’s true.
But whenever I hear Snell’s name, it’s the guy above that I picture. Usually it’s his 1986 or 1987 Topps card, with the look of slight disapproval on his face and the Orioles cap on his head.
Sometimes it’s this one, Snell’s first Topps card.
Whichever image comes to mind, though, my Snell is Nate Snell and probably always will be.
Part of it is that he played during my prime baseball kid years.
Part of it — probably a bigger part of it — is because of the way he went about it.
See, the Orioles took their first shot at Snell when they selected him out of high school in the 18th round of the June 1972 (!) draft.
He decided to go to college instead and didn’t turn up again until the Braves drafted him in the 22nd round in 1975. Again, Snell didn’t sign.
Finally, in September of 1976, the Orioles signed the right-hander as an amateur free agent. He spent the next eight long seasons in the Baltimore minor league system, save for a one-year detour into the Giants’ system in 1980.
That summer, San Francisco decided to move Snell from the rotation to the bullpen, and it stuck.
Back in the Baltimore fold, Snell kept plugging away and ended up making 112 appearances between Double A and Triple A in 1983 and 1984 combined. By September, the Orioles were out of the American League East race, so they finally gave Snell a shot.
When he debuted in relief of Mike Flanagan against the Red Sox on September 20, Snell was already 32 years old. He was more than ready for his big moment, striking out Dwight Evans and Tony Armas, and coaxing a groundout from Jim Rice.
Snell split each of the next three summers between the minors and the majors, first for Baltimore, then for Detroit. He even gave it one last shot with my Reds in 1988 but didn’t rise above Triple-A in the Cincinnati system.
It would have been cool to see him on the Riverfront, but team affiliation doesn’t even matter for a guy like Nate Snell.
If you’ve ever had a dream that felt dead or at least unreachable, a glimpse at Snell’s long trek might convince you there’s still hope.
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Every season welcomes dozens of new faces to the major leagues, and September is usually the most fertile ground for debuts. Case in point, these five players are just a small sampling of the 50 or so faces that showed up for the first time in September of 1984 alone (Baseball Reference list).
So…
Who are some of your favorite or most memorable September call-ups, in 1984 or in any other year? I’d love to hear your picks!
Thanks for reading, and hope you have a great week.
—Adam
Atlanta Braves...1991...Brian Hunter and Keith Mitchell. The "last" Braves-Dodgers true pennant race.