5 Franchise-Changing Baseball Cards
These players turned their new teams' fortunes on a dime
Dave Parker turns 73 years old today, which makes it a good day to celebrate the Cobra.
Heck, pretty much every day qualifies on that front in my book. I mean, when Parker signed with the Reds late in 1983, he instantly added real starpower to a putrid team and set them on a path that would make the last half of the 80s an exciting time to be a Cincinnati fan.
So, following big Dave’s lead, here are five baseball cards that capture baseball superstars at the pivotal moment when they landed with a new team…and changed that team forever. Or at least for a few glorious summers.
1972 Topps Joe Morgan (#752)
Of course, the real heyday of Cincinnati Reds baseball was the 1970s, especially the peak years of The Big Red Machine in 1975 and 1976.
It’s hard to imagine the Reds could have been THE REDS without Joe Morgan at second base. After all, the little dude was the National League MVP in both 1975 and 1976.
Sure, Cincinnati was already a good-to-great team before they traded Tommy Helms, Lee May, and Jimmy Stewart to the Astros in November 1971 for Morgan, Ed Armbrister, Jack Billingham, César Gerónimo, and Denis Menke. They won the National League pennant in 1970 before losing to the Orioles in the World Series.
But they finished fourth in the old National League West in 1971, and it wasn’t clear which season would be the fluke.
With Morgan in the fold, though, Cincy won the 1972 pennant and another division title in 1973 before sliding back to second in 1974. Then, of course, a mini-dynasty erupted on the riverfront.
Maybe Topps saw the writing on the wall?
Could be, as they included Morgan as an Astro early in their 1972 set but also saw fit to give him a genuine Reds “TRADED” card in their last series that year.
1979 Topps Burger King Pete Rose (#13)
So, sure, this is the third straight Red I’ve talked about here (with more Parker to come), but this is really about the Phillies. Besides, I’m a Reds homer.
Anyway, the Phils were a really good team in the mid-to-late 1970s, winning the National League East three straight years, from 1976 through 1978. They had finished second in 1975 and third in 1974 after a string of basement-vicinity showings to start the division-play era.
But even with Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Garry Maddox, Greg Luzinski, Larry Bowa, and other stars to lead the way, Philly just couldn’t quite break through. So when Pete Rose became a free agent after the 1978 season, the Phils snatched him up.
By all appearances the 38-year-old firebrand had an immediate impact on the Phillies — they finished fourth in 1979. Not the way Phils phans would have ordered it up if they could have had it their way, but at least Burger King gave them a Topps-style glimpse of their new All-Star that summer.
And the Phillies still had a winning record, though, and they still had that foundation. Plus, they had Rose to crankstart the hustle.
And in 1980, the Phils slugged and hustled all the way to a World Series title.
1983 Topps Traded Keith Hernandez (#43T)
By the early 1980s, the Mets looked like they were all-in for a retro movement to honor the 1960s version of the club. You could count on the not-so-Amazins to win about 65 games a year and finish last(ish) in the old National League East.
It was a hard tumble for fans who had seen the team shock the world in 1969, then nearly repeat the feat in 1973, then tease with winning seasons in 1975 and 1976.
But as bad as the team was in the new decade, there was at least some hope in the form of a farm system that started to turn out major leaguers like Hubie Brooks, Mookie Wilson, and Wally Backman. And then, in 1983, Darryl Strawberry arrived and reminded the baseball world that there was a team in Queens.
Dwight Gooden would help the world double down on that thought the next summer.
In the meantime, though, the Mets decided they needed some veteran help to push the kids forward…or something.
At any rate, New York traded Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey to the Cardinals on June 15, 1983, and the tide(water?) was turned.
Still just 29 at the time, Hernandez hit .306 for the Mets that summer, then followed up with a .311/15 HR/94 RBI season in 1984 that landed him a second-place finish in National League MVP voting behind Ryne Sandberg.
If the Mets had taken the N.L. East instead of the Cubs, Hernandez might have copped his second MVP award. He did win Gold Gloves from 1984 through 1988 at first with the Mets, though, and he was a key part of their 1986 championship team.
1984 Topps Traded Dave Parker (#90T)
I’ve written about Parker a lot, especially how his arrival in Cincinnati changed the whole complexion of the team. Even though they were still bad in 1984, Cobra in the outfield and especially at the plate at least gave the Reds a draw.
This was a bona fide superstar, even if he was coming off some down years and wrapped up in the Pittsburgh drug scandal. If Big Dave could just pull it all together in his hometown (Cincinnati), there would be magic in the offing.
And that’s exactly what happened.
Parker was good in 1984, hitting .285 with 16 home runs and 94 RBI — even stole 11 bases!
But then Rose came back to the riverfront in August and lit a fire under the team. With renewed vigor all through the team and the fanbase, Parker blew up in 1985, hitting .312 with career highs in home runs (34) and RBI (125), leading the league in the latter and also with 42 doubles.
The Reds contended for most of the season before fading late, but Parker was rewarded with a second-place showing in N.L. MVP voting (behind Willie McGee).
The good times carried over to 1986…and 1987…and 1988. The Reds finished second in the N.L. West each season, and they owed a lot of that to the spark Parker brought “home” in 1984.
Yeah, even though he was gone to Oakland in 1988.
This 1984 Topps Traded card looked weird at first, both because Parker was NOT in a Pirates uniform and because he was clean shaven. Now it just looks like baseball nirvana.
1993 Score Barry Bonds All-Star (#523)
Bond didn’t just turn the Giants into winners when he signed as a free agent before the 1993 season.
His exit also destroyed a Pittsburgh Pirates team who survived the loss of Bobby Bonilla by winning a third straight division title in 1992 but tumbled to fifth in 1993.
Most importantly, Bonds-to-the-Giants changed baseball forever.
Bonds was easily the greatest, most dangerous hitter I’ve ever seen, and he showed all his tools that first season in the Bay: .336 batting average, 46 home runs, 123 RBI, 29 stolen bases, 126 walks. That landed him his second straight MVP award and third overall.
That performance helped the Giants effect a 31-game turn around from 1992, going from 72-90 to 103-59. Most years, that would have given them a division title, but they ended up losing a thrilling race to the Braves on the last day of the season.
Now, admittedly, the Giants started a run of three straight losing seasons in 1994, but they were division champs in 1997 and contended most of the rest of Bonds’ career.
And Bonds, of course, decided to take the whole home run game into his own hands and to a different level. You think the way Bonds manipulated at-bats and games in the early 2000s didn’t start baseball men thinking about how to combat that sort of hit monster in the future?
Like maybe, I don’t know, making it so that pitchers were always fresh, always throwing 200-mile-per-hour heat? *shrug*
Yeah, I know — steroids, cheater, big head, unfair, bad guy, etc., ad nauseam. I won’t argue those points other than to say that Bonds already had a proportionately big head in 1993, at least based on this fun Score All-Star card.
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Interesting to look back at this list and realize that all of these guys, save Morgan, had some pretty serious warts when it came to public perception. Parker’s and Hernandez’s images have, I think, gotten a bit rosier over time.
Rose’s too, maybe, if for no other reason than he’s become a bit more self-effacing and has just kept plugging away.
The “case” (i.e., sour grapes grudge) against Bonds doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.
Even Morgan had a reputation for being a bit grumpy, and he was one of the most staunch defenders of the Hall of Fame against “steroid” guys. He seemed to be on board with Rose — who bet on baseball — getting another shot, though.
In the end, maybe I’m just impressed with “bad boys” since I’ve always been pretty much milquetoast. Even if that’s the case, I stand by these five as team-changers.
Who would be your picks as players who didn’t just help a team over the hump (Doyle Alexander), but completely upended the place?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam
Always glad to read anything about Parker. For me it’s the1972 trade in which Cleveland sent Graig Nettles and Jerry Moses for Rusty Torres, Charlie Spikes, Jerry Kenney and John Ellis to the Yankees. Which was a huge reason the Yankees became relevant again. That ‘73 Topps Nettles card with him as a Yankee is one of my favorites.
Frank Robinson going from Cincy to Baltimore. I know it must hurt 😅 I suppose the A's getting Ken Holtzman would be considered more of a hump thing. Reggie to the Yankees I suppose should be mentioned.