Tracy Jones turns 63 years old today, and the realization of that fact plopped me right back into the heady days of mid-1980s Reds fandom.
Jones was going to join forces with Tom Browning, Eric Davis, Kal Daniels, Kurt Stillwell, Barry Larkin, Jeff Treadway, and all the other Cincinnati youngsters to blow the rust and dust out of the Big Red Machine carburetor.
Some of those guys worked out OK. Some less so.
Pretty much all of them, except Larkin and ED, had rookie cards that I held in higher esteem than did most other collectors of the day.
Here are four other RCs — plus more on Jones — that I latched onto a bit too hard and too long.
1974 Topps Jeff Burroughs (#223)
Like most other stars of the day, Burroughs came into my purview through my baseball cards — the 1982 Kmart set in this particular case.
By the mid-1980s, Burroughs was an overweight and old-before-his-time mid-30s slugger who still had double-digit homer power and who could still draw walks. Most importantly for me, he had that 1974 American League MVP award on his resume and had hit 41 home runs for the Braves in 1977.
The way I saw it, if Burroughs could get some consistent playing time and find that stroke again, he still had a shot at 500 home runs. And by extension, his rookie card still had a shot at hobby immortality.
As it played out, Burroughs made it into 58 games for the A’s in 1984, 86 for the Blue Jays in 1985, and zero for any other team ever again.
He ended up with 240 homers and 1443 hits, and his RC ended up more or less in the commons bin.
1978 Topps Mitchell Page (#55)
I considered Page to be something of a personal scouting triumph, right up there with Al Cowens, Sixto Lexcano, and Steve Kemp. I mean, nobody that I knew was singing Page’s praises when I started collecting for real in 1983.
And yet, here was a guy who hit 21 home runs for the A’s in 1977, finishing second in American League Rookie of the Year voting to Eddie Murray. Not only that, but Page hit 17 long balls in both 1978 and 1980, and he also had wheels — 42 and 23 stolen bases his first two seasons, followed by double digits two years in a row.
Plus, Page was still fairly young at 31 in 1983. Why couldn’t he reclaim a starting spot and his former glory, then make a run at some All-Star berths, MVP votes, and hobby superstardom?
Back then, my internet connection was spotty, so I didn’t realize Page had not only suffered from a string of injuries but had also landed himself in a sort of doghouse purgatory with A’s management.
He eventually got sprung, released in March of 1984 and signed with the Pirates in May of that year. Alas, Page’s Pittsburgh stint lasted all of 16 games, plus part of 1985 at Triple A…then he was done.
And his sunny 1978 Topps rookie card never did find its way into binders or grading submission boxes across the land.
1982 Topps Mike Witt (#744)
Nobody cared about this card for the first couple years of its life, except for probably Witt’s mom and maybe his high school Spanish teacher.
But then in 1984, he won 15 games at the same time that Don Mattingly and Darryl Strawberry were adding jet fuel to hobby fires across the land, and collectors began to take notice. All of a sudden, Witt was the ace for a newly-contending team.
He kept at it in 1985, and then took it up a notch in 1986, going 18-10 with a 2.84 ERA and finishing third in American League Cy Young voting. Not coincidentally, the Angels won the A.L. West and came within a whisper of the World Series.
That was right in the heart of the rookie card craze, of course, and Witt’s RC took off — all the way from a quarter or so, to a buck or two a pop. I vividly remember a dealer in Sports Collectors Digest running a “buy” ad where he specifically listed his paying price for the Witt card as $1.
I remember it so vividly because I actually sent a couple his way…and he sent them right back. No longer interested, he said.
It was one of my first lessons about the whimsy of the market and how timing is so important. And to not count on baseball cards when it comes to money.
Never could let go of the idea that the Mike Witt rookie card was/is something extra special, though.
1985 Topps Mike Dunne (#395)
I remember walking through a baseball card show in Indianapolis early in the 1985 season, just taking in the sights and listening to the shop talk unfold, as usual.
By then, I’d opened a few packs of the new baseball cards and was generally unimpressed with Topps’ decision to include a bunch of no-name college players who would likely never make the cut in the majors (said 13-year-old me).
That was valuable cardboard real estate they could have dedicated to more Mike Schmidt or Dave Parker or Tom Hume cards, after all.
But then I started to notice something funny at the tables I visited — dealers were actually putting these cards into sleeves and at least trying to sell them for money.
And then came the big moment.
Some loudmouth dealer with his belly poking out from under a too-small Hawaiin shirt and a dirty Reds hat screwed down over his too-long greasy hair was talking to a patron around his wiener-dog-sized Philly cheesesteak.
“Yeah, yeah, Oddibe McDowell is going to be a star. But the real gem is this here Mike Dunne. He’s from South Bend, you know.”
As the sage crammed in another bite, I realized two things: “Oddibe” was not pronounced “o-dyb” as I had read it in my head, and that Mike Dunne was really going to be something special.
Hey, even slobby blowhards can influence kids.
1987 Fleer Tracy Jones (#651)
We already touched on Jones up top, so I won’t dwell too long here, other than to say that his 1987 Donruss solo rookie was the one that really chimes my nostalgia bells when I see it.
But 1987 Fleer wins this spot because it was nearly impossible to find wax (or cello or rack or any) packs that year in my area, and because I also thought Marvin Freeman was going to be something special.
Standing 6’7” and sporting Phils pinstripes that made him look even longer, Freeman was sort of the right-handed Big Unit before there was really even a left-handed Big Unit. And without the big K potential.
None of that worked out so well, though Freeman tried to make me look good in 1994 by going 10-2 with a 2.80 ERA…for the ROCKIES!!
Stinkin’ strike.
Jones himself didn’t get much of a chance to be part of the Next Winning Reds Team, traded to the Expos in July of 1988 in a five-player deal. At least, though one of the players who came to Cincy in that swap was Herm Winningham, he of the .500 batting average in the 1990 World Series.
—
So there you have them — five rookie cards I was pretty sold on, even when hardly anyone else seemed to be. And for much longer than I should have been.
In fact, I’m still hoping Burroughs has some gas left. He was pretty darn good at the whole “three true outcomes” thing before anyone even knew what that was. Imagine if he focused on it?
Anyway, I’m off now (and usually). I have some Mike Stenhouse cards to slab.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam
I can remember Mike Dunne breaking in with the '87 Pirates. He came over in the Andy Van Slyke/Tony Pena deal. Was a pleasant surprise for the Buccos that year, then promptly fell off the earth. Pretty sure he did time in San Diego and the White Sox before hanging them up.
Adam, great read this week. Spending time in Indy and seeing all of those reds come up through the farm system reminded me of all of the guys that I thought would be superstars in the bigs...Arturo DeFreities, Champ Summers., Paul Householder, Duane Walker...the list was long at AAA, not so much in Cincy. And...I think I recognize your card dealer!