5 Timeless Baseball Cards of September Heroes

Hey! It’s September!

And, while the last month of the baseball season always fills summer-seekers like me with dread for the coming winter, it also gets the butterflies stirred up in our bellies.

Because this is the month when diamond heroes start to forge their weapons for postseason battle and set themselves and their teams apart in the heat of the pennant race.

So, in that spirit, here are five players who put it all together in Septembers past — that I witnessed to some extent, mind you.

Oh, and their baseball cards, of course…

1983 Topps LaMarr Hoyt (#618)

Hoyt and the Phillies' John Denny were the two Cy Young winners in 1983, my first season following the game.

Both ended up making October appearances, too.

But if you were looking for a late-season mound hero that summer, it was all Hoyt. The big lad went 12-0 with a 2.63 ERA over 13 starts in August and September.

The White Sox walked away with the AL West before running into a juggernaut Orioles team.

No matter, though, because Hoyt’s heroics turned this card into a forever love among young collectors of the day.

1984 Topps Traded Rick Sutcliffe (#115T)

The summer of 1984 was special for me because I made my first trip to Riverfront Stadium to see the Reds play. My parents could have just left me there in the right field seats and come back for me in October. I would have muddled on, somehow.

But the Reds themselves were basic pond dreck that year, so it wasn’t hard to root for the nearby Cubs when they started winning.

After all, who doesn’t love the underdog? And even then, I knew the Cubs were, like, always doormats.

But, thanks to the heroics of Ryne Sandberg and Sutcliffe, acquired from the Indians in June, the Cubs were the talk of baseball (well, along with the Tigers, the Mets, the Padres, Don Mattingly, Pete Rose, Tony Gwynn, etc.).

Sutcliffe was magic for Chicago that summer, and never more so than in September, when he posted a 2.06 ERA in five starts.

And, while Rose and Dwight Gooden dominated the news around the 1984 Topps Traded and Fleer Update sets that fall, Sutcliffe added a little extra spice.

1988 Topps Doyle Alexander (#492)

Right. Alexander cost the Tigers a future Hall of Famer in John Smoltz.

But the wily veteran also paid off exactly like Detroit hoped he would, charging a 9-0 record with a 1.53 ERA after the trade.

That helped the Tigers hold off the Blue Jays by 2 games in a thrilling race for the AL East title.

The August 12 trade came too late for Alexander to make the year-end sets as a Tiger, though, so we had to wait until 1988 for that cardboard treat.

1988 Topps Orel Hershiser (#40)

Hershiser was amazing all season in 1988, finishing 23-8 with a 2.26 ERA, good enough to cop the NL Cy Young Award.

It was also good enough to help the Dodgers win the NL West and, eventually, the World Series — he was MVP of both the NLCS and Fall Classic.

But as great as Hershiser was all summer, he was otherworldly in September. That month, he went 5-0 and ran his scoreless streak to 59 consecutive innings.

The image of Hershiser on this card is the one that will forever be burned into the memories of fans who witnessed his run that year.

1990 Topps Jose Rijo (#627)

Already the staff ace of the wire-to-wire Reds, Rijo floored the gas pedal in September of 1990 and didn’t let up until the Reds were world champions.

In a whopping seven September starts, Rijo went 4-2 with four complete games and a 1.26 ERA.

Rijo topped it all off with wins in Games 1 and 4 of the World Series to nab the Series MVP award.

So, yeah, a grinning Rijo on a red 1990 Reds card seems just perfect.

Bonus! 1982 Kmart Carl Yastrzemski (#11)

I didn’t witness Yaz seal the 1967 pennant for the Red Sox with a homer and six RBI among his seven hits in eight at-bats over the Twins in the final two games of the season.

I missed his season-long, Triple Crown heroics, too.

Heck, my parents weren’t even married when Yastrzemski began his .417/.504/.760 September barrage that featured nine home runs and 26 RBI.

But his 1967 Topps card (#355) was one of the stars of the 1982 Kmart set, which helped lay my collecting and fandom foundation.

I’ve talked plenty about that set, and will no doubt drone on about it for as long as my typing fingers work.

So, for now, suffice it to say that Yaz’s September in 1967 was amazing and stoked my hobby fires across the years.

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So, what were your favorite September performances?

I’d love to hear about them, and also the cards that always make you remember them.

Until next time, I’ll be here making my list of excuses for why I don’t rake leaves. October will be here before we know it, after all.

In the meantime, enjoy this month’s heroes and baseball’s breathless race to the finish.

Thanks for reading.

—Adam