Lemmie Tell You About Miller's End in 5 Baseball Cards
If only Tommy had let him pitch!
Lemmie Miller turns 64 years old today.
And if you don’t know who Lemmie Miller is, well, let me tell you — he’s the star of this here little Sunday get-together of ours. That’s who.
With a big league career that spanned eight games and ran from May 22, 1984, all the way to June 2 that same year (yeah, his 24th birthday), Miller left plenty of memories in his wake.
Here are five baseball cards to help us commemorate his last game (box score) and celebrate his birthday.
1984 Cramer Albuquerque Dukes Lemmie Miller (#150)
We’re starting with Lemmie Miller himself. Duh.
Miller was a three-time draft pick, finally signing with the Dodgers when they took him in the second round out of Arizona State in 1981. From there, Miller spent three-plus seasons at various outposts in the Los Angeles system, plying his trade as an outfielder while showing good speed, a high-average bat, and not a ton of power.
By 1984, he was ready for his second go-round with the Triple-A Albuquerque Dukes.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers started 1984 off like it was still 1983, leading the National League West for most of the first two months. By the end of May, they were looking for ways to hold off the Braves and Padres, and keep the Ravine focused on baseball instead of the pending Summer Olympics.
The solution? Yeah, call up Lemmie Miller.
By the time Miller (birthday) suited up for his last game, a night tilt against the Astros at Dodger Stadium on June 2, the Bums had slipped a half game behind Atlanta.
That evening, Miller came in to pinch hit in the bottom of the fifth inning and then was never heard from again…in the majors, at least.
I’ll let the other guys tell the rest of the story.
First, though, take a look at Miller’s 1984 Dukes card above. That’s as close as I could find to an MLB card from the era featuring him, and it must be about how he looked in all those thousands of plate appearances he had during his two weeks with the Dodgers.
You know, minus all the blue.
1984 Topps Dave Anderson (#376)
The Dodgers entered the bottom of the fifth down 4-0 (more on that next).
Terry Whitfield grounded out to lead off the frame against Astros starter Joe Niekro, who was not spotted filing his nails between pitches during this game to my knowledge.
Bob Bailor singled, and then Anderson grounded into a double play…except he was fast enough that it was just a forceout at second base. You can see Anderson visualizing just such an opportunity up there on his 1984 Topps card.
That left the man who replaced Bill Russell as the Dodgers’ primary shortstop (Anderson, that is) at first with two outs and the pitcher coming to the plate.
1984 Donruss Burt Hooton (#459)
Of course, that put Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda in a quandary — let Burt Hooton hit, or pull him for a pinch-hitter to try and capitalize on their “rally.” Tough call.
It was still fairly early in the game, and Hooton had tossed two perfect innings in relief of starter Jerry Reuss. But Hooton was in his first year of relieving more or less full time after more than a decade as a successful starter. So maybe Tommy thought the genie was about out of magic dust.
Besides, there stood Anderson, only 270 feet from home plate — well, only 90 feet if he had been allowed to score backwards from first, but that’s something only the 1960s Mets could get away with.
So Hooton got the hook, and Dodgers faithful would have to wait a few days to get another glimpse of the righty in his 1984 Donruss form.
Little did they know they were about to witness the end of something.
1985 Topps Joe Niekro (#295)
And so, in stepped Lemmie Miller to save the day and get the Dodgers on the board, or at least stave off the wolves for another few minutes.
Joe Niekro proved to be the alpha of the moment, though, and coaxed Miller into lifting a flyball to left field. Jose Cruz clamped it down, no problem.
The next year, 1985, Topps treated collectors to a shot of what Niekro probably looked like when he delivered that fateful pitch…except during the day. Imagine this pitch going down at night and Niekro whipping his neck around to watch the trajectory of Lemmie’s not-big fly, and you’ll have a pretty good picture of the moment.
1984 Fleer Pat Zachry (#118)
And so Lasorda’s master plan didn’t quite work out, as he lost Hooton for no return.
But, hey, at least he had Lemmie Miller ready to go as his next pitcher, right?
Well, no.
Instead, Lasorda brought in Pat Zachry, also a converted starter, who was in his final year (of two) with the Dodgers after a long run with the Mets…after a Rookie of the Year start with the Reds.
Zachry, who passed away earlier this year, conjures bad vibes for some Mets fans, but it wasn’t really his fault New York traded Tom Seaver to get him (and Doug Flynn, Steve Henderson, and Dan Norman). Other than having been a star even on the star-studded Big Red Machine.
That 1984 Fleer Zachry up there gives you a good idea of what Astros hitters were facing that night except, again, at night. No midday sunshine.
The lack of glare must have agreed with the Houston lumber, because they ended up touching Zachry for two runs in three innings.
Maybe Tommy should have stuck with Lemmie.
—
And that was the end for Lemmie Miller, in Los Angeles and in the major leagues. All told, he came to the plate 13 times in eight games and hit .167 with a walk and two strikeouts. He scored once and even made two starts in left field, in his first two big league games.
Who knows? If only Lasorda had just let Miller take the mound in the sixth inning, maybe baseball history would have been different. But then, we wouldn’t have been able to tell this five-part cardboard tale, right?
You win some, you lose some. And if you’re Bud Selig at the 2002 All-Star game, you just throw up your hands and admit that, yes, you also tie some.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam