Gregg Olson, 1989 Donruss #46

Now that I've posted yesterday's blog entry on a 15-hour delay, here's a short little something for Super Bowl Sunday. I don't know many people who are greatly enamored with 1989 Donruss' rainbow gradient borders, but the purple ones (as seen here on Gregg Olson's rookie card) are a great way to tangentially throw a little support to my other favorite team. In a few hours, the Baltimore Ravens will have the opportunity to win their second Lombardi Trophy, and the first since January 2001. They have the chance to send Ray Lewis (and possibly Ed Reed, because who honestly knows how long he'll be around?) out on top, and to put a pretty damned good exclamation point on a fine year for the local sports teams. Go Ravens! Beat those 49ers!

Jeff Ballard, 1989 Donruss #495

I haven't done a birthday post in a while, and I found myself saying, "Self, if you don't wish Jeff Ballard a happy 49th birthday, who will?". Then I was a bit staggered by the realization that Jeff Ballard is 49. Then I remembered that Jamie Moyer is also 49, and has thrown 3,073 big league innings and another 32 in the minors since Ballard last pitched in 1994. I also took note of Cory Doyne, who turns 31 today and pitched in 5 games for the 2007 O's, with disastrous results in a pair of those outings. Sadly, I've already featured Cory's superbly goony rookie card on this blog. Sometimes I think I should have shut this thing down in January 2011, because I'll never post a more sublime piece of cardboard than that one.

Rick Schu, 1989 Donruss #406

Ah, 1989 Donruss. The very definition of junk wax. You can buy a complete set of this stuff for $13, or a 36-pack wax box for $12. I got a call from my mother on Saturday to let me know that she was at a flea market and had discovered a junk wax closeout. I'm fortunate to have family members who keeps their heads on a swivel for baseball cards. Some poor schlub was trying to unload a full wax box of 1989 Donruss, about half a wax box of 1990 Fleer, four packs of 1991 Donruss, four or five blister packed 1990 Donruss Orioles team sets, an unopened factory set of 1987 Donruss Opening Day, another partial set of 1987 Donruss Opening Day, and a few empty plastic card boxes for storage. He was eager to unload the stuff, so I told her to pull the trigger at $20. I already have about 280 of the 660 cards in the 1989 set, so I figured I might as well see if I can complete it. I've got a factory set of 1990 Fleer (one of the dopier purchases of my youth), so I'll be giving those packs away. Let me know if you want some - don't everybody shout at once. I'll probably also divvy up the partial 1987 Opening Day set for other collectors and/or bloggers with team set needs...either that, or I'll burn all of my dupes to create scarcity and drive up the value. Hah.

Rene Gonzales, 1989 Donruss #377

Could the more seasoned Orioles fans out there help me
? I didn't get on the O's bus until 1993, so I wasn't around for the Rene Gonzales days. His first couple Donruss cards refer to him as "R.C." Did he ever actually go by that nickname? Or was Donruss going into business for themselves, a la Topps and "Bob" Clemente? Inquiring minds want to know.

Larry Sheets, 1989 Donruss #333

The Orioles are terrible. It's still early, but it's getting later all the time. We've been through all of this before, but never in 12 seasons of losing have they been the absolute worst team in the major leagues...and of course, never have they had such a realistically optimistic outlook before the season started. We could go through the ugly numbers, but you know them. 1 win, 11 losses. Nine straight losses. 34 runs scored in 12 games (2.8 per game). Four key players on the disabled list. A team batting line of .227/.300/.384, as of yesterday. A cast of relievers that enter games with blowtorches in hand.

It's been a long time since the O's were at the absolute bottom of the big leagues - 22 years, in fact. That was the enchanted 1988 season that began with a record 21 consecutive losses and ended with Cal Ripken, Sr. and Eddie Murray no longer in Oriole uniforms. The offense was the dregs of the American League, finishing seventh in home runs, eighth in walks, and last or next-to-last in all else. The pitching was nearly as bad, with four starters losing a dozen games and none winning more than eight. The Birds lost 107 games and won only 54, finishing 34.5 games behind the East-leading Red Sox.

Larry Sheets was emblematic of the total collapse of baseball in Baltimore. Looking like a breakout star thanks to his 31 homers, 94 RBI, and .316 average in 1987, he was a completely different player the next year. He may have made a tactical mistake by shaving his trademark mustache; the above photo is likely from Spring Training, and I haven't seen other photos where he appears bare-lipped, but it seems like Larry was a modern-day Samson. His power was in that mustache, and shaving it even one time sapped him of his strength. It's as good (and entertaining) an explanation as any for his precipitous one-year decline to a .230 average, 10 homers, and 47 RBI. He was outslugged in 1988 by Rick Schu, for crap's sake.

I don't know if there's a lesson here for the 2010 Orioles. That 1988 team was full of aging veterans and mediocre youngsters, and represented rock bottom after a half-decade's decline. This team has much more talent, and did have much more hope.

Maybe they should all grow bad mustaches.

Dave Schmidt, 1989 Donruss #13

Last night was a pretty good night for a baseball game. If I'm being completely honest, I only decided to go to Oriole Park because of the celebration for the 1989 "Why Not?" Orioles. But I got much more than I expected.

I was at the ballpark at 4:30, in plenty of time to buy the tickets and meet my friend Geoff at 5:00. We went across the street to Pickles Pub and caught up over a few beers, then made our way into the stadium and crossed the concourse to the Orioles Alumni booth, where 1989 team members Mike Devereaux, Dave Schmidt, Mickey Tettleton, and Dave Johnson were signing autographs. Naturally, I was well-prepared with a handful of cards from my collection, including artist Dick Perez's technicolor take on Schmidt, which you can see above. It was a fun moment, especially with the much-beloved "Why Not?" highlight video playing on the left-center field video board. "Devo" in particular looks like he could still be playing today. I made sure to mention to Johnson that we used to go to the same dentist in Middle River. He seemed bemused, responding, "Oh yeah?".

Geoff and I found our seats in the upper deck and watched the bittersweet conclusion to the 1989 video (stupid Blue Jays) and chowed down on some fine stadium fare, and settled in for the beginning of the game. We probably weren't optimistic to start with, and when the O's immediately fell in a 2-run hole thanks to some sloppy play, it looked even worse. The last thing they needed was an early deficit against Jered Weaver, who entered with a 12-3 record and a run of three straight games with ten-plus strikeouts.

So I guess you could say that I was completely caught off guard by a historic night by the Baltimore offense. Six runs in the first, seven more in the seventh, 16 total on 19 hits. They tied team records with nine doubles and a dozen extra-base hits. Brian Roberts had three of those doubles, boosting his major-league-leading total to 43. He has a good shot to break his own club record of 51 two-baggers in one season. Everyone in the lineup had at least one hit, and only Nolan Reimold didn't drive in at least one run. Did I leave anything out?

Oh yeah...the much-maligned Felix Pie, reduced over the past few months to sparing fourth outfielder status, started in left field to allow the sore-legged Nolan Reimold to DH and to give the flu-ridden Luke Scott a night of rest. After allowing a run to score on a wild throw in the first inning, Felix more than redeemed himself with a subsequent diving catch of a low liner as well as a four-hit evening. He became just the fourth player in Baltimore history to hit for the cycle, joining Brooks Robinson, Cal Ripken, Jr., and Aubrey Huff. He pumped his fist and pointed to the Oriole dugout after legging out a triple to clinch the cycle, took a curtain call between innings, and of course endured the customary shaving-cream pie to the face during his post-game interview. A pie for Pie, as many have noted.

All in all, an evening well spent.

Pete Harnisch, 1989 Donruss #44

Today's card makes me laugh every time I come across it. Some days, I think that this blog could work surprisingly well in an all-mustache format. If I were to do that, I would certainly have to categorize each mustache. Pete Harnisch's cookie duster there would be known as the "Rookie New Yorker", a.k.a. "My First Mustache". It also occurs to me that George Sherrill's "flat breezy" has absolutely nothing on Pete's cap, which is resting safely on top of his head, with several inches of daylight between cap and skull. While I love the old-school Rated Rookie logo, the photo says it all: ROOKIE COMING! PLEASE DO NOT HAZE.

Mike Morgan, 1989 Donruss #164

Mike Morgan is the journeyman's journeyman. He set the major league record by suiting up for a cool dozen different teams in his 22-year career. His longest tenure was not quite three-and-a-half years, with the Cubs. Mike's resume looks like this:

Athletics (1978-1979, made his debut at age eighteen)

Yankees (1982)

Blue Jays (1983)

Mariners (1985-1987)

Orioles (1988)

Dodgers (1989-1991)

Cubs (1992-June 1995)

Cardinals (June 1995-August 1996)

Reds (September 1996-1997)

Twins (April-August 1998)

Cubs again (August-October 1998)

Rangers (1999)

Diamondbacks (2000-2002)

That's right; his last team didn't come into existence until 20 years after his career began. Mike was traded six times in his career in deals involving a total of eleven other players, including Fred McGriff, who would go on to hit 493 home runs in his career. He was also once traded along with Todd Zeile, another former Oriole who played on eleven teams himself.

These trivia bits are entertaining enough, but I had another reason for choosing Mike Morgan as today's card. You see, one of the most rewarding aspects of blogging and reading other card blogs has been trading. I've made trades with the guys behind White Sox Cards, Thorzul Will Rule, and Cardboard Junkie, and also received neat giveaways from the masterminds of Indians Baseball Cards. Always. and The Fleer Sticker Project. So as my first full year of card collecting since the mid-90's begins, I'm looking to make more trades.

You may have noticed the sidebar link to my other blog, The Great 1965 Topps Project. The short story is that I'm trying to complete as much of the 1965 Topps baseball set as I can through trades. I've posted lists of all of my duplicate cards that are available to trade. I've made a little bit of progress, but at the same time I want to use that site as a hub for trades of a larger variety. So if you don't have any 1965 Topps for trade, you can check out the top of the left sidebar to see what else I need and make me an offer! Right now I've got a few needs lists up, since I'm determined to finally complete my Topps base sets from 1986-1989 and 1993. I'll update it as time permits with other sets I need to complete. I also plan to put up lists for Orioles team sets, to make sure that this blog doesn't ever run out of subjects. (Don't panic, though: at present, I've got enough O's cards to last me a couple of years at least!)