Sammy Stewart, 1981 Donruss #474

Sadly, the Orioles family lost another notable name over the weekend, as Sammy Stewart was found dead in Hendersonville, NC on Friday. He was 63 years old.

Stewart, a powerful 6'3" righthander, burst onto the scene on September 1, 1978. Tabbed to start against the White Sox in his big league debut, he set a rookie record that still stands by striking out seven consecutive batters from the second inning to the fourth. Though he was never able to gain a foothold in the deep Baltimore starting rotation, Sammy pitched effectively in a variety of roles during his seven full seasons with the team, posting a 51-45 record, 42 saves, and a 3.47 ERA (114 ERA+). Most notably, he led the American League with a 2.32 ERA during the strike-shortened 1981 season, when he logged 112.1 innings in 29 games despite making only three starts. In the 1979 and 1983 postseasons, he allowed no runs in 12 innings across six appearances. He even picked up a save in Game Three of the 1983 ALCS, yielding just one hit and one walk in four innings after relieving starter Mike Flanagan. Sammy was by all accounts a good and affable teammate, according to the memories that several prominent ex-Orioles shared in this obituary by the Baltimore Sun.

Sammy's career was short-lived after the O's traded him to Boston for the 1986 season. He spent one year with the Red Sox, followed by a partial season in Cleveland's bullpen. As I've mentioned on this blog before, his life away from the diamond was full of struggles. He lost two children to the effects of cystic fibrosis - son Colin passed away in 1991 at age 11, and daughter Alicia was 34 when she died in 2016. In between these two tragedies his life was derailed by drug addiction, leading to homelessness and an eventual six-year incarceration in his native North Carolina. Stewart was released in 2013, and seemed to have cleaned himself up and found peace. He remarried, and worked to build a better relationship with his daughter. And now, just a few years later, he's gone. I just hope he's truly found that peace that eluded him for so long.

Vintage Fridays: Mark Corey, John Flinn, and Sammy Stewart, 1979 Topps #701

Why did Topps go with the mug shot approach to their prospects cards in 1979? It doesn't do anybody any favors, especially when you're rocking that seedy Mark Corey mustache. As I mentioned several years back, Mark Corey got shunted onto these "prospects" cards for three years running, and never had a Topps card all to himself. The same goes for John Flinn, whose only other appearance in a Topps set came in 1981, when he was given lip service as a Brewers "Future Star", along with Ed Romero and future manager Ned Yost. Flinn was Baltimore's second-round pick in January 1973, a righthander who debuted in 1978 but pitched only 69 innings as a reliever for the O's and Brewers in 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1982. He had a 5-2 record, two saves, and a 4.17 ERA. His most lasting contribution to Birdland? The Orioles traded him to the Brewers after the 1979 season in exchange for utility infielder Lenny Sakata.

As for Sammy Stewart, he made good on his promise, but ran into trouble after his career ended. Now he's back on his feet, thankfully.

Vintage Fridays: Sammy Stewart, 1980 Topps #119

This will probably be my last blog entry for a week or more. Tomorrow at 3:00 PM, I will be pledging my love to Janet in front of 100 of our closest friends and family. Then we'll be having one hell of a party: drinks, dinner, and dancing on the farm. We'll probably collapse into our hotel bed by 11, then jump in the car Sunday morning to drive the three hours up to my family's lakeside cottage in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It'll be a week of decompressing, far away from everybody, and enjoying one another's exclusive company as we get a head start on spending the rest of our lives together. It's hard to believe that this moment has nearly come, even though we've been counting down since there were 90-some days left til the wedding. But I can safely say that I have no doubt that Janet is the ideal partner in crime for me. See you all soon. Be good to one another.

Sammy Stewart, 1981 Topps #262

Alright folks, I'm on the road again - well, nearly. Dark and early tomorrow morning, I'll be accompanying my girlfriend home to Charlotte, NC to meet her family. Eight hours in the car each way seems almost as daunting as being put under the microscope by the girl's loved ones, but at least she's the one driving. Despite having lived in the Mid-Atlantic for all of my 30 years, I have never once visited North Carolina. I'm excited to absorb some of the local color, although my significant other says she prefers the mountains of Asheville in Western Carolina, where she attended college as an undergrad. Asheville is also the birthplace of Sammy Stewart, the former O's relief ace who is currently incarcerated in his hometown but hopes to be released from prison next January after serving a six-year sentence for a number of drug offenses. It's been about a year since Sammy reached out to the Baltimore Sun, so hopefully he's still on the right path.

Sammy Stewart, 1985 Topps #469

I'll begin this entry with a heartfelt apology to anyone who might have assumed that this would be a full Joe Orsulak week. Never assume, folks.

Early this morning, Dan Connolly printed a letter from former Orioles pitcher Sammy Stewart on the Baltimore Sun's Orioles Insider blog. Stewart is currently incarcerated at the Buncombe Correctional Center in Asheville, NC due to a felony drug charge levied in 2006. It sounds like he's truly contrite and hopes for a fresh start when he's released from prison, which could be as soon as January 2013. In the letter, he mourns the untimely death of his teammate and friend Mike Flanagan, and also pays tribute to the other O's of his era who have left us. It is definitely worth a read, and if you would like to offer some words of encouragement to Sammy, he also provided his address. I'll reprint it here for convenience's sake:

Samuel Stewart, 0390745
PO Box 18089
Asheville, NC 28814

Let me know if any of you write to him. I'm planning on doing so, and I'd be glad to know if he responds to you. We all deserve second chances, and I'm optimistic that Sammy will make the most of his when the time comes.

Sammy Stewart, 1986 Fleer #289

Do you think Sammy Stewart enjoyed the humid summers in Baltimore? I'm just asking.

Sammy Stewart, 1983 Fleer #74

I'm back from the beach, reluctantly. It was great to have a chance to spend seven straight days doing as little as possible, and the lack of an open wireless connection at the apartment we rented even forced me to take a vacation from the Internet. I'll be the first to admit that this was a good thing, on balance. Of course, it meant that last week's blog posts were even more minimal than I'd intended, since I left them to the last minute and had to post them during the week from my sister's iPhone with no accompanying text. Fortunately, my hopes that the seven great Eddie Murray cards that I chose would speak for themselves seemed to be well-founded. Thanks to everyone who added their own commentary in my absence! By the way, I did have a chance to double back and post the image that I'd intended to use for Wednesday's post, so go give it a look. Now that I'm back in Baltimore, you've all got my full attention for another three and a half weeks...then it's off to San Diego for another long weekend, and you'd better believe that I've already started that countdown!

When I finally checked my email this afternoon, I found the usual batch of reader comments from my recent posts, but there was also a new comment left on a much older post. This happens from time to time, and in this case I'm going to call your attention to it. Last Tuesday, an anonymous commenter identifying herself as Sammy Stewart's oldest sister Linda weighed in on my April 13, 2008 entry, which highlighted Stewart and his post-baseball struggles with drug abuse and his subsequent incarceration. Per Linda's comment:

"I am Sammy's oldest sister, Linda and I would like for all of you to know that Sammy is doing wonderful. He's been in prison for over 3 years now and we are trying to get that sentence reduced or even clemency for him. Sammy has changed back to the man he once was, all drugs out of his system for 3 years now, he will look you in the eye and he is interested in what you've got to say. I think God that I have my brother back. Sammy is a wonderful man, a big heart and a great sense of humor. He's never known a stranger. Drugs ruined my brothers life and one of the worst things about this is that I had to watch our parents suffer and worry about Sammy, they were heartbroken. They are both dead now but I know in my heart that they are helping Sammy through these years. I think 8 or 9 years for habitual felon is pretty drastic and with the way the NC prison system being overloaded and underbudget they are going to need to let some of these types of offenders out. It's costing the gov way to much money. My brother has been through several classes, has a culinary school certificate, he is singing solos at church and all in all he is making the best of his time. He's helping the other guys in there also. He gets along with everyone and everyone likes him. I have written a letter to the gov of NC hoping for clemency so any prayers would be greatly appreciated. I love my brother, I don't like some of the things he did but he's human and he does deserve another chance. I know that if he gets out of there he can be a productive part of our society. He loves to work with kids and that's one of his hopes, of course he still loves baseball so he would love to work with the teams in any capacity. Sammy never hurt anyone other than himself and of course the people that love him so I think his sentence was toooo long. I would be interested in talking to any about Sammy anytime. Good thoughts and prayers would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Linda Banks"

Assuming that the commenter is who she claims to be (you never can be sure, but I'd like to think no one would exploit such a sensitive situation), I'd like to thank her for taking time out of her day to check in with a first-hand account, especially one that features such encouraging news. Everyone deserves a fresh start in life, and I continue to hope that Sammy makes the most out of the time that he has left in this world.

Sammy Stewart, 1986 Donruss #270

For whatever reason, the topic of drug abuse doesn't come up very often in conjunction with baseball. I'm not talking about performance-enhancing drugs, of course. I'm also not referring to alcohol abuse, which seems to be a serious and fairly frequent problem that gets brushed off until a team wants to make an example of somebody. But the only current major leaguer who I can recall who has struggled with hardcore drugs is Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton, a former #1 draft pick who nearly lost everything to his alcohol, cocaine, and crack addictions before making a remarkable recovery. In his second season in the major leagues since his comeback, Hamilton is looking like a great success story.

Sammy Stewart is not nearly so lucky.

A go-to guy in the Oriole bullpen for much of the 1980s, Stewart had no drug problem during his ten-year career in the majors. It was only when the Cleveland Indians released him in October 1987 that Sammy looked for something to fill the void. A few months later, he found the rush and excitement he'd been missing, and unfortunately he found it in crack cocaine. Though the imposing righthander had compiled some impressive statistics on the diamond (2.32 ERA in 1981, no runs allowed in 12 postseason innings,7 straight strikeouts in his ML debut), he's spent the past two decades racking up numbers of a more disheartening nature:

26 arrests
43 criminal charges
6 incarcerations

He's currently serving jail time in North Carolina. He's lost the three million dollars or so that he earned on the mound. He's lost his 1983 World Series ring, his home, and most of all his family. Sammy Stewart is a sick man who would have done anything to get money for his next high. He has a daughter with cystic fibrosis, and he used to play upon the sympathies of his friends and neighbors to borrow cash. His story is equal parts pitiable and despicable, and it's been told much more eloquently in other places.

The thing that really struck me in reading up on Sammy Stewart was his age. He's fifty-three, just a few weeks younger than my father. I can't imagine being in the position of Alicia, Stewart's daughter. What would I do - what would you do - if you happened upon your father and he was dirty and disheveled, his skin actually yellowed from the abuse he'd inflicted upon himself? How would you react if you tried to offer him food, only for him to refuse and to ask for money instead?

I don't have the answers. I hope that Sammy truly has hit rock bottom, and that it's not too late for him to start climbing back up.