Doyle Alexander Made Donruss Blue
And Tigers fans forget John Smolz (for a few weeks)
1987 Donruss Highlights Doyle Alexander (#52) - Card of the Day
On August 12, 1987, the Detroit Tigers traded prospect John Smoltz to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for veteran right-hander Doyle Alexander. Today, of course, that deal looks pretty lopsided, considering that Smoltz is in the Hall of Fame and that Alexander was done in the majors less than two years later.
But, man, has a trade ever worked out more to plan than this one did for the Tigers?
I mean, the day general manager Bill Lajoie pulled the trigger on the deal, Detroit beat the White Sox to stay a game and a half behind the Blue Jays in the old American League East.
Alexander made his first Detroit start on August 15, giving up four earned runs in six innings of a no-decision as the Tigers won against the Royals, anyway.
Five days later, on August 20, Alexander hurled eight scoreless innings at the Twins, and Detroit won 8-0. And that was pretty much the Alexander that Detroit got the rest of the way, as he posted a 9-0 record with a tiny 1.53 ERA in 11 total starts down the stretch.
Not bad for a guy who turned 37 on September 4.
According to Baseball Reference, Alexander’s frenzied finish was worth 4.4 WAR for the Tigers, who ended up catching and passing the Blue Jays, taking the division title on the last day of the season.
For his efforts, Alexander finished fourth in American League Cy Young Award voting and even received some down-ballot MVP consideration. Before that, though, he was named the American League Pitcher of the Month for September, when he went 5-0 with a 0.71 ERA.
And that’s where the card above comes into play. The Tigers and Braves pulled off their trade too late for Topps and Fleer to capture Alexander in his new uniform in time for their Traded and Update sets, but Donruss was up to the task.
Big D slotted Alexander and his big September on card #52 in their third, and final, year-end “Highlights” set.
Alas, by the time the 56-card issue made its way into the hobby, the Twins had buzzsawed the Tigers in the ALCS, where they mauled Alexander for ten runs in nine innings over two games.
Alexander went 14-11 for Detroit in 1988 and the 6-18 in 1989 before hanging up his spike. By then, Smoltz had made his first All-Star appearance for the Braves and was already making Tigers’ fans queasy about that trade in August of 1987.
But for six or seven weeks, Alexander was as good as he could be, and even better than advertised.
An Early (Print) Run
The very first batter that Alexander faced as a member of the Tigers was Willie Wilson. As he tended to do, the Royals centerfielder led off with a single. But Tigers catcher Matt Nokes immediately bailed out Alexander by gunning down Wilson as he tried to steal second with Kevin Seitzer at the plate.
Alexander then coaxed flyballs to center from both Seitzer and George Brett, and the new Detroit hurler was off and running, so to speak.
As for Wilson, his journey through the hobby got off and running with his 1979 Topps rookie card, but truth is, that was not his first pasteboard as a member of the Kansas City baseball family.
Read all about the speester’s actual cardboard debut right here.
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And, once again, like Wilson himself, I gotta run (yes, I know you saw that coming).
Thanks for reading.
—Adam
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