Even Julio Franco Was Young (and Burgundy) Once

And thanks to Donruss, we have proof!

Aug 23, 2024

Julio Franco hit .341 to win the American League batting title in 1991. He was 32 years old at the time, in his third year for the Texas Rangers.

The Cleveland Indians had traded Franco to Texas in December of 1988 in exchange for Jerry Browne, Oddibe McDowell, and Pete O'Brien. The Tribe was trying, in part, to get younger.

Indeed, Franco had always run on the “old” side in his major league career, qualifying as a rookie in 1983 when he was 24 — no spring chicken when it came to a prospect. Even so, he spent the rest of the 1980s hitting around .300, stealing 20-30 bases a year, flashing double-digit homer power, and driving in a fair amount of runs for a shortstop.

In the field, he was no Ozzie Smith, but he handled short well enough to hold the position through 1987 before moving to second base when Jay Bell and Ron Washington took over at short in 1988.

Franco also became one of the faces of a franchise who continued their fabled losing ways all decade long, with the exception of the strike-shortened 1981 and a sort of flukish 1986.

Even so, when it came time to build for the 1990s, Cleveland decided Franco was expendable…and aging.

So after winning his first Silver Slugger award (as a second baseman) and picking up his first MVP votes in 1988, Franco was off to Texas. Three more Silver Sluggers, his first three All-Star selections, and that batting title followed in short order.

Still, at 32, most figured that Franco was more raging against the dying of the light than settling in for an almost unprecedented stay in the majors.

Indeed, things looked pretty bleak in 1992, when a knee injury limited Franco to 35 games and put an end to his time as a regular in the middle infield. After playing 140 games as the Rangers’ designated hitter in 1993, Franco signed as a free agent with the White Sox, for whom he played DH and some first base.

With the players’ strike wiping out the end of the 1994 season and threatening 1995, Franco then hopped to Japan for the new season. At age 36, it looked more than ever like his MLB days might be over.

But not Julio Franco!

He signed with his “hometown” Indians in 1996, then kept coming back to the majors most years until — get this — 2007. There were a couple more years (1998, 2000) spent in Japan and Korea, but Franco was 49 years old when he last suited up in the majors.

That last appearance came for the Braves, for whom he had also a long, productive late-career run from 2001 through 2005. In all, Franco appeared for seven different big league teams from 1983 through 2007.

His long big league career is well chronicled in cardboard, starting with his 1984 rookie card showing him with the Indians.

Except…

Those weren’t really his rookie cards, at all. Because, while Franco was busy putting up that solid rookie season for the Indians in 1983, collectors were pulling the true rookie card of an unknown Phillies shortstop from our Donruss wax packs.

Yeah, it was Julio Franco, who signed with Philadelphia as an amateur free agent in 1978 and finally debuted in the bigs in April of 1982. He made it into 16 games for the Phillies — nine in the spring and seven after the September call-ups.

That December, the Phils traded Franco, Jay Baller, Manny Trillo, George Vukovich. and Jerry Willard to the Indians for now-Phillies legend Von Hayes.

By then, Donruss apparently already had their 1983 checklist in place, and they were set on taking a chance on the young shortstop.

Today, that young shortstop — Julio Franco, that is — turns 66 years old.

Proof of Stardom

In the 1980s, collectors could tell when a player had really “made it” by the sets he appeared in. If a guy was in a box set or an All-Star subset, he was golden.

And if he made it to one of the various food issues, you could pretty much stamp his Cooperstown plaque.

So when Von Hayes showed up next to Robin Yount (or another star) in the 1987 Kraft set, his stardom was forever cemented. And, while Hayes fell short of the Hall of Fame, Phillies Phans and collectors still have a place in their hearts and binders for the former All-Star.

You can read all about Hayes and his cheesy collectible panel right here.

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Mac & cheese is good weekend food, which is fitting considering we made it to another Friday. Have a great weekend and enjoy your baseball cards — they’ve been waiting all week to see you!

Thanks for reading.

—Adam

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