How John Habyan Saved the 1988 Orioles

The Rangers never knew what hit them

1986 Donruss John Habyan (#45) - Card of the Day

Let’s play a quick round of Rookie Card Jeopardy:

Answer: He pitched to Don Baylor during Groove’s last week with the Yankees in 1985 and also to Dwight Smith during Smith’s farewell tour in 1996. He was also a Donruss Rated Rookie in 1986.

Question: Who is John Habyan?

Of course, you already knew Habyan would be the question here, right? I mean, that’s his baseball card up there, after all.

But two of those three parts of the question were a bit surprising to me. Or at least their relation to each other.

I mean, I remember Habyan as a Rated Rookie, of course. That was right in the heyday of the 1980s hobby boom, and every rookie card had the potential to fund a college education or posh retirement.

That went double for Rated Rookies, the ones Donruss handpicked for stardom.

Not sure how excited actual scouts and talent pundits were about Habyan, given his four-year climb through the Orioles system, ERAs around 4.00, and middling strikeout totals.

Granted, Habyan did put together a pretty 13-5, 3.27 campaign for the Double-A Charlotte O’s in 1985. That earned him a September callup, this Rated Rookie, and a spot on hobby wantlists.

It was during that cup of coffee that Habyan faced Baylor, coaxing a flyout to third base after relieving Scott McGregor in the eighth and giving up a two-run single to Dave Winfield on September 29, 1985, at Yankee Stadium.

Habyan spent the next few seasons up and down between Baltimore and the minors. He even managed a rare win for the 1988 Orioles (on July 2 against the Rangers), who managed only 54 victories that summer.

By that time, Habyan was on all the major set checklists…and that’s about the time I sort of lost track of him.

As it turned out, the Orioles traded Habyan to the Yankees for Stan Jefferson in July of 1989. Habyan would spend parts of four seasons in the Bronx, including a stellar 1991 season when he made 66 appearances and put up a sparkling 2.30 ERA in 90 innings pitched.

Then it was off to the Royals, Cardinals, Angels, and Rockies.

In Habyan’s final game with the Rockies, on June 8, 1996, he gave up a leadoff double to Dwight Smith in the top of the 6th. That was en route to coughing up a two-run lead against the Braves before the last pitch of his career resulted in a Ryan Klesko flyout to center field later in the inning.

All in all, Habyan went 26-24 with a 3.85 ERA and 12 saves in parts of 11 big league seasons.

And today, Habyan turns 60 years old. Happy birthday!

The Names Couldn’t Save Them

Those 1988 Orioles, for whom Habyan picked up a W, were putrid.

After Earl Weaver retired (again) after the 1986 season, there was some excitement as Cal Ripken Sr. took the managerial reins in 1987. There, he paired with sons Cal Ripken Jr. and Billy Ripken to give the O’s a triple crown of baseball royalty, as depicted on 1998 Donruss card #625:

Alas, following a 67-95 finish in 1987 and an 0-6 start in 1988, general manager Roland Hemond fired Cal Sr. and brought in even more baseball royalty:

But the slide continued under Frank Robinson, all the way to 0-21.

To be fair, the rest of the season went a bit better, as Baltimore’s 54-86 “surge” left them merely historically bad and not completely hopeless for the future.

Indeed, Robinson’s troops turned around to an 89-73 record in 1989.

But in that summer of 1988, some great baseball names — including Eddie Murray and Fred Lynn — were about the only thing to cheer when it came to Baltimore baseball.

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The good news is, here we are just 35 years later, and the Orioles have completely turned things around — American League East champs!

See, there’s always hope.

Thanks for reading.

—Adam