How Ken Singleton Salvaged His Career-Capper(s)
Even if he didn't make it back to the diamond
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1985 Fleer Ken Singleton (#191) - Card of the Day
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Ken Singleton had designs on playing major league baseball in 1985, just like he had for the previous 15 years of his life.
But at age 37, facing an expiring contract, and heading into September of 1984 with a .204 batting average, four home runs, and 23 RBI, the Orioles’ designated hitter had his work cut out for him.
Singleton was up to the task, though, or at least up to taking a swing at saving his season (and career)…literally.
On September 1, the veteran swatted a seventh-inning grand slam against Ed Vande Berg to put the Orioles up 8-7 in Seattle (though the Mariners eventually won, 10-9.
Singleton broke out his salami stick again on September 20 against the Red Sox, clearing the bases on a pitch from Al Nipper in the bottom of the second to put the O’s up, 6-1. They eventually romped to a 15-1 victory.
Those were the only two homers Singleton hit that month, but he sure made them count. And he also made that final stretch his best of the season, hitting .261 with 13 RBI and a triple in 20 games to end the campaign.
Was it enough to win him another look by the Orioles…or by another big league team?
Well, Singleton did travel with Baltimore on their fall Japan tour, and his agent checked in directly with the Blue Jays to see if they were interested. They weren’t…at least not right away, and not in the way Singleton might have had in mind.
The three-time All-Star became a free agent in November, but he found the pickings slim to none. He was still unsigned the following spring, but would soon find his next baseball home.
In 1985, Singleton went to the Toronto well again — or vice versa — to become the Blue Jays’ color commentator, a role he also filled in 1986. He then moved on to the same sort of gig for Expos radio broadcasts from 1987 through 1996 before landing in the Yankees booth, where he stayed through 2021.
But back in the fall of 1984, only Donruss among the major card companies read the tea leaves correctly. Big D left Singleton out of their 1985 set, while both Topps and Fleer gave it one more go.
Heck, Topps featured the 1979 American League MVP runner-up in both their base set (#755) …
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… and their sticker set (#201), alongside coulda-been teammate Luis Leal…
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That action-packed base design also showed up in Tiffany and O-Pee-Chee sets that year, as well as a “mini” test issue.
But our cardboard star of the day is Singleton’s 1985 Fleer career-capper. As you can see way up there at the top of this post, the card gives us a classic posed batting shot of the man who was once one of the most feared (if underrated) hitters in the game, all swaddled in Orioles orange.
And the back of the card was about as close to palm-sized heaven as a 1980s numbers nut could get:
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Finally, as you might have noticed from the fine print up there toward the bottom of the card, Kenneth Wayne Singleton turns 78 years old today.
1983 Topps John Denny Rode the Storm to Success
Singleton appeared in 17 postseason games for the Orioles, split across 1979 and 1983. In his very last October plate appearance, he walked with the bases loaded against Phillies starter John Denny in the top of the sixth inning in Game 4 of the 1983 World Series.
That drove in John Lowenstein to tie the game 3-3, and it also drove Denny from the game. Willie Hernandez came in to relieve that year’s National League Cy Young winner…and gave up the go ahead run.
Maybe Denny’s stormy 1983 Topps card was a portent of the trouble that awaited that fall? Could be.
Either way, it’s a hobby classic — warts and all — that you can read more about right here.
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