Jim Beattie Had to Wait for Fleer Fireworks

He started with a bang without them

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1983 Fleer Jim Beattie (#472) - Card of the Day

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Sometimes, it takes news a while to spread.

Take the case of Jim Beattie, for example.

Drafted by the Yankees in 1975, Beattie found his way to the majors with New York in April 1978. He managed to stay with the big club nearly all season, too, which was no small feat considering the Bombers were the defending World Series champs with designs on repeating.

That summer, the rookie right-hander went 6-9 with a 3.73 ERA in 25 appearances that included 22 starts. He was still pitching for New York in October, combining to go 2-0 with a stingy 1.88 ERA in 14.1 innings across one start in each of the American League Championship Series and the Fall Classic.

The next spring, collectors were treated to Beattie’s rookie card, #179 in the 1979 Topps set:

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Beattie had arrived…at least notwithstanding the fact that he struggled in 1979 and spent time at Triple-A Columbus. He still managed to make 15 big league appearances, though his 5.21 ERA was a bit rough. That November, the Yankees traded Beattie, Rick Anderson, Juan Beniquez, and Jerry Narron to the Mariners for Ruppert Jones and Jim Lewis.

The next year, Beattie spent all season in Seattle, while appearing on his 1980 Topps card still wearing Yankees pinstripes. He showed up on both Topps and Donruss cards wearing a Mariners uniform in 1981, then repeated that cardboard daily double in 1982.

Those latter cards came on the heels of a split season for Beattie during baseball’s own split season in 1981 — he made 18 appearances for Triple-A Spokane and 13 for Seattle.

In 1982, Beattie put together his best overall season to that date. Even though his 8-12 record doesn’t look so hot, he made 26 starts and posted a solid 3.34 ERA in 172.1 innings while striking out more than seven batters per nine innings.

If you’ve been paying close attention to the rambling so far, you might have noticed that something was missing from Beattie’s cardboard repertoire up through 1982. Namely, he had never appended on a Fleer card.

Why?

No clue. Let me know if you know why the Fleer snub up through 1982.

But regardless of the reasons, any logo-sticker-clad hard feelings were washed away in 1983, when Beattie appeared on card #472 in that year’s Fleer set. Finally, after five seasons in the big leagues and six major base cards, Jim Beattie finally had his First Fleer Card (FFC, not to be confused with FFS).

Beattie would make return appearances in all three major sets over the next few seasons, and he would continue to pitch well for at least two more summers. But tendinitis in 1985 sent him to the disabled list, and he tore his rotator cuff when he came back.

Surgery followed, and then a bumpy return in 1986 ended with another DL trip in August. That was it for Jim Beattie as a player in the majors.

From there, he returned to school, got an MBA, and embarked on a long front-office career in MLB. You gotta wonder if his hard-won FFC figured into his business card design through the years as his credentials stacked up.

Whatever the case, James Louis Beattie was born on July 4, 1954, in Hampton, VA, first settled in 1610 and no stranger to the importance of that particular day (July 4th, that is).

Behold … The Last Great Jim Palmer Baseball Card

Beattie’s first start in the majors came on April 25, 1978, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. He went 6.1 innings and gave up just one run (earned) before yielding to Sparky Lyle. The Yankees won the game 4-3, with Beattie picking up the decision.

The loser? Jim Palmer, who went all nine innings, and who made his last great baseball appearance (says me) five years later. Read all about it!

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P.S. – Got a shoebox full of old cards?

You’re not alone.

I’ve heard from a lot of readers (especially over on the market report) who are wondering what their old cards are worth, or how to even begin figuring it out.

So I’m putting together a quick-start guide to help collectors figure out what’s what and which cards they might want to keep/sell/trade…and how to do it

If that sounds like something you might want, sign up here, and I’ll let you know when it’s live.
(I may even follow up with a quick checklist or preview to help you get started.)