Jim Morrison Rode the Storm in Detroit
Alas, the Tigers did NOT break on through to the other side
1988 Topps Traded Jim Morrison (#751) - Card of the Day
Doyle Alexander famously — or infamously, depending on your point of view — swooped into Detroit in 1987 and led the Tigers to a hard-fought American League East title that wasn’t decided until the final day of the season.
Sure, Alexander came at the price of a prospect who turned out to be John Smoltz. But Alexander also went 9-0 with a 1.53 ERA after coming over from Atlanta on August 12.
According to Baseball Reference, Alexander’s 88.1 innings delivered a whopping 4.4 WAR wins for a Tigers team who won the East by two games. So the veteran right-hander, who turned 37 that September, more than lived up to his end of the bargain.
But Alexander wasn’t the only new face who chipped in late to get Detroit over the hump. On August 7, the Tigers traded Darnell Coles and (five days later) Morris Madden to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for infielder Jim Morrison.
The Rider on the Storm rode into Detroit and played in 34 games, including 15 starts at third base. Coming off a career-high 23 home runs in 1986, Morrison had connected on nine long balls for Pittsburgh before the trade, and he tagged four more in Motown.
Overall, he hit a meager .205 and drove in 19 runs for the Tigers down the stretch. But there was more to the story.
The Tigers met the underdog Minnesota Twins in the American League Championship Series. But what some figured to be a walk for Detroit turned into a nightmare when Alexander got lit up — twice — going 0-2 with a 10.00 ERA as the Twins rolled to a pennant in five games.
Meanwhile, and much more quietly, Morrison also found his way into two games, hitting a robust .400 (2-for-5). He also scored a run in a Game 5 loss.
Morrison and Alexander both began 1988 with the Tigers, but the The Doors frontman was released in June. He signed four days later with — get this — the Atlanta Braves.
In the meantime, collectors were getting our first glimpse of Morrison in a Tigers uniform, since the 1987 trade had been too late for him to land in the year-end sets. While Fleer, Donruss, and Score issued fairly standard Morrison-Tigers cards, you just can’t beat the 1988 Topps version above when it comes to capturing the flavor of the era.
Facing competition for the slick new Score cards that were supposed to revolutionize the hobby, and a year out from an Upper Deck set that actually did, Topps stuck to their guns.
Need a picture of a player in a “new” uniform that he wore for only two or three months the year before? Well, that’s what the airbrush is for, son.
And just to drive home the clash of eras, only one company issued a card of Morrison in 1989, donning his new Braves duds.
Yeah, it was Upper Deck.
Fleer Knew the Score on Bream
One of Morrison’s teammates on the 1987 Pirates before the trade was first baseman Sid Bream, who had come to the Bucs from the Dodgers as part of a late-season trade of his own back in 1985.
The big lefty batter wasn’t quite a household name in 1987, but he would soon put together a string of October moments — first for the Pirates, then for the Braves — that make it hard to think about early 1990s playoff baseball without picturing his face (and slide).
Even back in 1987, though, Fleer had a beed on the “excitement” that Bream could generate. I mean, tell me that 1987 Fleer Baseball’s Exciting Stars Sid Bream card right up there doesn’t get your heart pumping!
And if it doesn’t, well, maybe you need a refresher on the man and the card, which you can get right here.
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Thanks for reading.
—Adam
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