Ken Singleton at the Plate Was for the Birds

He was a Big Hitter as an Oriole and as a Drake

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1981 Topps Drake’s Big Hitters Ken Singleton (#12) - Card of the Day

Ken Singleton was one of those plug-and-play stars whose performance was just so automatic, fans tended to overlook his excellence during his career.

And, thanks to not having played his first full season until he was 25, Singleton ran out of time to put up the sort of counting numbers that would have landed him in the Hall of Fame.

But for most of the 1970s and the early part of the 1980s, Singleton’s managers knew exactly what they were going to get — a .300 hitter with 20-homer power who drew plenty of walks and was best suited to stand on first or second (or occasionally) third base. No need to tempt fate with those “wheels” of his, the ones that helped him get caught in 36 of 57 stolen base attempts.

There were some adventures in the outfield, too, though Singleton did pop off 20 assists from right field for the Expos in 1973.

But there’s no doubt Singleton was at his best with a bat in his hand, a setting that eventually yielded 246 home runs among his 2026 hits, good enough for a .282 lifetime batting average. He also collected 317 doubles and 1065 RBI.

All of that got Singleton three All-Star nods. He was also a key contributor to the Orioles’ October run in 1979, batting .375 in the ALCS and .357 in the World Series.

He was still with the O’s when they won the Fall Classic in 1983, though by then he was a designated hitter and played sparingly in the postseason.

In between those two pennant-winning seasons for Baltimore, the hobby went through some big changes, most notably the end of the first Topps monopoly when Fleer and Donruss crashed into the market in 1981.

That same year, Topps teamed up with New York-based Drake’s Cakes to produce a set of 33 cards featuring “Big Hitters.” And right there, nestled between Steve Garvey and Bill Buckner, was none other than Ken Singleton.

This was the first of several years’ worth of the Drake’s sets, and they would become a staple of the early part of the 1980s hobby boom. If you like busy, maybe even wild, baseball card designs, these fronts are for you.

The backs, though? Pure Topps:

And speaking of pure Topps, the Old Gum Company never has been shy about dipping into their archives:

Ken Singleton turns 77 years old today.

Singleton started his big league career with the Mets, debuting in June 1970, just a few months — from a baseball perspective — after the Amazin’s were so Amazin’ in winning the 1969 World Series.

That marriage lasted a couple years, until the Mets sent Singleton, Tim Foli, and Mike Jorgensen to the Expos for Rusty Staub. Le Grand Orange would spend nine years in blue and orange, helping establish Staub as one of baseball’s great gamers.

(The Expos would trade Singleton to the O’s in 1974.)

Staub featured large in a piece I wrote on the game’s big-time “workers” a few years back — you can read that right here.

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That’s all the diamond ramblings I have for this June Monday. Hope your week is off to a great start, but if not, I’ll bet you can find a game or five to lift your spirits.

It’s baseball season, after all!

Thanks for reading.

—Adam