One of the (many) fascinating things about this hobby that will probably keep me digging through old cards until my digging and breathing days are done are the chance encounters with guys who blinked through the majors in a flash, but who live on forever in shoeboxes across the country.
Take the 1981 Topps Red Sox Future Stars card (#689), for example:
Bruce Hurst you probably remember as an All-Star for the Red Sox later in the decade, and a consistent winner for the Padres after that. He was ace enough to push this card out of the commons bin for a while.
And Reid Nichols put together an eight-year major league career that netted him several baseball cards.
But the man front and center on this card, Keith MacWhorter, was a short-timer in the bigs. A 15th-round pick by the Dodgers in 1976, he was released the next April.
The Red Sox signed MacWhorter as a free agent that September, and he spent most of the next three seasons in Boston’s minor league system. He got the call-up to Beantown in May of 1980, though, and made eight appearances into mid June before heading back to the bushes.
Boston entered September in third place but just 6.5 games back of first in the old American League East. A week later, though, they were 10 out.
That’s when MacWhorter whirled back into town. From that point to the end of the season, he made six more appearances, including his first two starts. The 24-year-old righty went 8 1/3 innings in the Red Sox’ last game of the season.
Overall, MacWhorter finished his rookie season with an 0-3 record and a 5.53 ERA.
As it turned out, that was the end of the road for MacWhorter in The Show. He would spend three more seasons in the minors for the Sox, then one in the Indians’ farm system.
Bill Nowlin wrote up MacWhorter’s story in more detail a dozen years back for the SABR Bio Project you’re hungry for more.
And, of course, you can always catch MacWhorter in full bloom, right there in the center of his 1981 Topps baseball card.
Have a great weekend.
—Adam
P.S. Tomorrow’s weekly Wax Pack Gods newsletter will celebrate baseball cards at the end of the road. Sounds very mysterious, huh?
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Hurst: the would-be 1986 World Series MVP...until it all fell apart. I remember MacWhorter too---I was 12 and living in Marshfield MA when this card appeared. Where's Win Remerswaal these days?
Hurst: the would-be 1986 World Series MVP...until it all fell apart. I remember MacWhorter too---I was 12 and living in Marshfield MA when this card appeared. Where's Win Remerswaal these days?