The 1991 Bowman Zane Smith Swashbuckler
He turned into Darryl (not Larry or Darryl) in the playoffs
1991 Bowman Zane Smith (#524) - Card of the Day
Quick! Who were the most important players in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ run to a division title in 1990?
Sure, Barry Bonds and Doug Drabek top the list — hard to argue with the National League MVP and Cy Young Award winners. Andy Van Slyke, Bobby Bonilla, Sid Bream, Jay Bell, Jeff King — they all came up big, and the Bucs needed every one of them.
But another guy who was instrumental in the Pirates’ success that summer actually spent most of the summer somewhere else.
On August 8, the Pirates lost to Montreal at home, and their lead over the Mets in the old National League East fell to a game and a half. That same day, though, they traded Willie Greene and Scott Ruskin to those same Expos. Eight days later, they added the proverbial “player to be named later.”
And who did the Pirates receive in return? Why, left-hander Zane Smith, who had lost to Pittsburgh the night before, dropping his record to 6-7, albeit with a tidy 3.23 ERA. Six days later, on August 14, Smith pitched the back half of a doubleheader against Atlanta, going eight innings as the Bucs downed the Braves, 6-4.
Smith gave up three runs in that one, which would turn out to be his highwater mark with Pittsburgh. In ten starts through the end of the season, he went 6-2 with a 1.30 ERA, and the Pirates went 7-3 in his games.
They also ended up winning the division by four games before squaring off against the Reds in the NLCS. Whatever magic Smith brought with him from Canada seemed to fade in October, though, as he lost two times and posted a 6.00 ERA as the Reds took the pennant in six games.
The next year, Smith appeared as a Pirate on cardboard for the first time. His 1991 Bowman is a particularly amazing exemplar of the times, thanks to the flowing mullet and blond-Darryl — of Larry, Darryl, and Darryl Newhart fame — good looks.
By then, collectors had already been pulling cards of a young Moises Alou for about a year, first as a Pirate, then as an Expo. He turned out to be a pretty darn good PTBNL, but there’s no doubt Zane Smith delivered exactly what the Pirates bargained for.
The Year Rock Didn’t Raines Supreme
Those 1990 Expos finished with a winning record, but also in third place in the old American League East, ten games behind the Pirates and four behind the Mets.
Part of their shortcoming that summer was the fact that Tim Raines ended up playing in just 130 games and managing “only” 2.9 WAR by Baseball Reference’s reckoning. That was sort of a middle-of-the-pack number for Rock’s career as a whole.
Even so, Raines left fans in Montreal (and everywhere else) with plenty of great memories as he raced toward the Hall of Fame. He was also featured on hundreds of baseball cards and is still a hobby favorite today.
I ran through 30 of the most important Raines cards issued during his career a while back over on Wax Pack Gods. You can read that piece, and see all the great cards, right here.
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Like Raines, I gotta run. But I’ll be back tomorrow!
Thanks for reading.
—Adam
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