The Bullish Half-a-Rookie-Card from Up North
Leon Durham mashed up the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry on cardboard
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1981 O-Pee-Chee Leon Durham (#321) - Card of the Day
On this day 45 years ago, Leon Durham was a 22-year-old prospect for the St. Louis Cardinals, (basically) fresh off a trip from Springfield, Illinois, to Busch Stadium. Also fresh off a 1979 season spent with the Cards’ Triple-A Redbirds that saw him break out for a .310/23 HR/88 RBI line, Durham opened 1980 with five homers and 23 ribbies in 32 games back in Springfield.
That was enough to get the call he had been working toward since the Cardinals selected him with the 15th pick in the 1976 draft out of Woodward High School in Cincinnati.
On May 27, 1980, Durham said goodbye to the minors forever (basically) when manager Whitey Herzog started the youngster in right field against the Mets. Durham went 1-for-5, singling off Mark Bomback in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The rookie scored three batters later when Terry Kennedy singled to center, bringing both Durham and Keith Hernandez home.
Durham would make 95 more appearances for the Cardinals that summer, finishing at .278 with eight home runs and 42 RBI while also stealing eight bases and scoring 42 runs. Along the way, he appeared at first base, all three outfield positions, and as a pinch hitter.
In modern parlance, it all added up to 1.7 WAR and was good enough for a seventh-place finish in National League Rookie of the Year voting. Steve Howe was an easy winner, though you could have made strong(er) cases for any of Al Holland, Bill Gullickson, Lonnie Smith, Dave Smith, or Jeff Reardon.
But in Durham’s case, his strong freshman season also brought suitors — particularly the Chicago Cubs.
In December of 1980, the Cardinals sent Durham, Ken Reitz, and Ty Waller to Chicago in exchange for 1979 National League Cy Young Award winner Bruce Sutter.
While Sutter was the obvious “name” in the deal and paid dividends by helping St. Louis win the 1982 World Series, Durham would have more staying power in his new city.
As the Cubs struggled through a last-place finish in the strike-torn 1981 season, Durham settled in as the starter in right field most days. In 87 games, he hit a robust .290 with ten homers and 35 RBI while swiping 25 bases (and getting caught 11 times). In the meantime, Cubs collectors looking for his rookie card struggled through issues from Topps, Fleer, and Donruss that showed him as a member of the hated Cardinals.
Add O-Pee-Chee to that list, too, but with a silver (or Cubbies blue) lining. As you can see from Durham’s OPC rookie card above, the Cardinals logos and red remained, but the Cubs took over the card design elements, including the iconic 1981 Topps team cap in the lower left-hand corner.
And, of course, there is the very Brady O-Pee-Chee informational overlay on the picture: “Now with Cubs.”
The card back whiffs when it comes to Cubs mentions, but it does showcase the brighter OPC stock and bilingual bits:
With a full (though split) Cubs season under his belt, Durham left his Cardinals cards behind in 1982, when he began a string of five 20-homer showings in six seasons. Included in that run was the .279/23/96 line he put together to help the 1984 Cubs win a division title.
Bull also moved to first base on a permanent basis that Olympic summer, and he’d stay planted there for the rest of his career. As it turned out, though, that career had a couple more stops in it.
First, the Cubs traded Durham to the Reds in May of 1988 for Pat Perry. Cincinnati then released the hometown kid after a rough summer. Durham lingered on the free agent market until February 1989, when a familiar team came knocking.
On the 15th of that month, Durham signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. The lefty-hitting slugger was just 31 years old when he began the season with Triple-A Louisville, and he managed to hit .287 with ten long balls in 59 games.
That earned him a call-up to the Cardinals, but the old spark between the two was gone. Durham hit .056 in 29 games through the middle of September. He found no takers in free agency and was done in the majors at age 32.
Bull Durham did spent the next five years plying his trade in the minor leagues, the Mexican League, and independent ball.
And, of course, Durham will always be a cardboard hero to a generation of Cubs fans. Thanks to O-Pee-Chee, they even have half a Bull rookie card to call their own.
Separated at Birth, Reunited in Cooperstown
As baseball birth dates go, May 27, 1968, was pretty darn solid. Because on that day, Frank Thomas was born in Columbus, Georgia. And *just* up the road a bit — about 1200 miles to the northeast — Jeff Bagwell was born in Boston.
Slightly over 22 years later, Big Hurt debuted in the majors, with the White Sox. And less than a year later, Bags took the field for the Astros the first time. Then, in 2017, Bagwell was elected to the Hall of Fame, joining Thomas, who made the cut on his first try in 2014.
Naturally, I’ve spent some time pontificating on these HOFers baseball cards over the years.
Read more about Thomas and some of his cards here and here.
And read my (now-dated) take on Bagwell’s rookie cards right here.
