The (Mike) Dalton Gang Rode Into Detroit...

...and right back out -- but not before collecting a rookie card

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1992 Fleer Mike Dalton (#131) - Card of the Day

Mike Dalton was wrapping up his career at De Anza College about the same time Cesar Cedeno and his 1983 Donruss masterpiece (beauty is in the eye of the beholder, remember) were making me rethink my dislike of baseball.

That June — after 14 pauses of deliberation — the Boston Red Sox decided the young left-hander was their man, nabbing Dalton in the 15th round of the draft. He was their 16th overall pick in a Boston class that began with Roger Clemens.

Over the next eight summers, the Rocket would establish himself as one of the greatest pitchers in the game, a game that would embed itself under my skin like few entities ever had or would.

Indeed, by June of 1991, both Clemens and I — and you, no doubt — had “grown up” with baseball and (for me, at least) the hobby underpinning most of the journey.

And Mike Dalton?

Well, he had done much the same, even if I hadn’t noticed any of it.

While I was watching Dave Parker come to Cincinnati and Pete Rose return home to set records and fall from grace…

While Clemens won two Cy Young Awards and set himself up for a third…

While Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Don Mattingly, Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn, the 1984 Tiger and so many others built a decade…

Well, Mike Dalton kept plugging away at his big league dream.

In eight minor league seasons, Dalton started only 24 games but regularly appeared in more 30-50 contests per season in the Boston system. Long relief was his game, and he mastered it well enough to not only stick around that long but to post a 2.55 ERA in 99 innings for the 1990 Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox.

That was his first full season at the highest level of the minors, and for his troubles, the Red Sox let him become a free agent that fall. The Detroit Tigers had been watching, though, and they signed Dalton to a minor league deal in December of 1990.

In 1991, the Toledo Mud Hens installed Dalton in his usual post as a middle innings eater, but when the big-league Tigers had the need for same in late May, guess who they turned to?

Yep, 28-year-old Mike Dalton finally got the call he’d awaited for almost a decade. Tigers manager Sparky Anderson found a spot for the rookie in the second inning of a game at Cleveland on May 31.

When the Indians chased starter Kevin Ritz and follow-up man Mark Leiter after just five outs, it was Dalton’s turn. He stopped the bleeding, allowing a double to Felix Fermin but no runs through the end of the third before handing the ball to Jerry Don Gleaton for the fourth.

Sparky would find three more spots for Dalton to take the mound through June 15, and the “youngster” compiled a 0-0 record with a solid 3.38 ERA. He did allow 1.75 baserunners per inning and gave up a couple of home runs in just eight innings of total work.

The Tigers had seen enough at that point, and as they geared up for a second-half pennant fight, they sent Dalton packing back to Toledo.

At the end of the season, Detroit sent him packing for good, by letting him become a free agent. The Pirates swooped in this time, signing Dalton to another minor league deal.

And so Mike Dalton headed into his age-29 season with a bead on playing for the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons.

But this was the era when any glimpse of the majors also landed you at least one rookie card, and so it was for Dalton. His brief stint on the Detroit mound was immortalized for all to see as part of Fleer’s “All-New and Supercharged for 1992” upgraded set that was designed to make us forget the previous year’s banana peels.

Dalton would make a career-high 56 appearances in 1992, then follow up with 25 more in 1993 — all in the minors. He never did return to the majors.

Today, though, Mike Dalton turns 61 years old, and he can celebrate — if he so chooses — with his very own 1992 Fleer rookie card.

Jose, Can You Say Goodbye?

On this date back in 2002, the Blue Jays released Jose Canseco, which pretty much ended his big league career.

The former Bash Brother did sign a minor league contract with the White Sox that year and played 18 games at Triple A, but he never made it back to the majors.

Jose was always sorta easy to make fun of, and I went ahead and took some potshots at his fabled rookie card a while back. You, too, can yuck it up at the Canseco RC’s expense right here.

—

Hope you have a good Hump Day — the weekend is in sight.

More importantly, of course, Opening Day is tomorrow! I don’t know about you, but I’m staying up all night tonight, watching out my window to see if reindeer really know how to fly.

Thanks for reading.

—Adam