The One Where Steve Sparks Hope in Pittsburgh
And grabs a spot on a Tradition-al rookie card in the process
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2000 Fleer Tradition Update (#U145) - Card of the Day
Steve Sparks put together a fairly eventful major league career, serving eight years as a starter and reliever for five different franchises. Along the way, he compiled a 56-69 record with a 4.77 ERA while racking up 10+ WAR and even appearing in one playoff game for the 2003 A’s.
But that Steve Sparks is not the Steve Sparks you see on that Fleer Tradition Pirates rookie card up there, alongside Tike Redman.
No, our Steve Sparks, who turns 49 today, has a different baseball story.
This is the Steve Sparks who was first drafted in the 38th round by the White Sox in 1995, then improved his standing by going back to school. Indeed, three years later, the Pirates came calling all the way up at the 28th round.
Sparks signed on with the Bucs and began his minor league climb as a big (6’4”) right-handed starter who could strike out a lot of batters.
He did just that in his first minor league summer, blowing by more than a batter per inning in low-A and Single-A ball in 1998.
Walks were always an issue, though, as were hits, and Sparks never recorded a full-season ERA below 4.62 in the minors.
Even so, the 2000 Pirates were a typically bad Pittsburgh team who ended up 69-93 and in fifth place (out of six teams) in the National League Central. They didn’t have much to lose by experimenting.
And so it was that 25-year-old Steve Sparks made his major league debut on July 19, throwing 1 1/3 scoreless innings against the Brewers in a relief outing. He’d make two other appearances for Gene Lamont’s Bucs through August 2 — those didn’t go as well, and his three-game ERA stood at 6.75.
Still does.
Because, while fellow debutante Redman had more Pittsburgh sunshine ahead of him, Sparks split 2001 between Double- and Triple-A. He did the same in 2002, though by that time he was out of the Pirates system. The Giants and Cardinals both took a chance on him that summer before he rode off into the baseball sunset.
Even with that brief and painful showing with the Pirates in 2000, though, Fleer saw fit to include Sparks in their year-end update set, hand in cardboard hand with Tike.
All in all, it makes for a pretty nifty baseball card, dontcha think?
We Hardly Even Knew You!
On March 28, 1978, the A’s released slugger Dick Allen, who had turned 36 years old during Spring Training.
That spelled the end of his tumultuous big league career, during which Allen was named National League Rookie of the Year in 1964, won the 1972 American League MVP award, slugged 351 home runs, and was generally considered one of the most fearsome hitters in baseball.
Proof of the latter shows up on the card above, which inspired one of my pieces over on Wax Pack Gods a while back. You can read that one right here.
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Hey, it’s Opening Day, so I won’t take any more of your time. I know you have important things to do and think about today.
May your team favorite players fare well today, provided of course they don’t negatively impact my Cincinnati Reds in the process.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam