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1982 Fleer Darrell Jackson (#555) - Card of the Day
A new family moved into our community when I was in the second grade. There was a boy in my class, who eventually became sort of a frenemy.
There was a younger girl, maybe a kindergartner at the time.
And there were two older boys — one who was in the sixth grade (I think) and was, as far as I was concerned, a full-grown man by that point.
The middle boy, let’s call him Fred, was somewhere in between (duh), and he was different from his siblings. They were all nice and polite, but he was even more so.
Fred was the only non-blond in the group, with dark, curly hair. He also had these severe cheekbones, the likes of which I had only seen in certain parts of my own family tree. I’d see those same cheekbones later in life, when I started following competitive bodybuilding.
Fred also had the widest, most alert eyes I had ever seen. He seemed to take everything in, all the time, in a state of constant surprise.
Imagine my surprise a couple years later when I popped open a 1982 Fleer wax pack and found none other than Fred Newcomer driving toward the plate! I mean, sure, the card front said “Darrell Jackson,” but this dude had Fred’s face.
Back then, I didn’t like baseball or baseball cards, so Jackson and his packmates came into my life courtesy of Mom trying to find a hobby for me. So I didn’t spend much time studying his card back to learn more about him.
The hobby stuck on me a year later, though — thanks, Mom! And I remember staring at this card pretty hard. Could this really be how young Fred spent his summers? Pitching for the Minnesota Twins?
For the record, history says the Twins drafted Jackson twice — in the sixth round in 1973 (out of high school in L.A.) and in the ninth round in 1977 (out of Arizona State).
By the time this Fred card came out, Jackson had already logged parts of four seasons in the majors, and he’d be done by the time this card had outlived its shelf life. A shoulder injury had derailed his 1981 and did even worse in 1982.
Jackson’s last big league appearance came on June 1, and he finished up with a 20-27 record and 4.38 ERA across 60 starts among 102 total appearances.
Fred and his family moved away when I was in junior high school, to a town closer to my house but in a different school system. I’ve come across him on Facebook a few times, and I still think he’s Darrell Jackson.
Now, to be fair, I have seen other cards of Jackson, like 1982 Topps (#193):
To be fair, Jackson doesn’t look much like Fred here. But then again, this could be an unreported error card showing someone else.
At any rate, Fred Jackson turns 68 years old today.
Second Chances Kill
Jackson’s last major league appearance was a start against the Indians in cavernous old Cleveland Stadium on June 1, 1982, in front of an announced crowd of about 4000. After Miguel Dilone lined out to start the bottom of the first, second batter Toby Harrah singled off Jackson.
No worries for the veteran hurler, though, who retired the next two.
Jackson then set down the Tribe in order in the second and the third. When Kent Hrbek doubled off Rick Waits to bring home Ron Washington and Tom Brunansky in the top of the third, things were looking good for the Twinkies.
But then Harrah came up for a second time to lead off the bottom of the frame. And for the second time, he got a hit. Mike Hargrove walked. And then…
Andre Thornton crushed his 15th home run of the season, putting Cleveland up 3-2.
A triple by Von Hayes, a run-scoring single by Bill Nahorodny, and a walk to Jack Perconte ended Jackson’s day.
You think the sight or mention of Harrah is sort of a non-starter with Jackson all these years later? Probably would be for me.
Harrah’s theme of fruitful “seconds” — second batter, second hit starting a rally, chasing Jackson in the second bat-around — took on new meaning a few years later.
Back in Texas where he started (organizationally, at least), Harrah moved from his familiar third base post, past his old slot at short, and stationed himself at the keystone in 1985 and 1986.
I took on his move and the 1987 Donruss career-capper that followed a while back on the blog, right here.
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Fitting to end there, seeing as how Wednesday is sort of like the second base of the week — halfway home, some good and bad stuff behind us, hoping for the best as we make the turn toward third.
Here’s hoping you don’t stumble over the bag or lose your 1982 Fleer Fred card along the way. It’s OK if you slide on it, though, get it dirty, maybe leave it with a couple spike holes.
It’s how baseball cards know they’re truly loved.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam