Tommy Barrett and the Phils' 28 Club

Youth is relative when your superstars Wheeze

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1989 Topps Tommy Barrett (#653) - Card of the Day

If Tommy Barrett was part of the Phillies; late-1980s youth movement, it could be because…

• No one looked at his birth certificate.

• The Phils confused “young”with “major league green.”

• He was young compared to the 1983 Wheeze Kids.

• Pinch hitters don’t really need to be all that young.

• There was no late-1980s Phillies youth movement.

Take your pick, or a combination thereof. Heck, add your own if you like.

However you crack the Barrett egg, though, the runny truth is that already 28 years old when he debuted for the Phils on July 2, 1988, against the Reds.

He batted for reliever Greg Harris in the bottom of the sixth and singled against Reds righty Jeff Gray. Barrett eventually scored on a Von Hayes double off Tim Birtsas.

An auspicious beginning that was cut short a few minutes later when manager Lee Elia lifted the rookie for reliever Bruce Ruffin in the top of the seventh.

But all that came at (or at least near) the end of a long and winding pro baseball road that began when the Yankees drafted Barrett out of Arizona in the 26th round in 1982.

He spent five full summers on the Yankees’ farm, even crossing paths with future big league standouts like Mike Pagliarulo, Stan Javier, Bobby Meacham, and Jose Rijo. But second base in the Bronx was blocked by Willie Randolph, who wasn’t going anywhere.

And the Yankees’ shortstop slot had Meacham’s name all over it. You know, at least until veteran Wayne Tolleson was ready to assume his rightful place on the throne.

Either way, there was no room for the speedy Barrett, and the Yanks traded him and Mike Easler to the Phils for Jeff Knox and Charles Hudson in December of 1986. That summer, the Phils had put together a surprising second-place run in the National League East on the back of Mike Schmidt’s third MVP season.

Adding Easler was probably an attempt to recapture some of that old-guy magic they flashed all season long in 1983, but he turned out to be more toast than toasted.

By midseason, Easler was back in the Bronx, traded for Keith Hughes and Shane Turner, with 24-year-old Chris James taking over left field duties.

The rest of the “young” Phils lineup featured Hayes, Steve Jeltz, Milt Thompson, and Glenn Wilson, who were all 28. Juan Samuel bucked the trend at 26.

Those guys had a lot of fans excited, and their rookie cards stirred up plenty of hobby dreams, too, if not quite on the level of Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden in New York.

Heck, if a group of 28-year-olds could gel at the same time, a team could look forward to contending for weeks, maybe even months to come.

As it turned out, though, the only thing the 1987 Phils competed for was a shot at a .500 record. They fell short in that endeavor, finishing 80-82.

Then the next season, with Schmidt’s balky rotator cuff limiting him to 108 games and 12 homers, the wheels fell off for the 1987 team. With all the 29-year-olds struggling to pick up the pieces, it was only fitting that Philly would try to capture a bit of that old 28 Club magic.

That plan looked pretty good after Barrett’s first AB in Cincinnati. Heck, the Phillies even won the game!

Barrett would go on to make 35 more appearances for Philadelphia that summer, mostly as a pinch hitter, but with 10 games at the keystone. The over results weren’t quite as magical — .204 with a double, no triples, no homers, three RBI, five runs scored, and no stolen bases.

Still, it was a decent hunk of MLB experience for his resume, and Topps obliged him the next spring with the snappy little business card you see up top.

Barrett spent most of 1989 in Triple A, didn’t play in 1990, and then found himself released by the Phillies in December of that year. The Red Sox signed him to a minor league deal and, remarkably, he clawed his way back to the bigs for a four-game look with the Sawx in 1992.

One more season for the Triple-A Tucson Toros (Astros) followed, and Barrett was done in pro ball.

Overall, he’s the proud owner of 17 big league hits and a rookie card that’s more than up to the task of celebrating his 64th birthday today.

That’s an Expensive Birthday Card!

Back in the spring of 1963, no one really knew who any of these four infielders were. I mean, sure, there were some scouts and diehard team fans who had followed Pedro Gonzalez, Ken McMullen, Pete Rose, and Al Weis through the minors.

But, for the most part, these were just four anonymous heads set forth to greet collectors later that summer, on Topps card #537.

Turns out that The Real One did a pretty good job of player selection with this one. Not only did Charlie Hustle become the Hit King, but McMullen crafted a 16-year career and all of them spent time in the big leagues.

Collectively, they’ve also graced us with their presence for a long time — Gonzalez passed away at age 83 in 2021, and the rest of them are still kicking as I write this.

In fact, Weis, the elder statesman of the remaining group, turns 86 years old today!

And, of course, this four-headed rookie card is a hobby classic, one that changed the collecting landscape forever. Even if one of those heads did most of the work in that regard.

You can read my now long-ago take on this card’s place in hobby history right here.

—

And thus concludes day #2 of both the week and April. By my calculations, I’ll be able to milk that day-number synchronicity for another three mornings.

Four, if I send something out on Saturday.

Like every early-season streak, though, this one’s intact for now, and completely unblemished. We’re coming for you, 1984 Tigers!

Thanks for reading.

—Adam