Travis Fryman Added To Bowman's Rookie-Card Kingdom

It was the start of his Lake Erie MLB tour

1990 Bowman Travis Fryman (#360) - Card of the Day

Until he was about 25 years old, Hanley Ramirez looked like he was headed straight for Cooperstown. After all, by the end of that 2009 season, Ramirez had won a Rookie of the Year award and a batting title, and he was good for 25-30 homers (or so) and 30-50 steals per season.

Heady territory for a young infielder who could at least hold his own at shortstop and sometimes moved into well-above-average leather territory.

But in 2010, he played fewer than 150 games for the first time, then missed nearly half of 2011. There was some rust when he returned in 2012, and the Marlins traded him to the Dodgers in July.

While Ramirez managed to amp up his power again the next several seasons, his wheels and fielding were never quite the same. Free agent deals with the Red Sox and Indians took him through the end of his career in 2019.

He retired at 35 with a batting line of .289 with 271 home runs, 917 RBI, and 281 stolen bases. Added to a defensive profile that continued to slide, Ramirez ended up with 38 WAR (Baseball Reference version).

If El Trece and his fans want a preview of how he might do on the Hall of Fame ballot (he’s up for the vote for the first time in 2025), they might take a look at his historical comps.

Take Travis Fryman, for example. The long-time Tigers and Indians standout is the sixth-most similar batter to Ramirez, according to Baseball Reference’s Similarity Scores.

Fryman split time between third base and shortstop for the Tigers early in his career. After finishing sixth in Rookie of the Year voting despite playing just 66 games in 1990, Fryman settled in as a solid 20-homer man with double-digit steal speed. By 1996, he had made All-Star teams at both short and third base, and was a bona fide star.

In between, he also started to build his hobby resume, including a pretty stately 1990 Bowman rookie card that’s not worth much today but still presents like a work of art.

In November of 1997, the Tigers traded Fryman to the Diamondbacks for Matt Drews, Gabe Alvarez, and Joe Randa. Any thoughts he might have had about playing in warm weather were short-lived, though, as Arizona traded him (and Tom Martin) to Cleveland the next month for Matt Williams.

After a big first season in Cleveland, injuries limited Fryman to 85 games in 1999. He bounced back in 2000 to post career highs in batting average (.321) and RBI (106) before injuries waylaid him again in 2001 and 2002.

Fryman played his last game that September, at age 33. Overall, he hit .274 with 223 home runs, 1022 RBI, and 1776 hits. That, along with generally solid glove work, added up to 34.4 WAR. He was also a five-time All-Star and won a single Gold Glove and Silver Slugger.

And when Fryman’s name came up for Hall of Fame consideration in 2008? He managed just one vote, falling off the writers’ ballot.

Does the same fate await Ramirez? We’ll find out in mere days, but in the meantime, we can at least thank him for bringing players like Fryman roaring out of the shadows for a minute or two.