#419 Frank Wills

Card thoughts: The photo in the dusk. The five-a-clock shadow. The lowering, thick black eyebrows. The man looks like a mechanic. It is worth noting that this does not look like any of the other card photos of Wills, where he sports a mustache and is considerably less beady-eyed and swarthy.

Perhaps this odd photo can be attributed to the fact that Willis is obviously airbrushed into a Mariners uniform, as he spent spring training with the Mets in 1985.

The player: Not to be confused with the security guard who discovered the Watergate break-in, Wills was emblematic of the awful starting pitching the Mariners had had pretty much from their inception. A talented star in both baseball and football at Tulane University, he led the team to their first ever NCAA title, and was the punter on the football team that went to the Liberty Bowl (1979).

Wills was drafted in the first round by the Royals in 1980, but his college success did not translate to pro ball. As a starter in the minors, Willis struggled with his control, and eventually was moved to a swingman role in AAA, a spot usually reserved for “organization” men. But he was a first round pick, and the Royals presumably wanted to prove he wasn’t a bust, so he was called up early in the 1983 season, when he started the year 5-2 at Jacksonville (Southern League).

In the majors, Wills averaged 6 innings per start, and pitched decently enough (2-1 with a 4.15 ERA overall, including 4 starts). But it was soon back to the minors for Wills, where he struggled once again at AAA. Another brief call up for 10 games in 1984 (half in relief, half starting) led to a 5.11 ERA, and a loss in confidence that their former first round pick would ever pan out.

In an insanely complicated four-team team between the Mets, Royals, Rangers, and Brewers, players were flying everywhere. The Royals eventually ended up with Jim Sundberg, and Wills made it to the Mets, where he was DFA’d after spring training and eventually sent to the Mariners for forgettable Midwest League pitcher Wray Bergendahl (another former first round pick).

With the Mariners being thin on pitching, Willis finally got a chance to prove himself, but he only proved the Royals were right in letting him go. A 5-11 record with a 6.00 ERA wasn’t going to cut it, even with the lowly Mariners. Released at the end of the season, he hooked on with the Indians, where he wound up as their closer during the end of the 1986 season (4 saves in 6 opportunities).

Willis would have his best seasons with the Blue Jays, with whom he spent four years, two of them as a serviceable middle reliever in 1989 and 1990.  He was not used in the 1989 post-season, however.

Apparently, Wills was working as a limousine driver when he died at age 53, after complaining about feeling ill a week earlier. Despite not being very successful in the majors, he remains a legend in New Orleans for both his high school and college exploits.

Rear guard: Wills first win was against the Twins and he was fairly effective, giving up just 1 run and striking out 3.

#399 Bill Swift

Card thoughts: Billy Swift: Boy hero! Swift was one of the guys who got an Olympic card in 1985, one of the few times Topps beat Fleer and Donruss to the rookie card of a player.

The player: Swift was called up to the majors much too soon. After just 9 starrts at AA, he was promoted to the majors where, despite a devastating sinker,  he went just 6-10 with a 4.77 ERA. Part of the problem is that a sinker ball pitcher whose home field is on artificial turf better make sure he gives up a lot of weakly hit balls. But Swift did not such thing. After another season with a ballooning ERA (5.46), the Mariners determined he was rushed to fast to the majors, and he was sent back down to right the ship.

An injury forced him out of baseball for the entire 1987 season, and when he came back in 1988, he pitched well in May and June (at one point pitching 4 straight complete games), but lost his job as a starter in August. The same pattern held true in 1989, where he was even worse as a starter (5.17 ERA in 16 starts), but well in relief (3.02 ERA in 44 2/3 innings).

So Swift’s fate was clear. Moved into the bullpen in 1990, he pitched well (6 saves, 2.39 ERA), and even better in 1991 (17 saves, 1.99 ERA). The Mariners were finally getting some value out of their former #1 pick. So they promptly traded him to the Giants for Kevin Mitchell.

Swift would then go on to have an improbable two-year run (mostly) as a starter. Pitching the bare minimum of innings to qualify for the ERA title, Swift led the National League with a 2.08 ERA. He was equally effective in relief (8 games) and as a starter (22 games). An even more improbable year followed, where Swift would go 21-8 and finish second in Cy Young Award voting.

But Swift’s arm was still fragile, and beset by various injuries, he could not repeat those performances, barely pitching above 100 innings in both 1994 and 1995. By now he was with the Rockies, which is murderous on a pitcher’s arm. A mere 18 innings pitched in 1996 and a 6.34 ERA in 1997 showed the end was near for Swift. He did have one more chance to prove himself in 1998, but despite an 11-9 record, his ERA was well above 5.

Rear guard: Note the "First 8-inning stint" is because Swift didn't complete a game in 1985 (unusual for a regular starter in those days).

#371 Bill Stein is discussed at great length earlier in this blog. It is easy to hit doubles at Fenway. However, I don't know when those doubles were hit because the date is wrong. Here's Stein's 1980 card.

#382 Ivan Calderon

Card thoughts: This is not the follow through you want to see from a hitter. Calderon looks badly fooled.

The player: Calderon was a slugger in the minors, but found it hard to get playing time with the Mariners. A trade in late 1986 to the White Sox would make him a star—for a very brief period.

Finally afforded regular playing time with the Sox in 1987, Calderon reached career highs in runs (93), and home runs (28), while driving in 83. Although set back by an injured shoulder the following year, he rebounded in 1989, driving in a career high 87, although with his weakened shoulder, his power fell off.

Strangely enough, at age 28, Calderon’s game completely changed, and he began to steal bases and hit more doubles than home runs. His 44 doubles in 1990 were third in the league, and his 32 steals placed him in the top 10 in the American League. Calderon also was known to sacrifice and drop suicide squeezes down, even though he batted in the cleanup spot most of the time. He even improved his normally pedestrian play in the outfield.

Although he was a fan favorite in Chicago, with his flamboyant style of play and gold chain necklace (then a rarity among baseball players), he was shipped off the next year to Montreal, with Tim Raines the key player going back to White Sox.

Calderon would have one good season with the Expos. His line in 1991—19 home runs, 75 runs batted in, and 31 steals would be enough to earn his only all star game nod. But Calderon was a large man playing on artificial surface, and he wasn’t the best at taking care of himself. Leg injuries limited him to just 48 games in 1992, and by 1993, with short stops in Boston, and again Chicago, his career was done.

No more was heard from Calderon until he became a target in his native Puerto Rico. He was murdered at a notorious bar in Loiza by unknown gunmen who shot him multiple times in his back. After retirement, Calderon had apparently found work as a bail bondsman and loan shark, among other occupations (he also raised fighting cocks), but the likely motive for his killing was the fact that his son had apparently been involved in killing a member of a local drug gang. When Calderon refused to turn over the boy, they shot him instead. 

Rear guard: John Montague is neither the Irish poet who wrote "A Slow Dance," nor the 4th Earl of Sandwich. Rather, he was one of the few effective pitchers on the first Mariners team. Montague relieved Tom House in the third inning, and pitched perfectly the rest of the way. Furthermore, in the previous game, he had retired everyone from the 6th to the 9th inning. The streak of 33 consecutive batters retired ended on July 28, when he walked pinch hitter Craig Kucick in the 8th inning.

#357 Ed Vande Berg

Card thoughts: That is a lot of lower case letters! Topps struggled with how to spell Vande Berg's name throughout his career. He appeared as Ed Vande Berg on his cards up until 1985; Topps used it again in 1987; then back to the lowercase/one word format in 1988 and 1989.

The player: Ed Vande Berg may have been one of the first lefties to be used exclusively against certain hitters. At a time when most relievers averaged over an inning per appearance, Vande Berg pitched less than a inning in each of his appearances in his first two years.

Featuring a late-breaking slider and overpowering fastball, Vande Berg was fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1982 after pitching in a league-leading 78 games, with a 2.37 ERA. He had another good year in relief in 1983, but the Mariners couldn’t leave well enough alone, and tried to use him as a spot starter the next season, but he only had 29% quality starts, and the experiment was abandoned in 1985.

Vande Berg was traded to the Dodgers late in 1985 for #32 Steve Yeager (the Mariners had previously attempted to trade him to the Red Sox for Mark Sullivan). Pitching in spacious Dodger stadium where home runs go to die, Vande Berg went 1-5 with a 3.41 ERA, but was considered a bust. He was even worse with the Indians and then the Rangers, where his ERA was consistently above 4. After his release by the Rangers, he hooked on with the Cubs AAA Iowa affiliate, where he saved 10 saves as the team’s primary closer. Three more years at AAA (with Calgary) produced ERAs of  8.27, 4.26, and 8.93., and then he was done save a token appearance with an Independent League club in 1997.

Rear guard: Now Topps spelled Vande Berg's name correctly on the back. Anyway, his first complete game was a loss against the Indians the first game of a doubleheader. He gave up three runs on 10 hits, striking out four.

Bruce Bochte drew three walks (and had one hit) on May 7, so there was a lot of firepower behind him to move him all the way around the bases. Bochte had a career high with 81 runs scored in 1979. Here's his chaw-filled face on a card from 1980.

#337 Darnell Coles

Card thoughts: Where is this photo taken? I don’t believe there are verdant mountains in either Arizona or Florida. Wherever it is, Coles sure looks warm. There seem to be a lot sweaty pictures in this set.

The player: A first round draft pick by the Mariners, Darnell Coles never fulfilled his potential with the Mariners. After a trade to the Tigers, he showed some of the promise the Mariners saw in him. In the end, however, Coles was mainly a bench player who could play the corner outfield and infield spots and provide a replacement level power bat off the bench.

Coles minor league career saw him display some power, but a better ability to get on base, as he rarely struck out more than he walked. The Mariners didn’t really have a starting third baseman at the beginning of 1984, as Barry Bonnell, Larry Milbourne, and Jim Presley all spent time there. Coles was handed the job for about 6 weeks starting in May, but a .190 average got him shipped back to the minors. Coles once again split time between the AAA and the majors in 1985, playing all over the field from May until July, again hitting near the Mendoza Line.

With Jim Presley now established at third, and Coles not exhibiting much aptitude as a utility infielder, fielding terribly at short and third, and only showing some promise in the outfield. He was sent to the Tigers for journeyman minor league pitcher Rich Monteleone. But this turned out to be a blessing for Coles, as he had a career year, slugging 20 home runs and driving in 86 as the Tigers starting third baseman (he also battled chicken pox midseason). The next year, his average sunk to the more familiar .200 level. He was so frustrated, that he once hurled a baseball out of Tiger Stadium, earning a rebuke from manager Sparky Anderson, and Coles was traded soon after to the Pirates, whom he was supposed to help in the stretch run.

It is tough to track the myriad wanderings of Coles. He was back with the Mariners in 1988, and he became their starting right fielder in 1989. In both of these seasons, he returned to the form he showed with the Tigers (70 RBIs between the Pirates and Mariners in ’88, 59 in ’89). But yet another fall off in production in 1990 (.209 between the Mariners and, once again, the Tigers), meant that he would never be a starting player again. Coles would play with the Giants, Reds, Blue Jays, and Cardinals before going to Japan in 1996. After a short stint with the Rockies in 1997, his career would be over.

But like a lot of journeymen, Coles would stay active in the game after retirement. He has managed and coached in the Nationals and Brewers organizations. Coles is the current manager of the Huntsville Stars.

Rear guard: I don't believe that Topps has used the word "drilled" before in its "firsts." It livens up the dry nature of these facts, which usually cited by rote as if by a robot. The triple was Coles' only hit of the game. He later scored on a single by #13 Bob Kearney.