Bill Clemens, We Hardly Knew Ye

One thing I always liked about the early Donruss baseball cards was the full player's name appearing on the backs of the cards. It was just a quirky detail that someone like me enjoys. It was always interesting to see a player's full name, especially if their first name was a nickname or if they went by their middle name. A couple of my favorite players, Ryne Sandberg and Mark Grace, have the middle names Dee and Eugene respectively. I wouldn't know that without the Donruss cards. These cards also told us that Kirby Puckett was the Twins star's full legal name, as is the case for the now infamous Jose Canseco.

But back to those guys who went by something other than their first name. Did you know there are actually a lot of them? And not just random scrub players, but some of the biggest stars of the 80s and 90s. I looked through some 1990 Donruss cards to appreciate the beautiful design (sarcasm, of course) and to see if I could find some players who went by their middle name. I didn't even look at that many and still found several examples. So I'll present those here, in quiz format, because the former teacher in me can't help himself. But if you can't stand the quiz format, just scroll down to see the players/cards in question.

I also had some 88 and 91 Donruss nearby, so I found a couple of the examples from those sets. And now, the quiz:

1) Which member of the 1998 NL Champion Padres went by his middle name?

A) Tony Gwynn

B) Ken Caminiti

C) Greg Vaughn

D) Kevin Brown

2) Which Twins ace preferred his middle name?

A) Jim Kaat

B) Bert Blyleven

C) Johan Santana

D) Frank Viola

3) Which member of the 1993 World Series Champion Toronto Blue Jays went by a version of his middle name?

A) Rickey Henderson

B) Tony Fernandez

C) John Olerud

D) Joe Carter

4) Which Hall of Fame pitcher was known by his middle name?

A) Nolan Ryan

B) Phil Niekro

C) Don Sutton

D) Greg Maddux

5) Which pitcher who debuted in the 1980s preferred his middle name?

A) Orel Hershiser

B) Tom Glavine

C) Fernando Valenzuela

D) Roger Clemens

6) Which long-time Mariners slugger goes by his middle name?

A) Ken Griffey Jr.

B) Jay Buhner

C) Alvin Davis

D) Edgar Martinez

I think you'll be surprised by some of these. I know I was, and I'm sure I had seen them all at some point in my life. There are undoubtedly more examples than these (I'm looking at you George Thomas Seaver!), so feel free to leave your examples in the comments below. Anyway, many thanks to our favorite cards of the Overproduction Era, 1988, 1990, and 1991 Donruss. 

1) Which member of the 1998 NL Champion Padres went by his middle name?

A) Tony Gwynn

B) Ken Caminiti

C) Greg Vaughn

D) Kevin Brown

1990 Donruss #343 James "Kevin" Brown

Easy to understand Kevin's decision to go with the middle name. He could have gone with James Brown, risking confusion with the Godfather of Soul. He could have been Jim Brown, knowing he'd be associated with arguably the best football player of all time. He could have been Jimmy Brown, but that just doesn't seem to fit. So Kevin it is!

2) Which Twins ace preferred his middle name?

A) Jim Kaat

B) Bert Blyleven

C) Johan Santana

D) Frank Viola

1990 Donruss #331 Rik ("Bert") Aalbert Blyleven

It worked out alright for 7'4" NBAer Rik Smits to go by his given name when he entered the NBA in the 1980s. Fellow Dutchman Blyleven, however, came to America with his family in the mid-50s, so maybe America wasn't ready for a Rik at that time. 

Additional notes:

1) I think that mark on the card is Donruss puzzle glue stain or something. So the Donruss equivalent to a gum stain.

2) Blyleven was traded to the Angels with Kevin Trudeau. Wonder if it's the same Kevin Trudeau who went to jail after peddling those "Cures THEY Don't Want You to Know About" books.

3) Which member of the 1993 World Series Champion Toronto Blue Jays went by a version of his middle name?

A) Rickey Henderson

B) Tony Fernandez

C) John Olerud

D) Joe Carter

1988 Donruss #319 Octavio Antonio "Tony" Fernandez

Tony, who in my mind is quite underrated, passed away in February. If you ask me, Octavio is pretty cool. Certainly worked for Octavio Dotel. That guy played for 13 teams! 

4) Which Hall of Fame pitcher was known by his middle name?

A) Nolan Ryan

B) Phil Niekro

C) Don Sutton

D) Greg Maddux

1990 Donruss #166 Nolan Ryan

Can you imagine Nolan Ryan going by Lynn? Neither can I.

5) Which pitcher who debuted in the 1980s preferred his middle name?

A) Orel Hershiser

B) Tom Glavine

C) Fernando Valenzuela

D) Roger Clemens

1991 Donruss #81 William "Roger" Clemens

I wonder if Clemens was the guy Sheryl Crow was singing about in "All I Wanna Do." In the song, she meets a William whom she is sure went by "Bill or Billy or Mack or Buddy." No Sheryl, he went by Roger. Which works, I think, because Bill Clemens just doesn't have the same ring to it. 

6) Which long-time Mariners slugger goes by his middle name?

A) Ken Griffey Jr.

B) Jay Buhner

C) Alvin Davis

D) Edgar Martinez

1990 Donruss #365 George (Ken) Kenneth Griffey Jr.

Let's let this one sink in for a minute. 

George Griffey Jr... 

GEORGE. 

If the most marketable baseball player of the last half century would have gone by his given name, would he have been as marketable? I don't think so. I guess we have the original George Kenneth Griffey (Sr.) to thank for that, since he's the guy who went by Ken to begin with. 

Really, these guys all had pretty normal first names, but apparently just chose to go with their middle name, probably for a variety of reasons. But I don't think that was to case for everyone. Why, you ask? Because of Andy Hawkins. Who is Andy Hawkins? A middle of the road pitcher with a couple good seasons who spent 10 seasons in the bigs. Win/loss of 84-91, 4.22 ERA, 1.3 WAR. Pretty much your run of the mill major leaguer. I don't really have a great grasp on how it's calculated, but I feel like going by this first name would somehow drop you like 10 points in the WAR formula.

1989 Donruss Traded #T-52 Melton (Andy) Andrew Hawkins

Poor Melton. 

When Cards Don't Make Sense

What constitutes an illogical baseball card? I would say the simple definition would be when the picture doesn't match the text. The most commonly cited example of this phenomenon is when a player is misidentified on a card. There have been lists and posts covering that topic, so I won't address it here. Instead, I will show you four cards with the same theme. Try to figure out what they have in common.

1983 Fleer #331, Mike Ivie

1991 Donruss #576 Jack Daugherty

1992 Topps #531, Larry Walker

1990 CMC #9 Greg Booker

The final example probably provides the best clue. The first two are players identified as designated hitters playing the field. The third is a player identified (on the back of the card) as an outfielder, but shown playing first base. The final example is a pitcher wearing catchers gear for some reason. The common theme is the player's position on the card doesn't match the photo. Here's a breakdown of each:

1983 Fleer Mike Ivie

Ivie appeared in 79 games for the Tigers the previous season, all of them as a DH, so the photo on the card is likely from the 1981 season or prior. He would play 12 games at first base in 1983 before retiring. He also played first base in 1980 and 1981, so a logical fix would have been to show him as DH/1B.

1991 Donruss Jack Daugherty

In 1990, Daugherty's position breakdown was as follows:
Left Field: 39 games
First Base: 30 games
Designated Hitter: 21 games
Right Field: 12 games

Donruss just needed to add OF and 1B to the card, but the problem might have been the fact they didn't use abbreviations for player positions on the 1991 cards, at least based what I found in my research. So the right call would have been to put Outfield in my opinion.

1992 Topps Larry Walker

In 1991, Larry Walker played in 100 games in right field and 39 at first base. A simple addition of 1B to the back of the card would have sufficed, and unlike 1991 Donruss, would have fit into the existing design.

1992 Topps #531, Larry Walker (Back)

1992 Topps #506, Todd Benzinger (Back)

Todd Benzinger (96 games at first base and 15 in the outfield in 1991) has the designation that would seem more appropriate for Walker, whereas 1B-OF would fit better for Todd. This made me think... maybe Benzinger's expression on the front of this card was his reaction to Topps's choice for his position designation:

1992 Topps #506, Todd Benzinger

Actually, that look appears to be a version of his "game face."

Exhibit B: from 1989:

What was I talking about again? Oh, that's right. So Walker's position in the photo doesn't match his position on the card.

1990 CMC Greg Booker

This card makes no sense and cannot be salvaged in any way. I'm not saying it isn't an interesting and entertaining card, but in a 10 year career across the minor and major leagues, Booker never once played catcher.

I'm not sure how many more examples exist of this phenomenon. They are harder to spot when looking through a stack of cards than, let's say, a pitcher hitting or a player with a team you never knew he played for. If you have other examples, leave a comment below.