Card of the Week: 1985 Donruss #648 John Russell
Posted by Andy on October 6, 2010
John Russell's career in Major League Baseball is probably over. He had a fairly unremarkable playing career as a backup catcher and a fairly disastrous managerial career with the Pirates. In his 3 seasons as Pirates manager, the Pirates lost 299 games and got worse each year under Russell. The last time the Pirates lost that many games over 3 seasons was 1953-1955.
In the last few days we've seen (probably) how Russell's major league career ended. The card I chose this week helps us to remember how it began. As per the info on the back of the card, he was the Phillies' top draft pick in 1982. Although Russell didn't turn out to be a great draft pick, the 1982 draft wasn't a very good one anyway. By the time Russell was picked at #13, Dwight Gooden was already off the board. There were no other superstars in the first round, although later rounds saw the drafting of David Wells, Barry Bonds, Barry Larkin, Jimmy Key, Randy Johnson, and Will Clark (some one whom did not sign).
1985 Donruss is a pretty poor design. The black borders were not a deep, dark black but rather often washed out with a lot of variability from lot to lot. Moreover, the edges were tough to keep looking decent since any chip stuck out against the black color. Add in the fact that the design calls attention to off-centering, and the cards just never looked that nice. Note too that the backs closely resemble the other Donruss issues of the 1980s...so boring.
Russell reminds me of a lot of other part-time catchers. He had some decent pop in his bat. Over his first 162 career games (spanning 1984-1986) he had 18 HR and 63 RBI. He also had 43 BB and 154 K's.
If this is end for Russell, he has nothing to be ashamed about. He's had 28 years in professional baseball and accomplished more than most.
By the way, I couldn't get a photo of Russell's other rookie card. In 1985, Fleer issued a rookie prospects card for the Phillies featuring Russell and Steve Jeltz. Very cool.
October 6th, 2010 at 8:28 am
I didn't mind this design back in 1985 (it is hard to compete with 1984 Donruss, but is much better than 1986) and I haven't thought too much about it since. You brought up the biggest problem (centering - although I think the problem is that there are a lot of cetering issues, as opposed to the centering issues being easy to see). I still love the "rated rookies" and the year designation on the fronts of the early donruss sets.
As for Russell, he might be best served as a Major League Bullpen Coach or Minor League Manager. Then maybe he can work his way back into a Major League managing job somewhere. He is still young.
As for the Pirates, I hope they can get things turned around, that is a great old franchise with good fan base and a really nice stadium. They have always been my second favorite team (aftert the Yanks) going back to the 70's. That designation was cemented in 1979 with the "Family" team that really gave me something to root for and kept a 10 year-old interested in baseball during the late summer after Thurman Munson died (and Yankee games were upsetting to watch).
October 6th, 2010 at 8:33 am
I didn't mean to suggest that 85 Donruss had more centering problems than other sets--just that the design really highlighted it--the horizontal red stripes make it really obvious when the card is off-center. In general, it's tough to find 1985 Donruss cards that actually look nice...seems like the border is always chipped, the colors are faded, or the card is off-center--on just about all examples.
October 6th, 2010 at 8:36 am
Why is his career "probably over"? Did he say something to that effect? He may not manage again but he may well find a job somewhere. A lot of bad managers resurface as coaches. Davey Lopes, Larry Bowa and Tony Pena come to mind.
October 6th, 2010 at 8:41 am
I DID mean to suggest they had centering issues. Too many for an established card company. Then to top it off, the design really enhanced the abundance of centering issues. Good point about the coloring, it might as well have been 1975 topps with all the different color blacks (from gray to charcoal to pitch black). the chipping is a problem with black borders in general (like 1971 topps), so I can't be that upset about it.
October 6th, 2010 at 8:44 am
I could be wrong, but I don't think guys who lose THIS MANY games tend to come back as coaches. Plus, in Russell's case he was promoted from the minors to be the major-league manager--I think he doesn't have any other major-league coaching experience (but I might be wrong.) Lopes, Bowa, and Pena were all good major-league players and coaches before they became managers, things that Russell wasn't.
October 6th, 2010 at 8:44 am
Just to be clear, I'm not advocating the idea that Russell never gets another major-league job. I have nothing against the guy. I'm just guessing.
October 6th, 2010 at 9:20 am
Not to be ornery, but being a good MLBer has nothing to do with managerial success. Just ask Leo Durocher (.247 lifetime), Walter Alston (1 AB) and Earl Weaver. Besides, John McGraw wouldn't win 60 games with this Pirates team. I don't think his record with this motley crew will be held against him.
October 6th, 2010 at 9:25 am
Larry, I agree--but I do think being a good MLer has something (but not everything) to do with being a good coach. At the very least, it seems that better players often get hired as coaches--my point is only in terms of what draw Russell would have to a new team thinking about hiring him.
October 6th, 2010 at 9:29 am
He could advise an organization as to what type of team to NOT build. Also he can learn from all of the various ways a team could lose and offer that expetise. 🙂
October 6th, 2010 at 9:43 am
John Russell may be finished, but don't count on it quite yet.
I can remember a guy back when I was a kid who had earned a rep as a clown as a player before I was born, then clowned his way through managerial stints with Brooklyn and the Braves; and figured that once he got canned by Boston -- during the wat, no less, when it wasn't easy to staff a baseball team -- that we would probably never hear from this joker again. But then, what would you expect from a guy who'd only become a baseball player because he couldn't make it as a left-handed dentist.
Anyone care to guess who is was?
October 6th, 2010 at 9:47 am
No idea, but I bet you could look it up.
October 6th, 2010 at 9:48 am
One hint;
He is in the Hall of Fame -- as a manager.
October 6th, 2010 at 9:50 am
JT how could you not know he was referring to Casey Stengel?
October 6th, 2010 at 9:50 am
Following up on the comment @3:
I know nothing of Russell's intentions, but if he wants to stay in MLB, I'd be shocked if he doesn't get a coaching job within the next 2 years. Baseball history clearly shows that it takes a lot more than 3 years of bad results to force someone out of the coaching fraternity.
At least one HOF manager has started out similarly to Russell -- perhaps not quite as badly as Russell's 3 years, but certainly with longer duration near the bottom. Before Casey Stengel came to the Yankees, he had managed for 9 years and had 1 winning season, with five 7th-place finishes, two 6ths and two 5ths. His average record, projected to 162 games, was about 71-91. That changed quickly, with 5 straight World Series championships.
Other HOF (or future HOF) managers who started poorly:
-- Joe Torre began his managing career with 3 straight last-place finishes.
-- Bobby Cox finished last his first 2 years.
-- Ned Hanlon had 5 losing seasons in 6 tries, before reeling off 5 pennants in 6 years.
October 6th, 2010 at 9:52 am
@10 -- Frank, you beat me to the punch!
October 6th, 2010 at 9:55 am
When Stengel was hired it was viewed as a publicity stunt because it was such an obviously stupid decision. Of course, it was proved to be a good decision--but the ridicule the Yankees took is not something that modern-day teams would choose to subject themselves to.
I could definitely be wrong. I think of Alan Trammell as somebody who would never get another ML job after the Tigers lost so much, but he's actually the Cubs bench coach right now...still I would be surprised if Trammell or Russell ever got another managerial job with a big-league club. Maybe it's the double L at the end of the name
October 6th, 2010 at 10:49 am
I'm pre-e-e-t-t-t-y sure Johnny Twisto was being sarcastic: his "you could look it up" is the give-away. Too early to be clever. . . .
October 6th, 2010 at 11:32 am
@16
Andy -- When the Yankees hired Joe Torre in 1996, they were subjected to plenty of ridicule -- one of the major NYC papers blared "CLUELESS JOE!" on its back page. It was not a popular hire, given Torre's overall record and especially his 5 losing seasons running the Mets fromo 1977-81.
Grady Little got basically laughed out of Boston after leaving Pedro Martinez in too long in game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. After 2 years away, he was hired to manage the Dodgers in 2006. I don't know the tone of the media coverage in LA, but here in NY there was definitely ridicule.
George Steinbrenner was constantly ridiculed for his on-again, off-again relationship with Billy Martin, whom he hired on 5 separate occasions.
This offseason, one of the leading candidates to manage the Mets is Wally Backman. Backman's prior chance to manage in MLB was undone by revelations of concealed events in his past; if he is hired to lead the Mets, don't think that won't be rehashed and used as further evidence of a dysfunctional organization.
These days, there's so much more media than there was when Casey Stengel got hired, and people are more inclined to question authority. Any move that isn't a slam-dunk, no-brainer gets ridiculed by someone. I think teams are less sensitive to ridicule nowadays, not more. If Russell or Trammell hang around the game long enough, and some GM feels he is the right man for the job, their past managerial records will not be a major obstacle.
Buddy Bell had 3 bad years managing the Tigers. After a year off, he was hired to manage the Rockies, but in 2+ seasons didn't get them above 4th place. Three years later, the Royals hired him to manage. Now, this may tell us something about those organizations at those times, but to me, the bigger message is: Nobody gets eliminated from the managerial pool just for losing.
Besides -- could any manager have won with the talent Pittsburgh had in 2008-10?
October 6th, 2010 at 11:34 am
Fair points, John. My only retort is that at least in the cases of Torre and Bell, they had something other to fall back on other than previous managerial experience--namely good playing careers, even though that is not typically a prerequisite for a managerial position, nor an indicator of likely success.
October 6th, 2010 at 11:41 am
I believe the subheader to "Clueless Joe" was something like "Torre has no idea what he's getting into" -- a reference to the nuthouse that was the Steinbrenner-run Yankees, not Torre's perceived managerial acumen.
October 6th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
I missed the "You can look it up" reference entirely...think I'll go see if my head got left somewheres.
October 6th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Ebay has 2 of the Fleer cards for sale. Here is the picture from on of them:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=380201353351
October 6th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
@20
J.T., you're right about the subhead, but I think you are mistaken about the overall tone of the article. It was more about Torre's shortcomings than Steinbrenner's.
Here's a short excerpt from Torre's book, and then I'll post a fuller bit below it:
"[Columnist Ian] O'Connor said that Torre 'came across as naïve at best, desperate at worst.... It's always a sad occasion when man becomes muppet.' A last choice, a placeholder for Showalter, a man without a clue, a muppet ... this is how Torre was welcomed as the new manager of the New York Yankees."
-------------------
[longer clip:]
At his introductory news conference, Torre displayed his cool demeanor and ease in front of a hostile media crowd. He answered questions with humor and optimism, and did not hesitate to talk about his lifetime goal of winning the World Series, something the Yankees had not done in 17 years, the longest drought for the franchise since it won its first in 1921. He knew Steinbrenner had grown restless....
All in all, Torre was not warmly received as the replacement for a popular young manager Steinbrenner had chased off after a playoff season. He was an admitted last choice for the job, and soon heard even after his hiring that Steinbrenner was working back channels to see if he could bring Showalter back. Critics regarded Torre as a recycled commodity without portfolio. Torre was in Cincinnati with in-laws on the day after his news conference when a friend from New York called him up.
"Uh, have you seen the back page of the Daily News?"
"No, why?"
The New York Daily News welcomed the hiring of Torre with a huge headline that said, "CLUELESS JOE." The subhead read, "Torre Has No Idea What He's Getting Himself Into." It referenced a column written by Ian O'Connor in which O'Connor said that Torre "came across as naïve at best, desperate at worst." Wrote O'Connor, "It's always a sad occasion when man becomes muppet." A last choice, a placeholder for Showalter, a man without a clue, a muppet ... this is how Torre was welcomed as the new manager of the New York Yankees. None of it bothered him.