1985 Orioles Debuts, #397-408

Compared to the few following seasons that I recently profiled, the Orioles debuts during the 1985 season  saw a few bigger names and/or players that actually stuck around Baltimore for at least a few seasons.  The highlights were probably Fred Lynn, and Alan Wiggins, but a few of these other guys had some decent success in Baltimore as well. 

Here's my older posts in the series...
(2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986)

Fred Lynn #397, 4/8/85 (1985-88)

Don Aase #398, 4/8/85 (1985-88)

Fritz Connally #399, 4/10/85 (1985)

Lee Lacy #400, 5/13/85 (1985-87)

Al Pardo #401, 7/3/85 MLB Debut (1985-86)

Alan Wiggins #402, 7/5/85 (1985-87)

Phil Huffman #403, 7/13/85 (1985)

Brad Havens #404, 9/8/85 (1985-86)

Brad pitched eight seasons in the Majors between 1981-89 for five different teams and never was able to find much prolonged success at the MLB level. He was the Opening Day starter for the 1983 Twins and he was once involved in a trade for Rod Carew.

He also has a long-standing tradition of not signing TTM requests, dating back at least a decade, so I'm very happy to have his autograph in my collection.

Tom O'Malley #405, 9/8/85 (1985-86)

Tom's career was similar to that of Brad's in a few ways. He played nine seasons in the big leagues for six different teams, also including two with the O's, but never was able to get in a groove and spent much of his MLB in a back-up role. Their paths split when Tom went on to play six seasons in the Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league following his time in the Majors. He found consistent success in Japan and was one of the league's better players during much of his time there, even winning the Central League MVP award in 1995. He hit over .300 over every season that he played in Japan.

Kelly Paris #406, 9/18/85 (1985-86)

Eric Bell #407, 9/24/85 MLB Debut (1985-87)

John Habyan #408, 9/29/85 MLB Debut (1985-88)

Unpossible Autograph Friday- Francisco de la Rosa, Oriole #510

(Every Friday, I profile a former Oriole who has passed away. I've substituted the word unpossible for impossible as an homage to a line from "The Simpsons". Young Ralph Wiggum, who is a few pennies short of a dollar, says "Me fail English? That's unpossible.") 

I've already profiled Francisco in an unpossible autograph post about a year ago, but I was recently able to swing a deal to update his autograph in my collection to this orange uniform beauty. Only two Orioles cards were produced of Francisco, and he mostly disappeared after his playing days before dying last year at only 44, so I count myself very lucky to have this autograph in my collection.

Another reason I selected Francisco for today's post is that I now have officially assigned a debut number for each and every one of the 910 players who have appeared in a game for the Orioles. Over the past few months, I have (very slowly) been counting down the players debut from high to low, based on whose autographs I have yet to display on the blog. And I've decided to present my unpossible autographs in a similar method, counting down from more recent Orioles who have passed away all the way back to those who played in 1954.

Francisco made his Orioles (and MLB) debut on September 7, 1991 and appeared in the only two big league games of his career at the end of that season. He has the unfortunate distinction of being the second most recently debuted Orioles player to pass away, after Steve Bechler ('02 debut, Oriole #718), who died during Spring Training 2003 due to the combination of heat and a weight loss drug, and Alan Wiggins ('85 debut, Oriole #402), who passed away from complications of AIDS brought about by intravenous drug abuse.

RIP Francisco, you were way too young.

Unpossible Autograph Friday- Alan Wiggins

Alan Wiggins' story is probably one of the sadder tales in Orioles history.  You might see his picture on this 1986 Fleer card and think that he looks pretty young.  Why is Alan an unpossible autograph then? 

Alan was the California Angels' first round draft pick (8th overall) in the 1977 draft but he failed to live up to his high draft position and washed out of the Angels and Dodgers organizations before being snagged by the San Diego Padres in the 1980 Rule V draft.  He showed off his tremendous speed at various Minor League levels and reportedly stole 120 bases in a single season while still in the Dodgers' system. 

He made his Major League debut in late 1981 with the Padres and had decent success over the next 4 seasons with them but was also arrested multiple times for cocaine possession.  His drug use and addiction would be a recurring theme over Alan's remaining years. 

After another cocaine relapse, the Padres traded Alan to the Orioles in the middle of the '85 season and he filled a utility role for the O's over the next few seasons.  He continued to show blazing speed on the base paths but his average and on-base percentage went down each year, but he had a harder time stealing bases since he was no longer good at getting to first.  It's impossible for me to directly connect his decreased level of play to his drug use, but it was certainly a possibility since he was getting worse in his late 20's which are normally the prime years of a player's career.  The '87 season was Alan's last year in organized baseball and he died in 1991 from complications due to AIDS.  It's believed that he was the first baseball player to die from AIDs.  

While he died at the very young age of 32, Alan's son and daughter are keeping the Wiggins name in sports as Alan Jr. and Candice are professional basketball players; he plays for the German club Eisbaren Bremerhaven and she plays for the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA.

RIP Alan, you died way too young.