I recently came across this card on social media. It was one of those cards from the 80s that I had never seen before, featuring a player I had never heard of until then. This can still happen with cards from the mid-eighties, when I no longer had a hobby.
Still, it’s rare enough that I was baffled. Dave Shipanoff? WHO? How had I never heard of him? The first thing I did was look him up for baseball reference.
I found out he played just one year for the Phillies in the second half of the 1985 season. He appeared in relief in 26 games and saved three. The Phillies weren’t a good team in the mid-eighties, which is probably one reason I’ve never heard of him.
Shipanoff is Canadian, he was born in Edmonton. He was initially signed by the Blue Jays in 1980 and later traded to the Phillies for Len Matsuzek at the start of the 1985 season. And I’m telling you all this as if I didn’t just learn it two days ago.
The second thing I did was look for his other cards. I don’t have the 1986 Donruss card, but it turns out I have his 1986 Fleer card.
This is Shipanoff’s only other Major League card. Topps wasn’t concerned. Well done, Donruss and Fleer. But it does mean that I can’t consider Shipanoff a “One-Card Wonder,” which was also a thought when I first discovered him.
Shipanoff does have a few minor league cards, and that’s where things get interesting.
He appears on five minor league cards, one for each year, from 1983 to 1987. And of those five, only one depicts him as a pitcher.
That’s Shipanoff’s only action card; his name is misspelled here. He pitches at the old MacArthur Stadium in Syracuse.
He also appears in a minor league set in 1987, where he presumably poses as an outfield player?
There’s the classic minimal-effort pose that I love so much, from the 1960s and 1970s. “Put out your glove, Dave. Okay, good. We are ready.’ Shipanoff’s name is also misspelled on this card.
So those are two of Shipanoff’s minor league cards. What does he do with the other three cards of his?
He’s hitting.
No, he wasn’t a hitter. You can see that he is listed as a pitcher on all three cards.
So maybe Shipanoff was a pretty good hitter for a pitcher? Back in the days when pitchers still stepped up to the plate?
Um, no. He went 0-for-9 over eight seasons with five strikeouts and one sacrifice bunt.
I think Shipanoff liked to joke, at least because of his pictures. He has more batting photos than pitching photos!
So that’s what I learned going down Dave Shipanoff’s rabbit hole. You Canadian baseball fans probably already knew all about him.
What other ’80s players I’ve never heard of are still lurking?
#Donruss #Dave #Shipanoff