By now, Blue Jays fans are remembering – or coming to recognize – what September baseball feels like.
It’s a tense, anxiety-ridden time, with even the most level-headed fans fretting their way through every inning, and despairing over every loss.
But one of the fun distractions in these late-season moments is the appearance of new faces on the roster for the stretch run. Somehow, when your team is in a pitched battle for the pennant or a playoff spot, September call-ups seem like less like an aspect of the surrender, and more like reinforcements.
Notably, this year’s roster additions feature enough surprises and unexpected appearances to give us pause to wonder: Is this guy for real? Is this just a fleeting cameo for Matt Dermody or Danny Barnes, or the start of something great?
It certainly brings to minds some of the young additions from the expanded rosters the Blue Jays have made during past pennant races. Some of them had an immediate impact, then scarcely were heard from again, while others were barely noticeable, before going on to successful careers.
Here’s a select few memorable September callups from past pennant races.
1985: Maybe the most notable debut in the Jays’ first pennant-winner was Cecil Fielder, who was recalled in July and stuck with the team for part-time duty through 30 games, mostly spelling Willie Upshaw versus lefties. Fielder posted and .885 OPS, hitting four homers, and had a not insignificant role for the team as a platoon mate for Fred McGriff, before a diversion to Japan helped make him a star slugger through the 1990s.
A more typical September call up was John Cerutti, who scuffled through a couple of relief appearances before getting the start in the last game of the season, after the Jays had already clinched.
Kelly Gruber also saw five games of action that September, his second consecutive late-season call up. He managed three hits in 16 at-bats before joining the team for good the next season.
But do you remember catcher Stan Hearron or pitcher Stan Clarke? Probably not. Both were granted playing time in 1985 and the ill-fated 1986 season, but left little impact during their stay or after.
1987: Speaking of ill-fated seasons, a number of young players contributed to the roster of a team which might be argued to be the Jays’ best ever, were it not for their ignominious end.
Duane Ward saw action with the Jays the previous season, and came north with the team for three games in April before getting shelled and returned to the minors. In September, he gave up four runs in 8.2 innings, striking out nine and walking nine down the stretch. He didn’t get a sniff of the final series against the Detroit Tigers, though he did hold the line for 2.1 innings in the classic 10-9 win against the Motown Nine on September 26th of that year.
Also getting the call that season was catcher Greg Myers, who served mostly as a ninth inning defensive replacement. However, with the late injury to Ernie Whitt, Myers was pressed into starter’s duty for the final series against the Tigers, going 1-for-9, while singling and scoring a run. Myers would hang around the Jays system for another six seasons before settling into a career as a reliable backup, before having an unexpectedly solid season (.876 OPS in 121 games) for the Jays in his 2003 return.
1989: Few players in Jays history carry the mantle of “flash in the pan” quite like Mauro Gozzo. Called up in August of that year, Gozzo won his first three starts of the season, then vultured a win in extra innings in his fourth game. Alas, the rest of the schedule was much less impressive for the righty, who gave up 14 earned runs in his final 9.2 innings that season.
Also getting eight plate appearances for the AL East champs that summer? Some 21-year-old guy named John Olerud.
1991: Poor Eddie Zosky. The shortstop, who made his debut in September of 1991, was for years synonymous among Jays fans with prospect busts. It didn’t help that the Jays had shipped Tony Fernandez out of town with some notion that Zosky might fill his shoes.
Also cracking the roster late that year was Pat Hengten (three games, one start, two runs allowed in 7.1 innings); and David Weathers, who would go on to pitch 19 seasons of relief for nine teams.
1992: The first World Champions in franchise history didn’t have much need for call ups, though Domingo Martinez had an impressive debut. Called up in September, he was used as a defensive replacement before getting his first two at bats in a blow out against the Texas Rangers. Martinez went 2-for-2 with a homer on September 18th, and went 2-for-4 in his only start, on the last day of the season. He also finagled his way back the next September, hitting one more homer before getting traded to the White Sox for Mike Huff, and spending the rest of his career between triple-A, Japan and Mexico.
1993: At the time, the appearance of Huck Flener seemed most interesting to the fans, possibly giving to his excellent baseball name, and his four scoreless relief appearances to start his career.
Jays fans couldn’t be blamed if in the midst of that star-studded season, chasing a back-to-back crown, they somehow missed the catcher and outfielder who combined to go 0-for-7 that September: Carlos Delgado and Shawn Green.