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The Holly
By Christmas of 1979, Jeff Holly was done with baseball, even if he or the Detroit Tigers didn’t know it at the time.
And, even if collectors thought he was just beginning.
See, there were some chapters to his story …
The Chicago White Sox had drafted the left-handed pitcher out of high school in the 17th round of the 1971 June draft, and then he spent five years clawing his way up to Double-A. But after a 10-12 record with the Knoxville Sox in 1974, Holly’s ERA ballooned to 5.21 in 1975, and Chicago released him in April of 1976.
After a couple months on the shelf, Holly was picked up by the Minnesota Twins in late May and shipped to the Double-A Orlando Twins. A 5-5 record with a 2.27 ERA in 96 innings over 25 games earned Holly a promotion to the Triple-A Tacoma Twins to start 1977.
Then, after Holly pitched well in the northwest during April, the unthinkable happened — the Twins called him up on May 1, and he spent most of the season in the Major Leagues. It didn’t go all that well for Holly or the Twins — 2-3, 6.89 ERA — and he split 1978 between Double-A and Minnesota.
Though he was underwhelming again, Holly was better in ’78 than he had been the year before, closing his Big League season at 1-1, 3.57 over 15 appearances. Nothing to write home about, but apparently something to write Topps about, as T.C.G. decided that performance was good enough to include Holly in their 1979 Topps set (#371):
