When Sandy Wihtol and Jessie Reid Baseball Cards were the Future

Of the 53 men listed in Baseball Reference as having been born on June 1 and as also having played Major League Baseball, just two of them appeared on baseball cards during the 1980s — Cleveland Indians reliever Sandy Wihtol and San Francisco Giants outfielder Jessie Reid.

And those guys? They appeared on a total of three cards … but they were going to be stars!

Just ask Wihtol’s 1980 Topps Indians Future Stars card he shared with Larry Andersen (of Jeff Bagwell fame) and Bobby Cuellar (NOT of Baltimore Orioles fame) …

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Or Wihtol’s 1981 Topps Indians Future Stars card he shared with Chris Bando (of Sal Bando’s brother fame) and Tom Brennan (of Gray Flamingo fame) …

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Seemed Topps was pretty sure the young man who made 22 appearances with the Tribe in 1979 and 1980 combined was going to pan out.

Or …

You could also ask Reid’s 1988 Fleer Major League Prospects card he shared with Felix Fermin (of sacrifice hits and El Gato/Felix the Cat fame):

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Of course, cardboard predictions don’t always come true, even for a youngish hurler trying to stick with a not-great Cleveland team.

And even for a first-round pick who once looked like he had the tools — bat, glove, wheels — to be an All-Star outfielder. It’s especially tough when that prospect doesn’t make it to the Bigs until he’s 25 and fighting for time on a team streaking toward the postseason … that’s the fate that awaited Reid when the Giants called him up in September 1987.

As it turned out, neither guy was able to make those “future star” and “prospect” tags stick.

Wihtol spent 1981 in the minors, then cracked Cleveland’s roster one last time in 1982, finishing his Big League career at 1-0, 3.75 ERA, 1 save.

And Reid came back up for two games in 1988, finishing his MLB run with a 1-10 batting line for a cool .100 average over eight games. He also picked up a single walk.

That one hit was something, though — a leadoff home run in the second inning against Jimmy Jones of the Padres on September 29, 1987. That one put the Giants up, 1-0, and they never looked back.

In that moment, Reid was a STAR, no qualifier required.