With a wink, corny smile and a thumbs up, Sammy Stewart etched his place in cardboard collecting history. This 1988 Fleer Stewart card has always made me laugh. But it was not until recently that I tried to figure out a way to bring this card into the mainstream, maybe turn it into this hobby’s version of being Rick-Rolled. You know, maybe someone posts a link to some awesome card, only to have it led to this Stewart.

(Example: Sweet BABE RUTH CUT AUTO!)

Well, at least I thought it was funny.

What’s not so a laughing matter, though,  is Stewart’s story. Truth be told, I never followed Stewart one bit, even when he was with the Red Sox. The only thing I knew about him was this funky 1988 Fleer card, which I believe is his last card.

But when I set out to write this piece — with the intention of it being a complete joke — I learned that Stewart was a crack cocaine addict who sold his 1983 World Series ring for drugs, and in 2006 was serving a six-year jail sentence for being an habitual felon. See story here. (Yes, that is a REAL link to a Boston Globe story.)

Suffice it to say, not all stories turn out as nicely as Josh Hamilton’s fairytale. Here’s hoping that Stewart can turn his life around when he gets out.

This entry was posted on January 20, 2010 at 10:09 am and is filed under Newspaperman with tags baseball, baseball cards, cocaine, crack, drug addiction, Josh Hamilton, Rick Roll, Sammy Stewart, World Series. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.