Darryl Hamilton, a speedy outfielder with a keen batting eye, was the third player I added when I began collecting the 1993 Finest set. This was the year he replaced Paul Molitor in the Brewers’ lineup after the Hall of Famer departed for a Toronto Blue Jays championship run. He had middling advanced defensive metrics, but would have been considered one of the better defensive outfielders if judged by the standards of a few decades earlier. Only 14 errors were ever attributed to his play over a 13 season MLB career.
Perhaps this was because he learned from his mistakes. He opened his first Spring Training game with a double to the outfield wall. Grinning on second base, the Seattle Mariners’ Harold Reynolds congratulated him on the hit and started chatting as teammates returned to their positions. Reynolds asked Hamilton to step off the bag, telling him the base was dirty and he needed to clean it. The rookie complied and was immediately tagged out by Reynolds, who had been holding the ball the entire time. That was the last time he ever fell for the hidden ball trick.
Hamilton (and his agent) engaged in a little trickery of their own. A member of the pennant-winning NY Mets at the end of 1999, Hamilton had found himself as the fourth outfielder on a contending team. The front office did not seem eager to increase his role, so a trade to a less competitive club seemed likely. Hamilton wanted to play and win, so he sought to make himself untradable and potentially open the door for the exit of one of the three other starting outfielders. His existing contract (originally signed with Colorado) allowed him to block five teams of his choosing if he demanded a trade. Hamilton put the plan in motion during Spring Training in 2000, selecting the teams most likely to want him as being the places where he would refuse to play. The result was New York keeping their outfielder and increasing his playing time from 27 games in 1999 to 120 in 2000.
Life Comes at You Fast
In one of the strangest crime headlines in recent memory Hamilton was murdered by an unstable former-Enron attorney. He had been in a long-term relationship with the woman and the pair had a toddler. Apparently suffering from extreme jealousy (she burned down an ex-husband’s house after failing to light him on fire), she ambushed Hamilton in a murder-suicide at her home.
This is Possibly Hamilton’s Best Card
For most players appearing in the 1993 Finest set, their refractor is about as good as things get for their cardboard legacy. Darryl Hamilton would probably fall into this category if not for a groundbreaking issue released in 1996. Leaf introduced “Signature Series” cards that year and included Hamilton in the 252-card checklist. Each pack was guaranteed to contain at least one autograph, a feature that astounded collectors of the time. Taking a cue from the popular Finest Refractors, the autographed cards sometimes appeared in parallel varieties with gold or silver foil stamping with print runs as low as 100 cards. Pictured below is Hamilton’s gold card, of which only 500 were printed. He is shown as a new addition in the Texas Rangers lineup and is giving his trademark gesture. Amazingly this card can be tracked down with little effort and obtained for the same cost as a McDonald’s Happy Meal.
