New Arrival: Eric Ireland, sp, Oakland Athletics
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The Card: Eric Ireland 2000 Just Minors #BA-52
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Starting pitcher Eric Ireland. I followed him very close for a couple of years, and I am still bummed he never made it to the majors. I have tried writing to him a couple of times over the years and was never able to get anything through the mail. So, this card works just as well.
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Eric Ireland landed on my radar when, in November 2000, he was traded by the Chicago Cubs to the Oakland Athletics for Matt Stairs. Despite being a 2nd round pick in 1995, he did not have any tools that jumped off the page. What he did do it pitch well, almost all the time. In fact, guess who was the first pitcher to ever throw a perfect game in the history of the Houston Astros organization? Eric Ireland in 1999.
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But…back in the early 2000s, teams didn’t really have the same feel for pitcher development they do now. And so Ireland was a victim of his own success and was run ragged in the Houston system. From 1997-2000 he pitched 677.2 innings over 100 starts, averaging just over 6 IP per start. And he was good! During that period he went 40-33 with a 1.19 WHIP. But that is a lot of miles on his arm. Which is not good.
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When Ireland was traded to Oakland, the plan was to plug him into their AAA rotation and put his name at the top list of pitchers to be called up for any emergency spot starts. He even made his first Baseball American prospect list, rating the Athletics #21 prospect for 2001. But Ireland had a miserable 2001 season, going 8-11 with a 5.24 ERA/1.610 WHIP with AAA Sacramento. He was never called up and was released at the end of the season. He spent a couple more seasons in both affiliate and Indy League ball but wasn’t able to find any success and retired following the 2003 season.