Eric Bitonti Professional Baseball Career and Baseball Cards
Eric Bitonti was an outfielder who had a brief major league career spanning from 1988 to 1991. While he did not have flashy stats or longevity in the majors, Bitonti carved out a respectable minor league career and his baseball cards remain popular among collectors decades after his retirement from professional baseball. This article will provide an in-depth look into Eric Bitonti’s playing career and the baseball cards that were produced depicting him as a ballplayer.
Bitonti was born in 1965 in Baltimore, Maryland and attended Atholton High School. He was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 6th round of the 1983 MLB draft. Bitonti spent the next several seasons playing in the Cubs’ farm system, gradually working his way up through Class A, Double-A, and Triple-A affiliates. In the minors, Bitonti displayed a reliable batting average usually around the .280-.300 range to go along with good speed and defense in the outfield.
By 1988, Bitonti had worked his way up to Triple-A Iowa where he was having a solid season, batting .289 with 6 home runs and 38 RBI in 88 games played when he received his first big league promotion that June. Bitonti made his MLB debut with the Cubs on June 18, 1988 at the age of 22. He collected his first major league hit and RBI in his first game. Bitonti would spend the remainder of the 1988 season splitting time between Chicago and Iowa, batting .225 with 1 home run and 8 RBI in 46 games for the Cubs that year.
Bitonti spent most of the 1989 season back in the minors with Iowa but was recalled to Chicago for a brief September stint. He saw limited playing time but did manage to collect 4 hits in 10 at-bats that month. Bitonti entered spring training in 1990 competing for a spot on the Cubs’ Opening Day roster. He performed well enough to make the team and spent the majority of the 1990 season as a reserve outfielder and pinch hitter for Chicago, batting .239 with 2 home runs and 15 RBI in 101 games and 160 at-bats.
Bitonti’s most extensive MLB playing time came in 1991 with the Cubs. He began the year as a part-time starter and batted .265 with 4 homers and 25 RBI through the season’s first couple months. Bitonti sustained a hamstring injury in mid-June that sidelined him for over a month. Upon returning, he struggled to regain his rhythm at the plate and saw less playing time the remainder of the year. Bitonti wrapped up the 1991 season with a .234 average, 5 home runs, and 28 RBI in 86 games and 241 at-bats for Chicago.
After the 1991 season, Bitonti was granted free agency. He signed a minor league contract with the New York Mets for 1992 but spent the entire season in Triple-A Norfolk where he posted typical Bitonti numbers, batting .289 with 5 HR and 51 RBI in 109 games. When no major league opportunities presented themselves after 1992, Bitonti retired from professional baseball at the age of 27. In parts of 4 seasons spanning 1988-1991 with the Cubs, Bitonti appeared in 233 MLB games and amassed a career batting line of .235 with 8 HR and 51 RBI.
While his big league career was hardly prolific, Bitonti managed to land on several popular baseball card sets released during the late 1980s and early 1990s boom in the hobby. Some of the most notable Eric Bitonti cards include:
1988 Topps Traded – Bitonti’s rookie card, issued during his first MLB season with the Cubs in 1988 (#T110T). Highly sought after by collectors. Generally in the $20-50 range depending on condition.
1989 Topps – Bitonti’s first main set card(#720). Generally a $5-10 card in average condition.
1990 Upper Deck – Featured gorgeous photography. Bitonti’s card is #408 in the flagship set. Can fetch $15-30 for a nicely centered copy.
1991 Topps – Bitonti’s last widespread base card release before retirement. #727 in the set. Common $3-8 card.
1992 Score (#591) – Bitonti’s final professional season was documented in Score even though he spent it all in the minors. Generally a $1-2 card.
In addition to his base cards, Bitonti appeared in various Cubs team sets and special oddball issues of the late 80s/early 90s as well. Despite never achieving MLB stardom, his accessibility as a player with a few seasons in Chicago made Bitonti a familiar name to collectors at the time. As a result, even run-of-the-mill Bitonti cards hold reasonable value by modern minor league player standards.
In the decades since his retirement, Eric Bitonti has naturally faded from the general baseball landscape. Among diligent card collectors, interest in Bitonti’s humble but complete baseball career lives on as represented in the cardboard relics of his playing days with the Cubs and in the minors. Now in his mid-50s living in Florida, Bitonti can take pride that for a certain sect of fans, his baseball legacy as a 1980s/90s ballplayer continues to resonate almost 30 years after his last professional season through the enduring medium of his officially licensed baseball cards.