Von Hayes had a lengthy major league career spanning from 1979 to 1992 but never quite lived up to the lofty expectations that accompanied his baseball cards as one of the hottest prospects of the late 1970s. As an amateur, Hayes was a standout player at Westwood High School in Los Angeles where he led his team to a state championship as a senior in 1977. That success translated to a selection as the number one overall pick in the 1977 amateur draft by the Philadelphia Phillies.
Hayes entered professional baseball with immense hype but it was his baseball cards from 1979 to 1981 that truly captured the excitement surrounding his potential. In his first season of professional ball in 1978 with the Spartanburg Phillies of the South Atlantic League, Hayes slashed .330/.384/.545 with 13 home runs and 73 RBI in just 99 games to earn a promotion to AAA by the end of the year. Those jaw-dropping numbers made Hayes one of the sport’s most heralded prospects heading into the 1979 season and the anticipation was prominently displayed on his cardboard.
In 1979, Hayes’ rookie cards were issued by Topps, Fleer, and Donruss. All three manufacturers prominently featured Hayes’ impressive statistics from 1978 on the front of the cards. Donruss in particular went all-in on Hayes, making him the cover athlete of their 1979 set. His stats and glowing scouting report took up nearly the entire front of the card. Meanwhile, his Topps and Fleer rookie cards mentioned he was considered the Phillies’ top prospect and the future at third base for the club. The lofty expectations placed upon Hayes were evident based solely on his first baseball cards.
Hayes would get his first extended taste of major league action in 1979, appearing in 53 games for the Phillies. He hit a more than respectable .280 with 4 home runs in limited playing time. Those numbers only added to the buzz surrounding Hayes and furthered the promising outlook conveyed by his rookie cards. In 1980, Topps, Fleer, and Donruss all issued update cards on Hayes that continued portraying him as a future star for Philadelphia.
The spring of 1980 also saw Hayes make his first Bowman baseball card appearance. Bowman opted to use a picture of Hayes from his 1978 Spartanburg Phillies minor league days, further cementing his status as a top prospect. They also included details of his major league debut season statistics from 1979 on the back of the card. At this point, Hayes’ cards from 1979 to 1980 conveyed he was on the cusp of superstardom with the Phillies despite having accrued less than a full season of major league experience.
Heading into the 1980 season, expectations for Hayes were at an all-time high. Unfortunately, he suffered a broken arm that year which limited him to just 71 games. When he did play, Hayes produced with a .303 average and 8 home runs. Those solid numbers kept the optimism burning bright for 1981. Both Donruss and Topps issued Hayes’ first solo cards in 1981, signaling he had arrived in the big leagues for good. Topps in particular depicted Hayes in an action shot in the field with the third base position highlighted, emphasizing his spot as Philadelphia’s future at the hot corner.
All signs pointed to a 1981 breakout season for Hayes with health (and likely first All-Star Game) on his side. Things did not play out as his baseball cards from 1979 to 1981 had prophecy. While Hayes did appear in 154 games and post career-highs with a .286 average, 20 home runs, and 76 RBI, he failed to take the massive leap forward many expected and perhaps reach superstar heights. His production was very good, not great. This relative disappointment was reflected in his minor downgrade to a common rookie/update card from Topps for 1982 instead of another solo issue after two straight.
Injuries would slow Hayes again in both 1982 and 1983, limiting him to just 178 total games over those two seasons. His statistics regressed some from his career year in 1981 as well, bringing more doubt about whether he could fulfill the immense hype. Topps’ decision to use an action photo instead of headshot for his update card in 1983 suggested Hayes still had potential left to tap despite middling performances the prior two seasons. The lofty expectations of his early baseball cards were fading.
From 1984 through the remainder of his career in 1992, Hayes was a reliable major league outfielder and third baseman but never approached the superstardom that had been foreseen by the astronomical projections on his 1979 to 1981 baseball cards. Injuries continued to be an issue and Hayes’ statistics, while still good, were merely above average rather than great. The one exception was 1987 when he posted career-highs of 31 home runs and 102 RBI for the Cleveland Indians at the age of 30. It proved to be too late for him to achieve the staggering peak that was anticipated by hobbyists a decade prior.
In the end, Hayes fell short of reaching the heights implied by the immense fanfare emphasized on his early baseball cards. Injuries played a role but Hayes was also simply unable to fulfill the expectations placed upon him as arguably the top prospect in baseball in 1978 and 1979. His cardboard up to 1981 conveyed he was destined for superstardom with the Phillies but it never fully materialized. While Hayes enjoyed a respectable 14-year MLB career, he will always be partially defined in the hobby by not living up to the stellar outlook predicted by his pioneering baseball cards as one of the original hotshot amateurs.
In summary, Von Hayes’ baseball cards from 1979 to 1981 were uniquely representative of the massive promise that came with being a blue chip prospect in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Topps, Fleer, Donruss, and Bowman all went to great lengths to promote Hayes as the future star third baseman of the Phillies franchise based primarily on a few standout minor league seasons. Unfortunately, Hayes was never able to completely fulfill that forecast despite a long major league tenure. His early baseball cards immortalized him as one of baseball’s original can’t-miss prospects but also clearly set the bar too high for him to reach. Despite some excellent individual seasons, Hayes will always be partially remembered for not achieving the lofty expectations epitomized by his groundbreaking rookie cards over four decades ago.
