Once upon a time, Danny Ainge, a talented athlete in several sports, pursued a career in Major League Baseball. Drafted out of high school by the Toronto Blue Jays, Ainge spent time in the Jays farm system before making his Major League debut in 1979. He was also playing basketball at Brigham Young University. In his senior season with the Cougars, Ainge, a guard, won the John R. Wooden Award as the nation's top basketball player. While still playing various positions for the Blue Jays (second base, third base, and center field), Ainge was selected in the second round by the Boston Celtics. With a .220 career batting average in Toronto, Ainge wanted to continue his pro career in basketball. He got his wish when the Celtics bought out his contract. In a fourteen-year NBA career, Ainge, a fine outside shooter, played on six NBA Finals teams, including two title-winning teams in Boston (1984, 1986).

After his playing days, Ainge did some time as a basketball announcer, as well as a three-year run as the head coach of the Phoenix Suns, his final NBA team as a player. In 2003, Ainge came back to his first NBA home, serving as the Executive Director Of Basketball Operations. While some of his personnel decisions were unpopular with Celtics fans, his biggest supporter within the organization was Red Auerbach, who served as a trusted advisor to Ainge until he died in 2006. After one of the Celtics' worst seasons in 2006-07, Ainge showed the shrewdness that made his advisor both famous and beloved in Boston. He brokered deals that brought both Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to the team, which led to an unprecedented change in fortune and the first title for the Celtics since Ainge played there.

The 1981 season saw Ainge make three rookie card appearances as a Major Leaguer. One of his cards was made by Fleer, who was returning to baseball cards after an eighteen-year absence. The photo on the front shows Ainge taking batting practice. Below the shot, he is listed as a second baseman for the Blue Jays. The back of this card contains stats from his stints in both the Major and Minor Leagues. The card is #418 in the 660-card Fleer set. The Fleer Ainge rookie card can be acquired on fine online sites such as eBay, Beckett.com, and Sportlots.com for just a few dollars. Many online sellers on these sites offer this card for less than one dollar before adding their shipping costs.

The card is a simple, but effective, piece of pasteboard. Ainge has his bat in hand, and is getting ready for a pitch. The team name is listed in a baseball design underneath the shot. While hoops fans always called him Danny, Fleer calls him Dan. The only places where Fleer mentions itself by name are on the back. Those appearances come next to the card number and on the copyright line to the right of his stats. Other than the mention of their name, Fleer doesn't make their card look much different from the cards Topps made. The presentation of Ainge's stats are done virtually the same way Topps so often did theirs, except that his personal information is at the bottom of the card back instead of at the top. Also, Fleer simply presents the stats without adding any text about his play. Ainge's career, as a whole, was not great, but he must have had a good day or two that Fleer could have mentioned. Still, Fleer did a good job with the presentation, as they covered the most pertinent points for collectors.

Danny Ainge is one of just a few men who have played baseball and basketball at the highest professional level. Other Celtics who played in both the NBA and the Majors are Chuck Connors, who became better known as an actor than an athlete, and Gene Conley, the only man who has played on title teams in more than one league (He was on the 1957 World Series champion Milwaukee Braves, and on the Celtics title teams from 1959-61). Ainge's NBA career scoring average of eleven per game may be modest, but they were an improvement over his offense with the Blue Jays (He hit just .187 for Toronto in 1981). As a player, Ainge played on a team with the "Big Three" of Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale. As a basketball executive, Danny Ainge brought together his own Big Three in the 2007-08 season, and brought the glory of Celtics teams of the past back to Boston.


This is an entry in the 2008 Canadiana Write-Off hosted by elvisdo. Please click on the hyperlink for rules and other information.

Thanks Charles.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 0.00
Type of Toy: Sports
Age Range of Child: Whole Family