tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18640628312875206072024-03-13T06:00:12.216-05:001972 Topps BaseballA review of one of my favorite baseball card sets and a year of change, not only in baseball, but in America.MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.comBlogger142125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-11941196665769317362017-10-04T13:35:00.001-05:002017-10-04T13:35:47.171-05:00#140 -- Pat Dobson<a href="https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dobsopa01.shtml" target="_blank">Pat Dobson</a><br />
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I guess Pat Dobson will always be known as one of Baltimore's 4 20 game winners in 1971. You have to go back to 2012 to find the last time there were 4 20 game winners in all of MLB....and it ain't happening in 2017, either. <br />
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Pat Dobson is also known as being the least of the 20 game aces. On one level, when the other 3 are HOFer Jim Palmer, Dave McNally and Mike Cuellar, that's understandable. While he was an above-average pitcher, there was nothing that screamed out that he was going to break through as a 29 year old and win 20.<br />
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Pat started in the Tigers system and worked his way up to the big leagues as a reliever in 1967 and then got 10 starts for the 1968 World Champs. He was solid with a 2.66 ERA (although his FIP was almost a run higher....Tigers were a good defensive team). He led the team with 7 saves. <br />
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He continued as a swingman in 1969, but got hit harder. After the season he was traded to the Padres for......Joe Niekro. He was a starter with the lowly Padres in 1970. He was the ace of the staff, going 14-15, which is pretty good for a team that lost 99 games and was 13 games out of 5th. <br />
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The Padres traded him after that year. They got back <a href="http://1972topps.blogspot.com/2009/01/7-enzo-hernandez.html" target="_blank">Enzo Hernandez</a> and Tom Phoebus. Dobson ended up having significantly more wins that Enzo's 12 RBI in over 500 at bats. (Note: Dobson had 4 RBI in 97 ABs in 1971, so he was far behind Enzo as a hitter.) Dobson took over in the rotation and had a year. He had to win his last 3 starts to get to 20 wins. This Orioles team was as dominant, with 103 wins, as the Padres were hapless the year before. It must have felt like Christmas when Pat found out he was going to the World Champs. <br />
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Dobson lacked consistency year to year. His first year in Baltimore was outstanding. After that, his he couldn't maintain consistency. In 1972 he made an All-Star team despite going 16-18. He lost 6 of his last 7 decisions and was out of the starting rotation by the end of the year. After the year, he was traded to Atlanta.<br />
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A return to the NL wasn't good for him. After getting shelled in 10 starts, he was traded to the Yankees for <a href="https://bapple2286.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/9.jpg" target="_blank">Frank Tepedino</a> and Wayne Nordhagen. (Side note: Has any ballplayer looked more Brooklyn than Brooklyn's own Frank Tepedino? He could've played Vinny Barbarino's cool uncle on Welcome Back, Kotter.) <br />
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Going back to the AL was a tonic for Pat Dobson. He went 9-8 the rest of the way for the Yankees and was back to form, going 19-15 for the 1974 Shea Stadium Yankees. He was down in 1973 & got traded to the Indians for Oscar Gamble. (Another side note: Seems in the 70s that the Indians replaced the KC A's as the Yankees top farm club and trading partner of choice.)<br />
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Pat had a good year for the 1976 Indians as they were over .500 under Frank Robinson for the 1st time since 1968. Alas, in 1977 Pat went 3-12 as a 35 year old and, even though he made the 1978 Opening Day Indians roster, he was released before making an appearance.<br />
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Pat hung around as a pitching coach. Later, he was a scout and special assistant to Brian Sabean for the Giants. It's said he had a lot of influence with Sabean on his evaluation of pitchers and suggested he hire Bruce Bochy on October 27, 2006. Sadly, Pat was diagnosed with leukemia a couple of weeks later and died within a month.<br />
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Dobson was one of those baseball lifers that had some big highs and disappointments. His contemporaries will remember him as a good pitcher and a practical joker. Most fans will remember him as one of the Orioles' 4-20 game winners in 1971.MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-26196149872271871932017-09-13T23:40:00.001-05:002017-09-13T23:40:55.131-05:00#139 -- Tim McCarver<a href="https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mccarti01.shtml" target="_blank">Tim McCarver</a><br />
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Tim McCarver is mostly known to this generation as a national baseball TV color analyst. For about 20 years he was on all of the big games, usually working with Joe Buck. Let's just say that McCarver's reputation as a national broadcaster is......bad.<br />
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But it wasn't always that way. McCarver had rave reviews on the WWOR New York Mets crew in the 1980s. When I was in law school at Duke, for some reason the local cable system in Durham, NC carried WOR, so I watched a fair amount of Mets games from 1986-1989. As a Cardinal partisan, I didn't like seeing the Mets do good, but I realized McCarver did a great job of bringing and dissecting the game. That earned him the shot on Fox when they bought up the rights in the 1990s. I'm not sure what happened. Was it the confrontation with Deion Sanders? Was it trying to appear too important? Was it that he tried to simplify the game for the national audience, which then made it sound condescending to the national audience? I don't know. I usually don't let the announcers mess up watching the game, so I didn't notice any problems.<br />
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Tim's back home with the Cardinals, doing a handful of TV games/year. And he's good. He explains what's going to happen and what did happen in an enjoyable way. Maybe McCarver is better with a team where he can get to know the nuances and get deep into baseball than as a national broadcaster where you just can't get that deep. I don't know. I just enjoy the baseball.<br />
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Hey, Tim McCarver played baseball. Hey, he was pretty dang good. He's from Memphis and had a local baseball stadium there named after him. It was demolished in 2005 to make room for AutoZone Park. Baseball stadiums aren't named after people anymore. <br />
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McCarver debuted in 1959 with the Cardinals and stayed with them through the 1969 season. After the season, when the Cards finished 4th in the East after being in the World Series the last 2 years, they sent him, Curt Flood and lefty reliever Joe Hoerner to the Phillies for Dick Allen, Cookie Rojas and Jerry Johnson. The Cardinals figured they had to make some moves. It would have been a good move if they hadn't flipped Allen for Ted Sizemore a year later. Oh well.<br />
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McCarver was a 2-time All-Star in the 60s. He's the last catcher to lead the NL in triples (1966) and he stole home in the World Series in 1964. For his career, he had more walks (548) than strikeouts (422). He bounced around some with the Expos, Red Sox and Cardinals again before landing back in Philadelphia again in 1975 as Steve Carlton's personal catcher. They had worked together when Lefty came up with the Cardinals and he just felt more comfortable with McCarver. That had to have added years to the end of McCarver's career. He's one of just a handful of 4 decade men, as he hung on until 1980 and was part of the World Championship Phillies, although for just 7 at bats.<br />
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When I think of Tim McCarver, I think of how he's tied to Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton, 2 of the most dominant pitchers of the 60s-70s era. And he's been getting to talk about baseball for the last 35+ years. Not a bad life in baseball.MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-16880126765708986252015-01-24T11:14:00.001-06:002015-01-24T11:14:29.968-06:00#138 -- Mike Kekich<a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kekicmi01.shtml">Mike Kekich</a><br />
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It's 1964. You're a hotshot lefthanded pitcher graduating from a Los Angeles high school and the Dodgers reach out to sign you. You throw hard and people are comparing you to Sandy Koufax. That's how Mike Kekich's baseball career started. There's <a href="http://nymag.com/guides/summer/2011/mike-kekich-fritz-peterson/index1.html">one story</a> that everyone associates with Mike. However, it appears that he doesn't like to talk about that, and I'll respect that. I understand someone not wanting to be defined by one bad decision.<br />
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Mike Kekich had a golden arm and I'm sure the Dodgers thought they had another great lefty for their rotation signed. He went through 4 levels of the minors in 1964, striking out 185 in 183 innings. Problem was that he also walked 155 & gave 159 hits for a WHIP of 1.716. Still, strikeouts can strand a lot of those baserunners.<br />
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The Dodgers gave him a start on June 9, 1965 against the Phillies. He was a 20 year old making him major league debut. He gave 4 runs in 3.1 innings. He gave the fielders the day off in his first inning, striking out Tony Taylor. He walked Cookie Rojas. Then he struck out Dick Allen and Rojas was caught stealing with Dick Stuart at bat. The 2nd inning went easy, but after a couple of walks, Tony Taylor got his revenge with a 3 run homer. Alston took him out in the 4th after another walk and a double. <br />
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Mike got a few relief appearances the rest of the year, but he never really advanced. Mike never had an ERA+ better than 80. After failing to fulfill the promise in that golden arm and not taking Koufax's spot in the rotation, he was traded to the Yankees. <br />
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He made the back end of the Yankees rotation in the early 70s, but never really put it together. His strikeouts went down to about 5/9IP, but he still walked about 4.5/9IP and his WHIP stayed around 1.5. He had arm trouble with the Yankees. After getting traded to the Indians, he was released after a half-season. He had stints with the Rangers and the expansion Mariners before ending his big league career in 1977. He pitched in AAA for the Mariners in 1978, but never got a call-up. <br />
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Mike's a real estate agent in Albuquerque now. Every few years there's a story about his years with the Yankees and it will mention that he didn't return media calls. Can't blame him. Frankly, I'd rather hear an interview with him about his major league debut or what it was like to try to fit into the Dodger rotation in 1968 and any pressure he felt of trying to be the next Sandy Koufax. He was a teammate of David Clyde in Texas in 1975. I wonder if they talked any about being bonus babies, rushed to the big leagues and having arm trouble and disappointments. <br />
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Those are the stories I wish Mike Kekich could tell.MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-85415777659866431792015-01-18T17:12:00.000-06:002015-01-18T17:12:04.409-06:00#137 - Dick Williams<a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/willidi02.shtml">Dick Williams</a><br />
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I like the manager cards. The manager in baseball is a visible part of the team and, with all the pitching changes we have more recently, the game. At this point, Dick Williams had some success as a manager, but his Hall of Fame credentials were still out in front of him. <br />
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Dick came up as a utility guy with the Dodgers and then bounced around. I've heard it said that utility guys sitting on the bench can become good managers because they can sit there and soak up the game. Of course, that was said when Dick, Sparky Anderson and Tony LaRussa were so successful in the 70s and 80s. It seems the catcher is more in vogue now with Bruce Bochy, Mike Scioscia and Mike Matheny having success.<br />
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Dick's first managing job was to take over the Red Sox in 1967 after they'd finished 9th (out of 10) in 1966. Of course, The Impossible Dream Sox took the Cardinals to the 7th game of the World Series that year. Expectations caught up as he was let go in 3rd place in mid-1969 after finishing 4th in 1968.<br />
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Charlie Finley hired him in 1971 and he was a good fit for the raucous A's. Dick basically threw them out there and let them play. They won the Division, but fell to the Orioles in the ALCS in 1971. As you see Dick in his shiny satin jacket, he's getting ready to win the 1st of 2 straight World Series titles in Oakland. <br />
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Finley's meddling with the team was more than Dick could take. There were the little things, like letting Vida Blue hold out and mess up his 1972 season and interfering with the roster. However, when Finley pulled the Mike Andrews Incident in the 1973 World Series, Dick Williams did the unthinkable: he decided to leave the A's at the end of the year. The A's were still the class of the league and won the Series again in 1974, but Williams decided he didn't need to be a part of it. <br />
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He spent parts of 3 forgettable years with a bad Angels team. Then he was hired in Montreal where they had talent, but didn't have any kind of winning tradition. It took a couple of years, but by 1979 they had their 1st winning season and in 1981 Dick became the only manager to take the Expos to the post-season. He also got the Padres to their first World Series (and only winning game in the World Series) in 1984. He then had 3 bad seasons with the pre-Griffey Mariners (who didn't?) before being done. <br />
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Dick got 4 teams to the playoffs and was a Rick Monday homer from getting all of them to the World Series. He was elected to the Hall of Fame as a manager in 2008.<br />
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I'll always associate him with the A's. I can imagine him hanging out in his office, letting all hell run loose in the clubhouse all the while figuring out how to cuss Finley out when he called with another meddlesome idea. No telling how long the A's would have stayed in the playoffs if Finley hadn't run Williams, and then his best players, off.MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-91105136509445631282015-01-14T22:58:00.000-06:002015-01-14T22:58:19.740-06:00#136 -- Darrel Chaney<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/chaneda01.shtml">Darrel Chaney</a></div>
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Welcome back. It's been a few days short of 5 years since I've updated this blog. Kids, work, priorities get in the way of baseball cards. A lot's happened in the world in the last 5 years, but you already know that. </div>
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I always associate Darrel Chaney with Dave Concepcion. Darrel came up to the Reds in 1969, a year before Concepcion. He was always a part-timer with the Reds. When Concepcion came up in 1970 they split time for a few years until Concepcion's figured out hitting in 1973. Chaney was a league average shortstop by the traditional stats Sparky would have had available, but was almost always in negative territory for defensive runs saved (which Sparky didn't have).Concepcion was a Mendoza line hitter in 1971-1972, but made the All-Star team in 1973 and that was the end of splitting time with Chaney.</div>
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Darrel was an All-American football player coming out of high school. He could have gone to some Big 10 schools to play football, but not baseball. I always think of Darrel as a slappy with the bat, but he hit his way into the big leagues, hitting 23 homers in AA Asheville in 1968. He only hit 14 homers in his 11 year career and had 190 RBI, 1 less than Hack Wilson had in 1930. </div>
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Darrel made it to 3 World Series with the Reds, winning a ring in 1975. After that season, probably because of the emergence of Doug Flynn as the primary utility infielder, Darrel was traded to the Braves for Mike Lum. Darrel had the opportunity as the everyday shortstop for the 1976 Braves. He had his best year, with more than double the plate appearances he had in any other year. However, in 1977, he missed April and was splitting time with Pat Rockett, who had a historically bad year. Problem was, Darrel hit even worse than Rockett. He didn't get regular playing time after that and 1979 was his last year in the big leagues. Dave Concepcion still had another 9 years in the big leagues ahead of him.</div>
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Darrel is now well thought of in the Atlanta area as a Christian <a href="http://www.darrelchaney.com/Home.html">motivational speaker</a> and the Chairman of Major League Alumni Marketing. Guys like Darrel Chaney don't get all the glamour. I'm sure it's not fun to play 11 years at the minimum salary and not know if you're going to make the team every year. However, you've got to have the bench players like Darrel ready to step in when needed.</div>
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The card is pretty ordinary. Darrel gives the basic posed hitting stance, which is different than the basic, posed fielding stance he had on several of his other cards. The quote from Sparky on the back that "Darrel has a chance to develop into a real good hitter" was, well, let's say optimistic, but with Concepcion hitting .200, Sparky was needing one of them to step up.</div>
MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-5061153725513790692010-01-18T08:28:00.001-06:002010-01-18T08:28:00.860-06:00#135 -- Vada Pinson<a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pinsova01.shtml">Vada Pinson</a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S1OBU2m9teI/AAAAAAAAAp0/yt3wc9WtwFY/s1600-h/135.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 292px; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427824171167888866" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S1OBU2m9teI/AAAAAAAAAp0/yt3wc9WtwFY/s400/135.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S1OBVBgaqSI/AAAAAAAAAp8/_6JUPHSOVME/s1600-h/135+back.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 287px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427824174093216034" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S1OBVBgaqSI/AAAAAAAAAp8/_6JUPHSOVME/s400/135+back.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />About 25 years ago there was an older fellow that had a ball card shop in Springfield, Missouri (near where I live) had a piece in the paper about something he'd done in his store called the Call of Fame. He's taken a wall in his store and put up something like plaques for ballplayers who were really good, but not quite Hall of Fame worthy. I remember Ron Santo being there as well as this guy. When the best players of the 60s are rattled off, there were so many great outfielders (Aaron, Mays, Clemente, Frank Robinson, Rose, Clemente...and that's just the National League) that Vada Pinson gets lost.<br /><br />On Baseball-Reference's Hall of Fame indicators list, he falls just short. When you look at the career comparable players, you see a lot of other guys who would make what I call the Hall of the Pretty Dang Good, guys like Dave Parker, Steve Garvey, Al Oliver, Johnny Damon, Bill Buckner, Willie Davis, along with a couple of Hall of Famers (Roberto Clemente, Zach Wheat) a borderline Hall of Famer (Bernie Williams) and Steve Finley. The comparables by age are Al Kaline, Roberto Clemente and Cesar Cedeno. So Vada's in pretty good company.<br /><br />Vada ranks 47th all time in hits with 2757 and had a career OPS+ of 110 (he didn't walk a lot). He was an All-Star only twice and once was 3rd in MVP voting. Vada was a great complimentary player. He was the centerfielder for the Reds through the 60s with league average range. He had double digits in assists most seasons, which meant he had a good enough arm to throw guys out, but not such a good arm as to keep guys from trying to take an extra base.<br /><br />The Reds traded Vada in 1968 and he then bounced around from the Cardinals to the Indians, the Angels and finally the Royals, where he ended his major league career in 1976. He had a long coaching career afterwards, finishing up with the Marlins in 1995. He passed away in 1995 at the age of 57 following a stroke.<br /><br />This card is obviously an airbrushed Indians photo into an Angel uniform after the trade to the Angels. It's another in a long series at that time taken in Yankee Stadium.<br /><br />I wish that older fellow still had his card shop. It wasn't one with a bunch of display cases full of jersey cards, etc. He just had boxes of older cards from the 50s, 60s and 70s all over the place. That would be a great place to spend a week now.......MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-40616500017017725682010-01-17T07:30:00.000-06:002010-01-17T07:30:00.107-06:00#134 -- Carl Morton<div><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mortoca01.shtml">Carl Morton</a></div><br /><div><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S1GxAUsvz4I/AAAAAAAAApk/AGdunLAhjBE/s1600-h/134.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 289px; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427313645072666498" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S1GxAUsvz4I/AAAAAAAAApk/AGdunLAhjBE/s400/134.jpg" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S1GxAQKAC7I/AAAAAAAAAps/ceFmrVOCb3w/s1600-h/134+back.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 285px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427313643853188018" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S1GxAQKAC7I/AAAAAAAAAps/ceFmrVOCb3w/s400/134+back.jpg" /></a><br /><br /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><br />I don't know why, but I always thought Carl looked sad and forlorn in this card. It's almost as if he's thinking, "It's really cool that we get to train here in West Palm Beach (see the palm tree next to the light pole in the background?), but when this is done then we have to go to Jarry Park in cold freaking Montreal and get our brains beat in." Or..." I signed with the Braves thinking I could someday play alongside Hank Aaron in the outfield. Then, moving to the mound, maybe I could be in the rotation with Niekro. Now......hello last place."</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Carl didn't make it as a hitter in the minors, but he had a good arm, so they let him pitch and he took to it. He posted good numbers in A and AA for the Braves in 1967-68, so the Expos took him in the expansion draft. He started the season as their number 4 starter. He pitched great in his debut, allowing no runs and 6 hits in 9 innings, but Joe Niekro of the Cubs matched him and Carl took a no-decision (Cubs won in the 12th). </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>He started getting hit harder and by May 3 he was 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA, so the Expos sent him to their AAA team in Vancouver. The Pacific Coast League in those days was a deathtrap for pitcher stats with the ball flying all over the place in Salt Lake City, Denver, Albuquerque and the other high altitude stops around the league. Carl handled it very well, going 8-6 with a 3.52 ERA allowing only 118 hits in 133 innings.<br /><br />In 1970, Carl was NL Rookie of the Year, winning 18 games for an Expo team that went 73-89. Unfortunately, he turned that around in 1971, going 10-18 and followed that up 7-13 in 1972. Then he was traded back to the Braves for Pat Jarvis. He finally got to be teammates with Hank Aaron for a couple of years and had three strong years in the Launching Pad, winning 15, 16 and 17 games. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>In 1976 Carl signed a $100,000 contract with the Braves. However, when he went only 4-9, Ted Turner got rid of him and he found out his contract wasn't guaranteed (accoring to the <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Carl_Morton">Baseball Reference Bullpen</a>). I thought everything was guaranteed in baseball, but I guess not. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Carl bounced around the minors for another couple of years before giving it up in 1979. He tried to stay in shape, but that didn't do him well, either. He dropped dead of a heart attack in his parent's driveway returning from a jog in 1983. Wow. I hear that 65,000 a year die during exercise. Maybe Carl's forlorn look on this card is just some kind of premonition.</div><br /><div></div>MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-41756932231111021322010-01-16T05:51:00.003-06:002010-01-16T11:11:19.989-06:00#133 -- Joe Keough<a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/keougjo01.shtml">Joe Keough</a><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S1GortrC-UI/AAAAAAAAApU/0IeO6v0nxH8/s1600-h/133.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 294px; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427304494906145090" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S1GortrC-UI/AAAAAAAAApU/0IeO6v0nxH8/s400/133.jpg" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S1Gor8U4YhI/AAAAAAAAApc/H63zTAwA91I/s1600-h/133+back.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 292px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427304498839708178" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S1Gor8U4YhI/AAAAAAAAApc/H63zTAwA91I/s400/133+back.jpg" /></a><br /><br />I'm blessed with a last name that's easy enough to pronounce. I can't take any credit for that. We don't get to pick our last names, at least until we get old enough to go down to the courthouse and file for a legal name change or, if you're a woman, old enough to get married. Even then, I think most women pick a husband and get stuck with a name, rather than go out and marry someone to get his last name (except for the gold-diggers who like the last name "Trump", et. al.)<br /><br />Joe Keough didn't get blessed with a name easy to pronounce. I remember when I was a kid being stumped on this one. KE-og didn't sound quite right. If I looked at it today, it might be pronounced the same as "cough." But, for those of you that don't know, it's pronounced KEY-oh.<br /><br />Joe was a really talented guy who was drafted in the 2nd round (21st overall selection) out of high school by the old Kansas City A's in 1965. That was the year the draft was begun, so Rick Monday was the A's first draft choice. In the same round, 15 picks later, Johnny Bench went to the Reds.<br /><br />Joe rose through the A's system fairly quickly. It wasn't difficult then because, although there were guys like Campaneris, Bando, Jackson, Hunter and Fingers coming along, there wasn't much at the major league level blocking him. It wasn't like he was a first baseman in the Cardinal organization. Joe made it up in 1968 after Charlie Finley moved the team to Oakland. He gets to debut as a pinch-hitter in the 2nd game of a double-header in Yankee Stadium leading off the bottom of the 8th with the A's trailing 3-2. This is a pivotal early August game, with the A's holding a 2 1/2 game lead over the Yankees for 5th place. Lindy McDaniel, a pretty good reliever is pitching, but Joe takes him deep to tie the game. At this point, Joe is on pace to break all records with a career OPS of 5.000. (For those that care, the A's went on to win the game on a 10th inning RBI single by Reginald Martinez Jackson.)<br /><br />Joe only hit .214 that year, but I suppose it was impressive enough to be the #4 selection by the Royals in the expansion draft. Joe spent most of his time with the Royals as a 4th outfielder/pinch-hitter. He hit .322 in 183 at bats in 1970, but quickly tailed off in 1971 and 1972. His playing time tailed off as well. He was traded to the White Sox for Jim Lytle. He played in 5 games, batting once, grounding into a double play.<br /><br />Joe is probably more famous now for being the brother of Marty Keough and uncle of Matt Keough. Matt followed Uncle Joe into the A's organization and had a few good years as a starting pitcher whose arm Billy Martin could blow out. He then married a <a href="http://www.poptower.com/pic-14699/jeana-keough.jpg">1980 centerfold model </a>(no, it's not a centerfold picture...it's safe to click the link) and moved to a ritzy neighborhood near Irvine and had a short and unceremonious tenure on the Real Housewives of Orange County.<br /><br />Looking in the background behind Joe and over his left shoulder is a guy wearing what looks like an Oriole hat. Is Dave McNally spying on the Royals?MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-27990082957421963292010-01-12T13:50:00.002-06:002010-01-12T13:54:21.649-06:00132 -- Joe Morgan<a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/morgajo02.shtml">Joe Morgan</a><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S0vyfA2eplI/AAAAAAAAApE/dFC20zdphmI/s1600-h/132.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 294px; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425696790716261970" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S0vyfA2eplI/AAAAAAAAApE/dFC20zdphmI/s400/132.jpg" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S0vyfR4BAxI/AAAAAAAAApM/3Zs2UjZg8Ko/s1600-h/132+back.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 289px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425696795286110994" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S0vyfR4BAxI/AAAAAAAAApM/3Zs2UjZg8Ko/s400/132+back.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />When I was a kid, there was always a vacant lot next door. In fact, I had a vacant lot next door to me until I was 27 and bought a house. That meant that a little boy that liked baseball spent a lot of time mowing those vacant lots so he'd have a place to play baseball. I usually didn't have neighbors that played baseball, so I spent a lot of time by myself. I'd throw up the ball, hit it and then use my imagination to fill in the gaps on what happened based on where the ball went. Of course, I'd run through actual lineups, meaning I had to learn to bat left-handed. It also meant that I had to learn batting stances.<br /><br />Bobby Tolan and Carl Yastrzemski held the bat very high. Roy White started his hands down below his waist when batting left-handed. Willie Stargell whipped his bat around several times.<br /><br />But there was no more distinctive batting stance than Joe Morgan's chicken wing. I suppose it must have been a timing trigger. But to see a guy standing there pulling his elbow up to his body....I don't know. I know as a 9 year old I thought I'd broken a rib once when I pulled it too far and too quickly.<br /><br />Morgan gets card number 132. How's that for respect for a future Hall of Famer? And it's not like this is an early card. He was going into his 10th season in the big leagues. But he was a lifetime .263 hitter and his 162 game average was a thoroughly unimpressive 12 HR, 51 RBI with 36 SB and OPS+ of 121. The Cincinnati years (1972-1979) were much better: 162 game average of 22 HR, 86 RBI, 57 SB, .287 average, OPS+ of 147 and 2 MVP awards.<br /><br />Needless to say, in the 60's, he was seen as just another really good second baseman, but in the 70's, he got better (power increased and strikeout rate decreased) and he was seen as the best second baseman of the decade. What happened? My best supposition could be that he got different coaching when he got to the Reds, but how many 10 year veterans really change much based on what coaching they get? More likely he's hitting 3rd, behind Rose and Griffey and ahead of Bench, Perez and Foster, both of which meant he was going to see more fastballs.<br /><br />I think Morgan gets a bad rap now. His playing career is largely overlooked and he's just seen as some arrogant broadcaster. He's got reason to be arrogant, but the only complaint I have is that he seems to have developed a Tony Gwynn-like addiction to doughnuts. It's hard to look at either Gwynn or Morgan and believe they stole 50 bases.<br /><br />There's a bonus player standing in the distance behind Morgan. This is a 1971 regular season shot, rather than a spring training photo. That's Astro catcher Johnny Edwards. The only other possibility is that this is in Cincinnati and that's Red backup catcher Pat Corrales, because the Astro and Red uniforms from a distance were similar. Still, I'm going with Edwards.MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-83930842114051477032010-01-11T18:55:00.004-06:002010-01-11T20:45:59.682-06:00131 -- Jim Nettles<a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/n/nettlji01.shtml">Jim Nettles</a><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S0vJ1lZYOjI/AAAAAAAAAo8/mplh4f0U0-c/s1600-h/131.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 268px; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425652098506701362" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S0vJ1lZYOjI/AAAAAAAAAo8/mplh4f0U0-c/s400/131.jpg" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S0vJqCuf-1I/AAAAAAAAAo0/RHFXtxcm0Rg/s1600-h/131+back.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 286px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425651900221487954" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/S0vJqCuf-1I/AAAAAAAAAo0/RHFXtxcm0Rg/s400/131+back.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div>Wilton Guerrero. Tommie Aaron. Paul Reuschel. Vince DiMiggio. Rich Murray. Hector Cruz. Jim Nettles fits into a category with these guys. They were all the ball-playing brother of an All-Star, some even got to have Hall of Famers as brothers (although none were able to parlay that into as much fame as Billy Ripken). Jim had the blessing of following Graig through high school in San Diego and then to San Diego State. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, by the time college is over, and Graig is 3 years ahead of Jim, that's the end, right? Nope. Graig is drafted in the 4th round by the Twins in 1965 and in 1968 the Twins take Jim in the 4th round. Graig was traded to Cleveland by the time the Twins brought Jim up in 1970. </div><div><br /></div><div>Like Wilton, Tommie, Paul, Rich and Hector, Jim Nettles didn't have much of a career. He played with the Twins in 1971-72, primarily off the bench, and was then traded to the Tigers. After a partial season with the Tigers in 1974, he bounced around AAA, Mexico and Japan, getting 23 at bats with the Royals and A's in 1979 and 1981. He had a 9 year managerial career in the minors, ending with a 39-101 record with Bakersfield in 1996. </div><div><br /></div><div>He did hit homers off Catfish Hunter and Gaylord Perry. One guy he hit really well was Joe Decker, who he got twice in 3 at bats against Decker on July 20, 1974 in Tiger Stadium. Jim had 16 career home runs, but 5 of them came in July 1971. His first 2 homers were in each game of a doubleheader against the Royals (the first a walkoff in the bottom of the 10th) and then he homered off Sonny Siebert, Stan Bahnsen and Fritz Peterson (an inside the parker) that month, all pretty good pitchers. </div><div><br /></div><div>It's a pretty good picture on the card. Looks like one of the posed shots with the bat outstretched so it looks like the photographer snapped the picture mid-swing. It looks like a coach ambling towards the outfield to run drills. I can't figure out who it is. Any help would be appreciated. </div></div>MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-65255277396428694842009-07-13T07:22:00.003-05:002009-07-13T07:22:00.441-05:00#130 -- Bob Gibson<a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gibsobo01.shtml">Bob Gibson<br /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Slp01Dl8jhI/AAAAAAAAAoY/25JB7AzmCYg/s1600-h/130.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 264px; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357723161556979218" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Slp01Dl8jhI/AAAAAAAAAoY/25JB7AzmCYg/s400/130.jpg" /></a> <div><div> </div><div> </div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Slp01XEDKOI/AAAAAAAAAog/cIzkacWcJ1I/s1600-h/130+back.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 284px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357723166783514850" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Slp01XEDKOI/AAAAAAAAAog/cIzkacWcJ1I/s400/130+back.jpg" /></a></div><div><br />Bob Gibson and Lou Brock were my first favorite players. As such I still have a soft spot in my heart for Gibby. In fact, I'm currently passing time on my treadmill (no, not as I write this, but during this time period) watching Game 1 of the 1968 World Series. Gibby doesn't really look as intimidating as I remember, but I don't see a lot of Tigers getting good swings, either.<br /><br />Gibson went to college at Creighton in his native Omaha, playing basketball and baseball. I have no doubt that he would have been top of the line in football, volleyball, lacrosse or any other sport he chose to master. When he was a kid, no one would have imagined a career as an intimidating Hall of Fame pitcher, college basketball player and Harlem Globetrotter. Gibson was sickly. He had ricketts, asthma, pneumonia and a heart murmur. Still, he was as dominating in high school and college as he would be in the National League.<br /><br />His Wikipedia page said he was one of the stars of the late 50's Globetrotters. I don't know how correct that is, but it says he could hammer down backhanded dunks. I do believe the line that says he left the Globies because he got tired of the clowning. Gibby is a competitor and there's no competition in beating the Washington Generals night after night while running tricks.<br /><br />When initially called up, he butted heads with Cardinal manager Solly Hemus, but Gibson made the starting rotation and stayed there for the duration of his career. I was surprised to see that he only has 251 career victories. He had several years where he just didn't get the wins commensurate with his level of pitching. For example, he was having a good 1967 going into <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN196707150.shtml">July 15 game against the Pirates.</a> He was 10-6, 3.52 with 119 strikeouts in 138 innings. Roberto Clemente led off the 4th inning with a smash back to the box. It hit Gibson in the lower leg and Clemente got a single out of it. He then walked Willie Stargell, got Bill Mazeroski on a fly ball and walked Donn Clendenon before they figured out Clemente's liner had broken his freaking leg! I guess Gibby was human with a broken tibia. He came back in early September and went 3-1, 0.96 in 5 starts where he allowed 2 runs once. He then went 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA and a home run against the Red Sox in the Series. Wow.<br /><br />However, his stretch from 1968 (actually you could have begun it after the July 15, 1967 game against the Pirates....he was 6-1, and an ERA under 1 in 8 starts) through 1970 is similar to what Sandy Koufax had done a few years earlier and what Greg Maddux did in the mid-90's. He was 65-29, 2.13 ERA and 811 strikeouts in 913 innings in 103 starts those 9 years. That means he <strong>averaged</strong> 8.86 innings per start in a 3 year period. He had 20 shutouts in those 103 starts and 79 complete games.<br /><br />In 1968 he had a stretch where he completed 19 out of 20 games. The game he didn't complete, he was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the 11th inning of a 13 inning loss. I know. You've got to be thinking, "What a wuss. Suck it up and give a little of yourself." I'd say Red Schoendienst had a lot of guts to pull him. In that stretch of 20 starts, he had 12 shutouts (5 in a row) and gave up 17 earned runs in 182 innings. His 1968 season was absolutely stupid and part of the reason now we have lowered mounds, juiced ballparks, juiced balls and juiced bats.<br /><br />I'll put my respect and admiration for Gibson this way: The first National League game I ever got to see was Sunday, September 26 against the Expos. A fellow in my small town would take charter buses to St. Louis or Kansas City for a baseball game for about $15/head. My dad took me on a lot of those. This one was a big deal because it was my first Cardinal game and Bob Gibson was going to pitch. I was really hyped up. When we got to the Stadium, they announced the starting pitcher would be Darryl Patterson. Who? Dad, why isn't Bob Gibson pitching? Something about the Cardinals being out of the race. I was so PO'd about not getting to see Bob Gibson pitch that when I got home I found Darryl Patterson's 1971 card and promptly wadded it up. I'll have to look to see if I still have it and post a scan. I guess I had a little bit of Gibby's temperment as a 7 year old.</div><div> </div><div><strong>1972 Feature</strong></div><div>July 13, 1972 was a Thursday and a light night on the schedule. In 6 games there were 4 shutouts. Gibson didn't pitch for the Cardinals, but Reggie Cleveland threw a 2-hitter at the Braves and won 2-0. </div><div> </div><div>The Game of the Day was division leaders Pittsburgh (with Steve Blass coming in at 10-2) going against 12-2 Gary Nolan and the West division leading Reds. Cesar Geronimo got the Reds' first run with a 5th inning homer. Pittsburgh hadn't done much to that point, but they started getting with it. They loaded the bases, but Nolan struck out Richie Hebner to strand 3 in the 6th. Nolan then struck out Stargell and Hebner in the 8th to leave a couple on base. Bobby Tolan got a sacrifice fly in the 8th to give Nolan a little bit of breathing room. Clay Carroll pitched around a 9th inning single to close it out. </div><div> </div><div> </div></div>MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-86469986283686284252009-07-11T13:43:00.003-05:002009-07-11T23:39:29.898-05:00One Good Turn.....My wife needed a long weekend, so we're in Kansas City shopping. Just for fun I check Beckett's show calendar and there's a mall show in K.C. It is not the mall she likes to hit, but she's a good sport. Hopefully I'll find some high numbers and other assorted goodies.<br /><br /><br />UPDATE: <br />Mixed bag of success for me. I found no 1972 cards to finish off this set. I did, however, find a few 57 and 58's in a dollar box that will work for TTM autographs (e.g., Virgil Trucks, John O'Brien, et. al.). My big haul was to eliminate about 70 of the cards on my 1970 want list. I'm up to 61% complete, which is very misleading because I still need a lot of the high dollar cards on that set. <br /><br />I did save some money. One seller had just bought a complete 1956 set and a 1957 set missing only 5 cards. He priced the '57 to me at $2000 and I passed it up. I told my wife we saved $2000 and she was incredibly impressed with me. I think she'll be getting a nice dinner tomorrow night to show my appreciation for her patience while I dug through old ball cards.MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-5665239096724915752009-07-08T12:34:00.001-05:002009-07-08T15:59:50.860-05:00#129 -- Charlie Fox<div><br /><div><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/foxch01.shtml">Charlie Fox</a></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SlEGADkpzWI/AAAAAAAAAoI/sYWKwjeYkJA/s1600-h/129.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355068029949037922" style="WIDTH: 293px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SlEGADkpzWI/AAAAAAAAAoI/sYWKwjeYkJA/s400/129.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SlEGAjAAnrI/AAAAAAAAAoQ/FHHzc-5lNLw/s1600-h/129+back.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355068038385278642" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 294px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SlEGAjAAnrI/AAAAAAAAAoQ/FHHzc-5lNLw/s400/129+back.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>How old does Charlie look here? To me he looks like he'd have to be in his mid-60's. However, assuming it was taken in Spring Training 1971 (or in front of the bleachers at a high school football stadium), he hadn't had his 50th birthday yet. <a href="http://1972topps.blogspot.com/2009/03/77-ron-theobald.html">Johngy left a comment </a>earlier about how a lot of the players looked older in this set than they do now.</div><br /><div> </div><br /><div>Charlie was a lifelong Giant. He grew up in New York City and wanted nothing more than to be a Giant. His <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/foxch01.shtml">Baseball-Reference page </a>doesn't list when he was signed by the Giants, but he was brought up to play 3 games in late September 1942 for the Giants as a 20 year old. He was a catcher and had a .429 lifetime batting average (3 singles in 7 at bats). It might be worth keeping track of that and see if he turns out to have the highest lifetime big league batting average of anyone in this set. He's certainly set the bar high. </div><br /><br /><div>His minor league career doesn't pick up again until 1946, so I'd say he spent his early 20's fighting for America's freedom. He was a backup catcher in the low minors (B and C leagues) through the 50's and never sniffed the big leagues again. He scouted until the mid-60's and then either coached with the Giants or managed in the minors until named as manager of the Giants in May of 1970.</div><br /><div> </div><br /><div>The Giants made it to the playoffs once between 1962 and 1987, that being when Fox led them to the West Division in 1971. However, it's not like they were abject failures. They finished 2nd to the Cardinals or the Dodgers most years in the 60's. But, despite McCovey, Mays and Marichal they just couldn't get over the hump despite having the most consistent run.</div><br /><div> </div><br /><div>The Giants crashed hard in 1972. Charlie had a tough year with the Giants finishing 5th. McCovey and Marichal were injured, Mays was finally showing his age and young players like Chris Speier, Dave Kingman and Garry Maddox weren't ready yet. They bounced back somewhat in 1973, but when they got off to a bad start in 1974, Charlie found himself not employed by the Giants for the first time in over 30 years. </div><br /><div> </div><br /><div>He had a couple of other stints with the Expos (as a GM) and as an interim manager for the Cubs. He had a fiery temper, but he was a lifetime baseball man. There are a lot of guys out there like Fox who never have the chance to manage in the post-season or even make it to the big leagues. The thing that sets Fox aside is that 1971 season when he won the West. </div><br /><div> </div><br /><div><span style="font-size:78%;">P.S. I was googling Charlie Fox and came across a reference on </span><a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=charlie+fox"><span style="font-size:78%;">Urban Dictionary</span></a><span style="font-size:78%;">. I've never heard his name used that way, however.</span> </div><br /><div> </div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>1972 Feature</strong></span></div><br /><div>July 8, 1972 was a Saturday. There were a lot of low-scoring games. The Dodgers lost to the Mets 4-1, due in part to <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197207080.shtml">4 Dodger errors</a>. Man, what with Charlie Fox being a long-time Giant and 4 Dodger errors, this post can't end too early for one Night Owl. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MON/MON197207080.shtml">Juan Marichal </a>raised his record to 3-10, but he only went 6 innings allowing 1 unearned run against the Expos as poor Ernie McAnally fell to 1-11. The <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CAL/CAL197207080.shtml">Angels held the Red Sox scoreless </a>over the last 15 innings of their 17 inning game and then scored to win 4-3. </div><br /><div> </div><br /><div>The <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN197207080.shtml">Game of the Day</a> is one that we just don't see any more. The Yankees took on the Twins in the Met. Mel Stottlemyre went for the Yankees against Bert Blyleven. The Twins pinch-hit for Blyleven in the bottom of the 10th. Wayne Granger relieved and gave a homer to light-hitting Bernie Allen leading off the 11th. Stottlemyre came out for the 11th and gave up a leadoff single to Danny Thompson.</div><br /><div> </div><br /><div>Rod Carew was next up. Ralph Houk went to the bullpen for Sparky Lyle. Carew hits a dribbler to Lyle that gets Thompson to second with the tying run. Slugger Harmon Killebrew was up next. Today, there would be thought given to walking him. However, in that time managers would have even pitched to Albert Pujols instead of purposely putting the winning run on base. Lyle struck out the Killer and then fanned pinch-hitter Steve Brye. That was a 1-0 11-inning game where the starters went 10 innings. I suppose this is one of the games the Bert Blyleven for the Hall of Fame Club (of which I'm not a member) cite that could have been one of the wins that would have gotten him to 300. Instead, it looks to me like a well-pitched game that a good pitcher, Mel Stottlemyre, won.</div><br /><div> </div><br /><div>By the way, I've tried to purposely post this at 12:34:56 PM on 7/8/09. Big Deal.</div></div>MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-87198955308976759812009-07-05T08:45:00.002-05:002009-07-05T14:12:26.189-05:00#128 -- Eddie Watt<a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/watted01.shtml">Eddie Watt</a> <div><div></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SlAo6QFc6GI/AAAAAAAAAn4/gVahcNej8Hc/s1600-h/128.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354824938158876770" style="WIDTH: 297px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SlAo6QFc6GI/AAAAAAAAAn4/gVahcNej8Hc/s400/128.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SlAo6e5y6eI/AAAAAAAAAoA/7Zenxlbamf8/s1600-h/128+back.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354824942136519138" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 288px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SlAo6e5y6eI/AAAAAAAAAoA/7Zenxlbamf8/s400/128+back.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div>In the stretch when the Orioles were at the top of the American League from 1969-1971, there was no better reliever in baseball than Eddie Watt, but nobody's ever heard of him. That's partly because the Orioles threw so many complete games they really didn't need a reliever. They'd carry a 9 man pitching staff and 1 of those guys would usually pitch less than once a week. Contrast that with today's game where some managers are considering carrying 13 pitchers.</div><div><br /></div><div>In that stretch of 1969-1971, Eddie still appeared only 48 games and 55 innings on average. The Oriole bullpen also had Dick Hall, Dave Leonhard and Pete Richert all pitching effectively during that period. I mentioned the Orioles threw a lot of complete games. From 1969-71 their complete game totals were 50, 64 and 71, well over 1/3 of the total games played. </div><div><br /></div><div>Eddie pitched 8 years for the Orioles and they went to the World Series 4 of them. He was a rookie on the 1966 championship team and was a vital cog on the 1970 championship team as well as the 1969 and 1971 AL Championship teams. After the 1973 season he was sold to Philadelphia. The O's seemed to be going through a change and there were a lot of players in a rich minor league system that were coming up. Eddie slipped a little more with the Phillies. They released him and after a few games with the Cubs in 1975 his career was over.</div><div><br /></div><div>Eddie wasn't like today's closers. He didn't come in to great fanfare and entry music. He was more quiet and unassuming. He grew up in Iowa on a farm and never saw a major league baseball game until he saved one for the Orioles on <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS196604120.shtml">April 12, 1966</a>. One week later he pitched in his second game and got his first win. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL196604190.shtml">One week later </a>he notched his first major league win. </div><div><br /></div><div>His stats today don't look like they'd be good enough to make an all-star team, but Eddie was one of the best in his time. </div><div><br /></div><div><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">1972 Feature</span></strong></div><div>On July 5, 1972 Nolan Ryan was at it again. He threw <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CAL/CAL197207050.shtml">9 shutout innings </a>at the Brewers and it wouldn't have been enough if Winston Llenas, pinch-hitting for Ryan, hadn't knocked in the winning run with a single in the bottom of the 9th off Earl Stephenson. Stephenson had been matching him zero for zero, but gave up the winning hit. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS197207050.shtml">Marty Pattin of the Red Sox </a>and <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA197207050.shtml">Dave McNally of the Orioles</a> also had 5-hit shutouts. </div><div></div></div>MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-61477818609802147562009-07-04T08:00:00.002-05:002009-07-04T09:39:39.011-05:00Independence DayI'll take my turn to editorialize. A few years ago in my church, we were having a celebration of freedom in America and they were playing the National Anthem. For some reason, I tried to put myself in the shoes of Francis Scott Key while he wrote the song.<br /><br /><br /><br />Imagine. You're detained on a British boat in Baltimore harbor at night while your fledgling country is being attacked and invaded by the greatest power on the earth at that time. You can hear blasts and see explosions all night and you don't know what's going on.<br /><br /><br /><br />You ask someone near sunup, thinking about seeing things were OK when the sun went down last night...<br /><br /><br /><br />O, Say can you see<br /><br />By the dawn's early light.<br /><br />What so proudly we hailed<br /><br />At the twilight's last gleaming.<br /><br /><br /><br />You're worried about the flag at Fort McHenry, but you can only try to catch a glimpse over the sides of the boat every now and then because it isn't safe to put your head up.....<br /><br /><br /><br />Whose broad stripes and bright stars<br /><br />Through the perilous fight<br /><br />O'er the ramparts we watched<br /><br />Were so gallantly streaming.<br /><br /><br /><br />In the darkness, you can't see if the Fort is holding or not. Every now and then when there's an explosion, it gives you a burst of light to see what's going on.....<br /><br /><br /><br />And the rockets red glare,<br /><br />The bombs bursting in air,<br /><br />Gave proof through the night<br /><br />That the flag was still there!<br /><br /><br /><br />And as long as our flag is still there, the Fort is holding and everything is OK! With the raising of the flag over Fort McHenry he knew we'd held off the Brits. Imagine the relief and joy every time Francis sees Old Glory still waving on shore.<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sk57Un4ZC6I/AAAAAAAAAnw/QiZy7Wnay5o/s1600-h/banner.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354352601223203746" style="WIDTH: 309px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 275px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sk57Un4ZC6I/AAAAAAAAAnw/QiZy7Wnay5o/s400/banner.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Then, Francis Scott Key poses a question and a challenge from that boat to you and me, almost 200 years in the future......<br /><br /><br /><br />Oh, Say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave,<br /><br />Over the land of the free<br /><br />And the home of the brave?<br /><br /><br /><br />There was a time that I'd be at a ballgame and I couldn't wait for the National Anthem to be over so I could join the umpire in a hearty "Play Ball." Now, when the National Anthem is over, I'll give Francis Scott Key a quiet answer to his question: "Yes, the flag still waves over the greatest country the earth has ever known." Somehow, I think he's in a place now where what's going on here doesn't matter to him, but I'd like to think that he'd take some peace knowing everything is still OK.<br /><br /><br /><br />That being said, I love Det. Frank Drebin as Enrico Palazzo butchering the song. While I am absolutely reverent about it at the ballpark (and think what Roseann Barr did to it absolutely sucks), I can have a good laugh at "The Naked Gun."MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-15593122311027435572009-07-04T07:30:00.003-05:002009-07-04T09:40:01.142-05:00#127 -- Duffy Dyer<a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dyerdu01.shtml">Duffy Dyer</a><br /><br /><div></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sk5pEfH_qvI/AAAAAAAAAng/SKbsS6PXQ_U/s1600-h/127.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354332532785523442" style="WIDTH: 279px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sk5pEfH_qvI/AAAAAAAAAng/SKbsS6PXQ_U/s400/127.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sk5pErUqeJI/AAAAAAAAAno/yWfz9K0bvhQ/s1600-h/127+back.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354332536059885714" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 286px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sk5pErUqeJI/AAAAAAAAAno/yWfz9K0bvhQ/s400/127+back.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Somehow I think Duffy disqualified himself from making the backup catcher Hall of Fame by starting over half his team's games in 1972 and 1977. However, he spent much of his career in the bullpen warming up guys like Tug McGraw, Grant Jackson and Dale Murray, and putting on the shin guards and mask to warm up a pitcher between innings when Jerry Grote, Ed Ott or Gary Carter had been on base at the end of an inning. What does a backup catcher do? One thing they don't do is grab headlines.</div><div><br /></div><div>Duffy, however, would be one of the more famous backup catchers, partly because of his nickname and partly because of being a long-time Met. Duffy was a first round draft pick (secondary phase) out of baseball factory Arizona State in 1966 as the 9th pick. The 2nd overall pick in the regular phase was teammate Reggie Jackson. </div><div><br /></div><div>Duffy didn't have quite the career that Reggie did. He was a rookie on the 1969 Amazin' Mets, but was at best a 3rd string catcher behind Jerry Grote and J.C. Martin. He did get one at bat in the Series without getting a hit. In 1972 he had his career highs in games, at bats, hits home runs (8), RBI and strikeouts. He didn't play as much in 1973 and didn't play in the post-season at all. </div><div><br /></div><div>Duffy had some occasional pop in his bat, but too often he didn't make contact. Then again, the backup catcher rarely has time to get his full batting practice in, as he's busy catching guys that need to get some work in on the side. Certainly in Spring Training the backup catcher's role is purely catching and has nothing to do with hitting. He got traded to the Pirates and spent 4 years there as a backup, getting to appear in the 1975 long enough to draw a <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT197510070.shtml">bases loaded walk </a>off Rawly Eastwick in the bottom of the 9th to tie up Game 3. The Reds promptly scored twice in the 10th to close out the sweep. He then bounced on to Montreal and Detroit to close his career.</div><div><br /></div><div>He's been involved in baseball all his life. He's now the catching coordinator for the Padres, but he's been a minor league manager at several different levels. One thing that's bugging him now is that he's<a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2009/06/13/2009-06-13_fomer_mets_catcher_duffy_dyer.html"> lost his 1969 World Series ring</a>. He had to be in the Dominican last summer and thinks someone stole it out of his locker. If anybody sees it at a show or on ebay, give Duffy a call. </div><div><br /></div><div>I love this card because it shows a young Duffy in the classic catching pose. This looks like a spring training shot with somebody else's catching mitt lying behind him and the cool (yeah, right) windbreaker sleeves on. </div><div></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>1972 Feature</strong></span><br /></div><div>July 4, 1972 had a full slate of games. Many were low scoring, with 7 runs by the Expos over the Dodgers being the biggest offensive barrage. A lot of these games were well-pitched. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS197207040.shtml">Lynn McGlothen </a>of the Red Sox threw a 3-hit shutout for his first big league win. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA197207040.shtml">Pat Dobson </a>gave up a Dick Allen homer in the first, but coasted to a 3-hitter in a 2-1 victory over the White Sox. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE197207040.shtml">Dick Tidrow</a> of the Indians and <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA197207040.shtml">Roger Nelson </a>of the Royals each threw 4-hit shutouts. In the National League, <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/HOU/HOU197207040.shtml">Larry Dierker </a>had to scatter 8 hits to shut out the Pirates. </div><div><br /></div><div>The <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197207041.shtml">Game of the Day</a> is Tom Seaver and the Mets against the Padres in the first game of a doubleheader. Clay Kirby only lasted 2 2/3 innings for the Padres. He only gave up 2 runs and 3 hits, but he walked 4 in the 3rd, forcing in 2 runs. When you hit as poorly as the Padres and you're facing Tom Seaver you can't afford to walk guys with the bases loaded. The Mets didn't get anything else the rest of the day.</div><div></div><div>But with Tom Terrific pitching you don't usually need much. Seaver struck out 11, walked 4 and gave up only a single to Leron Lee with 1 out in the 9th. That was a problem because Big Nate Colbert represented the tying run on deck. He also represented the end of the game because he rolled into a 6-4-3 double play. Seaver threw a wonderful game here.</div><div><br /></div><div>Also on this day was a game I remember watching on TV as an 8-year old. It was an afternoon <a href="http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1972/B07040CIN1972.htm">game between the Reds and the Cardinals</a>. Scipio Spinks was a sensation for the Cardinals that year and entered the game 5-4. He also had character, as he had a stuffed monkey he carried around for luck that he called Mighty Joe Young. I remember the Cardinals had a feature on the pre-game show about it. Joe let Scipio down that day as the Reds scored 5 off him in the bottom of the 2nd. In the 3rd, the Cardinals got a rally going and Scipio was on 1st with 1 out. Luis Melendez doubled and Scipio ran through a stop sign at 3rd and tried to score. He was safe, but on his slide into Johnny Bench, he tore ligaments in his knee and was never effective again. (The play-by-play on Retrosheet even mentions the torn ligaments.) He missed the rest of the year. I still remember the announcer (I can't remember if it was Jay Randolph or Mike Shannon) bemoaning the fact that he ran. It was something to the effect of, "When you're down by 5 in the 3rd, there's no reason for you to have your pitcher trying to score with 1 out." Makes sense to me. I guess Chien-Ming Wang wasn't the first pitcher to have his career severly interrupted by a baserunning effort.</div><div><br /></div><div>(Oh, yes. I can also hear my wife in the background, "How can you remember that detail from a baseball game 37 years ago, but you can't remember to mail in the cable bill?" I hope I'm not the only one with that type of memory.)</div>MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-41779857866595740282009-07-03T09:30:00.002-05:002009-07-03T09:51:04.722-05:00#126 -- Bart Johnson<a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/johnsba01.shtml">Bart Johnson </a><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sk4PxAlQjZI/AAAAAAAAAnQ/1jc-9O2hlLk/s1600-h/126.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354234341634379154" style="WIDTH: 278px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sk4PxAlQjZI/AAAAAAAAAnQ/1jc-9O2hlLk/s400/126.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sk4PxXmWLyI/AAAAAAAAAnY/6u1pDRAnslU/s1600-h/126+back.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354234347812957986" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 288px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sk4PxXmWLyI/AAAAAAAAAnY/6u1pDRAnslU/s400/126+back.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The 1970's was a decade of a lot of things. Bell bottoms, hippies, tube socks, lava lamps and the White Man's Afro. Bart Johnson had a White Man's Afro and it seemed to work for him. There's a lot of information on Bart in <a href="http://www.whitesoxinteractive.com/rwas/index.php?category=11&id=3294">this interview</a> of him and it also shows all of his baseball cards. See as the decade went along that Bart seemed to aspire to become the albino Oscar Gamble. </div><div><br />Bart had a heck of a lot of athletic talent. He went to BYU and, in the days before freshman eligibility on the varsity basketball team, averaged 28 a game for the freshman team. John Wooden unsuccessfully recruited him for UCLA. Bart said he picked baseball over basketball because he had Cy Young stuff pitching, but would have "only" been a solid NBA player. He'd have given Randy Denton a run for his money on the hair front. (Here's a coincidence...I was looking at <a href="http://johngysbeat.blogspot.com/">Johngy's blog </a>to see if he'd interviewed Bart and I found this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szCCPulpC9Q">Youtube interview </a>of the Ultimate White Man's Afro, Randy Denton!)</div><div><br /><br /></div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sk04gGmttFI/AAAAAAAAAnI/hDOD5N_jAc4/s1600-h/DentonTopps7475.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353997656193348690" style="WIDTH: 285px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sk04gGmttFI/AAAAAAAAAnI/hDOD5N_jAc4/s400/DentonTopps7475.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Bart had a blazing fast ball and had a great 1971 season. He had a lot of promise and thought he'd take off in 1972, but he hit like a thud. He gave up 8 runs in an extra inning game (written up here in the 1972 Feature). He'd hurt his knee playing basketball in the off-season, told the Sox about it and they said he'd "be fine." However, they didn't want him to shelve it, so he ended up playing outfield (and batting .316) in the Sox A and AA teams. </div><div><br /><br />He came back to pitch in 1973 and was so-so, probably still recovering. He got into it with the Sox in Spring Training of 1974 because they wanted him to go to the minors. He threatened to quit and work publicity for the World Football League's Chicago Fire. He even had a tryout with the Seattle Super Sonics that summer, but nothing came of it. He finally decided to go back to pitching and had a great 1974 second half where he started to fulfill his potential. From July 7 to the end of the year he was 10-4, 2.74 and had back to back shutouts in late August. </div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>He's going to make a top of the rotation pitcher in 1975 to combine with Wilbur Wood and Jim Kaat, right? No. He herniated a disc in his lower back during a spring training game because he slipped on a wet mound. They weren't able to do much back then and he missed the whole season. He was in the rotation all year in 1976 (along with Goose Gossage) and didn't do well. By 1977, he'd lost a lot on his fast ball and it was over.</div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>Bart's been a scout since his playing days wrapped up. He's working for the Nationals now and, from what I've seen on other message boards, he can be spotted in establishments near his Oaklawn, IL home. </div><div><br /></div><div></div><div><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">1972 Feature</span></strong></div><div>Lots going on July 3, 1972. Hank Aaron had a big day with a homer, double, single, 2 walks and was hit once in a <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/HOU/HOU197207030.shtml">13-9 win</a> at Houston. Rick Wise got a complete game <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN197207030.shtml">4-2 victory </a>over the Reds and hit a 2-run homer. The <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET197207030.shtml">Orioles pasted Detroit 15-3,</a> and had a 6 run inning and a 7 run inning in the game. They had 21 hits, 16 of them were singles. The <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI197207030.shtml">Phillies got to Don Carrithers </a>of the Giants for 4 runs and 5 hits in the first inning. They got nothing -- no runs and no hits -- the rest of the way, but it was enough because they Steve Carlton getting his 10th win. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT197207030.shtml">Willie Stargell hit a 2-run walk-off homer</a> to power the Pirates past the Cubs. </div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>My <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CAL/CAL197207030.shtml">Game of the Day</a> is in Disneyville, where Catfish Hunter of the A's had a pitching duel with Rudy May of the Angels. The A's had pushed across a run in the 7th. The Angels hadn't gotten anything off Hunter. Bert Campaneris singled to lead off the 8th and Joe Rudi was safe when Rudy May made an error on his sacrifice bunt attempt. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now we get the big situation of the game. A's ahead 1-0 in the top of the 8th. Nobody out. Good speed at second with Campeneris and Rudi on at first. Coming to the plate is the A's best hitter and biggest slugger, Reginald Martinez Jackson. He does something that would never be done in today's game. He lays down a sacrifice bunt. Successfully. Can you imagine Tony LaRussa asking Albert Pujols to do that? If Joe Girardi asked Alex Rodriguez to sacrifice, could he get the bunt down? However, Big Ego Reggie moved the runners along. Captain Sal Bando was walked intentionally and Mike Epstein knocked a 2-run single to break the game open. A couple of batters later Dave Duncan got another 2-run single and the A's held on to win the game 5-0. Catfish had a 2-hitter.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>I had to look it up. Reggie had 4 sacrifices in 1972 and 13 for his career, but after 1972 he only got down 1 sacrifice bunt. </div>MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-3146251358908126422009-07-01T08:30:00.000-05:002009-07-01T10:33:08.884-05:00#125 -- Dave Cash<a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cashda01.shtml">Dave Cash</a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkVP8pfc8iI/AAAAAAAAAm8/NCMLw7T_eKM/s1600-h/125.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351771635548221986" style="WIDTH: 286px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkVP8pfc8iI/AAAAAAAAAm8/NCMLw7T_eKM/s400/125.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkVP8cYR0oI/AAAAAAAAAm0/xvSybU_RyBU/s1600-h/125+back.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351771632028471938" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 284px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkVP8cYR0oI/AAAAAAAAAm0/xvSybU_RyBU/s400/125+back.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />I always liked Dave Cash. He had a lot of style, as you can see in this card. He's got the wristbands, the hat's cocked just right and he's got just the hint of an arrogant sneer as he pretends to look at the pitcher that's going to throw him a pitch. I always think of him as a Pirate, although he had his best success with the Phillies.<br /><br /><br />Dave came up and got some playing time in 1970 filling in for Bill Mazeroski. In 1971 he played half-time at second and some at third, still getting over 500 at bats. However, Rennie Stennett was coming up and Cash had to split time with him.<br /><br /><br />In 1974 Cash was part of a straight up trade within the division to the Phillies for Ken Brett. It worked out for both teams, more so of the Phillies than the Pirates. Cash teamed up with Larry Bowa to anchor the middle infield and had over 200 hits twice (and 189 the other year).<br /><br /><br />Cash retired with the highest fielding percentage for a second baseman. For a time in the 1970's, he held the record for most at bats in a season, which means he led off, played every day, played for a team that scored a lot and he didn't walk. But he didn't strike out either. He's somebody that you'd think would have good speed, but wasn't a good base-stealer, stealing 120 and being caught 74 times, just over 60%, which wasn't good for a 1970's leadoff hitter.<br /><br /><br />I always thought Dave Cash was cool. I also saw that he was part of the 1st all-black starting 9 in the majors on September 1, 1971. It's probably happened a few times since.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">1972 Feature</span></strong><br />Nolan Ryan continued his assault on July 1, 1972, by striking out 16 A's in a 5-3 win. He gave up 3 runs on only 5 hits, but also walked 3, hit Sal Bando and Bill Voss in the 7th and threw his 9th wild pitch of the year.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS197207010.shtml">Game of the Day</a> is going to be in Fenway. Going into the top of the 9th the Red Sox have a 5-3 lead, but the Brewers scored 2 in the 8th and have momentun. All of the Red Sox runs have come on home runs, two by Ben Oglivie and one by former Brewer pitcher Marty Pattin. Don Newhauser came in to relieve in the 9th and got a grounder to short. Since Luis Aparicio had not been hitting well, the Sox were trying out rookie Juan Beniquez at short. Beniquez had a much better bat, but was a woeful shortstop. In 1971 he played 15 games at short, made 6 errors and fielded .895. He was better in 1972. In 27 games he made 14 errors, but his fielding percentage improved to .900. It's hard to field under .900. Juan never played shortstop again until a 1 inning emergency for the Angels in 1985.<br /><br />Anyway, an out and a walk later and the tying run is on base. The Sox bring Luis Tiant in to face Ron Theobald. We've seen <a href="http://1972topps.blogspot.com/2009/03/77-ron-theobald.html">Theobald's card</a>. He's not menacing looking and he hit like he was borrowing Eddie Gaedel's bat. Theobald did make some solid contact on Tiant, however. He did the right thing and hit a grounder to Juan ".900" Beniquez, but Beniquez handled it cleanly and it turned into a 6-4-3 game-ending double play. Theobald hits it hard, but that turns it into a double play when Beniquez fields it cleanly. Sometimes guys go against what they would normally do.MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-43430743150469858642009-06-26T12:12:00.007-05:002009-06-26T14:50:20.151-05:00#124 -- Yankee Rookies (Closter, Torres, Hambright)<a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/clostal01.shtml">Alan Closter</a> <div><div><div><div> </div><div><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/torreru01.shtml">Rusty Torres</a><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hambrro01.shtml">Roger Hambright</a></div><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkUgqEHJSXI/AAAAAAAAAmM/muM1haUCTyc/s1600-h/124.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351719639230007666" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 283px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkUgqEHJSXI/AAAAAAAAAmM/muM1haUCTyc/s400/124.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><div><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkUgqeHK5lI/AAAAAAAAAmU/JHhg0EWg948/s1600-h/124+back.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351719646209435218" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 292px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkUgqeHK5lI/AAAAAAAAAmU/JHhg0EWg948/s400/124+back.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><br /><div>The Yankee farm system of the 1990's was what got them their late-90's success by developing guys like Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte. That same farm system helped continue the playoff success through the early part of the 2000's by causing other teams to overvalue Yankee prospects because they were Yankees. The Yankee farm system of the 40's and 50's (including the Kansas City A's) was responsible for the success in the 50's and early 60's, largely because there was no draft and the Yankees could send out superscouts like Tom Greenwade out with suitcases full of money to sign guys like Mickey Mantle, Elston Howard and Bobby Murcer.<br /><br /></div><div>That led to the institution of the Amateur Player Draft. The Yankees didn't adjust well for a long time. As a result, their farm system really sucked in the late 60's and 70's. This card is an example. None of these three guys were major contributors, but they were Yankees....<br /></div><div><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/clostal01.shtml">Al Closter</a> was signed in 1965, but drafted and sold before he made his big league debut with the Senators in 1966. He wasn't ready, as he came late into the O's blowing out the Senators. He gave up a double, walked 2 (including pitcher Moe Drabowsky) and got light-hitting Luis Aparicio on a fly to deep center. The Senators let him go back to the Yankees rather than keep him on the roster. He came back in 1971 and had his most time, going 2-2, 5.08 in 1 start and 13 relief appearances. He gave 5 runs on 5 hits (including homers to Mickey Stanley and Norm Cash) in his only start. In 1972, he only got into 2 games and didn't come up to the Yankees in 1973. Late in the season, he was the Player to be Named Later in the deal that brought Pat Dobson to the Yankees from Atlanta. The Braves decided to put him on the expanded roster to see what they got. After 4 games, 4 1/3 innings and 7 earned runs, they decided they'd seen enough. Al pitched at AAA in 1974 and 1975 before giving it up. But, Al's in the Syracuse Baseball Wall of Fame and I'm not.</div><br /><br /><div><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/torreru01.shtml">Rusty Torres</a> had the best career of these 3. He was signed at age 18 and slowly worked his way along until things clicked for him in the minors when he turned 20. He had a cup of coffee in 1971 that led to all kinds of great predictions because he hit .385 in 26 at bats over 9 games. He struck out looking in his first game against Pat Dobson (1 of 3 strikeouts <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA197109200.shtml">that day</a>). Rusty never fulfilled that promise. He was a journeyman that hit .212 in parts of 9 seasons in the bigs. </div><br /><br /><div>Rusty, however, appeared in three of the oddest and most infamous American League games of the 1970's. On <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WS2/WS2197109300.shtml">September 30, 1971</a>, he was the Yankee right fielder in the last Washington Senator game before they moved to Texas. Rusty was 1/4 in the game. He was also walking to the on-deck circle when the fans rushed the field with 2 outs in the 9th causing a forfeit.</div><div><br /><br /></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkUlGAgZwSI/AAAAAAAAAmk/lzI4QP4r7dg/s1600-h/Senators+last+game.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351724517345050914" style="WIDTH: 138px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkUlGAgZwSI/AAAAAAAAAmk/lzI4QP4r7dg/s200/Senators+last+game.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div>Fast forward to <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE197406040.shtml">June 4, 1974</a>. Rusty is a bench player for the Indians and comes to pinch-hit in the 9th. The Indians are at home and trailing the Rangers 5-4 when Rusty is summoned to bat. He singles and moves Ed Crosby to 2nd with 1 out. Alan Ashby follows with a single to load the bases. Crosby then scored on Johnny Lowenstein's sac fly and Rusty was the winning run on 2nd with 2 out and Jack Brohamer coming up to face Steve Foucault. He never got to bat. Fans, likely affected by Cleveland's Ten Cent Beer Night promotion, stormed the field, stole MVP Jeff Burroughs' glove and the game was forfeited to the Rangers. <a href="http://sportsblogger.richardtylee.com/?p=63">This link </a>has a great description of the night, complete with Ranger manager Billy Martin ordering the team to arm themselves with bats to storm centerfield to save their comrades. Think I'm kidding? Check out the picture showing some of Billy's Batwielders escorting Burroughs to safety. (That's Jim Spencer on the left and I don't know who's on the right.)<br /></div><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkUlGNJ-IOI/AAAAAAAAAms/yv_QdJQhnWI/s1600-h/Ten+Cent+Beer.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351724520740626658" style="WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 133px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkUlGNJ-IOI/AAAAAAAAAms/yv_QdJQhnWI/s200/Ten+Cent+Beer.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><div></div><div> </div><div>Guess what happened <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA197907121.shtml">July 12, 1979</a>? Rusty is now with the White Sox who are hosting a doubleheader against the Tigers. Rusty goes 1-3 and scores the lone run as the Sox lose to Pat Underwood. Here's the link to <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA197907122.shtml">Game 2</a>. Rusty didn't play. Nobody played. Comiskey became unplayable between games because it was Disco Demolition Night. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco_Demolition_Night">Wikipedia account </a>is kind of funny, especially noting that Sox broadcasters Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall were commenting in Game 1 about strange people roaming the stands. Stranger than the ones in the press box?</div><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkUlF-HPT0I/AAAAAAAAAmc/YGOcKNYjOIs/s1600-h/Disco+Demolition.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351724516702637890" style="WIDTH: 182px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkUlF-HPT0I/AAAAAAAAAmc/YGOcKNYjOIs/s200/Disco+Demolition.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br /><br /></div><div>I wouldn't be surprised if Rusty hadn't been in Comiskey a few years ago when that redneck and his son jumped Royal coach Tom Gamboa. </div><br /><div><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hambrro01.shtml">Roger Hambright</a> had a much more sedate career than Torres, but had more substance than Closter. Hambright was up most of the second half of 1971 pitching out of the bullpen. He went 3-1 with 2 saves and a 4.39 ERA that wasn't very good back then. He got off to a good start, with 3 scoreless innings and a win in his first 2 appearances. In his 3rd, the Yanks took a 1 run lead in the top of the 12th, so he was positioned to get another win. The White Sox tied the score and had a runner on 2nd with 2 out and Carlos May coming up. Ralph Houk decided to walk May to get to Bill Melton. Anybody remember Bill Melton on a<a href="http://1972topps.blogspot.com/2009/03/89-90-home-run-leaders.html"> card so far in this set</a>? A three-run homer later and Hambright has his first big league loss. Roger had a couple of more good years in the bullpen in the minors before not doing well in 1974 (arm trouble, perhaps?) and ending his career at the ripe old age of 25. </div><br /><div>No 1972 feature here. I think I've brought up enough 1970's culture here!<br /></div><br /><br /></div></div></div>MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-51194808862576628712009-06-25T06:44:00.004-05:002009-06-25T07:21:13.384-05:00#123 -- Ed Acosta<a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/acosted01.shtml">Ed Acosta</a><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkNkscYocPI/AAAAAAAAAl8/D_L-8I4I3c0/s1600-h/123.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351231496942809330" style="WIDTH: 282px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkNkscYocPI/AAAAAAAAAl8/D_L-8I4I3c0/s400/123.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkNksoicMuI/AAAAAAAAAmE/I8H2kuCbL54/s1600-h/123+back.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351231500205175522" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 286px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkNksoicMuI/AAAAAAAAAmE/I8H2kuCbL54/s400/123+back.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Here's a guy that I just don't remember at all. When I think of an Acosta, I think of Cy Acosta of the White Sox, but they're no relation. Ed only played in part of 1970 with the Pirates, part of 1971 and then was up the whole year in 1972 with the Padres and that was it.<br /><br /><br />The <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI197108240.shtml">shutout</a> mentioned on his cardback was an 8-hitter against the Phillies in his first appearance for the Padres in 1971. Of his 6 starts in 1971, 3 of them were complete game victories, which kind of makes you wonder why they didn't keep him in the rotation. It looks like he was primarily used in a mop-up role in 1972 and then he vanished. Baseball-Reference doesn't record a release, sale to the Rangers or any other kind of banishment. Perhaps he went back home to Panama to open a baseball academy to tutor young men that would turn into closers for the Yankees. Perhaps he went to play in another league in Latin America. I don't know where Ed Acosta went, but he was a big guy and did reasonably well.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>1972 Feature</strong></span><br />Five doubleheaders dominated the baseball schedule on June 25, 1972. Ed Acosta went out to pitch the <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SDN/SDN197206250.shtml">9th of a 3-3 tie with the Giants </a>and allowed 2 runs. Fortunately for him, Garry Jestadt hit a 2-run homer to bail him out and send the game to extra innings, where the Giants won in dramatic fashion. Garry Maddox hit a 1-out double in the 14th. Ed Goodson grounded out to third. According to what I see in the box score, it looks like Maddox was running and kept going. First baseman Nate Colbert was credited with an assist and catcher Pat Corrales an error, so I would suppose that Maddox bowled Corrales over and injured him, as it relates that Fred Kendall replaced Corrales behind the plate. What a gutsy move and it paid off in a 14-inning 6-5 win for the Giants.<br /><br /><br />Lynn McGlothen made his debut with the Red Sox this date. I remember him as being the "anchor" of the Cardinal staffs once Bob Gibson retired and before Bob Forsch took over. Wow, the Cardinals really did suck in the mid-70's.<br /><br /><br />Also, happy 37th birthday to Carlos Delgado of the Mets, who was born on June 25, 1972. Anyway, as happy a birthday as you can have on the disabled list watching Chris Carpenter and the Cardinals beat Johann Santana and your team in CitiField (hopefully for me) this afternoon.MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-7356168937377583202009-06-23T07:25:00.000-05:002009-06-23T07:51:06.781-05:00#122 -- Larry Biittner<a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/biittla01.shtml">Larry Biittner</a><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkBBvbmygZI/AAAAAAAAAls/h02uzrYsT1A/s1600-h/122.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350348640436257170" style="WIDTH: 290px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkBBvbmygZI/AAAAAAAAAls/h02uzrYsT1A/s400/122.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkBBvm618xI/AAAAAAAAAl0/C40bz_FiR_M/s1600-h/122+back.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350348643473158930" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 283px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SkBBvm618xI/AAAAAAAAAl0/C40bz_FiR_M/s400/122+back.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />For a long time in the 70's I misspelled Larry's last name. I'm sure I wasn't the only person that didn't put in the second "i". On Google, there are about 5,640 results for "Larry Biittner" and about 1,100 results for "Larry Bittner". I don't know if there are very many other ballplayers with such a large percentage of hits for the wrong spelling.<br /><br /><br />Larry, or "Butch" as he's supposedly known (story to follow), was a solid contact and average hitter that didn't have a lot of pop. He had 2-3 years when he played full time, but was usually a part-time player and pinch-hitter. Believe it or not, but at 3, 31 .259, he was one of the Rangers' best hitters in 1972. He hit .315 in 1975 for the Expos and .298 for the Cubs in 1977, but never hit more than 12 homers and never had an OPS+ over 117.<br /><br /><br />Biittner had his only <a href="http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1977/B05170CHN1977.htm">2-homer game</a> in a Cubs 23-6 win over the Padres in May 1977. On <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN197707041.shtml">July 4 of 1977</a>, in the 1st game of a doubleheader in Chicago against his former teammates, the Expos, he took to the mound in a game the Cubs were trailing 11-2. He promptly gave up a 3-run homer to Larry Parrish. He also got taken deep by Ellis Valentine and Andre Dawson, none of which would be an embarrassment. I don't know what he was throwing, but of the 4 outs he got, 3 of them were strikeouts. He struck out pitcher Jackie Brown after Parrish homered. OK, he's a pitcher, big deal. Well, he also struck out Del Unser and Larry Parrish to end the game.<br /><br /><br />I don't know how to run the report (Andy.....), but I can't believe there are very many non-pitchers who have struck out more than 3 in a game in the last 40 years. For all Biittner did with the Cubs and Reds, this has to be one of his most unusual accomplishments. However, this is a guy that really loved playing ball. In doing my Google search, I found <a href="http://www.offenburger.com/guestpaper.asp?link=20030312">this article</a> about a softball player that marvelled at the "old" guy playing 3rd base next to him and homering often...finding out it was Larry "Butch" Biittner.<br /><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">1972 Feature</span></strong><br />Friday, June 23, 1972 was a big day on the schedule. <a href="http://1972topps.blogspot.com/2009/03/78-steve-arlin.html">Steve Arlin</a> followed up his June 18 2-hitter by throwing a <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SDN/SDN197206230.shtml">1-hitter</a> at the Giants, beating them 4-1. The only hit came on Garry Maddox' 1-out triple in the 2nd and he scored on a sacrifice fly.<br /><br /><br />Nolan Ryan threw a 2-hitter at the A's, beating them 2-1. The A's only hits were a 1st inning solo homer by Reggie Jackson and <a href="http://1972topps.blogspot.com/2009/01/17-dave-duncan.html">Dave Duncan's</a> 7th inning single. However it took an 8th inning <a href="http://1972topps.blogspot.com/2009/03/57-bob-oliver.html">Bob Oliver</a> homer to win the game for the Angels. This win set Ryan on a 5 game winning streak where he didn't allow more than 3 runs or 6 hits in any of those games. None of those were the no-hitters, but I have a feeling we may see him again in this section.....<br /><br /><br />This date also became a big day in the Watergate saga. It was on June 23, 1972 when President Nixon and H.R. Haldeman were taped formulating a plan to cover up the break-in. The tape didn't come out until August 1974, but it was enough to put the final shovel of dirt on the Nixon Administration. I'm sure they didn't know it at the time, but it's a good lesson. If there's something going on bad, you might as well fess up, because someone will find you out.MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-81144216778881668072009-06-19T07:51:00.002-05:002009-06-19T08:10:35.945-05:00#121 -- Ed Sprague<a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/spraged01.shtml">Ed Sprague</a><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sjo4u1gEjUI/AAAAAAAAAlU/WNiaMuOpVVc/s1600-h/121.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348649884742618434" style="WIDTH: 294px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sjo4u1gEjUI/AAAAAAAAAlU/WNiaMuOpVVc/s400/121.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sjo5HeGwj3I/AAAAAAAAAlk/vyKHo0jGWfU/s1600-h/121+back.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348650307959164786" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 286px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sjo5HeGwj3I/AAAAAAAAAlk/vyKHo0jGWfU/s400/121+back.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Every team has a scouting story about how they found this guy or that guy which is out of the ordinary. Ed would be one of those stories for the Cardinals. Of course, it might have been a better story if he'd made more of an impact on the big league level. Ed couldn't have been scouted the conventional way. Like Sidd Finch, he didn't play high school baseball or college baseball. Somehow a Cardinal scout found him pitching in the Army in Germany and signed him as a free agent in 1966.<br /><br /><br />OK. That is an unusual story. So the Cardinals get this raw, hardthrowing pitcher and stash him in the low minors to get some seasoning. First year in the minors he gets some innings under his belt and walks a lot of guys. Second year in the minors he pitches a full season at A-ball (California League) and goes 11-7 with a 3.12 ERA and gets the walks under control (the ERA is artificially low as he gave up 83 runs, but only 54 earned....what? was this a team full of scatterarms?). He's looking at a promotion, right? The A's take him in the Rule 5 draft and he spends 1968 learning in the big leagues. He goes a respectable 3-4, 3.28, but his BB/K ratio is 1.0 and he has 6 wild pitches in 68 innings. Still, 4 years removed from an Army base with no baseball background and he's in the big leagues, giving up a homer to Brooks Robinson in his debut (although he did get the other 6 guys out that he faced).<br /><br /><br />Ed split 1969 between the minors and A's and was then sold to the Reds. He was in the minors in 1970 and came up for a cup of coffee in 1971. He bounced from the Reds to the Cardinals (he only pitched 8 games, but as a young, impressionable Cardinal fan I remember him vividly as one of the guys who couldn't do anything right in the early 70's) and then on to the Brewers. He was off to a 7-2 start in 1974 when he had a knee injury in Comiskey. That messed him up. He came back in 1975 to go 1-7, but what was really telling was walking 40 and only striking out 21 in only 67 innings. He got in 8 innings in 1976 and got shelled. That was it for Ed Sprague in the big leagues until Ed Sprague (his son) made it with the Blue Jays (later to make it in the Mitchell Report).<br /><br /><br />Remember how the A's noticed him in the California League? After his career was over he went back to California and owned the Stockton franchise.<br /><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">1972 Feature</span></strong><br />A couple of teams went wild on June 19, 1972. Roberto Clemente had 3 RBI on 2 doubles and a homer as the Pirates made up for the previous day's shutout, cuffing the Dodgers 13-3. Reggie Smith homered twice to lead the Red Sox to a 12-0 blasting of the Rangers. But the <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/HOU/HOU197206190.shtml">Game of the Day</a> will feature a couple of hot teams.<br /><br /><br />The Mets come in having won 3 out of 4 and hanging on to first place in the East by a half-game. A month before they had a 6 game lead, so they need to get things going again. The Astros have won 6 out of 7 and are only a game and a half behind the Reds (who were shut out by Bill Stoneman and the Expos).<br /><br /><br />We're set up for a pitching duel with Jon Matlack going against Larry Dierker and the game is in the Astrodome. These pitchers don't disappoint. Matlack gets out of a couple of early jams by striking out Jimmy Wynn in the 1st and 3rd. The Astros keep getting guys on base and Houdini Matlack keeps squirming off the hook (like the mixed metaphor?). Finally, in the 7th, the Astros break through for a couple of runs and tack on another in the 8th. What had the Mets been doing? Nothing. Duffy Dyer singled to start the 3rd, but he was erased in a double play. Dierker walked leadoff man Willie Mays a couple of times, but he never got past first and Dierker stops the Mets on a 1-hitter.<br /><br /><br /><br />Pretty special. Pretty amazing stretch for Astro pitching when you look to see that <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/HOU/HOU197206180.shtml">the day before</a>, Jerry Reuss didn't allow a hit until Larry Bowa doubled to lead off the 9th. It's not like a Johnny VanderMeer thing, but it's not very common for a team to pitch back to back 1-hitters.<br /><br /><br />With this loss, the Mets fell out of first place and would not again hold sole possession of 1st in 1972.<br /><br /><br />One other item from June 19, 1972. The Cubs saw the beginning of a long career this day. Rick Reuschel made him big league debut, relieving Billy Hands in the 4th and striking out Bobby Bonds. He was then lifted for a pinch-hitter, but he would go on to win 10 games that year and 214 in a long career. He went on to strike out Bonds 11 more times, but Bobby got the best of it, hitting .350 with 3 homers in his career off Rick.MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-23945788763700430862009-06-18T07:32:00.002-05:002009-06-18T07:32:01.572-05:00#120 -- Bill Freehan<div><br /><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/freehbi01.shtml">Bill Freehan</a></div><div><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sjn7wPNxRiI/AAAAAAAAAlE/nPaqTWhs2V0/s1600-h/120.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348582838615754274" style="WIDTH: 286px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sjn7wPNxRiI/AAAAAAAAAlE/nPaqTWhs2V0/s400/120.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div></div><div><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sjn7wfyX2UI/AAAAAAAAAlM/qi7WuYyNqRU/s1600-h/120+back.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348582843064244546" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 284px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/Sjn7wfyX2UI/AAAAAAAAAlM/qi7WuYyNqRU/s400/120+back.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div><br /> </div><div>Bill was one of the AL's best catchers in the era between Yogi Berra/Elston Howard and Thurman Munson/Carlton Fisk. He was good for a 20, 70, .265 season every year. He made 10 straight All-Star games (11 overall) and won 5 Gold Gloves. I didn't realize this, but his value to the Tigers is reflected in the fact that he was 3rd in AL MVP voting in 1967 and 2nd in 1968. That's not for the Tigers' team MVP, but the league MVP. In 1967 he was a distant 3rd behind Yaz' Triple Crown and Harmon Killebrew's 44 homers. In 1968, however, he was a solid 2nd, behind teammate Denny McLain's 31 wins and unanimous MVP. </div><div><br /> </div><div>Still, Freehan's stats don't really jump out and grab me and maybe that's because I've lived through the era of guys like Todd Hundley hitting 40 homers and that numbs me to good hitting catchers. It was a lot more rare in the 1960's. </div><div><br />Bill's a Detroit man through and through. He was a baseball and football star for the Big Blue and returned to coach the baseball team at the University of Michigan in the early 90's (just after the Jim Abbott era). The Tigers signed him in the days before the amateur draft. I'm sure Freehan never thought about signing with anyone else. He made his debut in 1961, but didn't stick until 1963. He was the Tigers' starting catcher through the 1975 season. In 1976 he played part time, but hit 5, 27, .270 in 71 games. The Tigers released him after the season (I guess deciding the future was now with Johnny Wockenfuss and Bruce Kimm) and he retired.</div><div><br /><br /></div><div></div><div>Bill was also involved in a couple of oddities in his career. He liked to crowd the plate. Apparently, on <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS196808160.shtml">August 16, 1968</a>, Jim Lonborg wanted to pitch inside because he hit Bill in the 2nd, 4th and 7th, three consecutive plate appearances. No indication of any riots. Fortunately for Bill, Lee Stange had relieved Lonborg when he came up in the 8th. Bill quietly flied to left.</div><div><br /><br /></div><div></div><div>An even more odd play really showed off Bill's behind-the-plate skills. I'll let you know I've never heard of a play like this and I'd love to see the video of it. On July 5, 1969, the Tigers are in Baltimore and, despite being 43-33, they're 11 games behind the Orioles already. Speedy Paul Blair led off the 3rd with a triple. According to <a href="http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Bill_Freehan_1941&page=chronology">Baseball Library</a>, Frank Robinson swung and missed and the bat flew out of his hand. Apparently Blair had strayed too far away from the bag and wasn't paying attention (looking at the bat, perhaps?) and Freehan the catcher tagged him out. Unassisted. Speed demon Blair run down by a catcher. That's a play for the archives. </div><div><br /><br /></div><div></div><div><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">1972 Feature</span></strong></div><div> </div><div>On June 18, 1972, there were a few good individual performances. Skip Lockwood (who we saw a few cards ago) threw a 5-hit shutout at the Royals. Vida Blue finally won his 1st game of the season after winning 24 in 1971. Vida was 14-2 by this time in 1971. San Diego's Steve Arlin made a 1st inning run stand up and threw a 2-hit shutout at the Pirates. Cesar Cedeno showed off his all-around talent with 2 doubles, a single, a homer and a steal of 3rd in a 10-0 win over the hapless Phillies.</div><div><br /> </div><div>The <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN197206180.shtml">Game of the Day</a> will be in Riverfront Stadium where Tom Seaver goes against Ross Grimsley. Cincinnati leads the West by 1.5 over the Astros and the Mets enter the day a half-game behind the Pirates. The Reds get a run in the 1st. Seaver walked Rose and Morgan. He then got a force at 2nd and struck out Johnny Bench with runners at 1st and 3rd for the 2nd out before Tony Perez singled in Rose. The Mets got that run back in the 4th on a Duffy Dyer double. </div><div><br />Seaver was dominant after the 1st. The Reds had a little rally in the 7th, but Seaver struck out pinch-hitter Ted Uhlaender and then got Rose on a fly ball with runners on 1st and 2nd. Seaver became the Player of the Day and won his 9th game of the year when he homered off Grimsley in the 7th to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. It was Tom Terrific's 2nd homer of the year and if he hadn't hit it they might still be playing. Neither team was hitting that day. This game, coupled with the Pirates shutout loss, put the Mets in first in the East. </div><div><br />By the way, that win I mentioned that Vida Blue got? It was also Charlie Finley's <a href="http://ww2.baseballhalloffame.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080618&content_id=7792&vkey=hof_news">Mustache Day </a>in Oakland that launched the great handlebars of Rolllie Fingers. The link explains how this was all a ploy to try to get Reggie Jackson to shave the mustache he started in Spring Training, but nobody gets one over on Reginald Martinez Jackson. </div>MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-6859474612303754302009-06-17T08:17:00.004-05:002009-06-17T08:17:00.747-05:00#119 -- Marty Perez<div><div><div><div><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/perezma01.shtml">Marty Perez</a></div><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SjhUEvAoz6I/AAAAAAAAAk0/Lg28ONkkg7Y/s1600-h/119.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348116997817814946" style="WIDTH: 298px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SjhUEvAoz6I/AAAAAAAAAk0/Lg28ONkkg7Y/s400/119.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div></div><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SjhUE-egYhI/AAAAAAAAAk8/AnZlwzY7ahM/s1600-h/119+back.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348117001969623570" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 288px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SjhUE-egYhI/AAAAAAAAAk8/AnZlwzY7ahM/s400/119+back.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br /><div>I think I was pretty impressionable as a young baseball fan. If I ever heard something good about a player, that's what they were forever. That explains why I still can't believe Mike Rogodzinski, Tom Heintzelman or Stan Papi didn't make it big. Anyway, I must have heard something good about Marty Perez somewhere along the line because I grew up thinking he was a mid-level shortstop. He wasn't a Dave Concepcion or Bud Harrelson, but I always thought he was on a par with guys like Chris Speier or Tim Foli. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Imagine my shock when I grew up a little more and ran across his stats in the Baseball Encyclopedia. Marty was a full-time shortstop from 1971-1977 for the Braves, mostly, spending 1976 with the Giants and 1977 with the A's. But he hit .240 with no power, didn't steal bases, didn't walk a lot, and was an average to below average shortstop. But somehow he was a big league starter for most of 7 seasons. Of course, so was Mike Tyson. This just goes to show how the position of shortstop has undergone a transformation in the last 40 years. His career OPS+ was 70, hitting a high of 81. Since I don't like to use the word "suck" when I teach Sunday School, I'd have to say as a hitter, Marty verily stinketh.</div><br /><div></div><div>He did hit lefty starters fairly well, as long as they weren't Hall of Famers. He hit over .340 against guys like Geoff Zahn, Doug Rau, Dave Roberts, Jerry Koosman and Jon Matlack. Good righthanders overpowered him. He was 0-for-John Montefusco and hit under .150 against Fergie Jenkins, Don Wilson and hard-throwing Tom Phoebus.</div><br /><div></div><div>Not much else to say about Marty except that I'll forever link him with his double play partner, Felix Millan. </div><br /><div></div><div><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">1972 Feature</span></strong></div><br /><div>Now, after all that about Marty, I'm going to write something much more complimentary. He played a big part in our <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL197206170.shtml">June 17, 1972 Game of the Day</a>. The Expos were in Atlanta to play the Braves and <a href="http://1972topps.blogspot.com/2009/03/58-ernie-mcanally.html">Ernie McAnally</a> took a 2-0 lead into the 9th for the Expos. Ernie got Mike Lum to ground out and struck out Rod Gilbreath (making his big league debut). However, Marty worked a 2-out walk. Lum Harris sent Jim Breazeale (winner of the <a href="http://cardjunk.blogspot.com/2008/04/baseball-card-tournament-champion.html">2008 Cardboard Junkie Baseball Card Tournament</a>) up to pinch-hit for Phil Niekro. He hits it out. Game goes to the 10th.</div><br /><div></div><div>In the 10th, Ralph Garr singles to lead off against McAnally. After a passed ball on Terry Humphrey, McAnally wisely walks Hank Aaron. Mike Marshall comes in to relieve and Rico Carty singles in the winning run. All because Marty Perez worked a 2-0ut walk in the 9th. Way to go, Marty!</div><br /><div></div><div>While this was going on, a security guard found some tape over a door lock. He took it off, but noticed it was back a few hours later and called the police. He had no idea how much that one phone call would change politics and journalism. That tape was in the Watergate Office Complex in Washington, DC, where future NBA Commissioner and 1972 Democratic National Committee Chairman Lawrence O'Brien had an office. Arrested that night were 5 men who worked for the Commitee to Re-Elect the President. </div><br /><div></div><div>I remember the aftermath well, but nobody really remembers the break-in. President Nixon swept to one of the largest electoral and popular vote margins of all time. That's what's ironic. They didn't have to try to get the Democrats' secrets because they didn't stand a chance anyway. The 1972 election was decided the day Senator Ted Kennedy dropped Mary Jo Kopechne in the Chappaquiddick pond in 1969. </div><br /><div></div><div>Instead of letting a special prosecutor deal with this, President Nixon decided to cover it up. The same paranoia that led his operatives to break in and look for secrets led him to try to cover it up. I guess he must have been gone the week they taught in Sunday School that your sins will find you out. </div><br /><div></div><div>I liked President Nixon. I may have only been 8 in 1972, but I was a big Nixon guy. I got a poster in 1973 in the school book order and hung it in my room. It was still hanging in my room 10 years later when we were trying to sell our house (that was a good point for the folks that ended up buying it). However, for all the forward thinking in the Nixon/Kissinger foreign policy, he missed it big. Because of this, people mistrust politicians now, because he looked in the camera and said, "I am not a crook." </div><br /><div></div><div>What's also ironic is that in 1968, Nixon was elected largely on a "law and order" platform that resonated with middle America, especially after the Democrat's convention in Chicago where anarchy broke out on national TV. </div><br /><div></div><div>It would be nice if America could remember June 17, 1972 for Jim Breazeale's dramatic pinch-homer, but, unfortunately, this date will be inextricably linked with Nixon and company.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SjhUEL_sw0I/AAAAAAAAAkk/xYPmNl_v6Sc/s1600-h/Jim+Breazeale.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348116988418638658" style="WIDTH: 229px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SjhUEL_sw0I/AAAAAAAAAkk/xYPmNl_v6Sc/s400/Jim+Breazeale.bmp" border="0" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SjhUELUc0BI/AAAAAAAAAks/4k9NsvgBx7I/s1600-h/richard-nixon-picture.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348116988237238290" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 370px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5GPLuemT47Y/SjhUELUc0BI/AAAAAAAAAks/4k9NsvgBx7I/s400/richard-nixon-picture.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div> </div></div></div></div>MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864062831287520607.post-28521012614319832412009-06-16T08:35:00.002-05:002009-06-16T08:42:42.755-05:00New 1972 Cards!!There are new 1972 cards being produced!! There's a link in the comments section of the Cleo James card to a new blog featuring great photoshops of current players on 1972 designs. The site is <a href="http://1972redux.blogspot.com/">1972 Topps Redone</a>.<br /><br />He's taken some current player pictures and put them into the 1972 format. So far we've got <a href="http://1972redux.blogspot.com/2009/06/yadier-molina-blocks-plate.html">Yadier Molina</a> in get-up that Gerry Cheever (1972 Boston Bruin goalie) would have laughed at...without a mask on. <a href="http://1972redux.blogspot.com/2009/06/joe-torre-dodgers-old-school.html">Joe Torre</a> is signing a baseball for a fan (without the mutton chops you'll see here along about card #500). <a href="http://1972redux.blogspot.com/2009/06/tim-lincecum-not-happy.html">Tim Lincecum</a> is taken out of a game (looks about as happy as a 1972 starter was to leave a game). Finally, <a href="http://1972redux.blogspot.com/2009/06/later-day-1972-topps.html">Johan Santana</a>, in a Spring Training shot that reminds me of a Sports Illustrated cover. <br /><br />I'll be looking forward to more of these and adding this blog to my list on the right for easy access.MMayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09893007769493689849noreply@blogger.com0