#117 -- Cleo James

Cleo James

Sometimes there's a card comes up where the player or the subject (like the Billy Cowan "halo" card or the Billy Martin "finger" card) has been written about enough that there's just nothing fresh to write. Sometimes there's a card comes up of someone I could write for hours on end how great they are, like Willie Mays. Sometimes I'll research a lesser known player and find a lot of stuff that's interesting for me.

Then sometimes there's a guy comes up like Cleo James where it's hard to find anything. Cleo didn't have a long or distinguished career, but he was obviously talented and kept at it. I couldn't find anything on what Cleo did after baseball (which I usually find interesting). But for every All-Star like Jim Fregosi or Hall of Famer like Harmon Killebrew, there are dozens of guys like Cleo James that get more than just a taste of the big leagues, but don't do enough to really leave memories. Here goes...

Cleo made the Dodgers' Opening Day roster in 1968 as a 27 year old rookie. He'd had 2 years at A, AA and one year at the AAA affiliate in Spokane for seasoning. His debut was to pinch-hit for Tom Haller against Bob Veale of the Pirates, who was a tough lefthander. Cleo struck out. His first hit came in his next at bat, almost a week later, against Al Jackson of the Mets. He only got one start that year, striking out in 3 at bats against the Reds. He was back in the minors by May 10 and was later dealt to the Cubs.

He came back to the big leagues with the Cubs in 1970, playing some centerfield and pinch-hitting. He hit his first homer off Bruce Dal Canton of the Pirates, and ended up with 5 for his career (all-time leader for big leaguers named "Cleo.") Oh, and like the cartoon on the back shows, he liked to play ping pong.

1972 Feature

June 15, 1972 had a light schedule, with only 6 games on the schedule, including the Pirates sweeping a doubleheader from the Giants in Pittsburgh. The Giants won the West last year and with this doubleheader loss they have the worst record in baseball. Things don't get better for them

The Game of the Day is in Anaheim. Vince Colbert threw a gem. He was matched up against Clyde Wright of the Angels. Colbert came in 0-4 and Wright was 5-3. However, Colbert shut the Angels down on 5 hits and 3 walks. Graig Nettles knocked in Ray Fosse with a 4th inning double and that was the only scoring through the 9th. The Angels threatened in the bottom of the 9th. With 1 out they've got Ken Berry on 1st and Vada Pinson on 3rd. Rookie Leroy Stanton, acquired in the Jim Fregosi trade, came up.

Colbert, however, met his best friend once again that day. Stanton grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, one of 3 the Indians turned that day which allowed Colbert to finish off the shutout. Today, he'd never have been allowed to make it that far, but here he was allowed to pitch through the jams.

Born on June 15, 1972 were 3 big leaguers: Ramiro Mendoza (who had a good couple of years and then flamed out), Tony Clark (who seems to have had a better career as a part-timer than a starter) and Andy Pettitte (still a big-time contributor with the Yankees).

#61 -- Cubs Rookies (Burt Hooton, Gene Hiser, Earl Stephenson)

Burt Hooton
Gene Hiser
Earl Stephenson

The Cubbies in this set were in the beginning stages of going through a change. Ernie Banks had retired and had no card in this set. Ron Santo, Fergie Jenkins, Glenn Beckert and Don Kessinger would largely be gone by 1975. We've already seen Bill Bonham's rookie card and he would be in the rotation through the mid-70's. Rick Reuschel would make his debut in 1972. Jose Cardenal came to the Cubbies for the 1972 season.


Burt Hooton is another one of those changes. He was an accomplished college pitcher at Texas and was the Cubs #1 draft choice in 1971. They threw him right in with a start against the Cardinals, but he only lasted 3 1/3 innings and gave up 3 runs, including a solo homer to Joe Torre. He got a couple of more September starts and shined, striking out 15 Mets in a 3-2 complete game win and shutting out the Mets a week later on 2 hits in Wrigley. His next start was on April 16, 1972 when he no-hit the Phillies. Pretty darn good stretch. He ended up 11-14, 2.80 in 1972 and was a big part of the rotation.


Hooton had good stuff, including the "knuckle-curve," but couldn't get over the hump in Chicago. His record and ERA did not improve and he was traded to the Dodgers in 1975 for Geoff Zahn and Eddie (also known as "Buddy" in the 1978 set) Solomon. That didn't work out for the Cubs. "Happy" Hooton went on be a regular part of the rotation for the Dodgers through 1981. He finished 2nd in the Cy Young in 1978, was an All-Star in 1981 and won World Series games in 1977, 1978 and 1981.


Burt is now the pitching coach for the Round Rock Express, the Astros' AAA affiliate. Unfortunately, he hasn't had much to work with lately. On a sad note, his cousin used steroids to try to get an edge in high school and committed suicide because of depression after he went off steroids. The Hooton family now runs the Taylor Hooton Foundation to raise awareness of the dangers of steroids and focused on keeping kids away from drugs.



Gene Hiser was the Cubs' #1 draft choice in 1970 and made a quick jump to the big leagues. Gene was an outfielder from the University of Maryland, but didn't have the success Hooton did. He was a pinch-hitter/defensive replacement in the outfield and never got to play much. In 1973 he appeared in 100 games, but only got 109 at bats. He hit his only homer that year, off Buzz Capra, tying a game in the 9th that the Cubs went on to win.



After his career, he founded the investment firm of Barrett & Hiser, which has now become GCG Financial. So, if anyone's interested in some investments, here's his business bio.



Earl Stephenson played his college baseball for the mighty Campbell Camels of Buies Creek, North Carolina. When I was in law school in the late 80's, Campbell was just going Division I in basketball, so we'd hear about them. I decided one day to drive by their campus. Let me just say that in the late 80's that if you got a haircut in Buies Creek, it might have been from a guy named Floyd, and you'd better watch your step or a deputy named Barney might get in your business. The best former Camel ever in the big leagues? Jim Perry.

Earl was not with the Cubs in 1972. He was part of the Jose Cardenal trade. He got his most career action for the Brewers in 1972, doing reasonably well as a spot-starter/middle reliever, going 3-5, 3.25 (league ERA was 3.01). After the season, he was sent to Philadelphia with Ken Brett and Jim Lonborg for Don Money and a couple of others. It's not Earl's fault, but he was a throw-in on a couple of trades that didn't work out for the team acquiring him......

He gave up 7 homers in his career and not a one was to a slap hitter: Dick Allen (351 homers), Lance Parrish (324 homers), Bobby Murcer (252 homers), Bobby Darwin (83 homers, but seasons of 22, 18, 25 & 13 from 1972-1975), Reggie Smith (314 homers), Willie McCovey (521 homers) & Reggie Jackson (563 homers).

Earl then bounced around the minors and got into 3 games for the Orioles in 1977 and 1978.

#45 & 46 -- Glenn Beckert

Glenn Beckert







Glenn put up solid minor league numbers, but his chance to play did not come because he wowed the Cubs' management into fitting him in over the prior incumbent. Sadly, Ken Hubbs died in a plane crash during the off-season after 1963. The 1964 second baseman was a revolving door of guys that couldn't get the job done, so they moved Beckert over from short. They got a good second baseman that made 4 All-Star teams from 1969-1972. That Cub infield was pretty strong in the late 60's, featuring Ernie Banks, Beckert, Don Kessinger and Ron Santo. That was definitely the Cubs' strength.


Glenn here was coming off the best year of his career, hitting .342. It was also his best year of OPS+, but that stat of 108 being your career best is far less impressive than his batting average. He didn't walk, strikeout or hit for any power, so what you got out of the batting average was what you were going to get.


Glenn's career went into a nosedive. After 1973 the Cubs overhauled the team. Beckert went to the Padres for outfielder Jerry Morales. Glenn didn't put up the numbers in San Diego, splitting time at second with Derrel Thomas. He was released in April 1975 and that was it.


The action card isn't any great shakes. He's finishing off a practice swing in Candlestick. Normally a practice swing when you're not even at bat shouldn't be part of an "action" card, but he sure put a lot of effort into that practice swing. Perhaps that kind of effort in the on deck circle at making sure you follow through properly is what leads to a guy hitting .342. I guess it's not as cold in Candlestick as it usually is during the summer because he's got regular T-shirt sleeves instead of the shimmering plastic windbreader showin in his regular card.

#29 - Bill Bonham

Bill Bonham

This was Bill Bonham, set-up reliever/spot starter. He was decent in this role, with an ERA+ at 122 and 130. When the Cubs converted him to a starter, he was less effective, but his record was 11-22, 13-15 & 9-13. Then his fortunes changed. He went 11-5, 9-7 & 2-1. What changed? He went from pitching for the Cubs to pitching for the Reds. Arm problems brought a quick end to his career.

A highlight of his career: striking out Mike Torrez, Ron Hunt, Tim Foli and Willie Davis in order in the second inning of a game against the Expos. (Torrez reached on a passed ball and stole second for his only career steal. His only other attempt came a couple of months later when he was caught trying to steal 3rd. Had to have been a busted hit and run.) He also had 4 shutouts. He was a decent hitter for a pitcher and used 7 times as a pinch runner.

A lowlight was allowing Dave Cash (single), Larry Bowa (single), Garry Maddox (homer), Greg Luzinski (single), Jay Johnstone (double), Tommy Hutton (double) and Mike Schmidt (homer) to all get hits before he hits the shower in the first inning. This is the record for most consecutive hits allowed to start a game. Ken Crosby relieved and allowed a single to Johnny Oates before the parade was ended on Dick Ruthven’s sacrifice bunt. Why in the heck was Michael Jack Schmidt hitting 7th behind the illustrious sluggers Tommy Hutton and Jay Johnstone?

#18 - Juan Pizarro

Juan Pizarro

Juan debuted with the 1957 Braves. What a team to get started with. He won a World Series ring his rookie year and went back the next year when the Yankees got revenge on the Braves. He didn't sniff the post-season again until 1974, when he got 2 outs in a playoff game for the Pirates against the Dodgers.

As you can see from the back of his card, he had a lot of stops. I couldn't find anything to say for sure, but it looks like he hit some arm trouble in the mid-60's and never was the same. Juan was a good lefty starter, going 19-9 in 1964 for a punchless White Sox team and was a 2-time All-Star. His 1965 season was cut short and he was mostly out of the pen after that. In 1972 he was a part-time spot starter for the Cubs.

In September 1971 he beat Tom Seaver 1-0, with the only run being his homer in the 8th. He hit 8 homers and had a lifetime batting average of .202, so he could take care of himself. Today, in a scoreless tie, would a starter (1) be allowed to work in the 8th inning and, if so, (2) would he be allowed to bat for himself? How things change.

1972 feature

The 1972 Winter Olympics were held in Sapporo, Japan. Sapporo was supposed to host the Winter Olympics in 1940, but had to resign that because of this little matter of invading China. Then the whole 1940 Olympics was called off.

I don't remember much of this Olympics, if anything. Our "darling" of the ice skating rink was Janet Lynn. She couldn't match Peggy Fleming's 1968 gold and took bronze. She also couldn't match the crush I had on Dorothy Hamill in 1976. The real star of figure skating in that Olympics was Soviet Irina Rodnina. She won the first of her golds. Her more famous gold came later when she paired with Alexander Zaitzev, even skating without music when there was a technical glitch in the 1973 World Championships.

The Damn Commies won the most total medals (16) and most gold (8) of this Olympiad. We only won 8 medals, 3 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze. Our ice hockey team (with Robbie Ftorek and Mark Howe) took silver, but Canada didn't send a team in protest of the professionals used by the Soviets. We also took 2 gold a silver and a bronze in women's speed skating.

We kind of sucked at this Olympics. I'll have several posts about the Summer Olympics, but the Winter Olympics that year were pretty much a big dud all the way around.