#134 -- Carl Morton

Carl Morton

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."

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).

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.

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.

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 Baseball Reference Bullpen). I thought everything was guaranteed in baseball, but I guess not.

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.

# 110 -- Ron Hunt

Ron Hunt







Ron is best known for one thing. He got hit by pitches. He led the league in being hit the last 7 years of his career. He didn't just lead that category, he dominated it. Only once in those seven years did anyone come within 10 of him. In 1971 he was hit 50 times and 2nd place was hit 9 times.

He wasn't one of these guys that played 150 games every year. He usually played around 120 games. Back then when you crowded the plate, it was daring the pitcher to hit you.....and he often did. Now, if a batter crowds the plate, the pitcher tries to throw a slider on the outside part because he might make the batter mad if he throws inside. Ron also didn't wear any protective devices except for a helmet (although, unlike Jose Cruz, he does have a batting glove). Finally, it's one thing when a big, muscular guy like Don Baylor takes a fastball in the shoulder, but Ron Hunt was a little guy. It should be no surprise that he was hit the most often, 6 times, by Bob Gibson.

Ron wasn't just a target. He was a 2-time All-Star for the Mets, starting the 1964 game. He now runs a baseball camp outside St. Louis.

1972 Feature
From what I can tell, June 8, 1972 was a quiet day. The Game of the Day is going to be a 2-1 Dodger comeback win over the Cubs. Tommy John and Juan Pizarro hooked up for a pretty good pitcher's duel. Jose Cardenal picked up an RBI single off John in the top of the 4th. The Dodgers didn't do anything until Steve Garvey homered in the 7th. John pitched around a jam in the 8th and played small ball in their half of the 8th. Billy Grabarkewitz led off with a walk and was sacrificed to second. He then scored from second on a wild pitch by Pizarro. The Cubs then went quietly in the 9th against Brewer.

Not a lot else going on in the world. The only other thing I could find of any marginal interest was the birth of Ginger Spice, Geri Halliwell. Honestly, for myself, I have overstated it when I said that's of "marginal interest." Sometimes it's good to have slow news days.

#82 -- Ron Woods

Ron Woods

I don't know much about Ron except that I seemed to get a lot of his cards and I was glad he didn't play for my team. I don't know what I had against Ron, but I think he just didn't look like he was confident and in control. While it's almost a "night card" it also looks like he's gazing longingly at Gene Mauch, "Put me in, skip. I'll hit it."

When I did research about Ron, I didn't find much. Many of the "hits" had to do with him being traded from the Yankees for Ron Swoboda. OK. Swoboda was at the end of his career. Many of the rest of the items I found were Yankee fans bemoaning the bad teams of the late 60's and early 70's and Ron playing centerfield was one of their arguments. He played center about half-time for a year and a half and hit .205. I feel your pain.

Playing in Montreal from 1971-1974 was the best time of Ron's career. He wasn't bad in 1971-72 and his OPS+ was actually above 100. He had his most at bats against Steve Carlton and even hit .302 against him.

There's not much else that really stands out about Ron, so he can now fade back into obscurity.....

Speaking of sinking into obscurity..... RIP 2009 Duke Blue Devils. Better luck next year.

#58 -- Ernie McAnally

Ernie McAnally

When I was young, I had a few problems with Ernie McAnally. First, his name was far to close to Dave McNally, so they became inextricably linked in my mind. Second, Ernie pitched for the Expos and he didn't seem to win much. Third, (my apologies for my 8 year old self to all the Ernies out there, most of who I've learned in the last 35 years are great guys) Ernie just seemed like a funny name. I'm hoping I'm not the only one out here that arrived at feelings about a ball player based just on his name or how he looked. I guess I was one of those school bullies your parents warn you about. I also know I'm not alone.

Ernie started as an outfielder in the Mets' system. The card back says he hit so-so in the minors, but he couldn't hit well for a pitcher in the big leagues, with a lifetime .132. He did take Juan Pizzaro downtown in his rookie year of 1971. The Expos took a flyer on Ernie in the expansion draft because he'd only pitched one year, but they must have been impressed by his 9K/9 IP ratio that year. I like that the card back credits former big league ballplayers Wes Stock (who was coaching with the A's at the time) and Met farm director Whitey Herzog (a good shot at the Hall of Fame as a manager with the Rangers, Royals and Cards) for making the switch from outfield to the mound.

He made it in their rotation in 1971. It was his best season, 11-12, 3.90. His won-loss totals fell after that and he had a lifetime winning percentage of .380 in 4 years. That's quite a bit worse than even the Expos' .467 winning percentage over his career. The Indians purchased his contract at the beginning of the 1975 season and Ernie never smelled the big leagues again.

However, just looking at the numbers doesn't do a guy like Ernie justice. I found a writer who got to meet Ernie when she was a young girl through a friend. She paints a different story. He's a deeply religious guy who still occasionally talks to young ballplayers about "pitching and Jesus." He returned to Texas to become a banker. He proudly displays a scorecard from a game where he beat Bob Gibson for his second big league win.

When I read that article, I don't see the guy with the funny name that wasn't as good as the Oriole pitcher when I was young. I see the guy who got to live a dream, beat a Hall of Famer, and realizes what is really important in life. I think I'll start remembering that guy.

#5 -- John Bateman

John Bateman

John was a fair to middlin’ catcher for most of his big league career. He was good defensively, but couldn’t hit or run enough to stay in a good lineup. Still, name me a Houston Astro catcher that’s bested his 16 homers in a season. Can’t do it, although I think that’s got to be beaten in the next 5-7 years. He was also the first ever catcher on the Expos. The best team he was on was the 4-man King and His Court, Eddie Feigner’s traveling 4 man team that beat 9 man All-star teams in softball.

John died in 1996, but that hasn’t stopped him from maintaining a Myspace page. Check it out. There are some interesting stories about how he didn't get along with Gene Mauch in Montreal, but did fancy himself as a 1970's Jack Bauer.

1972 Feature
Probably the most heinous event of 1972 occurred on September 5 in Munich, Germany. This will be written about separate from the Olympics, because I have such fond memories of the Olympics that year I don't want to ruin it again with this.

Members of a Palestinian group called Black September infiltrated the Olympic Village and got to the condo where the Israeli Olympic team was staying. They kidnapped and killed 11 Israeli Olympians. Three of the terrorists were captured, but later released in exchange for release of a West German airliner that had been hijacked. No bother. Israel has its own way of dealing with terrorists. Those were called Operation Spring of Youth and Operation Wrath of God.

I don't think we realize what a big event this was. This Olympics was something special for Israel. Only 27 years before, the nation of Israel did not exist and Jews were being slaughtered by the millions by Nazis at the Dachau Concentration Camp, only 10 miles from the Olympic Village. Yet Israel could now send a team to the Olympics in Germany. What started out with so much promise ended with so much tragedy and sorrow.

The world had dealt with terrorism before. There were groups all over the place perpetrating bombings and assassinations. This was different, however. The Olympics should have been a safe, hands-off area and these athletes weren't combatants. However, the reason you don't negotiate with terrorists is that terrorism has no rules. This event changed the world because Jim McKay broadcast it to the world. We had to see it, feel it and deal with it. I remember it, but as an 8 year old I had no idea how it would change the world.

"Our worst fears have been realized......They're all gone."