#129 -- Charlie Fox

Charlie Fox

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. Johngy left a comment earlier about how a lot of the players looked older in this set than they do now.

Charlie was a lifelong Giant. He grew up in New York City and wanted nothing more than to be a Giant. His Baseball-Reference page 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

P.S. I was googling Charlie Fox and came across a reference on Urban Dictionary. I've never heard his name used that way, however.

1972 Feature

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 4 Dodger errors. 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. Juan Marichal 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 Angels held the Red Sox scoreless over the last 15 innings of their 17 inning game and then scored to win 4-3.

The Game of the Day 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.

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.

By the way, I've tried to purposely post this at 12:34:56 PM on 7/8/09. Big Deal.

#76 -- Don Carrithers

Don Carrithers

If Don's biggest thrill in his high school sports career was 17 K's in a one-hitter in the first game of the season, I guess he didn't win a state championship. Don was kind of a fair-to-middlin' swingman that went between middle relief and spot starting. He wasn't ever really spectacularly good or bad. As a Cardinal fan, I'd probably compare him to Brad Thompson (I know, most of you don't know who WonderBrad is).

Don pitched in the 1971 playoffs. He didn't do very good. He came into the 7th inning of Game 2 with the Giants down 4-2 in the game after winning Game 1 on the road. Hits by Dave Cash, Al Oliver and Roberto Clemente were enough for him to be pulled without getting anyone out and the Pirates won. Nobody ever likes their post-season career ERA to be "inf."

Don's picture looks like he'd been banished off the Phoenix practice field into the desert. Where Bert Campaneris' card was full of green, there's nothing living in this card. Kind of an interesting contrast.

Don was in the Giant rotation down the stretch in 1971, but he was consistent. In his 8 August-September starts, he had a complete game 1-0 shutout of the Astros and 2 other wins, but also had 2 games where he didn't get out of the 2nd inning. That inability to find consistency was the story of his career.

Don rode the shuttle between AAA, the DL and the big leagues with the Giants and later with the Expos. The Twins purchased his contract for the 1977 season, but after getting into a car wreck, he only appeared in 7 games (ineffectively) and was finished.

1972 Feature

I found 1 event that occurred on March 18, 1972. Comedian Dane Cook was born today. Some find him funny. I'm kind of, eh. What I did find funny was the movie "Dan in Real Life" where his brother stole his fiance. But the funny part was when his brother got set up on a blind date with that gal from his high school days and the whole family burst into song about Ruthie "Pigface" Draper.

#49 & 50 -- Willie Mays & "In Action"

Willie Mays







There is not enough that I could say about Willie Howard Mays. Even though we spell our last names different, I was disappointed as a kid to be told that we weren't related. If you ever saw me play baseball, there would be no question.

It's hard to name one person as the Greatest Player of All Time. This debate came up when Bonds was putting up great numbers in the early part of the decade, but the consensus was still that until some great hitter could get on the mound and win 100 games, the nod has to go to Babe Ruth. After Babe Ruth, there's quite a debate. This guy is one that figures prominently.

Talk about 5 tools. Could he hit for average? Lifetime .302 average brought down considerably by his last few years, but he was a good .320 hitter for the bulk of his career in a tough hitters park. Could he hit for power? 660 home runs with a year of his prime spent serving his country. That number places 3rd on the legitimate home run list (with Griffey at 611 and Thome at 541 unlikely to catch him). Could he run? Stolen bases are not the only criteria, but 338 career stolen bases are good. He went 30-30 twice when that stat meant something, missing by 4 homers of being the first 40-40 man in 1956, 8 years before Canseco was born. Could he field? His range factor was consistently above the league average for center fielders. He could get a jump on a ball. Please remember his catch in the 1954 Series rather than the misjudged fly ball on the track in the 1973 Series. Could he throw? In 1955 he had 23 assists and by 1959 guys stopped running on Willie. The only thing said to be better than his catch in the 1954 Series was his throw into second that kept Larry Doby at third.




He had some pretty impressive minor league numbers, as you can see on the back of his card. He only hit .393 in 455 at bats overall. But look at his numbers in 1951 in St. Paul. You might have a guy hitting .477 after 4 or 5 games on a very occasional basis, but that was Willie's batting average after 35 games. Of course, he'd already been playing in the Negro Leagues, so going to the minors was probably a step down for him. If he hadn't essentially missed all of 1952 and 1953, I think there would be no question but that he would have had 700 lifetime homers. If that were true, Hank Aaron wouldn't have passed him until sometime in 1973. Would Willie have tried to play in 1974 at that point? Who knows? Probably a good thing because he didn't have much left. In 1973 he hit .211 with 6 homers. He had an OPS+ of 81, the only time since his rookie year it dipped below 120 for a full season. Sadly, it was time to go.


I only got to see Willie play once. It was in the 1973 All-Star Game in K.C. I'll never get tired of thanking my dad for taking me on a bus trip to see that game. Sparky Lyle struck him out as a pinch-hitter in the top of the 8th. He was in a Met uniform. Didn't matter, because I'd gotten to see Willie Mays play. I took my son to our local minor league park when it opened to a capacity crowd in 2005 and made sure he was sitting on my shoulders (as a 10 year old....) on the outfield berm so he could see Stan Musial throw out the first pitch. I hope my son looks back on that moment someday the way I look back on having had a chance to see Willie Mays play in person.


I'm glad they gave Willie a good "action" card. One of the things he was known for was hustling and I love the shot. It looks like he's gone from first to third on a single and is sliding just because he wants to. Even at this age, I'm sure Willie could outrun any throw from the outfield not made by Roberto Clemente. If you can't tell, I idolized Willie Mays. It's been a little more difficult as he's gotten older, had the Bally's "scandal" in the 80's and been in a position of having to defend Barry Bonds lately. If you look at this entire set, you're going to find my favorite ballplayers are going to be Willie, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Lou Brock and Bob Gibson. Here's to you, Willie!

#35 & 36 -- Jerry Johnson & "In Action"

Jerry Johnson










In 1971 Jerry was the top reliever on the Giants team that won the NL West. His 18 saves were 4th in the league. To make the All-Star team now, you’ve got to have more saves than that by the break. Of course in 1971 (1) more pitchers were throwing something called a complete game, so they didn't need relievers and (2) managers didn't give a rat's ass if a pitcher got a stat or not. The only important stat for Charlie Fox in 1971 was something called a "win."

Jerry didn’t repeat his success in 1972, going 8-6 4.42 with 8 saves. The Giants waived him. Didn’t even try to trade him. He had MVP votes the previous year and they didn’t think they could get any value for him. I guess you could do that when you had a few thousand tied up in a guy rather than a few million. Again, the rationale for whether to play or waive a guy in the early 1970's had nothing to do with contracts, but was all about winning. Today, a guy can lose his effectiveness as a closer, but he stays around. Heck, Eric Gagne just signed a minor league deal with the Brewers. Gagne was a great reliever before arm problems, but if you look at his anticipated effectiveness for 2009, you would think he would be a little less desirable than somebody like Jerry Johnson.

Unfortunately, the rest of Jerry’s career was mediocre at best. He bounced around with the Phils, Cards, Indians, Astros, Padres and Blue Jays. He was the winning pitcher in the Blue Jays first game, helping bail out Bill Singer, who we saw recently.

I can’t tell anything about the "action" in the In Action card. I know the game isn’t in June, because this photo was taken in Candlestick Park, the shadow suggests it’s late in the day and the few fans in the background aren’t huddled in blankets. But what’s Jerry doing? Is he walking off the mound after getting an inning-ending strikeout? Did he just get caught finishing his windup in warm-ups? Is he going to cover first on a bouncer to McCovey? It’s a good thing they’ve cropped this to close up on Jerry so we can’t see the rest of the field because the shadow keeps us from seeing Jerry’s face.