I recently came across this nice usable image for former shortstop
Ray Oyler as a California Angel, and since he didn't have a card in the
1971 set I figured I'd whip one up, even though it's a bit of a stretch
considering the minimal time he played in
1970.
Nevertheless, here goes:
The 1970 would end up being the last in Oyler's six-year career.
It wasn't much of a showing, as he collected two scant hits over 24
at-bats, good for a .083 batting average in the 24 games he got into
that season.
But when you look at his career, Oyler was all glove and no bat, almost literally.
By the time he hung up his cleats after 1970, he retired with a .175 batting average, based on his 221 hits over 1265 at-bats.
Between 1965 and 1970, he topped .200 once, when he hit .207 in 1967 for the Detroit Tigers.
However, on a positive note, during the Tiger's World Series run in
1968 Oyler played in 111 games for the champs, arguably the high point
of his career before being selected by the expansion Seattle Pilots for
the 1969 season.
Quite a few teammates reflected on Oyler's defensive prowess, some
even stating that no matter what the batting average was, having Oyler
as their shortstop helped their team.
Talk about the epitome of "good field, no hit"!
