Tuesday, December 8, 2015

NICKNAMES OF THE '70'S #40: "PUDGE" CARLTON FISK

Next up in my “Nicknames” thread is the premier catcher of the American League during the 1970’s, Boston Red Sox all-star backstop Carlton “Pudge” Fisk.
Check it out:


“Pudge” was well on his way to a Hall of Fame career by 1979, the template I used for this card, with 6 all-star games already to his credit, on his way to 11 such honors.
Man it killed me in 1977 and 1978 to see him starting the all-star game over my beloved Thurman Munson!
Later on in his career, during the 1980’s, it also killed me when he seemed to play at his best with against the Yankees, never letting up no matter what.
A rare four-decade ballplayer, Fisk would end up with over 2000 hits, 375 homers, 1275 runs scored and 1300 runs batted in with a .269 batting average.
All of that was MORE than enough to get him into Cooperstown when they came calling, albeit in his second year of eligibility, which is beyond me since, again, he was the best catcher in his league for a long period of time.
Then again, since when does Hall of Fame voting ever make sense, as we have seen with many of the elected players of the decade?


***How lame was it that the Veteran's Committee didn't see fit to elect anyone to the Hall of Fame this year!?
Seriously? Harry Stovey and Bill Dahlen should have gotten the necessary votes to get in!
What about Pete Browning? A career .341 hitter? What about George Van Haltren? What about Bob Caruthers, the only pitcher ever to win more than 200 games while losing less than 100?
Of course the list goes on and on. But to pretty much state that there aren't any players from the past to get into the Hall is absurd.
  

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