Wednesday, January 4, 2017

MISSING IN ACTION- 1973 JUAN BENIQUEZ

Here’s a “missing” 1973 card for Juan Beniquez, who ironically has his rookie card in the 1974 set even though he didn’t even play during the 1973 season:


Beniquez appeared in 33 games during the 1972 season for the Boston Red Sox, batting .242 with 24 hits over 99 at-bats while playing shortstop.
Yet for some reason he wasn’t even given a spot on one of the multi-player rookie cards in the 1973 set.
The following year he gets his card, yet didn’t spent the entire 1973 season in the minor leagues.
Go figure…
Beniquez would go on to have a productive 17-year career spanning 1971 to 1988, really turning it on later in his mid-30s when he strung together four seasons over .300 with a high of .336 for the California Angels as a platoon player with 382 plate appearances.
He would end up with a .274 career batting average, based on 1274 hits in 4651 at-bats and exactly 1500 games playing for eight organizations, all in the American League.