Reese appeared in a whopping 132 games for the Twins in 1972, with 223 plate appearances, yet was left out of the 1973 set. Wonder why!?
He batted .218 with 43 hits over 197 official at-bats, and would go on to play in 81 games during the 1973 season, his last year in the big leagues, split between the Detroit Tigers and Twins, batting a combined .144 with only 18 hits over 125 at-bats.
That would wrap up a career that saw him bat .253 with 512 hits in 2020 at-bats and 866 games, but I would always remember him as the guy who was on the back of the 1970 “A.L. Batting Leaders” card, even though he didn’t have enough plate appearances in 1969 to even qualify!
I’m still a bit perplexed by it. He did bat a nice .322, 61 points better than his second-best season, but he only had 451 plate appearances, with 135 hits over 419 at-bats.
What is really strange is that he wasn’t pictured on the front, which was the second highest average, behind teammate Rod Carew, yet there he is listed on the back as in second place.
Anyone know why this even happened?
Curious to know after all these years...