Today
I post up a card for a guy who is in our thoughts, “Le Grande Orange”
Rusty Staub, who put together a magnificent 23-year Major League career:
Staub was putting in some solid years for the New York Mets when this
card would have come out, though he’d find himself soon traded to the
Detroit Tigers in part of the Mickey Lolich trade, a terrible move for
the Mets.
A six-time All-Star, he would finish his great career as the premier
pinch-hitter in the game, the last five of which were back at Shea
Stadium with the Mets, beloved by so many, even Yankee fans like me.
By the time he retired he finished with 2716 hits, 292 homers, 1466 runs
batted in and 1189 runs scored, becoming one of the few players to
homer as both a teenager and a 40-year old. At the time he achieved the
feat Ty Cobb was the only other player to do it as well.
“Le Grand Orange” Rusty Staub, fan-favorite.