I
have to admit, as I initially scoured the decade for players who had a
long career and had their last card in the 1970’s, I completely missed
long-time Detroit Tigers outfielder Mickey Stanley!
So here’s his 1979 addition to one of my favorite sub-sets from the blog:
Stanley was a four-time Gold Glove center-fielder who played his entire
career with the Tigers, from 1964 when he came up as a 21-year-old
through the 1978 season.
From 1967 to 1973 he was a starter, putting in solid seasons in Motown
where he twice went full seasons without an error (1968 and 1971).
By the time he retired, he finished with a .248 batting average, with
1243 hits over 5022 at-bats, with 641 runs scored and exactly 500 RBIs
in 1516 games.
I have always loved the careers of guys like Stanley, Roy White, Bob
Montgomery, who played for 10 or more years, never really being a
super-star or even a full-timer in some cases, yet all with the same
team.
Imagine that today.