Up
on the blog today we have a “not so missing” 1973 card for Bob Stinson,
former catcher, who played in 27 games for the Houston Astros during
the 1972 season:
Stinson was already with his third team in four seasons as a Big
Leaguer: coming up with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1969 and 1970, then
moving on to the St. Louis Cardinals for 17 games in 1971 before his one
season with the Astros in 1972.
In his brief time with Houston, he hit .171 with six hits in 35 at-bats,
driving in two runs while scoring three with a double and a walk.
He’d play 12-years in the Big Leagues, finishing up with the Mariners in
1980 after two years with the Royals in 1975 and 1976, and two years
with the Montreal Expos in 1973 and 1974, hitting .250 in 652 games,
with 408 hits over 1634 at-bats, with 33 homers and 180 runs batted in.
Today
we have a 1972 “no so missing” card for Tony Muser, who made it back to
the Majors after spending all of 1970 in the Minor Leagues:
After spending all of 1970 in the Boston Red Sox Minor League system, he
was back in 1971, now as a member of the Chicago White Sox, where he’d
play into the 1975 season before getting traded to the Baltimore Orioles
for pitcher Jesse Jefferson, before playing out his nine-year career
with 15 games for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1978.
Never truly a full-time player, he retired with a .259 batting average,
with 329 hits over 1268 at-bats in 663 games, with 123 runs scored and
117 RBIs.
He’d also go on to coaching and managing later on, heading the Kansas
City Royals from 1997 and 2002, winning 317 games while losing 431.
Today
we have on the blog a “not so missing” 1971 card for former Pittsburgh
Pirates pitcher Lou marone, who threw the last of his MLB innings during
the 1970 season:
Marone appeared in only one game for the Pirates in 1970, pitching 2.1
innings and giving up a run, good for an earned run average of 3.86.
In 1969 he had a very nice debut, posting an ERA of 2.55 over 35.1
innings and 29 appearances, going 1-1 with 25 strikeouts against 13
walks.
He’d go on to pitch two more seasons in the Pirates Minor League system
through 1972, but never make it back to a Major League mound again,
finishing up with 30 appearances and that 1-1 record from 1969, with a
very nice 2.63 ERA.
Time
for another “special”, and since I found this sweet image a while back
let’s make it a 1974 Pete Rose/Johnny Bench card celebrating their
National league dominance at the time this card would have seen the
light of day:
Rose was coming off of his third batting title, and first MVP Award in
1973, setting a career high with 230 hits while also scoring over 100
runs for the sixth time in his eleven MLB seasons to that point.
It’s also worth pointing out that it was his sixth 200+ hits seasons in
eleven years as well, setting the eventual stage of he taking over the
all-time MLB career hits mark some 12 years later when he surpassed the
great Ty Cobb.
For Bench, all he did up until this point was take home the 1968 Rookie
of the Year Award, the NL MVP Award in both 1970 and 1972, and
completely reshape the catcher’s position as we knew it, while STILL
only 25 years of age!
At this point in their careers, we didn’t even get to experience the
great “Big Red Machine” two-time World Champions of 1975 and 1976 yet!
One of the great dynastic teams in the league’s history.
But both would end up setting new standards in MLB history, though Rose screwed it all up with that gambling bug!
Nevertheless, BOTH are Hall of Famers in my eyes! Two of the best ever.
Today
we have a “missing” 1977 card for former outfielder Joe Lahoud, who
split the 1976 season between the California Angels and Texas Rangers:
Lahoud appeared in 80 games during the 1976 campaign, batting a combined
.200 with 37 hits over 185 at-bats, definitely enough playing time to
warrant a card in the 1977 set.
He would move on to the Kansas City Royals for his final two seasons of
Big League ball in 1977/78, appearing in only 47 games for the American
League West champs, finishing his 11-year career with a .223 average,
with 429 hits over 1925 at-bats.
He’d also hit 65 homers while driving in 218 runs, scoring 239 himself over 791 appearances between 1968 and 1978.
On
the blog this morning I post up a not so missing” 1978 card for former
pitcher Joey McLaughlin, who made his MLB debut during the 1977 season
with the Atlanta Braves:
McLaughlin appeared in three games for Atlanta, starting two of them
though getting hit hard, lastin only a combined six innings while giving
up 10 earned runs for an unsightly 15.00 ERA.
He would spend all of 1978 in the Minors before making it back the
following season, where he would go 5-3 with a very nice 2.48 ERA over
37 appearances and 69 innings pitched, finding new life as an arm out of
the bullpen.
He’d go on to play seven years in the Big Leagues, for the Braves,
Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers, through the 1984 season, finishing
up with a record of 29-28, with an ERA of 3.85 over 250 appearances and
448.2 innings pitched, with 36 saves.
Time
for another “traded” card for the long-running series, and today it’s a
1971 edition for former pitcher Al Downing, who bounced back from a
couple of “off” seasons to have his best year as a Major Leaguer:
Downing, who came up as a young stud with the New York Yankees, even
leading the American League with 217 strikeouts in 1964, was coming off
of three disappointing years between 1968 and 1970, splitting that last
year between the Oakland A’s and Milwaukee Brewers.
On February 10th of 1971 however, he was dealt to the Los Angeles
Dodgers for Andy Kosco, and all Downing would go on to do is post a
record of 20-9, along with a 2.68 earned run average with a
league-leading five shutouts over 37 appearances, all but one starts.
Easily his best season in the Big Leagues, Downing would slip somewhat
the following year, but through no fault of his own as he’d post a
record of 9-9 with a very nice 2.98 ERA over 30 starts, which included
four shutouts.
He’d pitch another five decent seasons for the Dodgers, through the 1977
campaign, before retiring with a record of 123-107, with 24 shutouts
and 1639 strikeouts over 405 appearances, with 317 of them starts
between 1961 and 1977.
Up
on the blog today we have a “not so missing” 1976 card for former
outfielder Charlie Chant, who made his MLB debut during the 1975 season
with the Oakland A’s:
Chant appeared in only five games for the American League West champs,
going 0-5 at the plate while scoring a run while playing the corner
outfield positions.
Over the Winter of 1975 he’d be traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for
speedster Larry Lintz, and he’d end up playing 15 games during the 1976
season, collecting two hits over 14 at-bats, in what turned out to be
the games of his MLB career.
After a full season of Minor League ball in the St. Louis organization
in 1977, he’d call it a career, finishing up with 20 games played, two
hits, and a run scored.
Found a great shot of former Oakland A’s All-Star Gene Tenace to use for the long-running 1975 “In-Action” series, so here goes:
Fiore Gino Tenace, aka Gene Tenace, was a cog in the Oakland A’s
three-time World Champion teams of the mid-70’s, playing both catcher
and first base and consistently drawing an on-base-percentage around
.400 thanks in large part for his ability to draw walks.
Over the course of seven seasons between 1973 and 1979 he’d collect over
100 walks six times, but he would also hit over 20 homers five times as
well, with a high of 29 in 1975.
By the time he retired after the 1982 season, he was a member of four
champion teams (Oakland 1972-1975, St. Louis Cardinals 1982), and hit
201 home runs with 674 runs batted in and a very nice .388 career OBP,
while also being named the 1972 World Series MVP for hitting four homers
with nine RBIs with a .348 batting average.
Today
we go and give former Major league reliever Mark Littell a “not so
missing” 1974 card, after he made his MLB debut in 1973 with eight
appearances:
Littell started seven of those eight games, something that would change
as he would go on to play nine years in the Big Leagues, making his mark
as a steady relief pitcher.
He went 1-3 in his first taste of the Major leagues, with a 5.68 earned
run average in 38 innings of work before spending all of 1974 in the
Minor Leagues.
In 1975 he was back and became a solid arm out of the bullpen for the
upstart Kansas City Royals, who were about to lead the American League
West for the better part of the next decade.
Sadly for him, Littell is most remembered as the pitcher who gave up one
of the most famous home runs in Post Season history when Chris
Chambliss sent the New York Yankees to the World Series with his
walk-off shot that barely cleared the wall in the fifth game of the 1976
American League Championship.
Nevertheless, by the time he retired after the 1982 season, he appeared
in 316 games and posted a record of 32-31 with a nice 3.32 ERA over 532
innings, with 56 saves playing for the Royals between 1973 and 1977 and
St. Louis Cardinals between 1978 and 1982.
Closing
out the week today, we have a 1970 “Nicknames of the 1970’s” card for
former reliever Phil Regan, who got the tag “Vulture” for his knack of
coming into games in relief and snagging the win away from the starter:
Los Angeles Dodger great Sandy Koufax gave Regan the nickname, and Regan
did in fact rack up wins, logging 14 in 1966 and 12 in both 1968 and
1969, all out of the bullpen.
His 1966 season for the Dodgers was brilliant, as he posted a record of
14-1 with a sparkling 1.62 earned run average over 65 appearances,
leading the league with 21 saves.
Overall, he’d go on to play 13 years of Major League ball, posting a
record of 96-81, with an ERA of 3.84 along with 92 saves over 551
appearances, 105 of them starts.
Today
we have a “not so missing” 1975 card for former Detroit Tigers player
Ron Cash, who already played the last games of his two-year Major League
career by the time this card would have come out:
Cash appeared in 20 games for Detroit in 1974, hitting .222 with 14 hits
over 62 at-bats while playing first base and third base.
The previous season he made his MLB debut, playing 14 games while
hitting a robust .410 with 16 hits in 39 at-bats, scoring eight runs
while driving in six.
He would go on to play two more seasons in the Detroit Minor League
system but never get a call-up again, ending his brief career with a
.297 average with 30 hits in 101 at-bats, with 14 runs scored and 11
RBI’s over 34 games.
Today
on the blog we have a “missing” 1970 card for former outfielder Gary
Geiger, who played in over half the 1969 season yet was left out of the
Topps set the following year:
Geiger hit .224 with 28 hits over 125 at-bats in those 93 games with the
Houston Astros after spending all of 1968 in the St. Louis Cardinals
Minor League system.
He’d end up only appearing in five games during the 1970 season, which
would be the last of his Major League career before spending al of 1971
in the Minors, again with the Cardinals’ organization.
Originally up with the Cleveland Indians in 1958, he then spent the bulk
of his career with the Boston Red Sox between 1959 and 1965, even
playing full-time for a few of those seasons.
All told, Geiger played for 12 Big League seasons, hitting .246 with 633
hits in 2569 at-bats over 954 games, with 388 runs scored and 283 runs
batted in.
Time
to go and give former Chicago White Sox infielder Lee Richard a “not so
missing” card for 1973 after he played in just under a dozen games the
previous season:
Now, you may notice I called Richard an “infielder”, yet the card shows
him as an outfielder. Well that’s because in 1972, for the only season
of his 5-year career, he played more games in the outfield than infield.
In the other four years he was primarily an infielder, so this makes for
a unique card in his career, which spanned 1971 through 1976.
Richard appeared in only 11 games for the White Sox in 1972, hitting
.241 with seven hits over 29 at-bats in his second year as a Big
Leaguer.
In 1971 he made his debut and hit .231 over 87 games and 260 at-bats,
collecting 60 hits with 38 runs scored and 17 runs batted in.
Sadly for him however, those would all be career-highs, as he’d never
come close to that amount of action over the course of his career.
In 1976, which ended up being his last in the Majors, he was with the
St. Louis Cardinals and played in 66 games, getting only 97 plate
appearances and hitting .176.
He’d go on to play another two years in the Minors for the White Sox and
Pittsburgh Pirates organizations, but never got the call-up to the Big
Leagues again, retiring after 1978.
I
have been searching for a good image of Roger Freed during his time
with the Philadelphia Phillies for so long I had pretty much given up at
this point, then this beauty comes my way, allowing me to finally
create a 1973 “Missing” card:
The promising slugger appeared in 73 games for the Phillies in 1972,
hitting .225 with six homers and 18 runs batted in over 129 at-bats,
with 29 hits.
He’d put up some big time stats in the Minors during his pro career but never get a decent shot at the Big League level.
He’d spend all of 1973 in the Minors, and only have six appearances for
the Cincinnati Reds in 1974, with another full season back in Triple-A
in 1975 before appearing in eight games with Montreal in 1976.
In the Minors that year all he did was hit 42 home runs while driving in
102 runs, and this was only over 398 at-bats and 122 games!
All that did for him was get drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the
1976 Rule 5 Draft and get part-time play over the next three seasons,
which would be the final three years of his Big League career before
finishing up with one last season in the Minors in 1980.
Originally signed by the Baltimore Orioles, he put up some great years
in the Minor Leagues between 1966 and 1970, hitting as many as 31 homers
and driving in as many as 130 runs, while also hitting as high as .334,
all while in his early 20’s.
The
next, and sadly the last no-hitter profiled in this long-running thread
of No-No’s through the 1970’s is the gem tossed by one of the all-time
greats, Tom Seaver, which sadly for New York Mets fans came AFTER he was
spending his days at Shea Stadium:
On June 16th of 1978 “Tom Terrific”, not one year away from the shocking
trade that brought him to the Cincinnati Reds, threw a gem of a game
against the St. Louis Cardinals, no-hitting them while sending the Reds
to a 4-0 win.
He faced the minimum 27 batters in the game even though he walked three
batters the Reds committed an error, though I don’t see any double-plays
or pick-offs by the Reds, so I’m a little confused as to how.
Nevertheless, Seaver was on his game as usual, though you may be shocked
to see that he only struck out three batters during his no-hitter.
Even though I was in Elementary School at the time, I remember well how
brutal this was for my Mets fans friends to see, with the face of their
team unceremoniously traded away a year earlier.
As we know, it wouldn’t be until Johan Santana in 2012 that the Mets’
faithful would get to see a no-hitter thrown by one of their own.
But on this day, Seaver added a cherry to his already HOF career.
Here’s
a “not so missing” 1976 card for former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher
Dennis Lewallyn, who made his Big League debut a season earlier:
Lewallyn appeared in two games for the Dodgers, pitching three scoreless innings at the age of 21, allowing only one hit.
He appeared in four games during the 1976 season, posting a record of
1-1 with a nice 2.16 earned run average over 16.2 innings of work.
The 1977 campaign would go on to be the most action he’d see over his
eight-year Major League career, albeit still a small amount in the grand
scheme of things, as he’d pitch 17 innings over five appearances, with a
3-1 record and 4.24 ERA for the National League champs.
After two seasons of appearing in one and seven games respectively, he’d
pitch one season with the Texas Rangers in 1980, appearing in four
games, then moving on to the Cleveland Indians, for whom he’d pitch the
last two seasons of his career, appearing in 11 combined games between
1981 and 1982.
Overall, Lewallyn appeared in 34 Major League games, with a 4-4 record
and 4.48 ERA over 80.1 innings pitched, starting three of those games
and finishing 15.
Up
on the blog today, we have a “not so missing” 1979 card for former
Houston Astros catcher Reggie Baldwin, who had a two-year Big League
career, beginning with a handful of games in 1978:
Baldwin appeared in 38 games for Houston that season, his MLB debut,
hitting a respectable .254 with 17 hits over 67 at-bats, hitting a homer
and driving in 11 runs.
The following year he’d get into only 14 games, which would turn out to
be his last taste of the Big Leagues, hitting an even .200 with four
hits in 20 at-bats.
He’d spend all of 1980 in the New York Mets minor league system, putting
in a nice year that saw him hit .273, but he’d retire after that,
finishing his MLB career with 52 games played and a .241 average, with
21 hits in 87 at-bats.
Time to go and add another 1977 expansion re-do to the collection, this time a redone card for former catcher Bob Stinson.
First, here’s the original as issued by Topps in the Spring of 1977:
Now here’s my re-done version with the advantage of time:
Stinson was drafted by Seattle in the 1976 expansion draft as the 25th
pick away from the Kansas City Royals, for whom he played the previous
two seasons.
Never a full-time player, he did appear in 124 games in 1978, the only
season he topped 300 at-bats, setting career-highs across the board
through all offensive categories.
Originally up with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1969, he’d play 12-years
in the Big Leagues, finishing up with the Mariners in 1980, hitting .250
in 652 games, with 408 hits over 1634 at-bats, with 33 homers and 180
runs batted in.
Today
on the blog we have a “not so missing” 1978 card for former Houston
Astros Outfielder Joe Cannon, who nade his MLB debut the previous
season, albeit for only a handful of games:
Cannon appeared in nine games for Houston in 1977, hitting .118 with two
hits over 17 at-bats, with three runs scored and and RBI.
He would only appear in eight games the following season, collecting
four hits over 18 at-bats, before getting traded to the Toronto Blue
jays as part of the deal that brought Alan Ashby to the Astros.
In 1979 he played in 61 games, hitting .211 with 30 hits over 142 at-bats, scoring 14 and driving in 12, all career-highs.
In 1980, which would end up being his last on the Major League level,
Cannon appeared in 70 games, though only collecting 50 at-bats, hitting
only .080 with four hits in that time frame.
He’d spend another three seasons in the Toronto Minor League system
before calling it a career, finishing up with a .176 batting average,
with 40 hits in 227 at-bats over 148 games.
Today
we have a “not so missing” 1970 card for veteran pitcher Danny Coombs,
who appeared in only eight games for the Houston Astros in 1969:
Coombs posted a record of 0-1 with a 6,75 earned run average over eight
innings pitched, which was pretty much his usual season coming into the
seventh season under the Big League sun.
Between 1963 and 1969, Coombs appeared in a career-high 40 games in
1968, and 26 games in 1965, with every other season showing single-digit
appearance totals for the left-hander.
He would have his best season in the Majors in 1970, his first for the
San Diego Padres, when he posted a record of 10-14 over 35 appearances,
27 of them starts, with a nice 3.30 ERA and 105 strikeouts.
He’d only appear in 19 games for San Diego the following year, which
would turn out to be the last of his career, going 1-6 with a 6.24 ERA
over 57.2 innings, seven of those 19 appearances being starts.
After only 10 appearances in the Minors during the 1972 season for San
Diego, he’d call it a career and finish with a 19-27 record, with an ERA
of 4.08 over 144 appearances and 393 innings pitched.
Time
to go and add a “nicknames of the 1970’s” card for “The Stork”, George
Theodore, the former New York Mets first baseman/outfielder of two
seasons:
Theodore appeared in a total of 105 games for the Mets in 1973 and 1974,
hitting a combined .219 with 42 hits in 192 games, including two homers
and 16 runs batted in while scoring 21 runs.
Sadly, perhaps many remember Theodore for his terrible collision in a
game against the Atlanta Braves in 1973 at Shea Stadium when he crashed
into teammate Don Hahn, leading to Theodore dislocating his hip.
He would spend all of 1975 in the Mets minor league system before
retiring, finishing up with seven pro seasons, all for New York, with
only those two brief stretches in the Majors in 1973 and 1974, with 45
and 60 games respectively.
Today
we have a “not so missing” 1972 card for former Detroit Tigers catcher,
and future MLB manager Gene Lamont, who appeared in seven games during
the 1971 season:
Lamont spent most of the season in the Minor Leagues, pretty much as he
did the prior season when he only appeared in 15 games in his Big League
debut in 1970.
Over those seven games in 1971, he collected one hit over 15 at-bats,
good for a .067 batting average with two runs scored and a run batted
in.
He would also spend all of 1972 and 1973 in the Minors as well before getting into 60 games in the Major League level in 1974.
After that it was only another four games in 1975 before his active days
were over, totaling 87 games on the Big League level between 1970 and
1975, all with the Detroit Tigers, hitting .233 with 37 hits over 159
at-bats.
Of course, he’d get into coaching, and eventually managing after his
playing days were over, managing the Chicago White Sox and Pittsburgh
Pirates between 1992 and 2000 for eight seasons, even leading the White
Sox to first place finishes in 1993 and 1994.
I
was originally going to create a “not so missing” 1975 card for former
St. Louis Cardinal Tom Heintzelman, until I realized I already did one a
while back.
So not to waste an airbrushing job on the image I already had set up, I
decided to use it for a 1974 edition, even though he was on a
multi-player rookie card in the set.
So for no other reason than laziness to work on another image of another player, consider this a “dedicated rookie”:
After a brief cup-of-coffee in 1973 that saw him hit .310 over 29
at-bats, he would be back in 1974 with the St. Louis Cardinals,
appearing in 38 games, batting .230 with 17 hits over 74 at-bats.
He also had 10 runs scored and nine walks in that brief period of play,
but would find himself spending the next few seasons in the Minor
Leagues, putting up some nice numbers.
In 1977 he’d be back, albeit for only two games with the San Francisco
Giants where he went 0-for-2 at the plate as a pinch-hitter before
playing the last 27 games of his career the following season, batting
.229 with eight hits in 35 at-bats, generally as a pinch-hitter.
All told he played four brief seasons, batting .243 with 34 hits in 140
at-bats spread out over 90 games with the Cardinals and Giants.
Time to go and add the very first overall #1 amateur draft pick, Rick Monday, to my long-running 1975 “In-Action” sub-set:
Monday was in the midst of his five-year tenure with the Chicago Cubs
after coming over from his original team, the Oakland (Kansas City) A’s.
A solid player who also gained some attention for his flag-saving
maneuver in the outfield one day when some clowns were trying to burn an
American flag, Monday was in his prime when this card would have been
pulled from packs in that glorious Summer of 1975.
After putting in some good seasons with the A’s between 19666 and 1971,
Monday was traded for pitcher Ken Holtzman over the Winter of 1971/72,
and he didn’t disappoint the Cubs’ faithful, averaging about 20 homers a
season with about 60 runs batted in.
He had his best season in Chicago in 1976 when he slammed a career-high
32 homers with 77 RBIs, which got him traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers
which netted the Cubs future batting champ Bill Buckner and infielder
Ivan DeJesus.
He’d go on to play the last eight seasons of his career in L.A.,
retiring after the 1984 campaign with a career .264 average, with 1619
hits and 241 homers, along with 775 RBIs and 950 runs scored, while
being a part of the World Champion 1981 Dodger team.
One of the better overall #1 picks from the draft for sure!
Let’s
go and add a 1978 Rico Carty “traded” card to my long-running sub-set
through the 1970’s, updating the former batting champion’s card which
originally showed him as a Cleveland Indian before he was traded to the
Toronto Blue Jays on March 15th, 1978:
Carty was traded right before the beginning of the season for Dennis
DeBarr, and though hassled by injuries through his career, was still an
excellent hitter even while in his mid-30’s.
1978 would remind many of that as he would go on to hit a career high 31
home runs with 99 runs batted in while hitting .282 for the Blue Jays
and Oakland A’s, where he would be traded later in the season for Willie
Horton and Phil Huffman.
He’d play one more season in the Big Leagues, back with Toronto in 1979,
where he hit .256 over 132 games and 512 plate appearances before
calling it a career.
He’d finish his Major League tenure with a .299 batting average, with
1677 hits in 5606 at-bats, with 204 homers and 890 RBIs, getting named
to an All-Star team in 1970 when he was voted in by write-in vote, a
season that saw him hit .366 for the Atlanta Braves with 25 homers and a
career-high 101 RBIs.
But a crushed knee had him miss all of 1971, while tuberculosis had him
miss all of 1969, two full seasons lost for the all-star hitter that
really altered his MLB resume.
Mike
Schmidt, Greg Luzinski, Garry Maddox, Bake McBride, all very good Major
League hitters in a packed line-up for the Philadelphia Phillies in the
1970’s.
And yet on a Sunday afternoon on April 16th, 1978, St. Louis Cardinals
pitcher Bob Forsch kept them all hitless, as well as the rest of the
Philly line-up, for the first of his two Big League no-hitters.
Here’s the next “no-hitter” special in my on-going thread through the decade, as we’re in the home-stretch:
It only took Forsch one hour and fifty-two minutes to dispatch the
Phillies 5-0 on that day, as he struck out only three while issuing two
walks.
He was off to a scorching start that year, improving to 3-0 with a
microscopic 0.71 earned run average, getting help from pinch-hitter
Roger Freed who hit a three-run double in the sixth.
Forsch was coming off his one and only 20-win season in 1977, and would
fall a bit to a record of 11-17 in 1978, though no fault of his own.
The Cardinals were not exactly a juggernaut, and Forsch would average
about 11 wins a season over the rest of his career, capped off with a
season and a half with the Houston Astros in 1988 and 1989.
In 1983 he would again work that magic, as he pitched a second
no-hitter, this time against the Montreal Expos, winning 3-0, at the
time becoming the 25th pitcher in Big League history to throw multiple
no-hitters.
All told, over the course of 16 seasons, Forsch would go 168-136, with
an ERA of 3.76 in 498 appearances, 422 of them starts, with 19 shutouts
and 1133 strikeouts.
Today
we have a “not so missing” 1979 card for former Montreal Expos pitcher
Randy Miller, who already threw the last pitch of his MLB career during
the 1978 season:
Miller, who made his MLB debut with the Baltimore Orioles in 1977 when
he appeared in one game, giving up three earned runs over two-thirds of
an inning, came back the following year and appeared in five games for
Montreal, faring a touch better with an ERA of 10.29 with eight earned
runs over seven innings, finishing 0-1.
He would spend all of 1979 and 1980 in the Montreal system, even getting
a place on a multi-player rookie card in the 1980 Topps set, but never
make it back to a Big League mound again.
For his brief career, Miller finished 0-1 over six appearances, striking
out six and ending up with an ERA of 12.91 over 7.2 innings pitched.
Here’s
a card I’ve been meaning to create for a long time, a “not so missing”
1973 Cecil Cooper, one of my favorite players NOT on the New York
Yankees as a kid:
Cooper appeared in only 12 games for the Boston Red Sox during the 1972
season, so I get why Topps didn’t include him in their 1973 set, even
though he already had his rookie card in the 1972 set along with Carlton
Fisk and Mike Garmen.
Over those 12 games in 1972 Cooper hit .235 with four hits over 17 at-bats, driving in two while playing some first base.
Of course, we all know that after a few more partial seasons with the
Red Sox where he gave everyone a glimpse of what he could do, he’d hit
his stride when he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers on December 6th,
1976 for Bernie Carbo and George Scott.
Between 1977 and 1987, Cooper would become a star, driving in 100+ runs
four times, collect over 200 hits three times, hit over .300 seven times
and lead the league in RBIs twice, doubles twice and total bases once.
Between 1979 and 1985 he was named to five All-Star teams, win two Gold
Gloves and three Silver Slugger Wards, and finish in the top-5 in the
MVP race three times.
Year in and year out this guy flat out raked, and I was a huge fan, even
though he’d get lost in the Milwaukee crowd of Yount, Molitor, Fingers,
etc.
By the time he retired, he finished with a career .298 average, with
2192 hits and 1125 RBIs, with 241 homers and 415 doubles over only 1896
games and 7349 at-bats.
Today
we have a “not so missing” 1978 card for an original Seattle Mariner,
former pitcher Frank MacCormack, who happened to go to Rutgers
University, not five minutes from my home here in New Jersey:
MacCormack, who made his MLB debut a season earlier with nine
appearances with the Detroit Tigers, played in three games for Seattle
in their inaugural 1977 campaign, not factoring in a decision while
posting and earned run average of 6.31 over 7 innings of work.
Turns out, those would be the last appearances of his Big League career
as he would spend the next two seasons in the Minor Leagues playing for
Seattle and Detroit, retiring at the age of 24 after 1979.
All told, he finished his career with a record of 0-5, posting an ERA at 5.45 over 12 appearances and 39.2 innings pitched.
Today
we have a “not so missing” 1977 card for former Chicago Cubs player
Mike Adams, who came back to the Big Leagues in 1976 after two seasons
in the Minors:
Adams, who originally played with the Minnesota Twins in 1972 and 1973,
spent the next two seasons playing for both the Minnesota and Chicago
organizations, but never getting back to a Major League game.
In 1976 he’d make it back, appearing in 25 games for the Cubs and
batting .138 with four hits over 29 at-bats while playing four different
positions: second, third, left and right fields.
He’d only appear in two games the following season, going 0-for-2 at the
plate before coming back in 1978, now with the Oakland A’s, playing in
15 games, which ended up being the last of his MLB career, hitting an
even .200 with three hits over 15 at-bats.
That would end up not only being his MLB career, but his professional
career as well, retiring at the age of 29, playing parts of five MLB
seasons and appearing in 100 games, hitting .195 with 23 hits in 118
at-bats, with 27 runs scored and nine runs batted in.
