Today on the blog we come up to Oscar Gamble in my on-going 1978 sub-set celebrating the 30-home run hitters of 1977, "30 Home Run Club", somewhat of a rip-off of the great 1977 Topps football "1000 Yard Rushers" idea:
As any of you know, I love Oscar Gamble, and any time I can have an excuse to create another custom for the man, I will!
In
Gamble's lone season with the White Sox, as part of their celebrated
"South Side Hit Men" lineup, he hit an amazing 31 homers in just 408
official at-bats.
The 31 homers were a career high, though it
was not because he never found that stroke again, as he would have
seasons such as 1979 when he hit 19 homers over 274 at-bats, 1980 when
he hit 14 homers in 194 at-bats, and 1982 when he hit 18 homers in 316
at-bats.
The man really was a homer machine, as evidenced by his 200 career homers in just 4502 at-bats.
Nevertheless,
he still put in a very nice 17-year Big League career, playing between
1969 and 1985, seeing the most time with the New York Yankees, for whom
he played seven years.
An icon of 1970's baseball, sadly
Gamble passed away in January of 2018 at the age of 68, and he is
terribly missed by yours truly.
