On the blog today, we have a "not so missing" 1979 card for former infielder Ken Macha, who played in just under three dozen games for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1978:
Macha played in 29
games over the Summer of 1978, hitting .212 with 11 hits in 52 at-bats,
with five runs scored and five runs batted in.
Originally up
in 1974 when he appeared in five games for Pittsburgh, he wouldn't make
it back to the Majors until 1977, when he played in 35 games, hitting
.274.
In 1979 he found himself North of the border with the
Montreal Expos, where he'd play for two seasons before one last year as a
Big League player with the Toronto Blue Jays during the
strike-shortened 1981 campaign.
All told, over those six
seasons under the Big League sun, Macha finished with a .258 career
average, compiling 98 hits over 380 at-bats, with 30 runs scored and 35
RBIs over 180 games.
Later on in the 2000's he'd become a
Major League manager, guiding the Oakland A's between 2003 and 2006 with
great success, finishing in first place twice and second place twice,
averaging about 92 wins a season, before managing the Milwaukee Brewers
in 2009 and 2010, where he met with less success, winning 80 and 77
games respectively.
Nevertheless not a bad baseball life!