Tuesday, May 3, 2022

NICKNAMES OF THE 1970's: "CRAZY HORSE" TIM FOLI

On the blog today, a new "Nickname of the 1970's" card, this one a 1977 edition for former infielder and overall #1 Draft Pick Tim Foli, aka "Crazy Horse":

 
Foli was tabbed with that nickname because of his fiery temper, a temper that guided him to stardom from High School ball where he hit an incredible .562 as a Senior at Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks, California.
That performance got his the attention of the new York mets, who held the #1 pick in the 1968 draft, and decided to use it on the young Foli, convincing him to forgo college.
He'd make his Big League debut at 19 years of age in 1970, appearing in five games and hitting .364 with four hits in eleven at-bats.
He'd play in 97 games with the Mets the following season, hitting .226 with 65 hits in 288 at-bats, scoring 32 runs and driving in 24.
1972 was shaping up to be his first full season as a Major Leaguer, and to his surprise, just as the season was opening up, he, along with Ken Singleton and Mike Jorgensen were sent packing to the Montreal Expos for their star Rusty Staub on April 5th.
He would indeed become a full-time player with the Expos, putting in five seasons with them before getting traded to the San Francisco Giants in 1977, playing that one season before a reunion with the Mets in 1978.
In 1979 he would once again be sent packing, this time to the Pittsburgh Pirates just a couple of weeks into the new season, and he'd put in the best year of his 16-year career, helping the Pirates win it all as part of the "We Are Family" champs, hitting .291 with 70 runs scored and 65 RBIs in 153 hits, all career-bests.
Still only 28, he'd play two more years with Pittsburgh before going to the California Angels in 1982 and 1983, hitting .252 in his two seasons, even leading the league with 26 sacrifice hits in 1982 when the Angels finished first in the A.L. West.
In 1984 he found himself back in New York, but now with the Yankees, where he appeared in 61 games, hitting .252 for the third year in a row.
In 1985, he was back with the Pirates, where it tuned out he played the last 19 games of his career, hitting .189 with seven hits over 37 at-bats.
All told, Foli had himself a decent career, hitting .251 with 1515 hits in 6047 at-bats over 1696 games, scoring 576 runs, driving in 501 between 1970 and 1985.