Good day everyone!
On
the blog today, we have my 1971 "Minor League Days" special checklist
insert card celebrating the 1971 Minor League Player of the Year, Bobby
Grich, from my recently released set:
As for Grich himself, before carving out an excellent Major League
career, he had a monster 1971 season playing for the Orioles' Triple-A
farm club in Rochester.
In 130 games as a shortstop, Grich POUNDED the International
League, hitting .336 while smashing 32 homers with 83 runs batted in and
124 runs scored with 299 total bases.
These were NOT middle infielder numbers you often saw during the 1960's and 1970's!
And it was for those numbers that Grich was a solid pick for Minor League Player of the Year.
Once he jumped to the Majors for good in 1972, he became one of the
best second baseman in the game for the rest of the decade, considered
one of the best fielders at his position, winning four Gold Gloves as
well as leading the league in putouts, double-plays
and assists multiple times.
But he was no slouch at the plate, as he retired with almost 2000
hits, 224 homers, 1000+ runs scored and 864 runs batted in after seven
years in Baltimore and ten years in California as a member of the Angels
before hanging them up after the 1986 season.
