On
the blog today, I recently spoke about having to re-do the 1973 card
for Graig Nettles since I always hated the airbrush job, and wanted a
version that showed him with the Cleveland Indians since that's who he
suited up for in 1972, so here you are:
Luckily
there are some good images out there of "Puff" during his tenure with
the Indians, so I was able to find this nice posed shot of the third
baseman.
Nettles originally came up with the Minnesota Twins in the late-60’s,
but it wasn’t until he got some full-time action with the Cleveland
Indians did he put up some nice numbers in 1970, becoming a productive
third baseman for three years before finding himself in the Bronx after a
six-player trade that left the Indians organization scratching their
heads.
All Nettles would do is go on to slug 20+ homers seven straight years,
leading the American League with 32 in 1976, and then topping that with
37 the following season while being an integral part of the “Bronx Zoo”
championship teams of 1977 and 1978.
His incredible defensive work during the World Series against the Los
Angeles Dodgers put him in exclusive company as a Fall Classic icon
alongside the likes of Brooks Robinson and HIS defensive work in the
1970 classic against the Cincinnati Reds.
By the time Nettles was done after 22-years in the big leagues, he
finished with 390 home runs, 2225 hits and 1314 runs batted in, with six
all-star game nods and two Gold Gloves.
