Showing posts with label 1973. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1973. Show all posts

Saturday, August 2, 2025

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1973 GRAIG NETTLES

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.

 

Wednesday, March 26, 2025

SPECIAL REQUEST: A DO-OVER FOR THE 1973 OLLIE BROWN CARD

Finally got around to fulfilling a special request, creating a 1973 card for Ollie Brown showing him with the Oakland A's, for whom he appeared in 20 games before getting sent over to the Milwaukee Brewers, where he finished the 1972 season:


Bwon hit .241 for the A's in his stay there, collecting 13 hits, with a homer and four RBIs while scoring five runs.
Brown had his best MLB seasons behind him at this point, when he was one of the first fan favorites for the expansion San Diego Padres from 1969 through 1972.
But his career wasn’t done yet as he would go on to play through the 1977 season, finishing up his 13-year Big League career with a .265 batting average along with 102 homers, 454 runs batted in and 964 hits over 1221 games between 1965 and 1977.
It’s amazing to realize that he retired at the age of only 33. For me it seemed like by the time he was with the Philadelphia Phillies at the end of his career he was pushing 40!

 

Thursday, March 6, 2025

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1973 JR RICHARD

OK. So on the blog today, I finally break down and reuse the image I originally used for JR Richard and his 1972 "dedicated rookie" here on the blog years ago, for his "not so missing" 1973 edition:


I have been looking high and low for a nice time-sesitive image of Richard to no success, then one of you suggested I do what Topps was doing a lot of back then, reusing images, sometimes cropped differently, so here we are!
Richard appeared in his first four games during the 1971 season, and blew the MLB world wide-open when he struck out 15 batters in his first start.
In 1972 he would again appear in four games, going 1-0 with a 13.50 ERA over six innings, striking out eight while also walking eight.
It would take a few years, but he'd become the power-arm all-star by the 1975 season, and would go on to post two 300+ strikeout campaigns, four straight 200+ K years,  four straight seasons of 18+ wins (1976-1979), and an E.R.A. crown in 1979 before tragically having his career cut short in 1980 by a stroke.
His final numbers are indicative of what we could have expected well into the 1980's had he not been cut down at the age of 30: a 107-71 record with 1493 strikeouts and a 3.15 ERA in 238 games and 1606 innings.
It really would have been something to see Richard and Nolan Ryan team up to rack-up incredible numbers together.
One of the ultimate "what could have been" stories in baseball during my childhood for sure…

 

Sunday, February 23, 2025

REVISITING MY 1973 "NICKNAME" CARD FOR JIMMY WYNN

On the blog today, we go back 10 years or so and revisit my 1973 "Nicknames of the 1970s" card for the "Toy Cannon", Jimmy Wynn:


I used a 1973 template to play around with the cannon icon in the lower right-hand corner, while also giving him a card while he was still in a Houston uniform before he went on to play for the Dodgers and get named to two consecutive all-star starts in 1974 and 1975.
Wynn put up some solid years during his excellent 15-year career.
Eight times he'd top 20 homers, with three of them 30+, while also driving in 100+ runs twice, scoring 100+ runs four times and topping 100 walks six times, two seasons of which he'd lead the National League, with a high of 148 in 1969.
While slugging away, he was also a threat on the base paths, as he'd go on to swipe a total of 225 before retiring, with a high of 43 in 1965.
After a handful of games with the Milwaukee Brewers in the latter half of 1977, he called it a career, finishing with 1100+ runs scored, 1665 hits, 291 homers and 964 runs batted in, with a .250 average thrown in.

 

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

REVISITING MY "MISSING" 1973 CARD FOR MICK KELLEHER

Thanks to a recent email from one of you asking how Kelleher could be wearing a home uni while clearly at Shea Stadium, I felt it would be a good time to revisit this 10-year-old blog post:


I have no answer as to why this happened, where he does look to be wearing a home uniform while on the road.
Am I wrong here? Or can it just be the road uni with a rainy-day lighting influence here making it seem otherwise?
I tell you, I didn't even remember that Kelleher came up with the Cardinals, then went on to play for the Astros and then the Cardinals yet again before moving on to the team I always remember him with, the Cubs.
In 1972 he played in 23 games for the Cardinals, hitting .159 with 10 hits over 63 at-bats. Not much of a showing for the 24-year old, but at the very least perhaps a slot on a multi-player rookie card?
He got to play in more games the following season, yet Topps left him out of their set yet again in 1974 and once again in their 1975 set, this time as a Houston Astro.
Needless to say, I'll be tackling those in the near future as well!
Kelleher put in 11 years as a Major League player, moving on to the Detroit Tigers and California Angels in 1981 and 1982 before becoming a long time coach (presently with the New York Yankees).
He retired with a .213 batting average, collecting 230 hits over 1081 at-bats in 622 games.
He never did get to put in a full year, but the closest he came was in 1976 when he appeared in 124 games and posted 363 plate appearances, pretty much setting career highs in almost every category.
Keep an eye out for the other "missing" cards for Kelleher right here, as I've already scored a few photos of him that will work perfectly…

 

Thursday, December 19, 2024

REVISITING A 1973 "MISSING IN ACTION" CARD FOR JOE HORLEN

On the blog today, we revisit a 10-year-old post with a "missing" 1973 card I created way back when for pitcher Joe Horlen:



Horlen capped off a very nice 12-year career when he retired after the 1972 season, posting 32 appearances with the Oakland A’s after playing all eleven of his previous Major League seasons with the Chicago White Sox, for whom he had some really good seasons.
In 1972 he posted a 3-4 record with a 3.00 earned run average, with six starts and a save scattered among his 84 innings of work.
While with the White Sox Horlen had some all-star seasons, particularly his 1967 season when he went 19-7 with a league-leading 2.07 ERA and six shutouts.
Those numbers would be good enough for a second place finish in the Cy Young race, as well as a fourth place finish in MVP voting.
Of his 12 years on a big league mound, Horlen posted five sub-3.00 ERA campaigns, all consecutive (between 1964 and 1968), with a low of 1.88 in 1964.
By the time he retired he finished with a 116-117 record with a nice 3.11 earned run average and 18 shutouts over 361 games, 290 of which were starts, and 2002 innings.

Monday, November 18, 2024

REVISITING A "MISSING" CARD POST FROM 2014: 1973 JOHN CUMBERLAND

Here's a "missing" 1973 card for pitcher John Cumberland of the St. Louis Cardinals:


After a very nice 1971 season with the San Francisco Giants which saw him post a 9-6 record with a 2.92 E.R.A. and two shutouts in 45 games and 185 innings, Cumberland started the 1972 season 0-4 with a bloated 8.64 E.R.A., finding himself traded to the Cardinals for a minor league player on June 16th.
The change of scenery didn't exactly help, as he went on to a 1-1 record with a 6.65 earned run average over 14 games.
All told he went 1-5 with a 7.71 E.R.A. over 23 games and 46.2 innings of work.
He actually didn't appear in a Major League game in 1973, but came back for 17 appearances in 1974 with the California Angels, fairing a bit better with an 0-1 record and 3.74 E.R.A. over 21.2 innings, his last on the big league level.
For his career, Cumberland went 15-16 with a 3.82 earned run average over 110 appearances, 36 of which were starts.

Monday, November 11, 2024

CAREER-CAPPER: 1973 JULIAN JAVIER

Up on the blog today, we have a 1973 career-capper for all-star second baseman Julian Javier, who put together a very nice 13-year Major League career between 1960 and 1972:


After playing the first 12 years of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals, Javier put in one last season in the Big Leagues with the Cincinnati Reds, appearing in 44 games and hitting .209 with 19 hits over 91 at-bats.
With the Cardinals, Javier was a two-time All-Star who also garnered MVP consideration in 1967, finishing in ninth-place for the award after hitting .281 with 14 homers and 64 RBIs for the World Champs.
By the time he retired, he finished with a .257 lifetime average, with 1469 hits in 5722 at-bats over 1622 games, with 722 runs scored and 506 RBIs, with 135 stolen bases and 78 homers.

 

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

A RE-DO OF ONE OF MY OWN! 1973 RICK REICHARDT

Time to finally correct a mistake I made way back when with my "missing in action" 1973 card for former Bonus Baby Rick Reichardt, when I mistakenly used an image of Pete Varney.

Well today we have the corrected version with a correct image of the man that was mainly responsible for the Amateur Draft because of the insane money and hoopla over his impending pro career:


Reichardt played in 101 games during the 1972 season, batting .251 with 73 hits over 291 at-bats with eight home runs and 43 runs batted in during his second season with the Chicago White Sox.
That is serious playing time to be omitted from the Topps set, so I’m wondering if he just didn’t want to be on a card ala Mike Marshall or Tony Horton around the same time.
Of course, Reichardt is well remembered as a spectacular two-sport superstar at the University of Wisconsin, so much so that a bidding war began by Major League clubs for his services, eventually having him sign a then unheard of $200,000 signing bonus with the (then) Los Angeles Angels of the American League.
This necessitated the development of the Amateur Draft, which began the very next year in hopes of curtailing such a wild scenario as the Reichardt affair.
Sadly for Reichardt, a serious kidney ailment cut short an excellent 1966 season which saw him have a kidney removed, and though he put up some decent numbers from time to time through the rest of his career, he was never the same again, eventually retiring after a single at-bat with the Kansas City Royals in 1974.
His last Topps card was in the 1971 set, which is odd since he really should have had a card from 1972 to 1974.
I actually already created a 1972 “missing” card for him a while back, and once I can find a decent shot of him with the Royals, I plan on doing the same for both 1974 and 1975.
Anyone have good images of him with KC?

Monday, September 30, 2024

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1973 MARCELINO LOPEZ

On the blog today, a "not so missing" 1973 card for former pitcher Marcelino Lopez, who closed out a decent 8-year Major League career in 1972, appearing in four games with the Cleveland Indians:


Originally up as a 19-year-old with the Philadelphia Phillies for four games in 1963, he was runner-up for the American League rookie of the year award two years later as a member of the California Angels when he posted a record of 14-13 over 35 games, posting a 2.93 earned run average with 122 strikeouts and eight complete games.
He'd never reach those numbers again during the rest of his career, moving on to the Baltimore Orioles in 1967, Milwaukee Brewers in 1971 and that last stop in Cleveland in 1972.
Overall, he appeared in 171 games, with 93 of those starts, posting a final record of 31-40 with a 3.62 ERA in 653 innings of work.
Along the way he also tossed three shutouts and saved two games, striking out 426 batters while walking 317.

Monday, September 23, 2024

REVISITING ANOTHER 10 YEAR OLD POST: MISSING IN ACTION- 1973 BOB RAUCH

On the blog today, we revisit an early "Missing in Action" card for the blog, this one my missing 1973 card for "one year wonder" Bob Rauch of the New York Mets:


Here's the original write-up for that post way back when:
Ok, so this guy really didn't put in a lot of tome to warrant a card the following year, but I did find a great high-resolution image of him so I went ahead and designed a card anyway.
Check out my 1973 Bob Rauch Topps card.
Rauch's entire Major League career encompassed 19 games for the Mets in 1972, saving one and posting a record of 0-1.
Drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1967, Rauch would end up playing for the Dodgers, Mets, Indians and A's minor league systems, finally calling it a career in 1975.
I think it's fun working on cards of guys that barely registered a "blip" on the Major League scene, and I think I'll try coming up with more and more of them as time goes on.
Hope you enjoy them as well…

Saturday, September 21, 2024

JAPAN SPECIAL: 1973 FANTASY SADAHARU OH

Really fun card to post up today, a 1973 fantasy card for All-Time gJapanese great Sadaharu Oh of the Yomiuri Giants, a card which will be part of my upcoming "Series 18" set due for a release at the end of the month:


I just love creating cards for Japanese Hall of Famers onto Topps templates!
The man is a GOD in Japan, and rightfully so, topping 100 runs batted in 14 times, 100 runs scored 10 times and 30+ homers 19 times, which he did consecutively including his last year in 1980.
He topped 40 homers 13 times, including 55 in 1964, a Japanese record, then 51 in 1973 and 50 in 1977 when he broke the record to much fanfare.
When you look at his career stats it's like a thing out of a softball league, or some latter Barry Bonds numbers, with on-base-percentages above .500, slugging percentages above .700, and 100+ base on balls year after year, 16 consecutive to be precise, on his way to 2390 by the time he hung them up.
Just a fun angle for the blog to start designing some cards for legends of other leagues around the world, which I hope to continue in the new year.
Oh's final numbers: a .301 average with 2786 hits, 1967 runs scored, 2170 RBIs, 868 homers in 2831 games and 9250 official at-bats.
Just incredible!

Saturday, August 24, 2024

FANTASY CARD: 1973 DAVE WINFIELD

Good day everyone.

Up on the blog, my 1973 "Fantasy" card for Hall of Fame outfielder Dave Winfield, one of my favorite players growing up in New York City during his tenure with the New York Yankees:



Of course, Winfield would never have gotten a card in that 1973 set, being drafted that June and skipping the Minors.
But I just could not resist using this wonderful image of him in that glorious mustard and brown San Diego Padres uniform!
Winfield would become the favorite player of many young kids in the San Diego area during the 1970’s, giving the Padres a new-look outfielder, bringing a whole new type of athleticism (along with Dave Parker of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Andre Dawson of the Montreal Expos), with speed, stellar defense, a gun for an arm, and power at the plate.
By the time he retired after the 1995 season, his 22nd as a Big Leaguer, he finished with eight 100-RBI seasons, 15 20-home run seasons, 3110 hits, 1669 runs scored and 1833 RBIs.
He made the All-Star team 12 times, took home seven Gold Gloves, finished Top-10 in MVP voting seven times and was awarded six Silver Slugger Awards.
Man I loved this guy! I’ll never forget his line-drive home runs deep into left field at Yankee stadium as a kid, wondering what he would do in a stadium like today where he wasn’t looking at 430 to left-center.
One of the game’s greatest all-around athletes!

Thursday, July 11, 2024

REVISITING A POST FROM 2013: 1973 MIKE SCHMIDT DEDICATED ROOKIE

Thought it'd be fun today to revisit a post from October of 2013, a favorite creation of mine, my 1973 "dedicated rookie" for the great Mike Schmidt. One of the earliest dedicated rookies created for the blog.
Here's the post as it appeared way back when:
"Today I want to post up a card design for a rookie card I WISH existed instead of his multiple player version that Topps issued: Mike Schmidt and his 1973 introduction to the world of sports cards.
First off, let's look at his rookie card as we all know it:


Now, I'll admit it's not the worst rookie card out there, especially with Ron Cey carrying some weight as well.
But really, what could be better than a dedicated rookie of the greatest third baseman the game has ever seen?
I found a nice image of Schmidt during his rookie year and used it for my imaginary "rookie" shown below. Hope you all like it...


Not much to be said about Mike Schmidt that hasn't been said a million times before!
Growing up in the late-70's/early-80's, quite simply, he was THE third baseman in Major League baseball.
Three M.V.P.'s, 10 Gold Gloves, 12 All-Star games, and oh yeah...he hit 548 career homers and lead the National League EIGHT TIMES during his awesome eighteen-year career.
A no-brainer Hall of Famer whom was inducted on his first try in 1995. A "duh" if there ever was one.
"Schmitty" was the man"

 

Thursday, June 20, 2024

REVISITING A 10-YEAR-OLD POST: MISSING 1973 JERRY McNERTNEY

Revisiting a 10-year-old post today, that of my "missing" 1973 card for former catcher Jerry McNertney, which originally "aired" here on the blog in October of 2014:


Here's the write-up for the original post:
Here's a "missing" 1973 card for a guy who spent nine years on the Major League level, though in only two seasons did he really see "full time" action: catcher Jerry McNertney.
In actuality McNertney was closing out his career in 1973, appearing in only nine games with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
But in 1972 he did play in 39 games for St. Louis, mainly as a pinch-hitter and back-up to a young up and coming stud behind the plate, Ted Simmons.
McNertney's numbers for the 1972 season were: 10 hits in 48 at-bats (a .208 average), with three doubles and a triple among his "knocks".
So I figured why not give him a card in the 1973 set since I came across a nice photo of him in a Cardinals uniform, so here you go.
He came up rather late at the age of 27 in 1964 with the Chicago White Sox, appearing in 73 games, and stayed with the Sox until 1969 where he found himself suiting up for the Seattle Pilots in their only year of existence.
That season would have McNertney see the most playing time, appearing in 128 games, good for 449 plate appearances.
The following season, as the organization moved to Milwaukee and renamed the "Brewers", McNertney's playing time was diminished a bit, appearing in 111 games with 330 plate appearances.
The next two years saw him as a backup in St. Louis, playing in only 95 games combined before moving on to Pittsburgh, as I mentioned earlier, for his last hurrah in the big leagues.

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

MISSING ALL-STAR MANAGER: 1973 EARL WEAVER

Just as I had done years ago with the starting line-ups of the 1972 All-Star game, today I add American League manager for that game Earl Weaver to my "missing" All-Star cards, in this case completely creating a new card for the Hall of Fame skipper to get it done:


With the Baltimore Orioles pennant winning season of 1971 with Weaver at the helm, the 1972 Midsummer Classic saw the diminutive yet fiery manager lead the Junior Circuit to a chance to defend their 1971 All-Star game win against the N.L.
Well sadly, it was not to be, as the National League got back to "business as usual" with another win 4-3, something they would keep on doing all the way through to the 1983 game, much to THIS young A.L. fan through his elementary and Junior High School days!
I loved Earl Weaver as a kid, who paired up nicely with my favorite manager, Billy Martin: fiery, combative, and always ready to stick his neck out for his team.
By the time he retired after the 1986 season, Weaver finished with a record of 1480 wins against 1060 losses, for a very nice .583 winning percentage, with four Pennants and a World Championship in 1970, posting a winning season every year of his tenure except his very last, when he finished 73-89.
In 1996 he was voted into the Hall of Fame as a manager, celebrating one of the most colorful managers of the era, and rightly so!

Monday, June 10, 2024

MISSING ALL-STAR MANAGER: 1973 DANNY MURTAUGH

Good day all.

Up on the blog today we have a "missing" 1973 Danny Murtaugh All-Star manager card, in the case of the 1973 set a complete fabrication by yours truly since Topps didn't have all-star cards in this set:


Murtaugh was given the honors as the National League skipper for the 1972 game based on his leading the Pittsburgh Pirates to a World Series win over the favored Baltimore Orioles in the 1971 Fall Classic.
He began his managerial career in 1957, and would go on to lead the Pirates through 1976 with gaps in 1965-1966, 1968-1969, and 1972.
Overall he led the team to five first place finishes, with two championships, the first in 1960 when the Pirates stunned the favored New York Yankees, capped off by Bill Mazeroski's Game Seven ninth-inning walk-off, and the second when they beat the defending champion Baltimore Orioles.
His final numbers as a manager, he finished with a record of 1115 and 950, good for a .540 winning percentage.
Battling ailments including heart issues throughout his managerial career, he sadly suffered a stroke and passed away at the age of only 59, just two months after retiring.

Monday, May 13, 2024

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1973 ADRIAN GARRETT

Up on the blog today, we have a rarity nowadays on the blog, a "not really missing" card, once a staple here until the players/images began drying up after ten years.
Today's player that gets a "missing" card is Adrian Garrett of the Oakland A's:


Garrett appeared in only 14 games for the repeating World Champions, going 0-11 at the plate while putting in some time out in leftfield.
It was a typical season for the catcher-outfielder, as he would never have even close to a full season of action over his career which began in 1966 with four games as an Atlanta Brave.
This is the fourth such card I've created for Garrett over the years, joining my 1972, 1975 and 1977 creations.
He would play for four organizations: Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Oakland A’s and California Angels, ending up with a .185 batting average with 51 hits in 276 at-bats in 163 games, with 30 runs scored, 11 homers and 37 runs batted in.

 

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

REVISITING A 10-YEAR OLD POST: MISSING 1973 ART KUSNYER

Hello all!
On the blog today, revisiting one of my early "missing" player cards from the blog, a 1973 "missing in action" card for catcher Art Kusnyer, whom I would create a few more missing cards through the 1970s before I was done:


Here's the original write-up from that post, dating April 19th, 2014:
Today's "missing" Topps card from the 1970's features a player who did appear on a multi-player rookie card in 1972, but was left out of the 1973 set even after some decent playing time the year before: Angels catcher Art Kusnyer.
Kusnyer was yet another of those players I read about in a SABR article that spoke of guys who posted the most career at-bats or innings pitched who were not represented on a Topps card (in this case, a card of their own).
Kusnyer came up for a cup-of-coffee in 1970 with the White Sox after getting picked in the 37th round of the 1966 amateur draft.
After four games and ten at-bats with Chicago in 1970, he was traded to California in March of 1971 for a couple of minor players, appearing in only six games for the season.
However 1972 would fare much better for the young catcher, as he would go on to play in a career high 64 games, good for 198 plate appearances.
For the year he batted .207, getting 37 hits in 179 at-bats with two doubles, a triple and two homers.
However this wasn't enough to get him more playing time the following season, as the Angels already had Jeff Torborg and John Stephenson ahead of him in the depth chart for the position, so all Kusnyer would see as far as playing time in 1973 would be 41 games, good for 67 plate appearances and an anemic .125 batting average.
However, not all was a lost-cause for the youngster, as on July 15th of that year Kusnyer would have perhaps the biggest thrill of his Big League career, catching Nolan Ryan's second career no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers at Tiger Stadium.
But when 1974 rolled around, Kusnyer found himself struggling to find a spot for himself in the Milwaukee Brewers organization after being traded by California in October of 1973 in a nine-player swap between the two clubs.
He'd end up toiling in the Minors for the next two seasons before finding his way back into a Major League game in 1976, getting into 15 games for the Brewers, hitting .118 on four hits in 34 at-bats.
His last hurrah on the Major League level would be in 1978 with the Kansas City Royals, playing in nine games and getting three hits in 13 at-bats, good for a .231 average.
He'd scratch out another season of Minor League ball for the White Sox in 1979 before calling it a career and eventually moving into coaching work for the Sox and the Oakland A's over the next 28 years.
Nevertheless, here's yet another "missing" piece to total representation for those of us that want players who saw enough playing time in a season to get a card along the way.

 

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

CAREER-CAPPER: 1973 TONY CLONINGER

On the blog today, we have a 1973 "career-capper" for former pitcher Tony Cloninger, who wrapped up a nice 12-year playing career before moving on to coaching later in life:


Cloninger appeared in 17 games for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1972, going 0-2 with a bloated 5.19 earned run average over 26 innings.
Incredibly, even though those would be the last game of his career, he was still only 31 years of age, coming up in 1961 at the age of 20.
His finest season was easily 1965 when he posted 24 wins for the Milwaukee Braves, against 11 losses, posting a 3.29 ERA and 211 strikeouts over 40 appearances.
This was after a 19-win season the year before when he had his breakout year, completing 15 games, tossing three shutouts while saving two others.
In 1966 he'd win another 14 games, but it was one game at the PLATE that would remain his shining moment in the Big Leagues, something I profiled years ago with a 1976 "Turn Back the Clock" card, his two Grand Slam batting performance!
On July 3rd of that year, playing the San Francisco Giants, Cloninger took the mound for the Atlanta Braves.
With his team demolishing the Giants 17-3 that day, it was Cloninger that supplied the bulk of the offense, going 3-for-5 with TWO grand slams and nine runs batted in!
He connected for his 1st slam in the seven-run first inning against RELIEVER Bob Priddy after starter Joe Gibbon didn’t make it past the first five batters, and then connected for yet another in the fourth inning against Ray Sadecki, who ironically enough hit a homer off of Cloninger in the same game.
On top of the hitting performance, Cloninger pitched a complete game, allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out five batters, upping his record to 9-7 at that time, on his way to a 14-11 season.
By the time he retired, he'd finish with a record of 113-97, with a 4.07 ERA over 352 appearances, with 13 shutouts and six saves.
Not too shabby!


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