NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1979 TIM STODDARD

On the blog today, we have a "not so missing" 1979 card for former reliever Tim Stoddard of the Baltimore Orioles:

Stoddard appeared in only eight games for the Orioles in 1978, going 0-1 with a 6.00 earned run average over 18 innings, his first action on a Big League mound other than one singular inning for the Chicago White Sox in 1975.

In 1979 he would have himself a very good year for the eventual American league champs, appearing in 29 games, saving three and pitching to a stellar 1.71 ERA over 58 innings.

He would go on to put in 13 seasons under the Major League sun, appearing in 485 games and compiling a final record of 41-35 with a 3.95 ERA in 729.2 innings of work.

I remember his time with the New York Yankees in the late-80s, where he performed well, going 6-5 with eleven saves in 85 games in 1987-1988.

Look for a "not so missing" 1975 card for him in the near future here on the blog!

 

REVISITING A 10-YEAR-OLD POST: "MISSING" 1979 JIM BREAZEALE

On the blog today, we venture back 10 years and revisit my post for a "missing" 1979 card, that of former first baseman Jim Breazeale, who got a couple of creations here on the blog over the years:

Breazeale, who hadn't appeared in Major League action since 1972 when he was with the Atlanta Braves, made it back to hit .208 with 15 hits over 72 at-bats with three doubles, three home runs and 13 runs batted in over 25 games for the Sox in 1978.

He did have a Topps card in the 1973 set after having the most playing time of his short 4-year career in 1972.

That season he played in 52 games, batting .247 over 85 at-bats, collecting 21 hits, a couple of doubles and five home runs with 17 RBI's.

The 1978 action with the White Sox would prove to be the final time he saw on a Major League field, closing out his career with a .223 average, with 40 hits over 179 at-bats, with nine homers  and 33 RBI's thrown in.

 

SPECIAL REQUEST: 1979 "MISSING" HOSTESS RICKEY HENDERSON

Special request that was posted to Twitter a couple months ago that I created for my buddy Alan gets the spotlight here on the blog today, "missing" 1979 variations for Rickey Henderson Hostess cards:

Fun idea that I was happy to whip up!

Coming into 1979 Henderson was on fire in 1977 and 1978 playing for Modesto and Jersey City in the Minors.

In '77 with Modesto, all he did was hit .345 with 120 runs scored and 95 stolen bases to go along with a sick .465 on-base-percentage.

The following year, getting promoted to Double-A ball, Henderson kept on hitting, this time to the tune of .310 with 81 runs scored and 81 steals.

So at the dawn of the 1979 season Henderson was ready to just about take over the game, straight to the Hall of Fame some 25 years later.

Greatest lead-off man the game has ever seen!

OPC IMAGE VARIATION (OR NOT): 1977 TOM BRUNO

Somewhat interesting post today regarding OPC to Topps image variations, with this one being the fact that the player who had a 1977 OPC card didn't get their first Topps card until 1979, pitcher Tom Bruno:

OPC Rookie in 1977

Topps Rookie 1979

Bruno actually made his MLB debut with the Kansas City Royals in 1976, appearing in 12 games and going 1-0 with a 6.75 ERA over 17.1 innings.

After being selected by the new Toronto Blue Jays franchise in the expansion draft over that Winter, Bruno got himself a card with the 1977 OPC set suited up with his new team.

Topps decided NOT to give Bruno a card, not even on a multi-player rookie card, while Bruno would go on to appear in 12 games for the Jays, going 0-1 with a bloated 7.85 ERA in 18.1 innings of work.

Turns out he would get on a Topps card until 1979, now a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, on one of the worst sub-sets (in my humble opinion) in Topps' long history, the black and white multi-player rookie prospects cards of that year.

Turns out Bruno's 1978 season was excellent, with 18 appearances and 49.2 innings pitched, posting a record of 4-3 with a sparkling 1.99 earned run average, with three starts and a save thrown in.

He’d finish his career after the 1979 season, posting a record of 2-3 with a 4.23 E.R.A., with 27 strikeouts over 38.1 innings and 27 appearances, ending up with a record of 7-7 with a decent 4.22 E.R.A., 80 strikeouts and a single save over 69 games and 123.2 innings pitched.

REVISITING A POST FROM 10 YEARS AG: "MISSING" 1979 MARDIE CORNEJO

On the blog today, we revisit my "missing" 1979 card for former New York Mets pitcher Mardie Cornejo:

Cornejo is a bit of a mystery since he appeared in only one season of Major League ball (1978), and performed rather well, posting a 4-2 record with the Mets while posting a 2.45 earned run average over 25 appearances and 36.2 innings, all out of the bullpen.
So why no other action in his career? Anyone familiar with Cornejo and what happened?
Nevertheless it was awesome finding this photo of the guy so I could whip this card up for the blog.

REVISITING A POST FROM 2014: 1979 "THEN & NOW" LOU BROCK

Good day everyone.

On the blog today we revisit a post from October of 2014, my 1979 "Then & Now" card for the great Lou Brock:

I loved creating cards for this thread a while back, fun stuff!

Here's the original post from that day:

Man! Here's a guy who is often overlooked in baseball history, and funny enough I almost forgot all about him for my "Then and Now" series: Lou Brock.

I just had to use a picture of him with that Cardinals cap on! Just takes me back…

By the end of the 1979 season Brock was closing out his Hall of Fame career, nailing down his 3000th hit to go along with his 938 stolen bases, 1610 runs scored and .293 lifetime average.

Even at the age of 40 he was doing well, batting over .300 (.304) with 21 stolen bases!

An eight-time stolen base champ, he also collected 200 hits in a season four times, with another four seasons of over 190, and he also scored 100+ runs in a season seven times.

Incredibly enough, in Brock's 19-year career, he made the All-Star team only six times! 

The price you pay for coming up during the years of Mays, Aaron, and Clemente! 

Tough luck indeed!

GIMMIE A DO-OVER OF ONE OF MY OWN: 1979 RANCE MULLINIKS

Good day all.

On the blog today, a do-over for one of my own creations from a couple weeks back, a "not so missing" 1979 card for Rance Mulliniks, which I originally posted with an image of Bobby Jones, corrected here with a nice image of Mulliniks:

A few of you spotted the error immediately, and I was lucky enough to already have another image of the long time infielder to use as my "fix".

Mulliniks, who had his Topps rookie card in the 1978 set after appearing in 78 games for California in 1977, hit .185 in 1978 over the aforementioned 50 games, with 22 hits over 119 at-bats while putting time in at shortstop.

He'd play in only 22 games during the 1979 season for the Angels before being part of a blockbuster trade in December of 1979 that included Willie Aikens and Al Cowens, seeing the players swap uni's between the Angels and Kansas City Royals.

He'd see limited time with the Royals in 1980 and 1981 before heading off to the Toronto Blue Jays, where he finally found a home and would spend the rest of his 16-year career with, playing 11 seasons for the Jays, generally at third base with some time around the rest of the infield.

He would have some really nice seasons with the Jays, and while never truly a "full-time" player, he'd put in seasons with over 350 plate appearances between 1982 and 1988, hitting as high as .324 (1984) with a couple of other .300+ seasons thrown in.

By the time he retired after the 1992 season, he finished up with 972 hits in 3569 at-bats, good for a .272 mark, with 445 runs scored and 435 runs batted in over 1325 games.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1979 TOM SPENCER

Today on the blog, a 1979 "not really missing in action" card for outfielder Tom Spencer of the Chicago White Sox:

Spencer's entire Major League career consisted of 29 games over the Summer of 1978, hitting .183 with 12 hits in 65 at-bats, with three runs scored and four runs batted in while putting in time in all three outfield spots.

Aside from his brief MLB tenure, Spencer put in 12 years in professional ball, playing for the Cincinnati reds, White Sox and Houston organizations between 1970 and 1981.

Over that Minor League time he hit .272 with over 1000 hits and 173 stolen bases, but only got that one taste of the Major League sun in 1978, which of course any of us could only dream of!

Cheers Tom!

 

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1979 RANCE MULLINIKS

Up on the blog today, we go and give former Big League infielder Rance Mulliniks a "missing" card since he played about a third of a season for the California Angels the year prior:

Mulliniks, who had his Topps rookie card in the 1978 set after appearing in 78 games for California in 1977, hit .185 in 1978 over the aforementioned 50 games, with 22 hits over 119 at-bats while putting time in at shortstop.

He'd play in only 22 games during the 1979 season for the Angels before being part of a blockbuster trade in December of 1979 that included Willie Aikens and Al Cowens, seeing the players swap uni's between the Angels and Kansas City Royals.

He'd see limited time with the Royals in 1980 and 1981 before heading off to the Toronto Blue Jays, where he finally found a home and would spend the rest of his 16-year career with, playing 11 seasons for the Jays, generally at third base with some time around the rest of the infield.

He would have some really nice seasons with the Jays, and while never truly a "full-time" player, he'd put in seasons with over 350 plate appearances between 1982 and 1988, hitting as high as .324 (1984) with a couple of other .300+ seasons thrown in.

By the time he retired after the 1992 season, he finished up with 972 hits in 3569 at-bats, good for a .272 mark, with 445 runs scored and 435 runs batted in over 1325 games.

 

MISSING ALL-STAR MANAGER: 1979 TOMMY LASORDA

Time to go and create a "missing" 1979 National league All-Star manager card for the skipper who led the Senior League to another Midsummer classic win over the American League in 1978, Los Angeles Dodgers skipper Tommy Lasorda:

Lasorda was given the honor of course because of his pennant winning season of 1977, when he guided the Dodgers to the World Series where they would lose to the New York Yankees.

It was the first Series appearance as manager for Lasorda, something he would repeat the following season, as well as 1981 and 1988, the latter two years bringing the City of Angels World Championships.

Though he skippered the Dodgers for four games in 1976, the 1977 season was the first full year at the helm of the team, and it would lead to an incredible 21 year run that saw him win two championships (1981 and 1988), with two other pennants thrown in (1977 and 1978).

Between 1976 and 1996, Lasorda led the Dodgers to 1599 wins and a .526 winning percentage, while becoming an icon in the baseball and cultural realm.

Funny enough, Lasorda would guide the Dodgers to 98 wins in his first full season as manager, and that would be the high-mark in a season for wins during his tenure.

However, he would lead the team to seven different seasons of 90+ wins, as well as seven first place finishes in the National League West.

He grew to be a legend in Los Angeles, and growing up as a kid loving baseball in the 70's and 80's his legendary status made its way East to Brooklyn, New York with my friends and I in our Italian neighborhood!

 

MISSING ALL-STAR MANAGER: 1979 BILLY MARTIN

Today on the blog, my "missing" 1979 All-Star manager card, featuring the skipper who led the American league in the 1978 game, Billy Martin, who was given the honor after taking the New York Yankees to a World Series berth in 1977, bringing back a championship to the Bronx for the first time since 1962:

He began his managerial career in 1969 with the Minnesota Twins and took them straight to the Playoffs, guiding the team to a first place finish with a 97-65 record.
He would move on to Detroit, and would take them to a first place finish by his second year in 1972 with a record of 86-70.
He’d move on to the Texas Rangers and they’d have their first successful season in 1974, albeit a second place finish behind league MVP Jeff Burroughs and ace Fergie Jenkins, then of course he would move on to the New York Yankees, where the “Bronx Zoo” was in full swing, eventually bringing Martin a World Championship in 1977.
He’d move on to the Oakland A’s where “Billy-Ball” was in full effect, losing to the Yankees in the Championship Series while burning through every arm on his pitching staff with overuse.
Then finally, there was the back-and-forth period between he and the Yankees, specifically owner George Steinbrenner, where he managed in 1983, 1985 and finally 1988, almost a comedic show of hiring and firing that really was an embarrassment to us Yankee fans of the era.
Nevertheless, Martin was a winner, though one with a temper at that, leaving the game with a .553 winning percentage and over 1200 wins.
Should he be in the Hall of Fame?
I do think so more for his personality than anything else. As a symbol of the wild 1970’s with his managerial style a'la Earl Weaver, arguing and fighting his way through each season.
Rest in Peace Billy, you are missed.

 

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1979 DAMASO GARCIA

Super fun card creation today on the blog, my 1979 "not so missing" slab for Damaso Garcia, who began his Major League career with the New York Yankees in 1978:

Garcia appeared in 18 games with the eventual World Champions in 1978, hitting .195 with eight hits over 41 at-bats, playing both shortstop and second base.

He'd play in eleven games with the Bronx Bombers in 1979 before finding himself traded to the Toronto Blue Jays along with Chris Chambliss and Paul Mirabella on November 1st of 1979 for Rick Cerone, Tom Underwood and Ted Wilborn, a trade that helped his career with the given opportunity to play everyday.

With that chance he would not disappoint, finishing fourth in the Rookie of the Year race in 1980, hitting .278 with 151 hits, 30 doubles and 13 stolen bases.

He would go on to make two All-Star teams while also taking home a Silver Slugger Award in 1982 when he collected a career-best 185 hits, 80 runs scored and 54 stolen bases.

While a consistent contributor to the Blue jays through the 1986 season, his relationship with manager Jimy Williams went South, leading to a trade to the Atlanta Braves before the 1987 season, with him spending the entire season in the Minors.

He'd make it back to the Majors in 1988, but for only 21 games, hitting .117 before finding himself with the Montreal Expos in 1989, for what turned out to be the last 80 games of his career, hitting .271.

Sadly, shortly after his playing days were over, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, with subsequent surgery saving his life but leading to physical impairments that would stay with him the rest of his days.

Happily, he would live until the age of 63, eventually passing away due to cancer in April of 2020.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1979 ROGELIO MORET

On the blog today, a "not so missing" 1979 card for Rogelio Moret, who actually saw the last Major League action of his career in 1978 with seven games for the Texas Rangers:

Moret was still only 28 when he saw that last action on a Big League mound, going 0-1 with a 4.91 earned run average in 14.2 innings pitched.

He put in two seasons with the Rangers, with a year in Atlanta with the Braves before that in 1976 when he posted a record of 3-5 over 27 games, about half of those starts, with a bloated 5.00 ERA.

The first six years of his career were with the Boston Red Sox, where he did shine for two of those seasons, going 13-2 and 14-3 in 1973 and 1975 respectively.

He was a versatile pitcher who could start and come out of the bullpen, giving the Sox a valuable arm during their 1975 American League championship year when he led the A.L. with a sparkling .824 winning percentage.

Because of those two big seasons, he finished his career with a very nice record of 47-27, for a .635 winning percentage, with a 3.66 ERA over 168 games, 82 of them starts, with five shutouts and 12 saves between 1970 and 1978.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1979 STEVE TROUT

Today on the blog we have a 1979 "not so missing" card for starter Steve Trout, as he made his Big League debut the previous season with the Chicago White Sox:

Trout had a very nice debut, appearing in four games while going 3-0 with a 4.03 earned run average, completing one game and tossing 22.1 innings.

The following year was promising as he'd go 11-8 with a 3.89 for the Pale Hose, saving four games while also tossing two shutouts over 34 games, 18 of them starts.

Though he'd lower his ERA even more in 1980 to 3.70, he'd see his record come in at 9-16, again throwing a couple of shutouts while completing seven games, throwing what would end up being a career-high 199.2 innings.

Overall he'd end up putting in 12 years as a Major League pitcher, including a famously bad second-half of the 1987 season with the New York Yankees that I witnessed first-hand, that saw him go 0-4 with a 6.60 ERA while being mercilessly torn apart by the New York press.

He finished his career with a record of 88-92 over 301 games, with a 4.18 ERA and nine shutouts, tossing 1501.1 innings and striking out 656 batters.

DEDICATED ROOKIE: 1979 DWAYNE MURPHY

Fun card to add to the WTHBALLS stable today, my 1979 "dedicated rookie" for Oakland A's outfielder Dwayne Murphy:

Murphy put in a very nice 12-year career in the Major Leagues between 1978 and 1989, and sadly can be overlooked since he happened to come up at the same time as another Oakland outfielder, Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson.

But between 1980 and 1985 Murphy was as solid as you could ask, winning six straight Gold Glove Awards while also a "double-threat" at the plate, hitting as many as 33 home runs (1984) while also stealing as many as 26 bases (1980 and 1982).

The center-fielder led the league in putouts at his position three times, assists once and "Range Factor" for you analytics guys four straight seasons between 1980 and 1983.

By the time he retired after the 1989 season, he finished with 166 homers, 100 stolen bases and a .246 average over 1360 games and 4347 at-bats.

REVISITING A BLOG POST FROM 2013: "GIMME A DO-OVER"- PART XXII: 1979 #320 CARL YASTRZEMSKI

Thought it'd be fun to revisit another blog post from 2013, this time my redone 1979 card for the great Carl Yastrzemski:

Here's the original write-up I had for the post way back when:

"Anyone else out there also hate those "skyward" gazes that appear from time to time on Topps baseball cards?
Ugh. I always found them annoying. Where were they looking?
I wonder if the players were actually directed to look up and far away by the photographer as if something SO meaningful caught their attention. But why? It was so boring and lame in my opinion.
Carl Yastrzemski's 1979 Topps card (#320) definitely falls into this category.
Why use an image like this? Why not wait about an hour and catch him up at the plate in full glory?
Well allow me to do exactly that.
I've taken a nice photograph of Yaz at the plate right around 1979 and used it for my redesign of his otherwise boring card from that year.
Much more colorful, interesting and appropriate for a legend like Yastrzemski, don't you think?
As you can see from the original issued card, Yaz is in Yankee Stadium, probably looking at some crazy stuff going on in the upper deck. Lord knows there was never a game that didn't have SOME nonsense going on up there...(and I "may" have been responsible for some of it! just sayin'...)
By 1979 Yastrzemski was in the twilight of his amazing career, turning 40 in August and playing through to 1983, a nice 23 year career ALL in the friendly confines of Fenway Park while playing for the Red Sox.
What more can you say for the guy but: 3000+ hits, 450+ homers, 1800+ runs batted in AND runs scored, and almost 650 doubles in 3300+ games played.
Oh, maybe we can also add that he participated in 18 All-Star games, collected seven Gold Gloves, and won the Triple Crown in 1967 while pretty much single handedly carrying the Red Sox on his back the last few weeks of the season to a World Series birth before running into Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals.
The man was a machine, plain and simple, and needless to say he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1989."

EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS: 1979 A.L. FIREMEN

Ok!

After many months, we have come to the final “expanded league leader” card in my fun thread expanded on Topps popular sub-set through the 1970’s, with the American League’s top three relievers of the 1978 season:

 

We begin with the New York Yankees Rich “goose” Gossage, who led the A.L. with his 37 “points”, with 10 wins and a league-leading 27 saves for the World Champions.

Gossage had an excellent first season with his new team after coming over from the Pittsburgh Pirates, posting and earned run average of 2.01 over 63 appearances and 134.1 innings of work, striking out 155 batters.

Of course we all know now that the man wasn’t nearly done, as he would continue to mow batters down through the 1994 season, appearing in 1002 games while saving 310, putting in 22 seasons in the Majors, getting elected to the Hall of Fame in 2008.

Just behind Gossage with 35 points, the California Angels Dave LaRoche, who posted his best season in the Majors, winning 10 games while saving 25, with a very nice 2.82 ERA over 95.2 innings, even getting some MVP consideration for his efforts.

Just three years later he’d join the Yankees himself, where he’d pith the last three years of his 14-year career, and entertain us NYC kids with his “La Lob” eephus pitch.

All told, LaRoche finished with a record of 65-58 over 647 games, with a 3.53 ERA and 126 saves between 1970 and 1983.

In third place with 31 points, no stranger to dominating relief seasons, former Cy Young winner Mike Marshall of the Minnesota Twins, who took his talents back to the American League, winning 10 games and saving 21 games.

The man was amazing, as he would follow this up with 42 points the following season, winning 10 games while saving a league-leading 32 while appearing in 90 games, the third time in his career reaching that mark, including a ridiculous 106 games in 1974, still the Big League record some 50 years later.

By the time he retired after the 1981 season, he appeared in 724 games, saving 188 and winning 97, taking home that 1974 Cy Young Award and making two All-Star teams.

Well, this was a FUN thread, and perhaps I’ll keep going into the 1980’s. We shall see!

BY SPECIAL REQUEST: 1979 A'S ROOKIE PROSPECTS REDONE

On the blog this fine day, a special request that to be honest, I'm very surprised I didn't think of myself, a 1979 "A's Prospects" card with a small revision, that being the inclusion of some young up and coming outfielder named Rickey Henderson:

When you think about it, the fine folks at Topps easily could have had Henderson on that card instead of any of the three originally appearing on it, being that he was tearing through the Minors while posting high stolen base totals in his three full years before his call up.

In 1978 for example, Henderson hit .310 for the Jersey City A's in Double-A while stealing 81 bases, while in 1977 playing for the Modesto A's he hit .345 with 95 steals, scoring an incredible 120 runs in only 134 games.

Granted, I'm glad Topps DIDN'T do this since his 1980 rookie card is the stuff of legend, and I absolutely abhor the black and white prospect cards of the 1979 set.

But it indeed would have been something if this was what was issued instead.

EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS: N.L. FIREMEN

Good day all!

On the blog today, we have the top firemen of the 1978 season in the National League, proudly displayed on a 1979 “expanded league leader” card:

 

We begin with hall of Famer Rollie Fingers, who had himself a wonderful 1978 season for the San Diego Padres, winning six games while leading the league with 37 saves, good for 43 “points”.

Fingers followed up a fantastic 1977 season, his first with the Padres, with an even better year in 1978, posting an ERA of 2.52 over 107.1 innings, appearing in 78 games and closing out 69, both high-marks in the N.L.

Three years later, back in the American League, he’d top both those seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, earning both the Cy Young and MVP Awards when he led the league with 28 saves while posting a microscopic 1.04 ERA.

By the time he was done in 1985, he put together what would be a Hall of Fame career that spanned from 1968 to 1985, winning three championships, and finishing up at the time with the all-time best 341 saves.

Behind Fingers with 39 points, the Pittsburgh Pirates great Kent Tekulve, who appeared in a staggering 91 games, saving 31 while picking up eight wins, pitching to a wonderful 2.33 ERA over 135.1 innings.

The previous year was his breakout season, posting a record of 10-1 while saving seven games for the Pirates, something he’d be doing for the next seven plus seasons, helping them finally take it all home with a championship in 1979 as part of the “We Are Family” team led by the great Willie Stargell.

Incredibly, even in 1987 at the age of 40, he’d lead the league with 90 appearances while with the Philadelphia Phillies, finally hanging them up after the 1989 season after one year with the Cincinnati Reds, totaling 1050 games over his 16 year career, with 184 saves and a very nice 2.85 ERA.

Tied for third with 35 points, Cincinnati Reds reliever Doug Bair and Chicago Cubs uber-star Bruce Sutter, who both put in All-Star caliber campaigns for their respective clubs.

For Bair, it was a wonderful year that saw him win seven games while saving 28, posting an excellent 1.97 ERA over 70 appearances and 100.1 innings of work.

The righty would put in 15 years as a Major Leaguer, appearing in 584 games generally as a middle-reliever as the game changed, using set-up men more and more in the 1980s.

He would be part of two World Champion teams, funny enough, one of those with the guy he tied right here, Bruce Sutter, the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals, while two seasons later he was part of the juggernaut Detroit Tigers team.

For Sutter, what really needs to be said about perhaps the dominant relief pitcher of his era?

After an incredible 1977 season that saw him save 31 games while posting a 1.34 ERA over 62 games and 107.1 innings, he came back in 1978 with eight win and 27 saves for the Chicago Cubs, striking out 106 over 98.2 innings.

The following year, he’d top all of that, winning the N.L. Cy Young Award by saving 37 games while winning six, striking out 110 batters in 101.1 innings and pitching to an ERA of 2.22, all this for a Cubs team that finished under .500 with a record of 80-82.

The man revolutionized the “closer” role, going on to lead the league in saves five of the next six seasons, setting a (then) record of 45 saves in in 1984 as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, finishing with 300 saves over his stellar career.

All of that eventually got him a Hall of Fame induction in 2006, and rightly so!

 

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1979 DAVE FORD

On the blog today, we have a "not quite missing" 1979 card for former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Dave Ford, who made his Big League debut in 1978:

Ford appeared in two games for the Orioles that season, going 1-0 with a brilliant 0.00 earned run average over 15 innings of work, with 10 hits allowed while striking out five.

The following year he also showed some promise, going 2-1 over nine appearances, two of those starts, posting a fine 2.10 ERA over 30 innings, even saving a couple of games for the American League champs.

But in 1980 and 1981, he fell back a bit, posting ERA's of 4.26 and 6.53 over 40 appearances, posting a combined record of 2-5 in 109.2 innings, which turned out to be the last of his career.

He would spend the next four years in the Minors, never getting back to the Big League level, retiring after the 1985 season, finishing up with a 5-6 record, along with a 4.02 ERA in 51 games and 154.2 innings.