Next
in line for a quick-fix with a “missing” Topps rookie all-star trophy
is future all-star catcher Bob Boone, who set the tone for what would be
a great 19-year Major League career in 1973 with a fine rookie year:
Boone played his first full season in the Big Leagues in 1973 and didn’t
disappoint his Philadelphia Phillies, finishing third in Rookie of the
Year voting with a .261 batting average, along with 10 homers and 61
runs batted in over 145 games.
Over the course of the next two decades, he’d be named to four all-star
teams, help guide the 1980 Phillies to a World Championship, and win
seven Gold Gloves, which include four after the age of 38!
As a matter of fact Boone won four straight Gold Gloves from the age of
38 through 41! Just incredible when you think about how grueling the
catching position is.
By the time he retired after the 1990 season, he finished up with a .254
average with 1838 hits over 7245 at-bats, while setting the high-mark
for games caught before a guy named Carlton Fisk broke that record a few
years later.
One of the rare members of a three-generation baseball family, his
father Ray played, as did his sons Bret and Aaron, who now manages the
New York Yankees.
Time to give former all-star catcher Bob Boone a “dedicated” rookie card since he appeared on a three-way card in the 1973 set:
The seven-time Gold Glove receiver first came up during the 1972 season
with the Phillies, where he would spend the next 10 years of his career,
appearing in three all-star games and picking up two of the
aforementioned Gold Gloves and being an integral part of the 1980 world
champion squad.
In 1982 he would move over to the West Coast and the California Angels,
where he’d spend the next seven years, taking home another four Gold
Gloves, his last as an Angel at the age of 40!
But he wasn’t done there, as he would then go to Kansas City where he
would win yet another Gold Glove, at the age of 41 in 1989 for his
stellar defensive work behind the plate.
Over his 19 years as a big league catcher he would play in 2264 games,
collecting over 1800 hits and ending up with a .254 average, leading his
league in many defensive categories.
Not only a baseball lifer, but the son of former big leaguer Ray, as
well as the father of two future players in Aaron and Bret.
Some serious baseball lineage we’re talking here.
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