1977 MARINERS REDONE- DICK POLE

Next up in the 1977 expansion hit parade redo is former pitcher Dick Pole, who was drafted by the Seattle Mariners as the seventh pick in the expansion draft in late 1976:

Re-done

Original card with airbrushing

Pole has the misfortune of being drafted away from the Boston Red Sox, not too far removed form a World Series berth in 1975 and still a power in the American League East.
As expected, the 1977 season was a rough one, with Pole posting a record of 7-12 with a 5.15 earned run average over 25 appearances, all but one of them as a starter.
He’d go on to pitch only one more season in the Majors, going 4-11 the following year with a bloated 6.48 ERA over 21 games and 98.2 innings of work.
He’d spend the following three years in the Minors, pitching in the Pittsburgh and Detroit systems before taking his playing experience over to coaching, something he would do for over 20 years through the 2009 season, even helping develop a young Greg Maddux back in the mid-80’s when coaching for the Chicago Cubs.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1979 DICK POLE

Here’s a “missing” 1979 card for former pitcher Dick Pole, who pitched his final games during the 1978 season as a member of the Seattle Mariners:

Pole came up in 1973 as a member of the Boston Red Sox, for whom he’d pitch the first four seasons of his career.
He was then drafted in the expansion draft of 1976 for the new Seattle Mariner organization, where he’d play the next two years.
During the 1978 season he appeared in 21 games, posting a 4-11 record with a 6.48 earned run average in 98.2 innings of work.
That would be it for his playing career, but he would go on to be a pitching coach in the Majors for many years, putting together one of those “baseball lives” player-turned-coaches have.
Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that many of use who were kids collecting back in the 1970’s will always remember his name, which always brought a chuckle to my friends and I...