REVISIT: 1971 CAREER-CAPPER FOR TITO FRANCONA

Thought it'd be fun to revisit a ten year old post from the blog today, this time my 1971 Career-Capper for Tito Francona:

Father of current Cincinnati Reds Manager Terry Francona, Tito appeared in 84 games in his final big league season, split between the Oakland A’s and Brewers.
He hit .235 with 23 hits over 98 at-bats with both four runs scored and runs batted in  while playing both first base and the outfield, the two positions he’d mainly play throughout his career.
Francona came up in 1956 with the Baltimore Orioles and ended up second in Rookie of the Year voting behind Chicago White Sox speedster and future Hall of Fame player Luis Aparicio.
In that season Tito would hit .258 with 115 hits over 445 at-bats, with nine homers, 62 runs scored and 57 RBI’s in 139 games.
His finest season was his first with the Cleveland Indians, for whom he had his best years, when he batted .363 with 20 homers and 79 RBI’s in 122 games.
He didn’t qualify for the batting title based on his 443 plate appearances, but he did finish fifth in MVP voting.
All told he’d finish his career with a .272 average with 1395 hits in 5121 at-bats over 1719 games, with 125 home runs and 656 RBI’s and 650 runs scored.

 

MISSING IN ACTION- 1971 TITO FRANCONA

Today we have a “missing” 1971 Topps card for Tito Francona, who wrapped up a nice 15-year career in 1970 with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Take a look:

Father of current Cleveland Indians Manager Terry Francona, Tito appeared in 84 games in his final big league season, split between the Oakland A’s and Brewers.
He hit .235 with 23 hits over 98 at-bats with both four runs scored and runs batted in  while playing both first base and the outfield, the two positions he’d mainly play throughout his career.
Francona came up in 1956 with the Baltimore Orioles and ended up second in Rookie of the Year voting behind Chicago White Sox speedster and future Hall of Fame player Luis Aparicio.
In that season Tito would hit .258 with 115 hits over 445 at-bats, with nine homers, 62 runs scored and 57 RBI’s in 139 games.
His finest season was his first with the Cleveland Indians, for whom he had his best years, when he batted .363 with 20 homers and 79 RBI’s in 122 games.
He didn’t qualify for the batting title based on his 443 plate appearances, but he did finish fifth in MVP voting.
All told he’d finish his career with a .272 average with 1395 hits in 5121 at-bats over 1719 games, with 125 home runs and 656 RBI’s and 650 runs scored.

THEN AND NOW #41: TITO FRANCONA 1970

Since I haven't had the chance to design a "Then and Now" card using the 1970 Topps template, I figured I'd go and make one up for former outfielder/first baseman Tito Francona, father of future player and manager Terry Francona.

Check out my card:

Tito was pretty much wrapping up a nice 14-year career in 1970 (watch for my 1971 "Career Capper" soon!), which saw him finish second in Rookie of the Year voting in 1956 when he came up with the Baltimore Orioles, and also put in some solid seasons with the Cleveland Indians between 1959 and 1964.

The 1959 season was arguably his best, as he hit an eye-opening .363 with 145 hits over 399 at-bats, with 20 homers and 79 runs batted in.

Those numbers got him a fifth-place finish for MVP when voting came around.

After he moved on to St. Louis in 1965 he began a slow decline in numbers and bounced around a bit before retiring after the '70 season.

Between 1965 and 1970 he suited up for the Cardinals, Phillies, Braves, A's and Brewers, ending up with a respectable .272 career average with 1395 hits, 125 homers and 656 RBI's in 1719 games.