On
the blog today we have a “not so missing” 1976 card for former reliever
Don Stanhouse, who appeared in only four games the previous season with
the Montreal Expos:
After his first three seasons in the Big Leagues as a member of the Texas
Rangers, Stanhouse found himself North of the border with the Expos.
In those four appearances, three of which were starts, Stanhouse didn’t
factor in a decision while throwing to a 8.31 earned run average over 13
innings of work.
After the Expos made him a starter in 1976, he had a season that saw him
post a career high 184 innings on the mound, going 9-12 with a 3.77 ERA
in 34 games.
But it was his 1978 and 1979 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles that got
Stanhouse some attention when he posted sub-3.00 ERA’s and 20+ saves
each year.
In 1979, he helped the Orioles make it all the way to the World Series, even making the only All-Star team of his career.
Sadly for him after finding himself in Los Angeles in 1980 after signing
as a Free Agent, he never found that groove again, suffering injuries
and limiting him to only 38 more games between 1980 and 1982, with only
51.2 innings pitched.
Today’s blog post has a 1978 special celebrating the Toronto Blue Jays and their first regular season game on April 7th, 1977:
The Blue Jays had a victorious Opening Day for the season and their
history, beating the Chicago White Sox 9-5 at Exhibition Stadium.
John Scott was their first batter, starting in Left, while Bill Singer
was their Opening Day pitcher, though he didn’t get the win, that honor
went to Jerry Johnson who came in during the fifth inning and pitched
2.2 innings, while Pete Vuckovich picked up the save with two innings of
scoreless work.
Their hitting star that day was first baseman Doug Ault, who had quite
the day going 3-for-4 with two home runs and four runs batted in, while
second baseman Pedro Garcia also went 3-for-4 with an RBI.
For a better look at the historic game, here’s the Baseball-Reference link for the game box score:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR197704070.shtml
On
the blog today is a card many before have also created, a 1970 edition
featuring Fred “Chicken” Stanley, who made his Big League debut during
the 1969 season with the one-year Seattle Pilots:
The 21-year-old played in 17 games and hit a very respectable .279 over
that time, with 12 hits in 43 at-bats, scoring two runs and driving in
four.
Though he would only play in six games the following year after the team
moved to become the Milwaukee Brewers, he would go on to play 14
seasons as a Major league infielder.
Over that time he was a part of the “Bronx Zoo” New York Yankees teams
that won back-to-back World Championships in 1977/1978, playing in the
Bronx from 1973 to 1980.
After his New York tenure he found himself close out his career with two
seasons with the Oakland A’s in 1980 and 1981, suiting up for former
manager Billy Martin.
By the time he retired, he finished with a career .216 batting average,
with 356 hits over 1650 at-bats in 816 games between 1969 and 198,
scoring 197 runs and driving in 120.
Up on the blog today is a “not so missing” 1977 card for groundbreaking Los Angeles Dodger/Oakland A’s outfielder Glenn Burke:
Burke began his Major League career with 25 games during the 1976 season
for the Dodgers, hitting .239 with eleven hits in 46 at-bats.
He’d play in 83 games in 1977, upping his average to .254 with 43 hits
in 169 at-bats while filling in at all three outfield positions.
The following year, after starting off with 16 games in Los Angeles, he
was traded on May 17th North to the Oakland A’s for speedster Bill
North, where he play out the remaining year and a half of his MLB
career.
By the time he hung up the cleats after the 1979 season in which he
appeared in 23 games, he finished with a career .237 batting average
with 124 hits in 523 at-bats over 225 games.
However, his baseball legacy comes outside of the world of statistics as
Burke will always be remembered as the first Major League player to
come out as Gay during his career, while on a more pop-culture level, he
is credited as the first player to give a “High-Five” when he did just
that to teammate Dusty Baker in 1977’s season finale when Baker hit his
30th home run of the year.
Certainly two different items from completely different aspects of life that nevertheless left a mark in sports history.
Sadly, Glenn Burke passed away in 1995 at the age of only 42, from from AIDS-related causes.
I
love creating coach cards for the many famous former ballplayers who
went on to lend their expertise to the “next generation”, and today I
add former batting champ “Pistol Pete” Reiser
into the mix with a 1973 edition:
Reiser was some thirty years removed from the time when he was full of
nothing but extraordinary promise with the Brooklyn Dodgers, taking home
a batting championship in 1941 at the age of 22 while also leading the
league in runs, doubles, triples slugging and total bases.
That season got him a second place finish in the National League MVP
race, with teammate Dolph Camilli taking home top honors and another
teammate, pitcher Whit Wyatt finishing third.
Reiser arguably had the better season, but we all know how award voting leaves us wondering how decisions are made.
Nevertheless, Reiser was on his way to super-stardom until injuries,
World War II, and his own recklessness on the field dramatically cut
short his career.
After his amazing 1941 season he came back to have another great year in
1942, hitting .310 while leading the league with 20 stolen bases,
making his second straight All-Star team.
The war had him serving military time from 1943-1945, and his first
season back in 1946 was another solid year when he again topped the
league with 34 stolen bases while hitting .277.
However he was already prone to making all-out attempts in the outfield
that led him to serious injuries, having him taken off the field on a
stretcher eleven times because of crashing into the outfield wall.
On one occasion he was temporarily paralyzed, on another he lost consciousness, and on yet another he fractured his skull.
Leo Durocher, who was Reiser's first major league manager and brought
him onto his coaching staff with the Chicago Cubs, reflected many years
later that in terms of talent, skill and potential, there was only one
other player comparable to Reiser: Willie Mays.
He also said, "Pete had more power than Willie—left-handed and right-handed both. He had everything but luck."
With all of that he did manage to stick around the Majors until 1952,
settling for a ten-year career that was full of such promise in the
beginning but ended up with partial seasons playing for the Dodgers,
Boston Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians the last five
years of his career.
By the time he retired in 1952 at the age of only 33, he finished with a
career .295 average, with three All-Star nods and three top-10 MVP
finishes.
Up
on the blog today is a “nickname” card for the great Robin Yount, “The
Kid”, who was a Major League starter at the age of 18 and just kept on
going until he was justly given his place in the Hall of Fame some 25
years later:
Yount is one of those players I’m grateful to have been able to see play during my lifetime.
He broke into the Majors in 1974 at the age of 18, appearing in 107
games and hitting .250 with 86 hits over 344 at-bats, scoring 48 runs
with 26 RBIs.
A Milwaukee Brewer for life, Yount finished his great career with 3142
hits, 1632 runs scored, 251 homers and 271 stolen bases, and still
retired at the age of “only” 37.
I loved him as a kid and was in awe of the Brewers’ combo of Yount and
Paul Molitor, watching them put in year after year of solid stats.
It’s amazing to realize that when he had his first true All-Star season
in 1980, after what was already seven years in the Big Leagues, Yount
was STILL only 24 years of age!
He was on cruise-control from then on, elevating his game to become one
of the elite players in the American League, with 1982 the high point
when he led the Brewers to the World Series and taking home his first
MVP Award.
Now, I’ll be honest here, I never really remembered him with this
nickname, but I’ve seen it listed for him in a few places since he’s
retired so why not?
Hope you all enjoy it!
Time
to add the “Big Bopper” Lee May to my long running 1975 “In-Action”
sub-set, celebrating the steady first baseman who put in a very nice
18-year major League career:
You have to wonder what could have been with May, since he was already a
feared slugger putting together a very nice career before he was traded
to the Astros as part of the Joe Morgan trade before the 1972 season
opened up.
Would the "Big Red Machine" have happened? If so, would May's legacy on
the diamond have been elevated to the point of true stardom?
He put up big seasons with the Reds, the Astros, and then the Orioles
before ending his career after two partial seasons with the Royals in
1982.
His total numbers are very good, especially for a guy who played the
bulk of his career in the "dead" late-60's/early-70's: 959 runs, 2031
hits, 354 home runs and 1244 runs batted in.
He was also named to three All-Star teams while getting MVP
consideration in six seasons between 1969 and 1976, finishing as high as
ninth twice.
His last year in Cincinnati, 1971 was killer: 39 homers with 98
R.B.I.'s, 85 runs scored and a .278 average to compliment the likes of
Pete Rose, Tony Perez and Johnny Bench.
Nevertheless, the swap to get Joe Morgan was key to the Cincinnati Reds
and their “Big Red Machine” run, while May had nothing to be ashamed of
to say the least.
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Everything baseball: cards, events, history and more.
