Just
a fun card to create and post up today on the blog, an “action” card of
Cleveland Indians catcher Ray Fosse against the Boston Red Sox:
I can’t really determine what game this is, though the Indians played
the Red Sox in their second game of the 1976 season after opening up the
year against the Detroit Tigers for one game.
Anyone have an idea?
Fosse was enjoying a return to the Indians, the team he made his mark
with earlier in the decade when he made two All-Star teams and two Gold
Gloves in 1970 and 1971.
Of course, everyone remembers that play at the plate with Pete Rose in
the 1970 All-Star game which left him in agony after Rose plowed into
him trying to score.
Fosse would end up putting in 12 years as a Big League catcher, playing
through the 1979 season and finishing up with a career .256 batting
average, with those two Gold Gloves and two All-Star nods between 1967
and 1979.
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving day!
Really
fun card to post up today on the blog, a “not so missing” 1978 card for
one-game Major League pitcher Mike Darr of the Toronto Blue Jays:
Darr appeared in his one game against the Boston Red Sox on September
6th, 1977 allowing five earned runs over 1.1 innings of work, giving him
an unsightly 33.75 earned run average along with four walks allowed
against one strikeout.
He would go on to spend the next two seasons in the Toronto Minor League
system, but never make it back to a Big League mound, finishing up with
that one game under the sun in September of 1977.
It’s also worth noting that Darr was the father of future MLBer Mike
Darr who tragically died in a car accident at the age of 25 during 2002
Spring Training.
The younger Darr played three seasons for the Padres, 1999-2001,
appearing in 188 games and hitting .273 before the tragic accident.
Good day everyone!
Today on the blog we have a card for a guy who made his MLB debut with
one single at-bat in 1972, Chris Ward, who appeared in his first Big
League game on September 10th of ‘72, his only appearance of the season:
Ward flied out against Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Dick Selma in the
top of the 6th inning on that date for the first at-bat of what would
end up being a brief two season career.
After spending all of 1973 in the Minors, a season that saw him his a
solid .340 over 70 games at Triple-A, he made it back to the Big Leagues
in 1974 where he played in 92 games, hitting .204 with 28 hits in 137
at-bats.
Sadly for him however, he would spend the next three years in both the
Cubs, San Diego Padres and Cleveland Indians systems but never get a
chance back in the Majors, finishing up with a .203 average over 93
games, with eight runs scored and 15 RBIs.
Today
on the blog we have a “not so missing” 1971 card for a grossly
underrated player, Jose Cruz, who made his MLB debut during the 1970
season with the St. Louis Cardinals:
Cruz, who would go on to find fame and fortune with his 13 seasons
playing for the Houston Astros between 1975 and 1987, appeared in six
games for St. Louis in his first taste of the Big Leagues in 1970,
hitting a robust .353 with six hits over 17 at-bats.
He’d never find his true hitting stroke over the parts of five seasons
he spent in St. Louis, but after being purchased by the Astros in
December of 1974, he would go on to become an All-Star outfielder.
He would be named to two All-Star teams, win two Silver Slugger Awards,
and three times finish in the top-10 for N.L. MVP, even leading the
league in hits with 189 in 1983.
By the time he finished with one season as a New York Yankee in 1988 at
the age of 40, he retired with 2251 hits, a .284 batting average, 165
homers and 317 stolen bases.
Today
I present a 1974 “not so missing” card for former reliever Tom Buskey,
who made his MLB debut during the 1973 season as a member of the New
York Yankees:
Buskey appeared in eight games for the Yanks, going 0-1 with an ERA of
5.40 over 16.2 innings pitched, collecting a save along the way.
He would end up putting in eight years in the Big Leagues, pitching
through the 1980 season and appearing in 258 games, all out of the
bullpen for the Yanks, Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays between
1973 and 1980.
His final numbers looked like this: a 21-27 record with a 3.66 earned
run average over 479.1 innings pitched, picking up 34 saves and striking
out 212 hitters.
His best year would arguably be 1975 while with the Indians when he
finished 5-3 with a nice 2.57 earned run average over 50 appearances and
77 innings pitched, with seven saves.
Up
on the blog today is a “not so missing” 1978 card for former Montreal
Expos pitcher Hal Dues, who made his MLB debut with six appearances
during the 1977 season:
Funny enough, the image used for this card is almost exactly like the one for his 1979 card that Topps actually put out, that I had to compare side by side to be sure I wasn't duplicating.
Seems he liked this pose!
Over those six appearances, he posted a record of 1-1 with an earned run
average of 4.30 as a 22-year-old, with four of those games being
starts, over 23 innings pitched.
He’d have a very nice 1978 season which saw his record of 5-6 betray his
ERA of 2.36 over 25 appearances, 12 of those starts, throwing 99
innings and pitching a complete game while also picking up a save.
Seems like injuries curtailed his Big League tenure, as he would spend
all of 1979 in the Minors, appearing in only 12 games split between
Double and Triple A ball before making it to the Majors in 1980.
In what turned out to be his last taste of the Big Leagues, Dues
appeared in six games for Montreal during the 1980 season, going 0-1
over 12.1 innings pitched, posting a bloated 6.57 ERA.
He would play another two seasons in the Minors for the Montreal
organization, but would retire from pro ball after the 1982 campaign,
ending up with a career 6-8 record over 37 appearances, with a nice 3.08
ERA in 134.1 innings pitched.
Time
to go an add future Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven to the long-running
“traded” thread on the blog with a 1976 edition, marking his move from
the Minnesota Twins to the Texas Rangers as part of a blockbuster
six-player trade that also included $250,000:
Blyleven was sent packing along with Danny Thompson to the Rangers for a
package of Mike Cubbage, Jim Gideon, Bill Singer and Roy Smalley along
with $250,000 on June 1st of 1976.
Before the trade he was 4-5 with a 3.12 earned run average over 12
starts, and would go on to post a record of 9-11 with Texas, starting 24
games and completing 14 of them with six shutouts.
He’d finish the combined season with over 200 strikeouts, the sixth
straight season doing so, along with a very nice 2.87 ERA over 297.2
innings of work.
Of course, little did anyone realize that the man would go on to pitch
another 16 years in the Majors, finishing up with 287 wins, 60 shutouts
and 3701 strikeouts, which at the time of his retirement was third
all-time.
I’m still amazed that it took BBWA so many years for them to select him
for Hall of Fame enshrinement considering his career numbers, produced
for generally bad teams.
His post season numbers were even better, going 5-1 over eight games
with an ERA of 2.47, with 36 strike outs in 47.1 innings pitched with
only eight walks allowed.
“The Frying Dutchman”!
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