Here was a card I had a lot of fun designing for my "Nicknames of the '70's" sub-set: a card for Jim "Mudcat" Grant.
Check it out:
"Mudcat" was coming to the end of his career by 1971, pitching for
the Pirates before moving on to the Oakland A's for the last 15 games of
a 14-year career.
Easily his best season was 1965 for the pennant winning Minnesota
Twins, going 21-7 with a 3.30 earned run average, 142 K's and a league
leading six shutouts.
Seems the way he got his now famous nickname was as follows:
"Beginning in
1958, he pitched for Cleveland through part of
1964, with a 15-9 year in
1961. He was the roommate of his boyhood idol
Larry Doby when he first came to Cleveland, and Doby dubbed him
"Mudcat", saying that he was "ugly as a Mississippi mudcat". The
nickname stuck."
Quite an anecdote!
All in all, Grant retired with a career record of 145-119, with a
3.63 E.R.A., 18 shutouts, 53 saves and 1267 strikeouts over 571
appearances, 293 of which were starts.
And dig those crazy side-burns!!!