Here’s
a guy I’ve known as a player very well, yet until I came across this
image, I never knew him to start his MLB career with the Texas Rangers
in 1976, thus leading me to create this “not so missing” 1977 card, Greg
Pryor:
I’ve always known Pryor as a Chicago White Sox player, then on to the
Kansas City Royals, for whom he played through the 1986 season before
retiring.
Yet, here we are, turns out Pryor’s first taste of the Big Leagues was
in 1976 as a member of the Rangers, for whom he appeared in five games,
collecting three hits over eight at-bats while playing the infield.
Turns out he was originally drafted by the Washington Senators back in
1971’s Amateur Draft, and after he had that brief taste of the Majors in
1976, he was traded to the New York Yankees in February of 1977 for
Sandy Alomar.
He spent the entire year in the Minors, before being granted Free Agency
in November of that year, leading him to be signed by the White Sox,
for whom he’d play between 1978 and 1981.
Pretty much a platoon or guy-off-the-bench player throughout his career,
he did see full-time action in 1979 when he played in 143 games for
Chicago, batting .275 over 525 plate appearances, scoring 60 runs while
collecting 131 hits.
By the time he retired, he finished with a .250 lifetime average, with
471 hits in 1883 at-bats, scoring 204 runs while driving in 146 himself,
while also being a part of the 1985 World Champion Royals team.