Here’s
a fun card I could not pass up to create, albeit with an obviously
out-dated image from a year prior, a 1978 “not so missing” card for
former White Sox pitcher Jack Kucek, sporting the shorts experimented
with in the Summer of 1976:
As with my previous card of Larry Monroe, here we see what looks to be a
Spring Training shot of Kucek wearing the shorts, which I do believe if
from 1977.
Has anyone confirmed the White Sox tried the shorts again during Spring
Training of 1977 after using them for a short while during the season in
1976?
Nevertheless, this would have been awesome to have pulled from packs
back then! Kucek was just about to pitch in his fifth Major League
season in 1978, all with the Chicago White Sox, though each and every
one was brief, topping out with 10 appearances in 1978.
He’d move on to the Philadelphia Phillies for a short time in 1979,
appearing in four games after starting the season in Chicago, throwing
2/3 of an inning.
In 1980 he’d get the most action he’d see in his MLB career, this with
the Toronto Blue Jays, yet ironically that would be the last season of
his career, and on top of it would not even make Topps’ set in 1981 even
with 23 appearances and 68 innings pitched.
All told, by the time he finished after that 1980 season, he ended up
with a record of 7-16 over 59 appearances and 205.2 innings of work,
collecting two saves and a 5.12 earned run average over seven years.