Bevacqua was in his second year as a Big Leaguer in 1972, hitting only .114 with four hits over 35 at-bats with the Tribe while picking up both infield and outfield duties along the way as a 25-year-old.
He would go on to put in a solid career in the Major Leagues as a guy off the bench through the 1985 season, playing for six teams and playing all positions except for catcher and centerfield.
By the time he retired as a player, he finished with a career .236 batting average with 499 hits over 2117 at-bats in 970 games, hitting 27 homers and driving in 275 runs.
While with the San Diego Padres he had perhaps the highlight of his career when he hit .412 in the 1984 World Series against the Detroit Tigers, hitting two homers with four RBIs and easily would have been the series MVP had they upset the heavily favored Tiger team who steam-rolled through the season as wire-to-wire beasts.
As a card-collector of course, I’d say the highlight of Bevacqua’s career was that sweet 1976 Topps card celebrating his win as the Bubble-gum bubble-blowing champion!
I started collecting cards a year after that, but got many 1976 cards and as an eight-year old I loved that card. Still do!
