On the blog today is a fun card to add to the WTHBALLS stable, a re-done career-capping 1977 card for former pitcher Bill Greif, who turns out already played the last of his Major League games by the time this card would have been pulled out of packs:
Topps did have Greif as part of their 1977 set, but in an airbrushed
Montreal Expos uni, a team he would never actually play for over his
six-year career.
Here’s the original as-issued card:
Turns out he would be released by Montreal just before the 1977 season
started after getting traded there in a multi-player deal in November of
the previous year.
So since I found this nice image of him as a Cardinal, the team he
finished up the 1976 season with, I figured it’d make a nice do-over.
For his career, Greif started off with seven games with the Houston
Astros in 1971, going 1-1 before moving on the to team he’d play most of
his Big League tenure for, the San Diego Padres.
Beginning in 1972, Greif would put in just over four season with San
Diego, starting the first three before being moved to the bullpen in
1975.
His best year would be 1973 when he would go 10-17 on a hard-luck Padre
team, pitching to a nice 3.21 earned run average over 36 appearances, 31
of them starts, tossing three shutouts while striking out 120 batters.
By the time he was done, he finished his career with a record of 31-67
over 231 appearances, with a 4.41 ERA in 715.2 innings, with five
shutouts and 19 saves between 1971 and 1976.
