Here
was a fun card to create, a 1977 “Nickname” card for former
middle-reliever Dick Tidrow, aka “Dirt”, who carved out a very nice
13-year career for himself in the Major Leagues:
Tidrow originally came up as a starter with the Cleveland Indians,
having two solid years in 1972 and 1973 before getting traded over to
the New York Yankees, where he would become an important, while
overlooked piece in the Bronx bullpen over the next 5+ seasons.
While it’s easy to see how he could be overlooked when you have
teammates like Sparky Lyle, Ron Guidry and Rich Gossage, if you take a
look at Tidrow’s contributions to the Yankee dynasty of 1976-1978 you
can see how he really had quite the impact, both as a reliever and a
spot starter.
After his Yankee days, in which he picked up two World Championships and
three American League Pennants, he moved on to the Chicago Cubs, where
he’d lend his arm over the next four years before a season with the
cross-town White Sox and finally, the New York Mets in 1984.
All told, “Dirt” played 13 years, compiled a record of 100-94, with an
ERA of 3.68, 55 saves, five shutouts and 620 appearances between 1972
and 1984.
Not a bad baseball resume to say the least.
The
next “Missed Rookie Cup” in this new series is the 1973 Dick Tidrow,
who was named to Topps “All-Rookie” team in 1972 for his fine Major
League debut:
Tidrow posted a record of 14-15 for the Cleveland Indians, with an
excellent 2.77 earned run average and 123 strikeouts over 39
appearances, 34 of the starts, with three shutouts and 10 complete
games.
Pretty good rookie year to say the least.
He would go on to put in a solid 13-year career in the Big Leagues, both
as a starter and reliever, appearing in 620 games with a record of
100-94 along with 55 saves.
The high point of his career would have to be his years spent with the
New York Yankees between 1974 and 1979, becoming a dependable arm out of
the bullpen as well as spot-starting, participating in both World
Champion teams of the “Bronx Zoo” years.
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