On
the blog today is a special 1977 “traded” card for a man who could rake
at the plate, “Shake ‘n Bake” Bake McBride, who found himself in the
city of Brotherly Love come June of that year:
McBride, who came up to the Big Leagues and spent all his time thus far
with the St. Louis Cardinals, was dealt along with Steve Waterbury to
the Philadelphia Phillies on June 15th for Rick Bosetti, Dane Iorg and
Tom Underwood after alleged tension between he and recent managerial
hire Vern Rapp, who was knows as a disciplinarian.
McBride made an immediate splash in the Majors, hitting .302 in limited
play in 1973 before coming back and taking home the 1974 National League
Rookie of the Year Award when he hit .309 with 173 hits and 30 stolen
bases.
Sadly, even though he would keep that average around .300 for the rest
of his career, he was repeatedly dealing with injuries, ranging from
knee and shoulder ailments, to missing almost an entire season because
of eye problems relating to contact lenses.
Over his 11-year career he managed to play a full season only four
times, with three of those years coming consecutively between 1978-1980.
In that last of consecutive full years, he helped the Phillies win the
1980 World Series, defeating the Kansas City Royals and giving the team
their first title.
After that, he played three more years in the Big Leagues, never more
than 70 games in any one season, finishing up with a .299 batting
average over 1071 games and 3853 at-bats, with 1153 hits and 183 stolen
bases.
On
the blog today, a “not so missing” 1972 card for former outfielder Von
Joshua, who appeared in just under a dozen games for the Los Angeles
Dodgers during the 1971 season:
Joshua went 0-7 at the plate with two runs scored for the Dodgers in
that brief action, this after hitting .266 the previous year when he
appeared in 72 games, collecting 29 hits over 109 official at-bats.
He’d spend all of 1972 in the Minors before making it back for good in
1973, going on to play until 1980 when he appeared in 53 games for the
San Diego Padres.
His finest season would have to be 1975 when he hit .318 for the San
Francisco Giants, pretty much setting career highs across the boars with
runs, hits, average, doubles, triples and stolen bases.
Overall, over his ten seasons in the Big Leagues, Joshua finished with a
.273 average, with 610 hits in 2234 at-bats over 822 games.
Today’s
blog post has a “not so missing” 1975 card for former infielder Pete
Mackanin, who appeared in a scant two games for the Texas Rangers during
the 1974 season:
After coming up for the first time in 1973 and appearing in 44 games for
Texas, Mackanin got into only two games in 1974, going 1-for-6 at the
plate while getting some time at shortstop.
He’d find himself a member of the Montreal Expos in 1975, getting some
full-time action by appearing in 130 games and hitting .225, and pretty
much matching those numbers across the boards the following season when
he appeared in 114 games, hitting .224.
He would end up playing through the 1981 season after two years with the
Minnesota Twins, putting in nine years under the Major League sun and
finishing up with a .226 batting average over 548 games and 1570
at-bats.
He’d go into coaching after his playing days, eventually getting some
managerial work in with interim gigs with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2005
and Cincinnati Reds in 2007, before heading the Philadelphia Phillies
for the second half of 2015 and all of 2016 and 2017.
On
the blog today we have a “not so missing” 1974 card for former
pinch-hitter extraordinaire Jose Morales, who started off his Major
League career with a split season between the Oakland A’s and Montreal
Expos in 1973:
Morales appeared in the first six games of his career with the Oakland
A’s, going 4-for-14 at the plate before being purchased by the Expos on
September 18th, going on to play another five games for his new team,
going 2-for-5 before season’s end.
Of course if any of you remember the 1977 set, you’ll remember that
Morales set a new Major League record for pinch-hits in a season in 1976
when he collected 25, breaking the record held by Dave Philley and Vic
Davalillio, appearing on a “Record Breaker” card in the set.
He would play twelve seasons in the Big Leagues, finishing up with a
nice .287 career batting average with 375 hits over 1305 at-bats between
1973 and 1984.
Up
on the blog today we have a 1970 “special” celebrating Major League
baseball’s entry into the Canadian market, as the Montreal Expos play
their first game on April 8th, 1969:
The Expos came out victorious in a slugfest against the eventual World
Champ New York Mets, winning 11-10 out at Shea Stadium, holding off a
Met ninth-inning rally that saw them score four runs to bring the game
down to a single run.
In the fourth inning Montreal pitcher Dan McGinn hit the first home run
in franchise history with a blast off of Mets starter Tom Seaver, while
Rusty Staub and Coco Laboy added shots in the 8th as well.
Jim “Mudcat” Grant started the game for Montreal but lasted 1.1 innings
before giving way to four relievers, with Don Shaw picking up the win
and Carroll Sembera picking up the save.
On the Mets side, Tom Seaver threw five innings, giving up two earned
runs, but didn’t factor in a decision as Cal Koonce picked up the loss
with two innings of work, giving up three earned runs.
Managed by Gene Mauch, the Expos finished up their inaugural season with
a record of 52-110, finishing last in the newly formed NL East.
Up
on the blog today, we have a career-capping “not so missing” 1977 card
for former pitcher Jim York, who played in a handful of games for the
New York Yankees during the 1976 season:
York, who was coming off four straight seasons pitching for the Houston
Astros, appeared in only three games for the Yankees in 1976, going 1-0
and pitching to a 5.59 earned run average in 9.2 innings of work.
York put in seven years in the Big Leagues, appearing in 174 games and
throwing 285 innings, all but four appearances out of the bullpen.
Over that time he finished with a career 16-17 record, with an ERA of
3.79 and 10 saves pitching for the Kansas City Royals, Astros and those
three games with the New York Yankees.
Over
five years ago I created a “Missing” 1978 card for former infielder Ken
McMullen, who closed out a nice 16-year MLB career in 1977 after a
stint with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Since then I’ve found a much nice photo, this one a Topps photograph,
and am taking the opportunity to recreate the card to make it more
“authentic”:
I’ll always jump at the chance to use actual Topps photos to create
cards, and this was a nice improvement over my initial effort.
As I stated earlier, McMullen wrapped up a nice 16-year Major League
career in 1977, appearing in 63 games, good for 151 plate appearances
for the Milwaukee Brewers, hitting .228 with five homers and 19
R.B.I.'s.
It was the only year for him in Milwaukee after two stints of three
years with the Los Angeles Dodgers, five-plus years with the Washington
Senators, three years with the California Angels and a season with the
Oakland A's.
McMullen was a solid player who finished his career with a .248 lifetime
average, 156 home runs, 606 runs batted in and 568 runs scored over
1583 games with 5131 at-bats.
The most success he had were his years in Washington, which saw him as their full-time third baseman between 1965-1970.
The 1969 season was arguably his best year as he hit .272 with 19 homers
and 87 R.B.I.'s along with 83 runs scored and 25 doubles.
One last tidbit: he hit a pinch-hit home run in his last Major League at-bat.
Not a bad way to go out!
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