Following
the combined four-pitcher No-Hitter the A’s threw in 1975 that I
previously profiled here on the blog, I offer up a “No-Hitter”-thread
version of the combined two-pitcher gem spun by John “Blue Moon” Odom
and Francisco Barrios of the Chicago White Sox some 10 months later:
As with the A’s no-no, I originally profiled the White Sox no-hitter for
my earlier “Highlights of the 1970’s” thread from years ago, but I
wanted to include it in my recent “No-Hitter” thread that I started last
year.
And as I did with the Oakland card, I pictured the man who closed it
out, in this case Francisco Barrios, who relieved John Odom in the sixth
inning, pitching the final four innings and closing out this bit of
history.
What follows below is the original text from my first post on August 12th, 2014:
“White Sox pitchers John Odom (an Oakland A's pitcher up until the prior
season), and Francisco Barrios teamed up to stifle the A's on July
28th, 1976, with Odom keeping Oakland hitless for the first five
innings, and Barrios wrapping it up the final four.
While it was a no-hitter, it certainly was not perfect, as Odom managed
to walk NINE A's batters in his five innings of work, and future Hall of
Famers Billy Williams scoring the lone A's run in the bottom of the
fourth inning when Claudell Washington stole second, allowing Williams
to score on a bad throw from catcher Jim Essian.
All told, Odom and Barrios walked a combined eleven batters, while striking out five and allowing three stolen bases.
But in the end it was (and is) an official no-hitter, and would end up
being the last combined no-hitter until the California Angels pulled the
trick on April 11, 1990 when Mark Langston and Mike Witt combined to
no-hit the Mariners.
Just a year later in 1991 there would be TWO more combined no-hitters,
spun by the Baltimore Orioles and then the Atlanta Braves.
Since then there have been two more combined no-no's, the July 12th
effort by the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Houston Astros in 1997, and
the June 11, 2003 no-hitter thrown by SIX Houston Astros against the
New York Yankees.
Ironically enough, the 1976 combined no-no would end up being one of
Blue Moon Odom's last Major League games, as he was out of the Majors
after only eight games in 1976, finishing off a 13-year career.”
Here’s
a “not so missing” 1979 for former Chicago Cubs player Ed Putman, who
could play the infield while also spotting you behind the plate:
Putman, who you may remember from the 1980 Topps set while a member of
the Detroit Tigers, appeared in 17 games for the Cubs during the 1978
season.
He hit .200 with five hits over 25 at-bats, driving in three while
scoring two himself, while playing third, first and catcher out in the
field.
Originally up for five games in 1976 with Chicago, he’d go on to play in
21 games with the Tigers in 1979, which turned out to be the last
action he saw on a Major League field.
He finished his brief three-year Big League career with a .239 average,
collecting 17 hits over 71 at-bats in 43 games, suiting up for the Cubs
and Tigers between 1976 and 1979.
Let’s
go and give former All-Star Ken “Hawk” Harrelson a “Nicknames of the
1970’s” card in my long-running thread, using the 1970 template:
Harrelson was coming off an excellent 1969 campaign that saw him start
off with 10 games for the Boston Red Sox before getting traded to the
Cleveland Indians, finishing up with 30 home runs and 92 RBI’s along
with a career-high 17 stolen bases and 89 runs scored.
This was coming off his finest Major League season in 1968 when he
finished third in the AL MVP race after hitting 35 homers for the Red
Sox while leading the league with 109 RBI’s.
However he would only play 17 and 52 games respectively over the 1970
and 1971 seasons because of a broken leg sustained during Spring
Training in March of 1970 before retiring for good.
He finished his nine-year MLB career with 131 homers, 421 RBIs and 374 runs scored over 900 games and only 2941 at-bats.
Of course, Harrelson is truly remembered by all fans as a broadcaster,
something he has done for over 40 years with a General Manager break in
the mid-80’s with the Chicago White Sox.
A true baseball character, the out-spoken Harrelson has had quite the
interesting career in baseball, as a player and broadcaster, leading to
some funny and sometimes controversial moments.
Worth a quick read-up if you have a minute and are not familiar.
Time
to go and add Los Angeles Dodgers speedster Davey Lopes to my
long-running “Dedicated Rookies” thread, with a 1973 example to
compliment his multi-player rookie card in the 1973 Topps set:
Lopes appeared in 11 games for the Dodgers in 1972, coming up along-side
other future All-Stars Ron Cey, Steve Garvey and Bill Russell to give
the organization a rock-solid foundation for years to come.
Lopes would go on to become a four-time All-Star who would lead the
league in stolen bases twice while topping 1000 runs scored, 550 stolen
bases and even hit 155 home runs, helping the Dodgers reach four World
Series, winning it all in 1981.
By the time he retired after the 1987 season, he finished with a .263
batting average, collecting 1671 hits over 6354 at-bats and 1812 games.
Time
to go and “fix” a card that has bugged me literally for decades, the
1977 Willie Crawford, which Topps had airbrushed to show him on the San
Francisco Giants, a team he never actually even played for:
And for those not familiar or do not remember, here’s the original as issued by Topps 42 years ago:
Crawford spent the 1976 season with the St. Louis Cardinals, his first
season NOT playing as a Los Angeles Dodger since he came up to the Big
Leagues in 1964 as a 17-year old “local kid”.
He had a nice season for the Cardinals, hitting .304 over 120 games,
with 50 runs batted in and 49 runs scored with 31 extra-base-hits.
On October 20th of 1976 he was traded to the Giants as part of a
six-player trade that included John Curtis and Vic Harris going to San
Fran, while Mike Caldwell, John D’Acquisto and Dave Rader came to St.
Louis.
Understandably, Topps went to work to airbrush Crawford into a Giants
uniform in anticipation of his playing there during the 1977 season.
Well on March 26th of 1977, just before the season started, Crawford was
on the move again, getting traded to the Houston Astros, thus negating
the work Topps did for their 1977 card.
On top of that, after just 42 games with Houston, Crawford found himself
playing for the Oakland A’s after getting traded for Denny Walling and
cash.
Turns out that time with Oakland playing out the 1977 season would be
the last of his Big League career, as he would go on to play in the
Mexican league over the next two years before retiring for good as an
active player.
Over 14 MLB seasons, Crawford hit .268 with 921 hits over 3435 at-bats, playing in 1210 games between 1964 and 1977.
Today
we have a “not so missing” card for former Atlanta Braves pitcher Frank
LaCorte, who appeared in 14 games during the 1977 season:
LaCorte went 1-8 over those games, with an ugly 11.68 earned run average
over 37 forgetful innings, walking 29 batter, giving up 67 hits and 48
earned runs. Ouch!
However he would bounce back from that season and go on to pitch ten
seasons in the Big Leagues, becoming a decent arm out of the bullpen for
the Houston Astros between 1979 and 1983 before one last year under the
Major League sun in 1984 with the California Angels.
All told, he finished his career with a record of 23-44 along with an
ERA of 5.01 and 26 saves over 253 appearances and 490 innings of work.
The
next no-hitter chronologically profiled in my long-running thread
through the decade, the Astros’ Larry Dierker’s gem spun against the
Montreal Expos on July 9th, 1976:
Dierker came into the game with a record of 7-8, carrying an earned run
average above 4.00, but he had his A-game going as he proceeded to
strikeout eight batters against four walks.
He even helped his own cause with a sacrifice fly, contributing to the
six runs that led to a 6-0 victory just days after the nation’s
Bicentennial celebration.
The 29-year-old was already in his twelfth season in the Big Leagues,
all with the Houston organization, and would finish the season with a
record of 13-14 along with an ERA at 3.69 over 28 appearances, all
starts, with four shutouts and seven complete games.
He’d finish his playing career the following year, with the St. Louis
Cardinals, going 2-6 with a 4.58 ERA over 11 appearances before retiring
with a record of 139-123 with a very nice 3.31 ERA over 356 games and
2333.2 innings pitched.
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