Was
originally going to have this as a “not so missing” card, but realized
that it really was a “missing in action” 1974 card for former reliever
Jim York of the Houston Astros. So here you go:
York appeared in 41 games for Houston during the 1973 season, going 3-4
with an earned run average of 4.42 over 53 innings of work with six
saves.
Definitely enough action in the season to warrant a card in the 1974 set don’t you think?
Ironically, York WAS given a card in both the 1973 set after a 1972
season that saw him appear in only 26 games with 36 innings pitched.
Nevertheless, 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 three
games with the New York Yankees in his final year of 1976 (watch for
that “not so missing” card right here in the near future).
Up
on the blog today we have a 1976 ”not so missing” card for former San
Diego Padres pitcher Larry Hardy, who appeared in only a few games the
previous season after a very nice rookie campaign in 1974:
Hardy appeared in only three games during the 1975 season throwing 2.2
innings and ending up with a bloated earned run average of 13.50 without
factoring in a decision.
It was a big come-down after a very nice rookie year in 1974 that saw
him appear in 76 games, all but one out of the bullpen,going 9-4 for a
bad Padre team, while posting a 4.69 ERA over 101.2 innings pitched,
with two saves thrown in.
After getting traded to the Houston Astros over the Winter of 1975 for
Doug Rader, Hardy’s luck didn’t improve as he would appear in 15 games
out of the ‘pen, not factoring in a decision and pitching to an ERA of
7.06 over 21.2 innings.
Turns out those would be the last innings of his Major League career as
he would go on to play another three years in the Astros’ Minor League
system, but never making it back to a Big League mound again, finishing
up with a career 9-4 record, with a 5.29 ERA over 94 appearances and 126
innings of work.
Time
to go and add that Kansas City Royals spark-plug and grossly overlooked
player from the 1970’s, Amos Otis, to my long-running 1975 “In-Action”
sub-set:
Otis, who came over to the Royals before the 1970 season in a famously
lopsided trade by the New York Mets that netted them Joe Foy, went on to
have a wonderful 17-year Major League career, all but three of those
seasons in K.C.
All the man did was put in consistent solid seasons year after year,
making it to five All-Star games and taking home three Gold Gloves for
his defensive work out in centerfield.
He twice led the American League in doubles, while also topping the
league in stolen bases once, and even had some “pop” in his bat with six
seasons of 15+ homers, with a career high of 26 in 1973.
By the time he retired after the 1984 season after one year with the
Pittsburgh Pirates, he ended up with 193 homers, 341 stolen bases, 1092
runs scored and 2020 hits along with a batting average of .277 and 1007
runs batted in.
Considering the “dead ball” era of the early-70’s in the American
League, his numbers are up there with the best of them, and it’s sad he
get’s lost among his contemporaries when looking back at that time in
Major League baseball.
Time to go and add Oakland A’s All-Star Gene Tenace to my long-running “Dedicated Rookies” thread, giving him his own 1970 card:
Gotta love those classic A’s uniforms!
Tenace of course went on to become an important cog in the three-peat
World Champion teams of 1972-1974, switching between catching duties and
first base, consistently posting on-base-percentages hovering around
.400 with the help of his ability to draw walks.
As a matter of fact in three different seasons Tenace collected more
walks than hits in full seasons where he walked over 100 times.
Part of the first big wave of Free Agency, he’d move on to the San Diego
Padres in 1977 where he’d play for four seasons before playing for the
St. Louis Cardinals in 1981 & 1982, then one last season in the Big
Leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1983.
By the time he retired he ended up with a .241 career average, with 201
homers and 674 runs batted in, with 1060 hits and 984 walks over 1555
games and 4390 at-bats, with an All-Star start in 1975.
Time
to go an add a 1971 “not so missing” card to the blog for eight-game
Major League pitcher Gene Rounsaville of the Chicago White Sox:
After spending the first five years of his professional career in the
Philadelphia Phillies Minor League system between 1965 and 1969,
Rounsaville was drafted by Chicago in the Rule 5 Draft before the 1970
season.
He’d make his Big League debut on April 7th and spend the month with
the White Sox, going 0-1 with a bloated 9.95 ERA over those eight games,
throwing 6.1 innings all out of the bullpen.
He would spend the rest of the year in the Minors, pitching well to the
tune of a 3.26 ERA over 27 appearances and 91 innings, with five saves.
However from what I can find, he never played pro ball again, even
though he was still only 25 years of age, finishing up with those eight
Major League appearances and a record of 0-1.
Time
for another “nickname of the 1970’s” card, this time former relief
pitcher Clay Carroll of the Cincinnati Reds, who was (by my count) the
third player who had the “Hawk” moniker:
This makes my third “Hawk” nickname card, following a 1978 Andre Dawson
and a 1970 Ken Harrelson, easily making this the most popular alias in
this long-running thread.
Carroll get’s a 1973 template since he was coming off his amazing 1972
campaign that saw him set a National League record mark with 37 saves
while posting a 2.25 ERA over 65 appearances and 96 innings.
Those numbers were good enough to finish fifth in the Cy Young Race, as
well as a 13th-place finish for MVP, while making his second All-Star
team.
Since coming to the Reds in 1968 he did nothing but put in stellar
season after season, posting double-digit saves while posting records
like 12-6 in 1969, 10-4 in 1971 and 12-5 later in 1974.
Over his 15-year Big League career he would end up with a record of
96-73, with 143 saves and a very nice 2.94 ERA over 731 appearances and
1353.1 innings pitched.
Fun
card to add to the 1979 stable, a Terry Cornutt “not so missing”
creation for his brief, and I mean very brief, tenure as a Major League
pitcher in the decade’s last season:
Cornutt, who made his Big League debut the previous year with 28 games
and 44.1 innings pitched for the Giants, appeared in only one game
during the 1978 season, pitching a total of three innings on September
15th, a successful scoreless appearance against the Cincinnati Reds.
Sadly for him that would be it though as far as his MLB career, as he
would go on to play the next two years in the Minors but never getting a
chance to make it back to a Big League mound again.
In his brief two-year career, Cornutt finished with a record of 1-2,
with an earned run average of 3.61 over 29 games and 47.1 innings
pitched, all but one of those games out of the bullpen.
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