#127 - Tom Paciorek

Tom Paciorek is doing the big bat extended swing pose at Candlestick. It is finally his first solo card after rookie cards in both '71 and '73 so he certainly deserved a shot to stretch it out. He is the third Dodger so far for whom '73 was his first significant season and with less than 200 at bats it was barely that.

Tom Paciorek grew up much like Willie Horton did from a few posts back: poor and crowded in Detroit. He and a few of his siblings were big local sports stars and Tom would attend the University of Detroit (until they cut their football program) and the University of Houston from where he was drafted and signed by the Dodgers in '68. He put in two seasons of Class A ball and in '70 landed at Triple A where he was a big part of those kick-ass minor league behemoths that Tommy Lasorda managed. Tom would hit over .300 and drive in over 100 runs each of the next three seasons and in '72 was named TSN's Player of the Year. He got tiny amounts of playing time at LA each year and in '73 was on the roster to stay. But the outfield was crowded, especially with line drive hitters, and Tom could never crack the lineup full time. He did get a little post-season action in '74 and did well hitting .667 with a double. After the '75 season he went to Atlanta with Jimmy Wynn, Lee Lacy, and Jerry Royster for Dusty Baker and Ed Goodson. In '76 he enjoyed his first season with more than 300 at bats and hit .290. In '77 the outfield got crowded again and his playing time was cut in half. '78 was weird in that Atlanta cut him twice and after the second time Tom hooked up with Seattle. In the AL things got better.

Paciorek had a pretty good half season for the Mariners, hitting just shy of .300, in '78. He followed it with a decent '79 and then , in '80 at age 34, finally got into enough games to get over 100 hits. In '81 he hit .326 and made the All-Star team, continuing his snake-bit ways by having his best season in the strike year. As a reward for those numbers Seattle sent him to the White Sox for Todd Cruz and Jim Essian. In '82 and '83 Tom kept his average north of .300 and then got some starting time in the playoffs. His numbers came in in '84 and the next year he went to the Mets in a mid-season trade. He spent his last two seasons with the Rangers where he hit in the .280's. For his career he hit .282 with 86 homers and 503 RBIs. His baseball-reference bullpen page is about the most detailed I have ever seen.

Immediately after playing, Paciorek returned to Chicago where he was the White Sox color guy from '88 to '99. After a year in Detroit, from 2001 to '05 he did the same thing for the Braves. He then moved to DC for the Nationals and was done after the '06 season. In '93 he made headlines in a different way when he accused one of the priests at the Catholic high school he attended of sexually abusing his brothers and him. He had decided to come forth when the priest - a guy named George Shirilla - was reinstated after another molestation charge against him was thrown out because the statute of limitations had expired. While Tom got nowhere in his suit he did get the guy away from any more teaching positions.


Topps also gave a Player of the Year award out and it correlated pretty well with the TSN one. The formal name of the award is the Spink Award (Topps also gives one by the same name to a journalist). I have not been able to find the co-winner for '72 but I'm pretty sure it will show up soon. The cartoon is a clue to Tom's nickname when he played. It was Wimpy, after the guy that ate all the hamburgers in the Popeye cartoons.

Skipping the checklist, these two guys played down the coast from each other:

1. Paciorek and Ron Cey '72 to '75 Dodgers;
2. Cey and Derrell Thomas '79 to '82 Dodgers;
3. Thomas and Nate Colbert '72 to '74 Padres.

#126 - Checklist #1

This is the first regular set checklist and, yeah, it's marked. I got these cards - most of them anyway - when I was a kid in '74 and I dutifully checked them off, thereby defacing the card. But I do think I was pretty neat. There is nothing terrible special about these cards: no photos - like in the late 60s - or even pictures on them. Just a black pennant. There were five checklist cards so each one had a fifth of the set or 132 cards. Each checklist contained a special set. This one had the Aaron commemorative set that kicked off the blog. There are no typos although there is that card #31 which is listed here as the A's: Mgr/C'ches card when it was in fact the Astros manager card. Looking at the major - the "5" and "0" - cards quickly you get a pretty good All-Star team loaded in pitchers and outfielders but missing the left side of the infield. I will discuss the set milestones more in depth following card #132, the last one on this checklist.


More of the same on the back. You do get to see the next six cards coming up. No degrees of separation exercise here obviously. I will return to that on the next card.

#125 - Nate Colbert

The next Padre/Washington Nat'l guy is an All-Star with a "5" card even. Nate Colbert was a belter and was just coming off the best five year run of his career. He also had some of the meanest facial hair of the set. which I think gets accentuated by that crazy Padre yellow. If those blurred seats in the back are red, this should be Candlestick. A bunch of the Padres away shots are in Riverfront, though, so who knows. It IS one of the best smiles in the set at least.

Nate Colbert was a local St. Louis kid who saw Stan Musial play at Sportsman's Park, which would turn out to be ironic later in his career. His dad had played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues so he had a lot of exposure to baseball. He was signed by the Cards in '64 out of St. Louis Baptist College. He put in a little time in FLA for rookie ball and in '65 played Single A where he demonstrated some power. But the Cards had a pretty good pipe for
first basemen and they left Nate unprotected so Houston gobbled him up for the '66 season in the Rule 5 draft. I now have a handle on how that worked: when a player was taken in that draft he incurred "bonus baby" status for a year and had to stay on the major league roster. This Nate did in Houston for all of '66 but he only got into a couple games and in '67 he went down to Double A where he wowed them with his power but also would strike out a ton. '68 was spent at Triple A and in a late-season call-up to the Astros. That winter he was drafted by the Padres in the expansion draft and he became the club's starting first baseman for the next five seasons. Nate was the only consistent offensive threat on the Padres during that time as he averaged 30 homers and over 80 RBIs despite the high strikeout totals. He was an All-Star from '71 to '73 and nearly went to the Mets in a trade that blew up and then had NY grab Rusty Staub. His best season was '72. More on that year below.

In '74 the Padres traded for Willie McCovey and to make room for him, Colbert played some outfield. He began experiencing back problems this year and his average plummeted. That November he went to the Tigers for Ed Brinkman and Dick Sharon to fill the recently-retired Norm Cash's role. But his offensive numbers continued to fall and by mid-year he was sold to the Expos. His numbers didn't recover for Montreal either. He would get cut by them early in the '76 season and then sign as a free agent with Oakland. But after a season with their Triple A club in which he was still striking out every four at bats he was done. Nate finished with a .243 average, 173 homers, and 520 RBIs in just over 1,000 games. He was also excellent defensively and led the league in both assists and putouts on a few occasions.

After his playing career was over Colbert worked his way back to the Padres and by '85 was involved in their community affairs program. He then coached in their minor leagues the next five seasons. In 1990 he was indicted for mortgage fraud for listing properties he didn't own to get a loan. He spent some time in prison, came out and became a minster with his wife. As recently as last year they have been running an advisory business to amateur athletes.


That was some double header in August of '72. He broke Stan Musial's record for RBIs in a two-fer and was actually at the game in which The Man did it when he was a kid, hence the irony indicated above. Those two games were against Atlanta and even Hank Aaron said it was the most amazing power display he ever saw.

This one won't be as tough as I thought:

1. Colbert and Ollie Brown '69 to '72 Padres.
2. Brown and Bob Coluccio '73 Brewers.

#124 - Bob Coluccio

After a pretty long drought, we have the second rookie card in the past four cards. Bob Coluccio is happily anticipating his major league career while taking a swing in spring training. It must have been nice for a Washington kid to play baseball in a land of palm trees. He picked a good year to be a rookie as '73 would be the best one to date in the young Seattle/Milwaukee franchise.

Bob Coluccio was drafted by the Pilots in '69. A middling hitter and pretty good fielder, he would split time between the infield and outfield the next four seasons in the minors. He started drawing notice as a potential major leaguer in early '72 when his light hitting but good second base work had him projected as as utility infielder. That year he bumped his average 80 points as he moved to the outfield where his review was upgraded to "good prospect who needs polish in the outfield." In '73 he assumed starting right field duties after Ollie Brown and Joe Lahoud were moved primarily to DH. Despite the designation on Bobby's card he only put in a couple games at that position in '73. It would be his best season in the majors and the Brewers organist would raise his profile by playing the theme to The Godfather whenever Bobby came to the plate. In '74 he moved to center but his power numbers got sliced roughly in half and after a few games in '75 in which he couldn't crack .200 he was sent to the White Sox for Bill Sharp. There he moved back to right field but his numbers really didn't recover at all. In '76 and '77 he would play pretty much exclusively at Triple A Iowa, where he put up so-so numbers. He was released at the beginning of the '78 season, signed with Houston, and after a few games with their Triple A club, went to the Cards for whom he finished up the season in the minors as well. Despite an overall year of batting over .300 he was traded after that season to the Mets, for whom he never played. For his career, Bobby hit .220 with 114 RBIs in 370 games. According to his home web page - linked to here - he has been in real estate ever since he finished playing ball where he has apparently done well. He looks almost exactly the same as on his card photo despite one obvious difference.


Bobby's other stats from '72 include 19 doubles and a .377 OBA. That Evansville team had a pretty good share of '73 Brewers on it - Pedro Garcia, Jim Slaton, Jerry Bell, and Darrell Porter, among others - and went 83-57. That's some name - I get "The Godfather" reference.

I've used this guy before:

1. Coluccio and Dave May '73 to '74 Brewers;
2. May and Nelson Briles '77 Rangers.

#123 - Nelson Briles

I am pretty sure that Nelson Briles is mere feet away from the location in which Ken Singleton was on his card which I designated as an ugly one. It looks a little nicer in this photo of Nellie here who appears to be adorned in his home uniform. It's not Three Rivers, nor is it an old photo from Forbes - Nellie was not with the Pirates when Forbes went down in '70 - so it must be the Pittsburgh spring training complex. Regardless of its location, the subject of the photo looks pretty content doing one of those phantom follow through poses the Topps people liked.

Nelson Briles was signed by the Cards in '63 out of Santa Clara University. He is the second Santa Clara player on this blog - Rich Troedson was the first - and he left school his junior year to play ball. He had a very successful first season in Double A Tulsa in '64, going 11-6 with a 2.79 ERA as a starter. That was his only minor league action and '65 would have him up in the St.Louis bullpen.
He had a pretty good rookie year and also put up decent numbers his sophomore season, although his record was pretty poor at 4-15. He also did some spot starting in '66 which continued into '67 when he nearly reversed his record. That year he had a very nice start in the pen and when Bob Gibson went down with an injury, Nellie took his spot in the rotation, winning nine straight starts. His 14-5 record and 2.44 ERA earned him some MVP votes and his performance was a big contributor to the Cards reaching the Series that year. He had a real nice Series, pitching a complete game win in the third game and a couple shutout innings in Game 6, a loss. In '68 he had what was probably his finest regular season ,winning 19 with a 2.60 ERA. His '68 Series was not as good (0-1 with an ERA over 5.00). His '69 season was pretty good but the Cards were done with post-season play for a while. In '70 his hamstring went south on him and his poor season led to him being thrown in to a trade with the Pirates (he and Vic Davalillo went for Matty Alou and George Brunet). Back in the bullpen for '71 Nellie would make some quality spot starts down the stretch and earn a spot in the Series. He won Game 5 against Baltimore, throwing a two-hit shutout in what many thought was the turning game of the Series. A couple 14-win seasons followed and then came the above trade moving Nellie to the AL.

Kansas City wanted Briles to add a quality arm to its rotation, but it turned out differently. In '74 spring training Nellie tore cartilage in his knee and would win only five games with his worst ERA in four years. In '75 he began the season 4-1 when a liner by Fred Lynn nailed his elbow. He won only two games the rest of the year. After the '75 season Nellie went to the Rangers for Dave Nelson. '76 was a revival year for him : 11-9 with a 3.26 ERA for a losing team. But that was his last hurrah and over the next two seasons he would go 10-8 with an ERA in the mid-4.00s for Texas and Baltimore. He finished with a career mark of 129-112 with a 3.44 ERA. In the post-season he was 2-1 with a 2.65 ERA.


There are some nice props in those star-bullets. It's some signature. It looks like he tried to fit all the letters of his first name in one spot. And that's a great cartoon: Nellie did have an act. He was sort of a Dean Martin-type performer: a little singing, some baseball stories, and some comedy. He actually sang the anthem at one of the '73 Series games.


The front of this Traded card is about the worst one so far. The air-brushed colors are way too florescent and the colors don't match. The background is on a field, which has been a rarity for these cards, so that's nice. On the back, this may be the only time I've seen KC spelled phonetically on a Topps card.

While Nellie's immediate future with the Royals was nothing special, he did go on after playing to a high profile baseball career. In '79 he began calling Pirates games on TV. In '86 he moved to Pirates administration becoming their director of corporate sales. He was still in that position when at a golf outing in Florida on behalf of the Pirates he had a fatal heart attack. He was 61.

A recent HOF inductee gets these two together:

1. Briles and Bert Blyleven '76 to '77 Rangers;
2. Blyleven and Jim Holt '71 to '73 Twins.

#122 - Jim Holt

This is Jim Holt's last Topps card in a Twins uniform, the team with which he played most of his career. In '75 he gets air-brushed into an A's uniform even though he played for Oakland in '74. Here he gazes wistfully in an unknown location, perhaps to the '74 Series where he will have his moment in the sun.

Jim Holt had a history that is hard to track down. He was signed by the then Kansas City As in '65 as a free agent. He would have been 21 then and I have read that he was signed while in the army. I have also read from a couple undocumented sources that he missed his first year because he was serving in Viet Nam which would make him just the third guy on this blog to have done so. In both '66 and '67 he put in a couple Single A seasons for the As, playing the outfield and producing a .300 average. Following the '67 season he went to the Twins in the Rule 5 draft and was on their major league roster for all of '68, grabbing a little over 100 at bats in a crowded outfield. He went down to Triple A Denver in '69 where he had a very impressive season. In '70 he returned to the bigs and the next two years would see significant action in the outfield. But the Twins had plenty of hitting and Jim was not distinguishing himself enough to stick around. Minnesota added Bobby Darwin in '72 and sent Jim back to Triple A where he had another All-League season (.333 with 96 RBIs) and hit .444 in a late season call-up. He then stuck for all of '73, posting career highs across the board, splitting time in laft field and also playing first base. In '74 Jim, apparently gaining weight, was moved to first base full time and his average dove about 40 points as his playing time was constrained. That August he went to Oakland for Pat Bourque to provide some timely hits. He didn't exactly deliver, going 0 for 20 as a pinch hitter. But Oakland made the playoffs anyway and in Game 4 of the Series, Jim would deliver the game-winner. He would perform well for Oakland in the post-season, batting .500 with a double, a walk, and two ribbies. In '75 he again put in most of his time at first, but the weight continued to be an issue and his playing time again decreased. In '76 most of his time was spent at Triple A Tucson where although he hit .337 he was released before the season ended. That ended his time in baseball and for his career Jim was a .265 hitter with 177 RBIs. His career average in the minors was .319.

After baseball, Jim returned to North Carolina where he was a fireman in a town called Elon. In '79 he started a business with a couple other guys that sold specialty fire hoses to municipal fire companies. That business was sold in 2006 but I cannot confirm whether or not he was still around for that.


In that '69 season at Denver, Jim also had 12 triples. This cartoon is lame and the inviting comment given that he supposedly had a weight issue is that maybe he enjoyed watching television a little too much.

All AL again. In fact, these guys played together:

1. Holt and Larry Lintz '75 to '76 As.

#121 - Larry Lintz

This is the first rookie card in a long while and its subject really looks the part. Larry Lintz would have been about 23 when this photo was taken but he looks about 15. He was a little guy, playing at under 150 pounds, and a speedster. Here he looks like he's doing one of those "kid in a candy store" looks of wonderment at Candlestick.

Larry Lintz was drafted by the Expos out of San Jose State University in '71. He played baseball and ran track in college. He came east to Watertown his first year and hit pretty well. In '72 he moved up to Double A and didn't hit terribly well but stole a bunch of bases and walked enough to have an OBA over .380. He started '73 in Triple A and in half a season put up 57 walks and stole 48 bases. He was then brought up to Montreal to add some speed to the lineup. While in the minors he was primarily a shortstop, up top he would play second as the aging of Ron Hunt gave him more opportunity for playing time. In his first season up he stole 12 bases in 50 games. In '74 he had his biggest season, splitting time at second with Hunt and Jim Cox and stealing 50 bases in a little over 100 games. That was an Expos record until Ron LeFlore came along (he is getting a bit of print in these posts). Gene Mauch, his manager, said he was the best player he ever saw once he was on first base. The trouble was getting him there and Larry's defense, although better than his hitting, was not good enough to warrant him playing full time. In '75 he got into about half the games through July, but his average and stolen base totals declined and he was traded to the Cards for Jim Dwyer. He played very rarely for St. Louis and after the season went to Oakland for a guy named Charlie Chant who had one "t" too many to be a private detective. In Oakland he succeeded Herb Washington and Lightning Hopkins as the team's principal designated runner. In the next two years he got only 44 plate appearances but scored 32 runs and stole 44 bases. In '76 his 31 steals contributed to a record AL 341 team steals. He was cut after the '77 season and signed as a free agent with Cleveland. For the Indians he played second and third in Triple A (he also put in a bunch of time for the As in '78 at that level). But those two positions were a dead end since the Tribe had Duane Kuiper and Buddy Bell and Toby Harrah there and early in '80 Larry was released. His major league career, which added up to about one whole season was memorialized by a .227 average, 137 runs, and 128 stolen bases.

I cannot find a bit of info on Larry since he finished playing. Sort of like he just ran off to nowhere.


Despite the steadily declining average, Larry was getting recognition his first couple years. Pretty prosaic cartoon but it beats the next one.

This is another all-AL hookup:

1. Lintz and Rich McKinney - remember that guy? - '77 As;
2. McKinney and Wilbur Wood '69 to '71 White Sox.

Rich McKinney was a middle infielder for the Sox who went to the Yankees in '72 to be their third baseman. When that didn't work the Yanks got their new guy who stuck around a long time.

#120 - Wilbur Wood

Our next action shot - and obviously here "action" stretches the descriptive limit - is of Wilbur Wood reposing on a bench at an away stadium, probably either Oakland or New York since that is where just about all his teammates were photographed. That he was not on the mound was sort of an event for Wilbur during the earlier part of the season. The arguably most successful knuckleballer of the first half of the '70s, Wilbur was a huge innings hog who seemed to have the ability to pitch every day. At least until Ron LeFlore shut him down.

Wilbur Wood was a home-grown kid who signed with Boston in 1960 out of high school. He learned the knuckleball from his dad while playing high school ball. When he hit the minors, though, he was aware that the knuckler was frowned upon so he threw more conventional pitches, primarily a fastball and a curve. Those would work in the minors and by '64 he had won 15 games twice and had a career ERA well below 3.00. But in 43 games in the majors over that span he went 0-7 with an over 4.00 ERA as a spot starter and reliever. In '64 he was sold to the Pirates for whom he had a couple of ok years before being sent back to Triple A for '66. Deciding that his present routine wasn't working, that season Wilbur went all knuckler and he put up a 14-8 season with a 2.41 ERA as a starter. He was then traded to the White Sox for Juan Pizzaro and in '67 was back in the bigs, now strictly as a reliever. He had a nice '67 and then turned it on in '68, getting into a then-record 88 games and going 13-12 with 16 saves and a 1.87 ERA. Two facets of his knuckler contributed to his success: one was that his tended to tail down and away from righthanders; two was that he could throw it for strikes. Two more excellent seasons in relief followed. Then before the '71 season Joe Horlen got hurt and Chuck Tanner moved Wilbur into his spot in the rotation. Tanner also wanted to have heat coming out of the pen and he had two young guys named Terry Forster and Goose Gossage who could do that. Wilbur responded impressively, going 22-13 in 42 starts his first year and 24-17 in a league-leading 49 starts in '72. In those two years he would come in third and second, respectively, in Cy Young votes.

1973 was a pretty uncanny year for Wood. Picked by many to finish in first place in their division, the Sox got rolling pretty quickly. Wilbur was a big part of that and in their first 50 games his record was 14 and 4. He was on a pace to win 45 games that year! But it then took him four shots to get win 15 and by then Dick Allen got hurt and the Sox bench was decimated and mediocrity began. Wilbur still won 24 and again led the league in starts as he would the next two seasons. In '74 he won 20 while in '75 he lost that many as his ERA bloated a bit. It was his first season in five years without Ed Hermann as his catcher so that was probably a contributor to that performance. In '76 he started well and in early May was 4-3 with a 2.24 ERA when he started a game against Detroit. Ron LeFlore hit what Wilbur described as an inside-out hit right up the middle. An inside-out hit is one in which the batter's hands are kept inside the arc of the pitch for the whole pitch and stay close to the body during contact. It looks to the fielders as if the batter is pulling the ball but in reality it can be hit to all fields. Wood wasn't ready for the comebacker and it hit his knee, shattering the kneecap. That was it for his season. When he returned the next couple seasons he was tentative on the mound and tried to re-work his knuckler so that it would tail to the inside instead of the outside. It didn't work too well and after 17 wins combined in '77 and '78 he quit. For his career he went 164-156 with a 3.24 ERA and 57 saves. He was also named to three All-Star teams. There is a nice interview with Wilbur on the Baseball Almanac site here.

After baseball Wilbur moved into insurance sales which he was still doing at the time of the above interview in 2005. He was named to the Sox all-century team.


Wilbur was in the thick of an excellent stretch of his career at this point. He had one of the most successful reliever-to-starter transitions ever and had not had an off season since '64. That career ERA is awfully impressive also. The Fireman of the Year award has been given out by The Sporting News every year since 1960.

I just miss this using Jim Morrison. This one will use some ex-Yankees:

1. Wood and Oscar Gamble '77 White Sox;
2. Gamble and Bill Robinson '72 Phillies.
3. Robinson managed by Danny Ozark on the '73 and '74 Phillies.

#119 - Danny Ozark/Phillies Field Leaders

1973 was Danny Ozark's first as a manager. He succeeded Paul Owens who was also the GM and had hired him. The Phillies were terrible in '72. If it weren't for Steve Carlton, the team would probably have challenged the '62 Mets for futility. Although the '73 bunch was the only NL East team not in the running for the division title, it did pick up 12 wins on that '72 team and introduced future stars like Bob Boone and Mike Schmidt. They would then duel with the Pirates for the top spot the rest of the decade and win the Series in 1980. Ozark was the manager for most of that resurgence and in just about every one of those years his players asked that he be replaced. But by the time he was done in '79 he would have - and still has - the best record of any Phillies manager to manage as many games as he.

Danny Ozark was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers - as a lot of these guys would be - in 1942. After a year at second base in the low minors he missed all of '43 to '45 to WW II. When he returned in '46 he was moved to first but there were two obstacles. One was that he lived in Buffalo which gave him no time to prepare for the spring training glut; two is that he had a guy named Gil Hodges ahead of him at first base. Danny would make it as far as Triple A and was a starter at various levels through '55 but he could never crack the bigs. He would hit .282 with over 200 homers in the minors. In '56 he got his first management gig in the Dodger chain and he continued to manage in the minors through '64. In '65 he was promoted to coach for Walt Alston which he did through '72. Then came the Phillies job which he kept until his dismissal in '79. The knock on him was that he was too laid back but he must have done something right since during that time he managed three division winners. In '79 he returned to LA to coach until he had a falling out with Tommy Lasorda in '82. He coached in San Francisco from '83 to '84 then briefly managed the team. His managerial record was 618-542. He passed away at age 85 in 2009.


Carroll Beringer was a pitcher who signed with the Dodgers in '46. In '47 he won 22 in Class D ball. He was moving up the ladder when in '51 and '52 he missed whole seasons for the Army. While he pitched well when he returned he was pretty much in neutral in the Dodger system and would get no higher than Triple A. In '59 he went 19-5 to win Pitcher of the Year in the Texas League. By then he was 33 and he began to coach as well as play. He would finish his minor career going 145-82 with a 2.98 ERA. From '61 to '72 he would coach for Alston in LA. He then coached with the Phillies from '73 to '78. He quit the last gig to spend more time with his family in Texas. There he did a bunch of fund-raising for local teams and Texas Wesleyan University. He passed away earlier this year at age 82.

Billy DeMars was an infielder signed by the Dodgers in '43, who played one season in the lower minors and then, like Danny Ozark, got sucked into WW II, missing the next two seasons. He returned to B Ball in '46, had a good '47 season and was traded to the A's in '48, for whom he would debut in the majors that year. He went to Detroit in '49, where he played in Triple A, and then the Browns in '50. He was the primary infield backup for St. Louis that year, got in one game the following year and then returned to the minors for the rest of his playing career. In the majors he hit .237 in 211 at bats. By '58 he was managing in the - now - Baltimore system, which he did through '68. In '69 he moved to Philly where he was the hitting coach through '81. He then coached at Montreal ('82 to '84) and for the Reds ('85 to '87). He was given props by, among others, Eric Davis and Barry Larkin for help with their hitting, and by Steve Rogers, for help with his curveball.

Ray Rippelmeyer - the name is spelled incorrectly on the front of the card - was signed by the Braves in '54 while at Southern Illinois University. He was quite the hoops player in college and he was drafted by the Knicks in '55 and inducted into the school's hall of fame. He started well in the minors and by his second season he was up in Double A. But he lost '56 to military duty, returning to Triple A ball in '57. Again he pitched pretty well and after the '59 season he was drafted by the Reds in the Rule 5 draft. When expansion came in '61 he got plucked by the new Senators and in '62 made his major debut. In his only season he went 1-2 with a 5.49 ERA. He did, however, hit .500 with a homer in six at bats. He was then returned to the Reds and the minor leagues where he played through '65. His lifetime minor league record was 114-83. In his final season he managed and the from '66 to '67 coached in the Cincy system. He then moved to the Phillies' system in '68 and '69 and became the major league pitching coach in '70. He stayed up top through '78 where he helped, among others, Carlton with his slider and Jim Lonborg with his big comeback in '76. From '79 on he was a roving pitching coach for the Philadelphia minor leagues, which I believe he did until he retired.

Bobby Wine was a recent player - his final season was '72 - who was signed by the Phillies in '57. He started off strongly in the minors, hitting over .300 his first two seasons. But he was also beaned pretty badly during that time and it led to him being admittedly tentative at the plate for the rest of his career. But he was an excellent fielder and by '62 he was in the majors where he had no errors in 20 games at third base. His main position was shortstop and it was there in '63 that he would win a Gold Glove. He was the Phillies regular there through '68 although he missed substantial time to back injuries in both '66 and '68. He would also be a big help for Dick Allen whenever the latter guy played the outfield. Allen had a notoriously weak throwing arm and Bobby would sprint to the outfield - he actually took lessons from a local college track coach - whenever a ball was hit Dick's way to take the relay. He went to Montreal in the '69 expansion draft and there succeeded Mary Wills as starter by the end of the season. He had his best offensive season in '70 (.232 with 51 RBIs) and was their main guy there through '71. For '72 the Expos got Tim Foli from the Mets and Bobby's career as a player was pretty much done. He hit .215 lifetime. He was coaching back with the Phillies before '72 was done which he did through '83 when he was let go after the team lost the Series. He probably would have left anyway since he was passed over a couple times to manage by then. He then moved to Atlanta as a scout ('84 to '85) and coach ('85 to '90) and was an interim manager in '85. He went 16-25 when he managed. From '93 to '96 he coached for the Mets. He then returned to scout for the Braves which he is still doing. His son Robby played a bit and coaches Penn State baseball.

I can't do the double this time since Danny Ozark never made it to the majors:

1. Danny Ozark managed Dave Cash on the '74 to '76 Phillies;
2. Cash and Bill Lee '79 Expos.

#118 - Bill Lee

This is the third Red Sox in the last 14 cards. Bill Lee is posing in the same outfield Don Newhauser was earlier in which I surmised it was a spring training shot against the Mets. I have no reason to characterize this place any differently now. That looks like another Red Sox pitcher in the background and he's kind of stocky so I'm going with Marty Pattin. Before Bill's first game at Fenway he took a look at the Green Monster and asked a teammate if they kept it there during games; thus was born The Spaceman.

Bill Lee was drafted in a late round by the Sox out of USC in '68. He was fresh off winning the college World Series in which he had a win and a save. In his two minor league seasons, '68 and '69 he kicked butt, going 10-6 with a 1.81 ERA. He reached Boston in mid-'69 and pitched sparingly out of the pen with an occasional start the next two seasons. In '71 he was the team's main middle reliever. In '72, after Sparky was traded, he assumed the closer role. In '73 before the season opened he had bone chips in his ankle and Boston tried to trade him. He again began the season in the pen, where he stared strongly. On May 1 he was given a start and although he pitched badly - 6 runs in five innings - he went on to post a 12-4 record by the break and was named an All-Star. He finished the year with 17 wins, the same number he would have the next two seasons. In '76 he got nailed by Graig Nettles during a bench-clearer at Yankee Stadium and came out of it with an injured shoulder and a mostly lost season. Once he returned to the lineup in '77 he bounced back pretty well, getting nine wins in about a half season. In '78 he returned to the rotation and won ten. But his criticism of manger Don Zimmer and his off-field behavior was wearing thin and after the '78 season he went to Montreal for Stan Papi. For the Expos in '79 he won 16 in his last good year as a starter. Injuries slowed him down in '80 and the next year he performed well in relief. After a couple games in '82 he was released after he made a stink about the release of a fellow player. That was it for Bill in the majors. He finished with a 119-90 record with a 3.62 ERA and 19 saves. He was a pretty good hitter, batting .208, and performed well in the post-season with a 2.93 ERA in 15 innings.

The Spaceman stayed on the radar after baseball. He ran for President in '88, played in the Senior League during its two seasons, and wrote a bunch of books. He made headlines in 2000 when he claimed he got stoned with GWB in '72. In 2010 he started and won a game for the Brokton Rox, an independent team. He still plays ball as much as he can and claims he lives off the land. Who knows?


According to the first two star bullets, Bill had quite a career at USC, although I believe one of those wins was actually a save. It sort of makes one wonder why he didn't go until the 22nd round of the draft. Maybe he already had the offbeat reputation. He did have a nice year relieving in '71 but Sparky Lyle was definitely the closer so I don't know what determined "top man" back then. The cartoon is interesting since he apparently pitched righty below the border. He had some interesting times in winter ball: in PR one year he got into a nasty fight with Ellie Rodriguez and had to be rescued by Ron Woods, which was ironic since that last guy would be a Yankee. Bill also got punched by Reggie Smith while having a debate about Lee's usefulness as player rep. It was one of the reasons Smith was traded.

This one will be easy:

1. Lee and Sparky Lyle '69 to '71 Red Sox;
2. Lyle and Ron Blomberg '72 to '76 Yankees.

#117 - Ron Blomberg

Back to the action shots, this one is of the first ever designated hitter. For a while it was a tossup. The Yanks played Boston at Fenway and got the first two guys in a double play. If they went down, Orlando Cepeda was due to bat fifth in the bottom half and judging by the boxscore - Boston would win 15-5 - there was a good shot he'd get up. But Ron Blomberg was batting sixth and after the next three guys loaded the bases, Blomberg walked to force in a run and his bat was headed to Cooperstown. Here it looks like he's wristing out a single at Yankee Stadium.

Ron Blomberg - pronounced Bloomberg - was a first rounder out of Georgia by the Yankees in '67. He was a wildly sought after kid since he was a star in football, basketball, and baseball. He was a big, solid kid at 6 feet and 200 pounds and was of course compared to Mickey Mantle when he was signed for $90,000, a pretty big sum back then. In the minors he showed some power but was building a reputation as a line drive high average guy and was moved from first to the outfield. Up for a couple games in '69 he arrived for good in '71 and hit .322 in about a third of a season, doing well enough to make Baseball Digest's - though not Topps' - rookie team. In '72 his average tumbled but he got more at bats and hit his peak in homers with 14. But '72 was the year he started being platooned and during the rest of his career he would rarely hit against lefties, limiting his at bats. But he was a crowd pleaser and although he would be hurt a bunch as well, he did fulfill one of the goals the Yanks had for him: bringing more Jewish people to the park (his autobiography is "DH - Designated Hebrew"). In '73 he was actually set to again platoon at first with Felipe Alou and did not bat at all as a DH in spring training. But he pulled a hamstring and couldn't play the field so he was asked to DH and history was made. He went one for three in that game and was booming early in the season so that by late June he was hitting over .400, the latest date that had been achieved in 25 years. By July he was still at .397 but after the All-Star break the Yanks slumped and he would finish hitting .329 with 12 homers and 56 RBIs in what amounted to just over half a season. He continued hitting well in '74 but got hurt in the Shea outfield. In '75 more pain followed, this time I believe his knee, and he would post only 106 at bats that year and two in '76. By '77 spring training he was healthy again but before the season started he wrecked his shoulder running into an outfield wall. After a year on the DL he signed as a free agent with the White Sox. He saw limited action in '78 and was then done. He hit .293 with 52 homers and 224 RBIs in 449 games.

After baseball, Boomer moved around a bit. He became a motivational speaker, using his Jewish heritage as a sort of schtick. He also ran a couple baseball camps. In 2007 he was invited to Israel to coach a team there and ended up winning the league championship. He is currently a scout in the Atlanta area for the Yankees.


Pretty good numbers, Ron was one of a few AL guys with a lifetime .300 average. The cartoon is no surprise; back then the Hawks had the Pistol playing for them. I guess he was the top DH. Jim Ray Hart was the other one and outside of average their stats were pretty similar.

Boomer was one of the few Yankee stars of this era. Let's use another one:

1. Blomberg and Bobby Murcer '71 to '74 Yankees;
2. Murcer and Derrel Thomas '75 to '76 Giants;
3. Thomas and Jerry Reuss '79 to '83 Dodgers.

#116 - Jerry Reuss

Now here's a happy guy. Jerry Reuss smiles a lot on his cards. He looks like he knows how to turn on the charm. Small wonder that after he finished playing he became a sportscaster. Jerry is smiling even though someone did something horrible to his uniform. He isn't exactly airbrushed here. He just had all identifying symbols removed. He was also just traded from the Astros to the Pirates so that was something to smile about. The photo is from Shea.

Jerry Reuss was drafted by the Cards out of high school in '67. He got a pretty decent bonus so he must have been a hot prospect. His parents also got a trip to Hawaii. He spent most of that year at Single A then moved up a rung each year. At the end of '69 he came up to the Birds and won his only start. In '70 he was cruising at Triple A so the Cards pulled him up, sticking him in the rotation. After a couple seasons as a .500 starter he was traded to the Astros for Scipio Spinks. Houston was looking for a lefty starter to go up against the improving Dodgers. In '73 Jerry won 16 and had a generally good year although he led the league in walks. He was also quite a clothes horse, apparently favoring two-toned platform shoes - I had a pair of those - which must have been a sight since he goes 6'5". After the '73 season he went to the Pirates for catcher Milt May. His time in Pittsburgh was pretty productive, especially in '75 when he won 18 and was the NL starter at the All-Star game (he was 10-6 at game time). But away from the field things were pretty wiggy. He got fined for taking his wife on the road. He got fined for going to college. He got shot down when he asked to have a no-smoking section on the team bus (he was/is an asthmatic). In '77 his numbers cooled off a bit and in '78 he was barely used, ending up in the bullpen by mid-season.

In 1979 Jerry was traded to the Dodgers for Rick Rhoden and took his place in their pen. While his numbers were nothing special in a sort of lost season for LA, he did get some starts and had a nice last few weeks, going 2-1 with a 1.23 ERA. In the off-season the Dodgers signed Dave Goltz as a free agent and Jerry was back in the bullpen to start the season. He did, however have a productive off-season himself in which, worried about losing some pop from his fastball, he visited Dr. Frank Jobe, of Tommy John fame. It turns out that the muscles on his left side had atrophied, apparently in part due to his asthma. Workouts helped him rebuild his muscles so when Goltz went down Jerry was able to take his rotation spot and fly. He would go 18-6 in '80 with a 2.51 ERA and a league-leading six shutouts. He also fired a no-hitter. In '81 he went 10-4 with a 2.30 ERA and destroyed Houston in the divisional series. In '82 he missed throwing a perfect game by a first inning hit and again won 18. He was an effective started for LA through '85. Earlier injuries took their toll the next couple seasons as he moved from LA to the Reds to the Angels, none of for whom he pitched well. In '88 he went to the White Sox as a free agent and had a nice season, going 13-9 with a 3.44 ERA. There he won his 200th game. The next year his stats took a hit and he moved to the Brewers. In '90 he signed with the Pirates organization and pitched for Triple A Buffalo. He was called up for a bit that season allowing him to be one of a handful of pitchers to throw in four decades. That was his last season and in the end he went 220-191 with a 3.64 ERA and 39 shutouts. He threw in two All-Star games and won Comeback Player in '80. In 1990 Jerry joined ESPN as an analyst for Angels games. In the early 200's he did some coaching at various levels for the Expos, Cubs, and Mets. In 2006 he signed on to be the LA color guy.


There's that informative little type again. That's a cute cartoon; Reuss is pronounced Royce. Even though he was from Missouri, Jerry was a self-proclaimed surfer dude. He looks it in his photo.

These two guys played a long time:

1. Reuss and Richie Zisk, '74 to '76 Pirates;
2. Zisk and Bruce Bochte '81 Mariners;
3. Bochte and Willie Horton '79 to '80 Mariners.

#115 - Willie Horton

I don't think I'm going out on much of a limb when I say that this is the best card of the set. I know we're not even a fifth of the way through but this card is a masterpiece. From that helmet that would go everywhere to the mustache to the pose and expression that would fit perfectly on Mount Rushmore, Willie Horton gives us one of the baddest-ass shots ever. This is the look of a guy that says "Yeah, I just took you deep with my one-handed stroke. Next time I'll take you deeper."

Willie Horton was born in Virginia and grew up in Detroit. He was the youngest of 19 kids (!!!), six of whom passed away before he finished high school. When he was done playing high school ball he hooked up with a sandlot team called Walway and in 1960 participated in something called the Altoona Class D tournament in which he hit .600. The tournament MVP was Bill Freehan. In '61 Willie signed with the Tigers - after passing up a bigger offer from Boston - for $22,000 of which he used $10,000 to buy his family a nice house in the 'burbs (amazing what ten grand could get you back then). Willie plowed through the minors quickly, moving from Class C ball in '62 to Double A the next year. At the end of the '63 season he came up to the Tigers, hit .326, and hit his first homer off Robin Roberts in front of his dad. In '64 a poor start had him down in Triple A where hit .288 with 28 homers and 99 RBI's. He returned in '65 and set himself up in left field where he would be the starter for a bunch of seasons. His first two seasons he grabbed over 100 RBIs. In '65 while playing winter ball his folks were killed in a car crash which sort of beat the poor guy up. He added to his growing legend in '66 when he broke a bat on a checked swing. In '67 he developed an inflamation in his heel which killed his ribbie totals but the improving Tigers nearly won the pennant. Willie did try to single-handedly stop that year's race riots in Detroit. In '68, his heel repaired, he came back strongly, hitting a career-best 36 homers, getting the game-winner for Denny McLain's 30th, and having a super Series. Along with hitting .304 with a .448 OBA he threw Lou Brock out at home in the play many thought was the Series turner.

In '69 Willie again had some nice power numbers but he went AWOL for a week during the season when he thought he wasn't being appreciated (he was pissed off about the way he'd been used in the Series). In '70 he hurt his ankle and was done by mid-July in what may have turned out to be his best season. In '71 he was healthy but he began being platooned in left and started playing right field. He also got a new manager that year named Billy Martin and the two didn't get along terribly well. That situation sort of peaked in a bad way in '72. Willie showed up to spring training overweight and during the season would hurt his foot and shoulder. Martin also benched him, the first time that had happened, and Willie turned in by far his worst offensive numbers. In '73 he patched things up with Billy a bit, was promised the left field job again, and benefited from time with his new roomie, Frank Howard. He started the season going 12 for 25 and raised his average 82 points. By '74 his legs were really breaking down and he had his knee operated on. He did, however, have enough power to kill a pigeon with a ball he hit. In '75 he was given the DH job and responded nicely, putting up his best power numbers in years. He won top DH award that year (it is now called the Edgar Martinez Award). In '76 Alex Johnson and Rusty Staub were added to the lineup so Willie lost some at bats. He also re-hurt his knee that season and in '77 after one game he was sent to the Rangers for Steve Foucault. He had a good season during the Texas revival but at the end of the year was traded to Cleveland with David Clyde for Tom Buskey and John Lowenstein. He also played for Oakland and Toronto that year which meant his spray paint got quite a workout - he kept his batting helmet and repainted it every time he joined a new team. In Toronto that year he had a wiggy experience when he and his family had a fight with some fans in the parking lot and a mountie hit him over the head, putting Willie in the hospital, according to him with a coma for two weeks. But redemption happily came in '79 when, picked up by the Mariners, he put up a .279 average with 29 homers and 106 RBIs to win the Comeback Player of the Year, also winning that Edgar Martinez to be thing again. A disappointing '80 season followed and after a trade to Texas again, Willie would get to Pittsburgh and play the next two years for the Pirates' Triple A club, where he put up quite good numbers, but not good enough to be recalled. After a year in Mexico in '83 he was done. For his career he hit .273 with 325 homers and 1,163 RBIs. He also played in four All-Star games.

In '85 old antagonist and new friend Billy Martin brought in Willie to coach the Yankees. He also coached for the White Sox in '86. After a bunch of years affiliated with some non-profits, Willie hooked up with the Tigers in 2000 in admin as a community outreach guy. He is still there.


Willie has a nice signature. Its almost rune-like. Boy, nothing dates a card like the term "phonograph records." That was old even in '73!

All AL this time:

1. Horton and Bobby Valentine '79 Mariners;
2. Valentine on the '73 Angels.

#114 - Angels Team Records/Checklist

Ah, the '73 Angels. I loved this team as a kid 'cause of Valentine and Ryan, but what a mess it was. They took a charge at respectability that year with Ryan and Bill Singer piling on early wins and Bobby hitting the crap out of the ball. But then he went down, they went 5 and 12 right before the All-Star break and were out of it before the summer really got going. But Nolan kept kicking butt so every fourth day was going to be an adventure. Plus they did have some power with Epstein, Robinson, and Oliver to keep things interesting. And lots of young guys. The team card here is another
one that is emblematic of the set. Between the blurry photo and the shadow I cannot tell who anyone is. Also, even if I could, a lot of the faces wouldn't be on the team roster anyway.

The checklist front gets to what I alluded just above. The Angels had a high turnover before the '74 season. Look at these signatures: out of 12 of them, three of them weren't even on the '73 team. If you go back one more season, only three guys - Ryan, Bob Oliver, and Sandy Alomar - were on the team in '72. So there was a lot of moving parts on those California teams of the early to mid-'70's. These signatures are representative also. Frank Robinson's is classy; Mike Epstein's is big and all over the place; Vada Pinson's is quietly regal; and Sandy Alomar's is smooth. This card would be a field day for a handwriting expert. But the degree of turnover it implies really was not very conducive to winning a lot of ball games.


As with the newer teams that hadn't won anything yet, Topps presents a year-by-year team record instead of just the records of the team's pennant winners. And all the record holders are pretty recent guys since the team had only been around since '61. Here are the backgrounds of the guys without cards in this set:

Bobby Knoop was signed by the Braves in '56 and was in Triple A by 1960. His reputation by then was as a good fielder and ok hitter. He went to the Angels in '63 through the Rule 5 draft and came up to the majors in '64. From then through '68 he was te club's starting second baseman and during that time he won three Gold Gloves and was named to an All-Star team. In '69 he was traded to the White Sox for Sandy Alomar where he again started. In '71 he went to the Royals as infield backup to Cookie Rojas where he remained through '72 when his playing career ended. He finished with a .236 average and was a .980 fielder. He went into coaching and by '77 was up with the ChiSox where he stayed through '78. He was with California for a long haul - '79 through '96 - and then put in a year at Toronto in 2000.

Albie Pearson was a small (5'5") energetic outfielder who was signed by Boston in '53. In the minors he developed good speed and hitting ability and an excellent eye; his career OBA in the minors was well over .400. Prior to the '58 season he was traded to the White Sox for Pete Runnels and that year he came up and won the AL Rookie of the Year. In '59 he started slowly and was sent to the Orioles for Lenny Green. There he backed up the outfield the next three seasons. In '61 he went to the Angels in the expansion draft. He would start in the Angels outfield the next five seasons, peaking in '63 when he hit .304 and was an All-Star. Albie had a bad back and in '66 he was removed from the starting lineup and released later in the year. He hit .270 for his career with an OBA of .369. He would later DJ but his passion was helping kids and he currently runs the non-profit Father's Heart Ranch in which he receives struggling children. He sounds like the real deal Angel.

Buck Rodgers was signed by Detroit in '56 and like Bobby Knoop above earned a reputation for his defense in the minors. He went to the Angels in the expansion draft and made it up at the tail end of '61. In '62 he became the starting Angel catcher and would have his best offensive season earning second place in AL ROY voting. He was a starter through the '68 season, put up a couple Mendoza Line seasons and was done before he hit 30. He was a lifetime .232 hitter. He turned to his new career - coaching - immediately and moved around a bunch. He coached for the Twins ('70 to '74), manged in the Angels chain ('75 and '77), coached for the Giants ('76), coached ('78 to '80) and managed ('80 to '82) the Brewers, managed the Expos ('85 to '91), and managed the Angels ('91 - '94). During that last gig he had to take some time off while recuperating from a bus crash in '92. His managing record was 784-773 and I believe he is the winningest manager in Expos history.

Leon "Daddy Wags" Wagner was a colorful outfielder who liked to party. Signed by the Giants in '54 out of Tukegee University, he was a huge power hitter in the low minors. In '57 he was out for the military then returned in '58 to Triple A ball. After a good season he was promoted and put some time in the SF outfield for '58 and '59. In '60 he went to St. Louis where he had a crappy year and went down to the minors. At the end of that season he was traded to Toronto of the International League who then flipped him to the Angels for Lou Johnson. There he became a starter and in '62 Daddy would tap 37 homers for 107 ribbies, his best season. While with the Angels he had two All-Star appearances. In '64, troubled by Leon's party habits, the Angels sent him to Cleveland for Joe Adcock. For three seasons he continued to start in the Indians' outfield. In '66 he would be involved in an on-field collision with Larry Brown that would put Brown in the hospital for a month. In '67 Leon would be platooned in right field with Rocky Colavito by new Cleveland manager Joe Adcock (the same guy for whom Daddy was traded) and that was the beginning of the end for both of them. In '68 he went to the White Sox for Russ Snyder and in '69 he returned to San Francisco where he spent most of his time the next two years in the minors. One more Triple A season for Leon for the Padres in '71 and he was done. He finished with a .272 average, 211 homers, and 669 RBI's. After his career he acted in a few movies, owned a clothing store - "Get Your Rags From Daddy Wags" - which he ran into the ground, and continued his recreational use of drugs. He passed away in 2004 at 69; at the time he was living in a shed behind a video store in LA.

Minnie Rojas was a Cuban pitcher signed by San Francisco in 1960 when he was 27. After a few not great seasons in the Giants chain he was sold to Jalisco in the Mexican League in '64. Jalisco then sold Minnie to the Angels in '66 for $20,000, which was a pretty good price back then for a guy from that league. He started the '66 season in Triple A putting up good numbers including lots of strikeouts as a spot starter. He was promoted later in the season and finished off the year for the Angels nicely. In '67 he went 12-9 with a 2.52 ERA and led the league in games finished and saves. In '68 his numbers tanked a bit and in '69 he was back in the minors. He went 23-16 with a 3.00 ERA and 43 saves in the majors. In 1970 he was involved in a horrible car crash that killed his wife and two daughters and left Minnie paralyzed. He would recover enough to run some teams in Mexico. He passed away in 2002 at 68.

George Brunet was never really signed but just kind of ended up with the Kansas City A's in the mid-50s. That transaction - or non-transaction - pretty much epitomized his career in which he pitched just about everywhere (his page on baseball-reference has the most uniform numbers I've ever seen. He first came up in '57 where the first batter he faced was Ted Williams who he got to ground out. But success was still a pretty long way off for George and his travels took him to the Braves, the Astros, and Baltimore, for all of whom he was pretty terrible. In '64 he found his way to the Angels and although he put up a losing record - twice leading the league in losses - he actually had pretty good numbers and was way better than average in ERA. In '69 he left California for the Seattle Pilots where he returned to his bad number days. In "Ball Four" Jim Bouton and he had an exchange about George's refusal to wear underwear. After hanging out the next three seasons with the Senators, the Pirates, and the Cards, respectively, he played in the minors for a couple years, ending things with San Diego in '73. In the majors he went 69-83 with a 3.62 ERA. But he wasn't done in '73. He then went down to Mexico where he pitched straight through until '89. That meant that without a whole lot of success on top that he pitched for 37 seasons. In '81 he had a heart attack down in Mexico and that slowed him down a little. He would die of a heart attack at age 56 in '91 down there also where he continued to coach after his playing career ended.


Given the above, the expectation is that a significant part of the '73 Angels team will be missing from this checklist, which is correct. Starting with catcher, the only guys in the whole set with any time there are Charlie Sands and Rick Stelmaszek and they only had 59 at bats between them. The other guys - Jeff Torborg, John Stephenson, and Art Kusnyer - were pretty much done major league-wise. At first, Jim Spencer had gone to Texas, where he had a card. At second, Billy Grabarkewitz moved to Philly and Billy Parker was done. Al "Dirt" Gallagher put in the most time at third in his last season and Jerry DaVanon got more at bats than either included catcher as a backup infielder. The outfield and DH are covered, though. Only Ken Berry, who has a card with the Brewers, is missing. On the pitching side, Clyde Wright and Steve Barber moved to the Brewers also. Only Andy Hassler, who went 0-4 in his first season, and Ron Perranoski, at 0-2 - he was covered on the Twins team post - had decisions and didn't have cards, so 156 of 162 decisions is represented. That's not so bad.

Just about everybody played for the Angels, including the last guy, so:

1. Leroy Stanton was on the '73 Angels;
2. Stanton and Dick Drago '76 Angels.

#113 - Dick Drago

After a three-card run through the NL we return to the AL with another non-Traded traded card. Dick Drago had been traded from the Royals to Boston and he is shown here on a bleak day barely air-brushed into a Boston cap from a road uniform God knows where. The artist gets a couple points for the "B" but he didn't even try to color the cap black.

Dick Drago was signed by Detroit out of the University of Detroit in '64. Sent to A ball in '65 he would go 5-14 but with a very respectable ERA his first season. The next three, moving from A to Triple A, he would win 15 each year with excellent ERA numbers. All seasons he was principally a starter. Before he got a chance to pitch for the Tigers he was drafted by the Royals in the '68 expansion draft. Pretty much right off the bat he took a place in the KC rotation and for the next five years would be the team's most consistent starter and winner, his best season being '71 when he won 17 and had a 2.99 ERA, finishing fifth in Cy Young voting. In October of '73 he was traded to the Red Sox even-up for Marty Pattin. They'd both had off years and their new clubs were hoping a change of scenery would turn things around. With Boston in '74 Dick moved between starting and relieving and by '75 was the closer with a couple wins and 15 saves. He pitched well in the post-season, going 0-1 with a 1.04 ERA in eight innings. For '76 he was traded to the Angels for Dick Sharon, among others. But he had a poor season in Anaheim and in '77 was sent to Baltimore for Dyar Miller, another reliever. There his numbers revived a bit and in '77 he signed back with Boston as a free agent. After a nice '78 he put up his best relief numbers in '79 going 10-6 with 13 saves and a 3.03 ERA. In 1980 the Boston pitching sort of imploded and Dick was pressed into some starts, having a particularly good week late in September when he won two starts in a row. But overall '80 was not great and the following season he went to Seattle for Manny Sarmiento, former Reds ace-to-be. After a pretty poor year there, Dick was done. He finished with a record of 108-117, 58 saves, and an ERA of 3.62.

In '82 Drago was one of a bunch of former major leaguers - George Scott, Diego Segui, and Luis Tiant were among the others - that SI caught up with while playing ball in Mexico in an article that highlighted the rigors of playing down there. He played in the Senior League that appeared in the late '80's and later had some financial issues. But in a blog posted by a friend in '09 he seemed content and charming. That blog is linked to here. Around this time he also was part of a group that put together a children's book about baseball used to raise money for non-profits.


In '66 Dick went 15-9 for Single A Rocky Mount. Here we have another bowler and according to the cartoon, Dick was fond of using a ball bigger than his head.

Since I cannot seem to avoid the AL, let's see how it gets used on a career guy:

1. Drago and Jeff Burroughs '81 Mariners;
2. Burroughs and Davey Lopes '82 to '84 A's.

I believe this is the first time the Mariners name has been used in this blog.

#112 - Davey Lopes

This is Davey Lopes' first solo card. In '73 he had a rookie one. In my ignorance I had always thought Davey was a hispanic kid from one of the islands or the Americas. Actually he was an urban kid from Providence who grew up in tough circumstances and is of Cape Verdian - a small country off the west coast of Africa - descent. In '73 he was a savior for LA becoming their first full-time second baseman since Ted Sizemore got traded and solidifying the middle defense with Bill Russell. The improved defense was a big deal for LA because that year most of their pitchers were low ball specialists which meant lots of grounders. That year Davey would be named second baseman on Topps' Rookie All-Star Team. In this photo, I am pretty sure those are Astros in the background, but this sure ain't the Astrodome, so I guess it's a spring training shot.

Davey Lopes was drafted by the Giants in '67 - to which he said no thanks - and the Dodgers in '68. He had attended college at both Iowa Wesleyan and Washburn following their athletic director as he traveled between schools. His name was Mike Sarkesian and he had coached against Lopes in Providence and took an interest, eventually persuading him to go to school. Lopes had nine siblings and no dad so it wasn't in the cards without the outside push. After he signed with the Dodgers he elected to continue school, hence his two short minor league seasons in '68 and '69. In '69 he graduated with a degree in education. That freedom allowed his elevation to Triple A ball in '70 where he resided the next three summers with a whole bunch of other future major leaguers. Prior to '71 he was an outfielder but durnig the season he started playing second base. He got a late look in LA in '72 there and then in '73 was kept on the roster to back up Lee Lacy, who had an excellent spring training and was handed the second base job. But Lacy started slowly and then got hurt, allowing Davey to step in. He recognized an opportunity when he saw it and he never looked back, becoming the regular second baseman through '81. Davey would put up good offensive numbers, play a superior second base, and show exceptionally good base-running abilities, leading the league twice in stolen bases. Some of his ratios were pretty amazing: in '78 he stole 45 bases and got caught four times. In '75 he set a record by stealing 38 straight without being caught. With the Dodgers he would play in four All-Star games, earn a Gold Glove, and get to the post-season four times.

In '82 the Dodgers had Steve Sax coming up and they broke up the storied infield by trading Lopes to Oakland. After a nice offensive year in '83, Davey would get shifted the the outfield the next season from the arrival at second base of - of all people - Joe Morgan. Late in the season he was sent to the Cubs and re-joined Ron Cey. In '85, at age 40, he stole 47 bases (and was caught four times) in about half a season while hitting .284. Then in '86 he was hitting at a .300 clip when he was traded to the Astros. He stayed in Houston as a reserve through '87. He finished with a .263 average, .349 OBA, 155 homers, and 557 stolen bases. In the post-season, Lopes hit .238 with six homers, 22 RBIs, and 19 stolen bases in 50 games.

After playing, Lopes moved into coaching right away for Texas, Baltimore, San Diego, and the Nationals through 2006. From 2000 to '02 he managed the Brewers for whom he was 144-195. From 2008 to 2010 he was the Phillies' first base coach and during that time the team had the league's highest stolen base ratio. This year he will be coaching first for LA.


That first star bullet is pretty cool. From '70 to '72 Davey put up really good Triple A numbers but he was overshadowed by guys like Valentine, Garvey, and Paciorek. I had read elsewhere that he taught so he got some usage out of his degree. He has certainly taught a bunch of current players.

Lopes is the third NL'er in a row. Let's try to keep this all NL:

1. Lopes and Joe Morgan '84 A's;
2. Morgan and Clay Carroll '72 to '75 Reds.

Nope.

#111 - Clay Carroll

Another Cincinnati action card! Pretty cool. This one is Clay Carroll close to the end of his reign as the Reds' bullpen ace. Like the guy from the post before this, Clay was an Alabama kid. Here he throws one in at what I believe is Shea, so again it may be a playoff card.

Clay Carroll was signed by the Braves in '61 and began his career in the low minors where he was mostly a starter. By '64 he was throwing well enough at Triple A to get a late season call-up where he threw real well out of the pen. In '65 he got very little work and returned for a bit to Triple A. The move to Atlanta must have helped bacause in '66 Clay led the league in games and got 11 saves. But '67 was a disaster and after a slow start in '68 he was traded to the Reds with Tony Cloninger for Milt Pappas and others. For the Reds he pretty much thrived the next eight years scoring some pretty big relief win totals and in '72 setting the NL saves record. In '73 his ERA bloated a bit - it was the only season of eight in which his ERA was above 3.00 - and he was pressed into starting duty due to staff issues. He remained in Cincy through '75 then was sent to the White Sox basically to reduce payroll. In '77 he did a round tripper, going to the Cards for Lerrin LaGrow and then coming back to Chicago for a bunch of guys. The Sox released him at the end of the season and he hooked up with the Pirates, his last team in the majors. After a try in Triple A with the Brewers in '79 he was all done. He finished with a record of 96-73 with a 2.94 ERA and 143 saves and was a two-time All-Star. He killed in the post-season going 4-2 with a 1.39 ERA and two saves in 22 games.

I remember reading on the back of one of Carroll's cards that he was a deputy in Florida where he settled since playing for Atlanta. I have been unable to find more information on that. In 1985 Clay was back in the news for something pretty horrible. His stepson, a guy named Fred Nowitzke, got into an argument with the rest of the family and came back armed and loaded. While Clay was able to wrestle a shotgun away from Nowitzke, he was unable to prevent him from shooting him, his wife, and his 11-year old son with a handgun. His wife and son died and Nowitzke was sentenced to death in '87. From what I can gather he is still around, however. I also have seen photos of Clay at Reds' autograph shows as recently as 2008 and he is smiling and reported as being friendly and good-natured at them. A very resilient guy.


Every Topps source except his '73 card I have seen quotes Carroll with 35 saves in '72, but every other source I come upon says 37. I am going with the higher number. Hawk is a great nickname. It was on one of these cartoons that I saw the deputy thing.

Now this will be pretty weird:

1. Carroll and Dave Hamilton '76 to '77 White Sox;
2. Hamilton and Billy Williams '75 A's.

I gotta link two guys that played almost exclusively in the NL through the AL.

#110 - Billy Williams

Now we have a really odd action shot. The good odd thing about it is that it looks like Billy Williams has just teed off at Wrigley which is different because almost every other slugger action shot to this point has been a pop up or a miss. The really odd thing is that for some reason Topps tinted the middle 80% of the card in yellow, except for Mr. Williams. The bad thing is that because of the tint job I cannot tell against which team Billy is playing. But it is a great shot and shows a lithe but powerful hitter still in great shape towards the end of his career. This is Billy's last card in a Cubs uniform since in '75 he gets air-brushed.

Sweet Swingin' Billy Williams was signed by the Cubs in '56. When he was a kid in Whistler, Alabama he saw another Alabama guy by the name of Hank Aaron playing semi-pro ball. His signing bonus was a cigar and a bus ticket to Ponca City, Oklahoma, a D league team. By '59 Billy had reached Double A ball in San Antonio and he got homesick. He took a bus back home to Whistler and the Cubs sent former Negro League star Buck O'Neill there to bring him back. In 1960 Billy was banging the ball pretty seriously for Tulsa, the Cubs' Triple A franchise when a Cubs scout by the name of Rogers Hornsby told the club they needed to get his butt up to the majors ASAP. Chicago listened and in '61 Billy was given a slot in the outfield and rewarded them by winning Rookie of the Year. He would then be a rock of consistency for the club, regularly batting around .300 with 90-plus RBIs. From '63 to '70 he didn't miss a game, putting up a then-NL record 1,117 in a row. In '66 his average dropped to .276 and the Cubs nearly traded him to Baltimore. The deal fell through when Chicago insisted on the inclusion of Mike Epstein.

In '70 and '72 Billy had his two monster years, winning the batting title in the second one. Both seasons he lost out on the MVP to Johnny Bench. In '73 and '74 his numbers came down from those lofty totals and he was ready for a change. He asked to be traded and the team obliged, sending him to Oakland for Darold Knowles, Bob Locker, and Manny Trillo. For the A's he was a DH for two seasons. Unfortunately he arrived a year too late and while he saw his first post-season action in '75 he never got into a Series. Oakland released him after the '76 season and he retired with a .290 average, 426 homers, 1,475 RBIs, and a .361 OBA. He played in six All-Star games as well. He was elected to the Hall in '87, his sixth year of eligibility. He came back to baseball after a few years away and moved back and forth between Oakland and the Cubs as a coach between 1980 and 2001.


Billy had a thing for the water. He was also a big fisherman. For all the homers and ribbies he got he was always considered a line drive hitter.

Billy's AL years come in handy here:

1. Williams and Joe Rudi '75 to '76 A's;
2. Rudi and Bobby Grich '77 to '81 Angels.

#109 - Bobby Grich

Back to the action shots and this one is a good one. It is taken in Baltimore and it looks like Pedro Garcia of the Brewers slid in to second base just as the ball was entering Bobby Grich's glove. As in the Sal Bando shot in Oakland, however, there are damn few fans around. I don't know how these teams made money back then.

Bobby Grich - the name was inadvertently shortened from Gurgich when his grandfather checked in at Ellis Island - was a sought-after property in the late '60s. At Woodrow Wilson High in Long Beach he was an All-State quarterback and UCLA's coach Tommy Prothro went after him bad. But the Orioles drafted him in '67 before he committed to the school and he was on his way. He started off at Bluefield of the Appalachian League and two games in was wishing he was getting sacked in LA; that league did that to a lot of people. He began his career as a shortstop and while his first couple seasons were nothing special offensively he impressed everyone with his defense. In '69 he moved up to Double A and his hitting came around. In '70 he moved to Triple A Rochester and his .383 average prompted a call-up, where the bulk of his time was at shortsop as well. In '71 every regular infielder was pulling a Cal Ripken so Bobby returned to Rochester for seasoning. That year he put up enormous numbers and won the Minor League Player of the Year award from TSN. In '72 he came up for good and spelled every spot in the infield, putting in serious time at both second and short since Davey Johnson and Mark Belanger were injured. Then Johnson got traded to the Braves, allowing Bobby to settle in at second base. He resnponded with four consecutive Gold Glove years and pretty good offensive numbers, especially in '74 when he hit 19 homers with 82 RBIs. He also was selected as an All-Star three times with Baltimore. In '73 and '74 he saw post-season action. He also had awfully good OBA numbers and had a good eye even though he was a pretty aggressive swinger.

Following the '76 season, Grich would leave Baltimore to sign as a free agent with the Angels. Year one was a bust as he got hurt fairly early in the season and the loaded Angels disappointed. He came back slowly in '78 but the next year recorded his best offensive season: a .294 average with 30 homers and 101 RBIs, the only time he would top 30 and 100. He and Don Baylor, another former Oriole, led the Angels to their first playoff. In '81, the strike year, Bobby led the league in homers with 22, earning a Silver Slugger. He continued to produce through two more playoff years, '82 and '86. In that last series he was part of a team that was up 3 to 1 on Boston and then lost three straight. There was an endearing photo of Bobby losing it in the dugout at the end of the final game. He had had enough and retired on the spot. For his career he hit .266 with 224 homers and 864 RBIs as well as a .371 OBA and over 100 stolen bases. He is currently 80th all-time in walks. Defensively among second basemen he is 17th all-time in putouts and 18th in assists. Twice he led the league in fielding percentage.

Like Alex Johnson, Grich has a "Catching up with..." SI Article. It is linked to here. After he finished playing he played a bunch of golf and currently does speaking engagements.


I covered a bunch of this on top. The cartoon is incorrect. Gary Beban was the UCLA quarterback who won the Heisman in '67. While he was a California kid, he did not attend Woodrow Wilson. The 1970 quarterback for UCLA - the year Grich would have been a senior - was Dennis Dummit with whom Grich DID play in high school.

Bobby and Al were both Cali kids. Here's how we get them together:

1. Grich and Freddie Patek '80 to '81 Angels;
2. Patek and Al Hrabosky '78 to '79 Royals.

#108 - Al Hrabosky

Returning to NL East pitchers, we have Al Hrabosky, before his Mad Hungarian persona took over. Showing his follow through at Candlestick, he is fighting off those San Francisco Bay winds in his warm-up jacket.

Al was drafted by the Twins out of high school in '67 and shot them down, opting to go to Fullerton State. He was then drafted out of there by St. Louis in the first round of the January '69 draft and threw well as a starter at Single A Modesto that year. In '70, off a great start at Double A Arkansas, he got pulled up to the Show and came out of the pen for the Cards late in the season. '71 was sort of a wash as he bounced between St. Louis and both the Double and Triple A teams and didn't get in a lot of games at any of them. In '72 and '73 he continued the ricochet thing, although on the strength of his 2.09 ERA, five saves, and over a K an inning, '73 was the year he stuck with the big club.

In '74 The Mad Hungarian came out: Al grew the wicked Fu, turned his back to the batter before every pitch and talked to himself, and then stared menacingly at the hitter before pitching. It was a total psych job and it worked: that year he went 8-1 with a 2.95 ERA and nine saves. In '75 he really lit things up , going 13-3 with a 1.66 ERA and led the league with 22 saves. Both seasons he would do well in the Cy Young race. In '76 and '77 he would return to earth a bit, although he was the Cards' bullpen ace both seasons. For '78 he was sent to KC for Buck Martinez and Mark Littell. For the Royals he assumed the same role and in '78 he saw his first playoff action (he gave up a run in three innings). I was at one of the games at Yankee Stadium. It was a game in which George Brett hit three solo homers; when Hrabosky came in the game, the whole stadium started booing and throwing stuff on the field. I think he reveled in those reactions as part of his act. He became a free agent following the '79 season and signed with Atlanta. There he continued coming out of the pen but was not number one. After three seasons for the Braves he was released. He signed with the ChiSox but only pitched for Denver, their Triple A club, and didn't do terribly well. He wrapped things up with a 64-35 record, a 3.10 ERA, and 97 saves in 545 games. He moved into broadcasting almost immediately and is currently calling Cards games for the local Fox affiliate. He also owns a restaurant across the street from the stadium.


Al pitched the final two innings of that first win. His first save was about a month later. Two wins and five saves got Al to be the top lefty in '73; things are sure different for relievers now.

The two Als just missed each other in the Cards' system. That should help:

1. Hrabosky and Lou Brock '70 to '76 Cards;
2. Brock and Alex Johnson '66 to '67 Cards.