In a nod to nepotism, Topps
offers us the final card of Jim Campanis’ career. Jim’s dad was Al, long the GM
of the Dodgers. It was with his dad’s team that Jim’s career began a decade
earlier. By now, though, it had been years since Jim played for LA or any of
its franchises and he was still around, so maybe I’m just being cheap (as in
shot). Jim’s last look at MLB as a player wasn’t much – just one hit in six at
bats. But he had a pretty good year in Triple A, hitting .304 with 18 homers
and 64 RBI’s. But Jim was 29 now, with – as he’d admit years later – “hands of
stone” behind the plate. And that feature, coupled with an MLB average that
aspired to be Mendoza-worthy, did not contribute too readily to a long career.
Jim Campanis grew up in Fullerton, California.
He was a big kid and played linebacker as well as catcher in high school. He
hit .420 his senior year. He pretty much grew up in Dodger training camps so
when they signed him in ’62 upon graduating it just seemed like a natural
evolutionary step. That year in D ball he hit .234 while actually having a fine
defensive season. In ’63 he hit .302 in A ball with nine homers. In ’64 he hit
.301 with 16 homers and 50 RBI’s and then .240 in a few games in Double A. He
upped that to .255 in ’65 at the higher level with about the same amount of
power. ’66 was all Triple A – except for his one at bat up top – and he did
pretty well with a .284 average and 52 RBI’s. In ’67 Jim spent the whole year
with the Dodgers backing up John Roseboro, but he got few at bats and even
fewer hits. In ’68 Roseboro was traded to the Twins and there was some noise
about Jim getting more work behind the plate. But LA picked up Tom Haller from
the Giants and he and Jeff Torborg crowded Jim all the way back to Triple A
where he hit .259 with 50 RBI’s in half a season. After that year his dad did
something that was probably pretty tough: he traded his kid for future
considerations to the new Kansas City Royals.
Jim split the first two years
of the KC franchise between the Royals and the minors. He hit .244 in Triple A
the first year and .288 in Double A the second, moving down a notch so Buck
Martinez could get some seasoning at the higher level. Following the ’70 season
he was traded to Pittsburgh with pitcher Bob
Johnson and infielder Jackie Hernandez for Bruce Dal Canton, Jerry May, and Freddie Patek. It was
pretty rare to see three of the exact same positions traded for themselves. For
his run with the Pirates it was pretty much all minor leagues for Jim. In ’71
he hit .273 in Double A but fell to .206 in Triple A. In ’72 he had a
.293/16/76 season at the lower level and in ’74, in what would be his last
season as a player, a .277/18/76 year in Triple A. Jim finished with a .273
average with 125 homers in the minors, as well as the MLB numbers on the back
of his card.
After playing Jim did lots of
community relations work for the Dodgers and got rings for the ’81 and ’88
Series championships. He also managed a car dealership back in Fullerton for a
number of years and has his own restaurant, Mini Gourmet, which is in
Placentia, which is a letter away from being an inappropriate – or appropriate,
depending on how New Age-y you are – town in which to have an eatery.
So despite Jim’s
self-effacing comment it looks like he did have some good times on defense. Those
two seasons from that first star bullet were in ’62 and ’65. Jim’s dad ended
his LA career when he made his infamous comment about managing abilities by
different ethnicities. Shortly thereafter both Jim’s and Bob Boone’s sons were
in a race to see who would represent his family first as the third generation
baseball player. Bret and Aaron Boone won that race.
Jim and Joe both played for
the Royals as did the guy who comes next:
1. Campanis and Bill Singer
(they shared a rookie card) ’67 to ’68 Dodgers;
2. Singer and Joe Lahoud ’74
to ’75 Angels.
His autograph looks like it was written by a 9-year old.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Al Campanis' first trade when he became the GM of the Dodgers was his son to the Royals.
ReplyDeleteI just found out that Jim Campanis played a part, and is mentioned on, the B side of Ron Cey's 45 single, called "One Game at a Time."
ReplyDelete