Two action shots in a row
has been pretty rare lately. While the two most recent subjects Paul Schaal
and Willie Montanez had a few obvious differences – opposite corners of the
infield and different leagues – they also have a couple things in common: both
played for the Angels; and both have these action shots. This one of Willie is
a great one because it goes a long way in describing its subject. Willie was a
brash guy with a pretty wide repertoire of bat spins, wrist flicks, holster
impersonations, and general commentary. Even here, where he appears to have
either fouled one off or just plain missed – my choice given that Chris Speier
hasn’t moved from his pre-pitch stance – he is maxing out the drama with what
appears to be commentary about his own swing. Willie had another open-mouthed
action shot in ’75. In fact, Willie had lots of action shots: six of the twelve
cards issued during his career fell into that category. By ’73 his playing
style was as hard to define as his antics were colorful: was he a power hitter
or a line drive guy; was he a first baseman or a center fielder; was he an
entertainer or did all that stuff just cover up some inferiorities? The
answers, except for that last one, were both. ’73 was a bit of a temporary
nadir for him. After tapping 30 homers as a rookie, and then an NL-leading 39
doubles in ’72, his total bases bottomed out in ’73, his first season with a
significant amount of games at first base. But his strikeouts came down too and
Willie was fine with not being a power guy. And the fans loved him. He
certainly wasn’t morose like the last star guy they had there, Dick Allen. On
the day of the Veterans Stadium unveiling he came into the outfield dribbling a
basketball to show how springy the turf was. And he was always deemed a bargain
since in the deal that brought him to town he was sort of a throw-in to make up
for that other guy.
Willie Montanez grew up in Puerto Rico where he was discovered playing that island’s
version of Babe Ruth ball and was signed by the Cardinals when he was only 16.
After hitting .234 in a very short season of Rookie ball in ’65, he was taken
by California
in the Rule 5 draft, which meant he had to stay on the Angels roster the whole
following season or they could lose him. Willie went to Anaheim, got into a couple mid-April games,
and then by the end of the month was returned to the Cards. The rest of the
season he hit well in A ball, hitting .281 with eleven homers and 49 RBI’s in
about half a season. At that same level in ’67 he hit .269 with 17 triples and
twelve stolen bases and 61 RBI’s while playing excellent ball at first. He lost
most of the next season to his military commitment in the National Guard, and
hit .299 in only 174 A level at bats. In ’69 he was off to a great start in
Triple A - .375 with four doubles in 56 at bats – when he broke his ankle and
missed the rest of his season. After that year the Phillies finally worked out
a deal whereby they got rid of their brooding star Allen: he, Cookie Rojas, and
Jerry Johnson went to St. Louis
for Byron Browne, Joe Hoerner, Tim McCarver, and Curt Flood. When Flood refused
to report to the Phillies, opening up a case that begat free agency, St. Louis offered Willie
as compensation.
For the Phillies Montanez
picked up where he left off with the Cards – in Triple A. There in ’70 he hit
.276 with 16 homers and 80 RBI’s before getting a late season look up top. In
’71 he made the roster out of spring training as the center fielder, a position
previously manned by Larry Hisle, who was having a tough time with big league
pitching. Willie went on to have his big rookie year and his 30 homers and 99
RBI’s took him to second place behind Earl Williams in ROY voting as he landed
a spot in the Topps Rookie outfield. In ’72 the Phillies sort of bottomed out
and Willie’s offense came in pretty good except for that doubles total. After
his move to first during ’73 he settled into the position nicely and the next
year put up a .304 average while continuing to drop his K totals and adding 33
doubles and 79 RBI’s. In ’75 Willie was off to another good start, hitting .286
with eight doubles and 16 RBI’s in his first 21 games, when the Phillies
decided on a big personnel shift. They were having some problems replacing his
successor in center Del Unser, who’d gone to NY in the off season. They also
had a hankering to return Dick Allen to first and he was available cheap. So
they picked up Allen from Atlanta and sent
Willie to San Francisco
for Garry Maddox, who was off to a slow start on the left coast.
’75 was the year when
Montanez, relatively settled in Philly for four-plus years, became truly
itinerant. The rest of the year he hit very well, raising his Giant average to
.305 and adding 24 doubles and 85 RBI’s to bring his season totals to 34 and
101, respectively. Ironically, the speedster also led the NL in double plays
into which he hit. In ’76 he kept the average cranking, hitting .309 in his
first 60 games, when another mid-season trade had him on the road again. This
time he went to Atlanta
with Craig Robinson for Darrell Evans and Marty Perez. With the Braves he hit
.321 the rest of the way and finished the season at .317 with 206 hits and 84
RBI’s. He stayed with Atlanta
for the ’77 season, his only All-Star one, and hit .287 with 20 homers and 68
RBI’s. After that year Willie was part of a huge four-way trade in which he
ended up with the Mets and the Braves got pitchers Tommy Boggs and Adrian
Devine from Texas (Pittsburgh was the other team involved in the
trade). Poor Willie was yet again on a crappy team but he made the most of it,
using a mid-season surge to get him 17 homers and 96 RBI’s. But that magic
didn’t extend into ’79 and when two-thirds of the way into the season he only
had five homers and 47 RBI’s, along with a .234 average, Willie went to Texas for Ed Lynch and
Mike Jorgensen. For the Rangers he finished big with a .319 average, eight
homers, and 24 RBI’s in 38 games. Prior to the ’80 season Willie went to San
Diego for Gaylord Perry and Tucker Ashford where for the Padres he hit about
his lifetime mark: .274 with 63 RBI’s until a late-season deal to Montreal for its stretch
run (the Expos gave up Tony Phillips). Willie hit .211 that September in mostly
a pinch-hitting role. He played that part again in ’81 for Montreal and
Pittsburgh and in ’82 for the Pirates and the Phillies, a season he also put in
some time in Triple A. That was Willie’s last year and he finished with a .275
average, 279 doubles, 139 homers, and 802 RBI’s. He got shut out of any
post-season work.
I am not terribly clear on
what Montanez did immediately after baseball. He had moved to Caguas PR while
he was playing and played winter ball for its team which he did for a good deal
of his career. He settled there full time after playing and since ’92 has been
a scout for the Phillies on his home island.
Willie’s star bullets are pretty
good but you think Topps could have come up with a better cartoon about a
colorful guy. It looks like he barely squeezed his signature in that spot. He
used to tell Mike Schmidt that he got pneumonia from all the cold air currents Schmidt
produced when he struck out.
The Angel connection doesn’t
really work here but this does:
1. Montanez and Andy Hassler
’79 Mets;
2. Hassler and Paul Schaal
’74 Angels.
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