#654 - Jesus Alou

The next card shows a placid guy in a placid setting – Yankee Stadium during early August, the only time Oakland was in town after Jesus Alou’s mid-season trade from the Astros. Jesus’ playing time had been in decline mode since early ’72 and most of his plate time during early ’73 was in the pinch. He started well enough in his limited role – he was hitting .409 by the end of May – but a June and July slump nearly halved his average and in early August he was sold to the A’s. In the AL his timing was actually quite good since he got lots of starts in left field the next month-plus due to an injury to regular Joe Rudi. Jesus did a nice job, too, posting a .300 average though he would continue to be the opposite of “the Walking Man” by putting up only two BB’s in his 100-plus at bats. Then Billy North got hurt right before the playoffs and Jesus took his spot in center, getting serious post-season time for the Series winners. That little smile on his face in the photo was there for a reason.

Jeses Alou was the youngest of the baseball-playing brothers and Jesus wasn’t really a fan of the game, much preferring soccer back in the DR. But he would be big, topping out at 6’2” and he got talked into giving pitching a shot by the guy that signed his brothers and he did well enough to get signed in late ’58 by the Giants, again following his brothers, Felipe and Matty. His first year he remained in the DR and threw batting practice for the Escogido team in winter ball – he was only 16 – before he got a short look in D ball in the summer of ’59. He didn’t throw too well and later he hurt his arm so that pitching career ended pretty fast. But the kid could hit and in D ball the next summer he did just that, posting a .352/11/91 line with 102 runs and 18 stolen bases before posting the same average a few games in B ball. In ’61 he stuck at the higher level and produced a .336/10/71 line. While he was hitting well his arm was still a bit of a liability from the injury and he would have some tough times in the outfield, regularly being near the top in errors. But he did continue to hit: in ’62 his line was .343/11/68 in Double A with 24 steals and his personal best .376 OBA; in ’63 in Triple A he put up a .324/11/69 line while stealing 18. Late that summer he made his debut in San Francisco.

That little bit of time Jesus Alou had up top in ’63 would be his only shot at playing stateside with his two brothers. Prior to the ’64 season, Felipe was traded to the Braves, and Jesus took over his spot in right field. There he cut down on his errors significantly and had a pretty good rookie year offensively, though it ended early when he got spiked and missed the last month of the season. He had a marked upgrade in ’65 but then in ’66 an early-season slump had him on the bench and then back in Triple A for a couple weeks in June. It seemed to have done the job as he raised his average over 30 points the rest of the way and then had a ’67 very similar to his ’65. In ’66 he began moving between both outfield corners which he would continue doing the next few seasons. In ’68 Jesus had a tough follow-up year while posting only nine walks and dropping some points off his average though it was still well ahead of the NL norm. After seeing the success of his brothers after departing Candlestick he’d been asking – quietly – for a trade as well the past couple seasons. Following the ’68 season he got his wish, soft of, when Montreal took him in the expansion draft.

Alou’s time with the new Expos was quite short and in January of ’69 he left via a trade with Donn Clendenon to Houston for Rusty Staub which got controversial when Clendenon refused to report to his new club (he didn’t want to play again for Astros manager Harry “The Hat” Walker). Eventually Donn was replaced by Jack Billingham and Skip Guinn and Jesus proceeded to sort of bottom out offense-wise with his new club that really hit the skids after he busted his jaw in a collision with shortstop Hector Torres and missed six weeks in the summer. The bright spot, though, was that much like ’66 he returned with better numbers, hitting .285 the rest of the way. In ’70 Jesus rode the pines a bit to start the season as new kid Cesar Cedeno pushed other guys around in the outfield. But Jesus got back his corner spots with some nice hitting and by year-end posted his best full season average. He retained his spots in ’71 on a hot start that cooled off a bit. By ’72 Bob Watson was getting too good to leave out of a regular spot and so Jesus became a bench guy though he did an awfully nice job in that role that year.

Alou remained in Oakland in ’74, spending most of his plate time in the DH role, and posting a .268/2/15 line in 220 at bats. He got limited post-season action that year but did pick up another ring. In spring training of ’75 he was released and picked up shortly thereafter by the Mets. With NY he did some reserve outfield work and pinch hitting and had a .265 average with eleven RBI’s in just over 100 at bats. Again released in spring training, this time Jesus decamped full-time to the DR where he played winter ball and tried to start a business manufacturing watches. When that enterprise didn’t get off the ground he returned to The States and Houston and in ’78 had a nice little comeback season, posting a .324/2/19 in 139 at bats as a reserve left fielder and pinch hitter. After a reduced role in the same spots in ’79 he was done. Jesus finished with a .280 average with 32 homers and 377 RBI’s. In the post-season he hit .222 with four RBI’s in 13 games.

Alou continued to play winter ball in his home country through the ’80 season and finished a 20-year run there with a .302 average. He then managed a bit, but in ’82 returned to MLB land as a scout for the Expos. He then moved on to the Marlins in the same role and in 2002 he became the director of Dominican League scouting for the Red Sox.

The Alous were unusual in that they didn’t have that parenthetical thing going with their name. Had they, the Alou would have been the name in parentheses since that was actually their mom’s family name. The true family name was Rojas. That was a pretty big game for a rookie. Jesus only had a .305 OBA which is pretty much the smallest differential I have seen in this set. He really almost never walked. Good trivia question: outside of San Francisco, for which team did all three Alou brothers play? See the front of the card. Jesus has a SABR bio.

These guys were Astros together in ’72 but neither had enough at bats that year:

1. Alou and Glenn Abbott ’73 to ’74 A’s;

2. Abbott and Bob Stinson ’77 to ’80 Mariners.

#633 - Dave Hamilton

I know Dave Hamilton is only chewing on a wad of chaw in this photo but from that expression on his face it appears he may have also been recently engaging another substance. That may explain why he appears to be at about a 45 degree angle with the field behind him. On the plus side Dave breaks a recent string of final cards with his second one for Topps. Dave was in the midst of his first run in Oakland during which he was generally the fifth/spot starter in a pretty loaded rotation. It was a good time to be in that position since in each of his first three seasons Dave’s team won the Series. ‘73 was a bit of a streaky season for Dave. He began the year back in Triple A and had a nice enough run in the rotation to return to Oakland in early June. After a couple sloppy early starts he went on a nice run and by the end of the month was 5-1 with a 2.85 ERA. But July brought three straight bad starts and by mid-August, after being moved to the pen, he was back in the minors. He returned for a couple late games in September but then got shut out of any Series action. Dave tended to be a streaky guy which was part of what delayed his ascension to the MLB level. Here he looks like he needs to get out of the sun in Oakland.

Dave Hamilton grew up in Edmonds, Washington, where he played hoops and baseball. In the latter sport his senior year in high school he went 8-0 with a 1.19 ERA and fanned 114 batters in his 59 innings. Those stats helped make him a fifth-round choice by Kansas City in the ’66 draft. That year in A ball his ERA was a bit high but he got lots of strikeouts. The next year he began his military reserve work, missing a bunch of games, but got his ERA down a bit when he was able to play, keeping the K’s above one an inning. He then split ’68 between two teams at that level, again in the rotation, where he had odd experiences. At his first stop he went 3-5 as his ERA climbed again; at his second he pitched much better ball, lowering his ERA by nearly two runs, but somehow went 0-7. Things got a bit better at that level in ’69 and then more-so in his few starts in Double A so in ‘70 he finally stuck at a higher level as he spent that whole season in Double A. Then in ’71 he put together a nice season as a swing guy in Triple A before kicking off the ’72 season with another excellent record in his eight starts at that level. Late that May he was promoted to Oakland.

In ’72 upon being called up, Hamilton walked smack into a division run and put up a win in his first start. By the end of June he was 5-1 with a 1.30 ERA and got everyone thinking of Vida Blue’s run when he first came up a couple years earlier. July and early August were a bit tougher though and by the middle of the latter month he was in the pen where his numbers got a bit better and he added a save. His post-season numbers weren’t too hot though and in ’73 he pretty much ran the same way, though the ERA was considerably higher. In ’74 he got a few spare innings in the pen until he returned to the rotation in mid-May and went on another of his runs, closing June with a 5-1 record and 2.82 ERA. So far his MLB records through June were 15-3. He then followed suit, cooling off a bit and working out of both the rotation and the pen. In neither that nor the former season did he see any post-season action. In ’75 the A’s weren’t as flexible and while Dave pitched well enough in his first three starts, a couple mediocre ones moved him to the pen by May and in June he was sent to the White Sox with outfielder Chet Lemon for pitchers Stan Bahnsen and Skip Pitlock. There Dave started his first game but then was exclusively a reliever and finished the year 7-7 with a 3.25 ERA and six saves.

With Chicago Hamilton was a reliever nearly all the time and his first full season of ’76 closed most of his games, recording a record of 6-6 with a 3.59 ERA and ten saves. In ’77 he moved to more of a set-up role though his numbers stayed pretty much the same as he went 4-5 with a 3.61 ERA and nine saves. Following that season he and pitcher Silvio Martinez went to St. Louis for reliever Clay Carroll. Things didn’t go too well for Dave in that other league as he went a combined 0-2 with one save and a 4.46 ERA in only 40 innings of work. Following that season he returned to the AL and Oakland as a free agent and in ’79 was a spot guy and reliever as he went 3-4 with a 3.70 ERA and five saves for a pretty poor team. In ’80 some tough times up top got him moved to Triple A for most of the season where he did some OK work out of the pen. After putting in a few innings at that level in ’81 Dave was done. He finished with an MLB record of 39-41 with a 3.85 ERA, four complete games, a shutout, and 31 saves. In the post-season he put up a 27.00 ERA in his three games and was 53-48 in the minors.

Hamilton would settle full-time in the San Ramon area of California where he became a foreman for a roofing contractor company and beginning in ’96 the head baseball coach at that town’s California High School. He was still at that second role through at least 2007 and looks like he put up some pretty good records there.

That is the second or third “most inspirational player” award I have seen on the backs of these cards. My school didn’t have those back then. Maybe it was a more benign title for team mvp? I assume Dave was a guard.

11/17/73 – President Nixon, in a televised meeting with a bunch of Associated Press newspaper editors, discusses Watergate a bit among other subjects. During the speech he utters his famous “I am not a crook” line as he defends his record while in public service.

11/21/73 – By this time the process had begun in summarizing the White House tapes according to the original deal between the Senate Committee and the White House. In the meantime the Supreme Court was still reviewing whether or not to demand a full release of the tapes. On this date the White House reported that two of the specifically-requested tapes were missing. One of the tapes would turn out to be the one in which over 18 minutes of conversation between President Nixon and former White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman was blank. That tape was made three days after the Watergate break-in so it was widely believed that the deleted conversation must have included the break-in as a topic. It was this tape that Nixon’s personal secretary Rose Mary Woods said she must have inadvertently erased as she was transcribing the tapes.

Normally these cross-league hook-ups are tough but one guy helps out huge here:

1. Hamilton and Jesus Alou ’73 to ’74 A’s;

2. Alou and George Culver ’70 to ’72 Astros.

#602 - 1974 Rookie Pitchers

Back to the pitchers, we get a couple guys who had decent careers and a couple we’d never hear from again, at least in Topps world. They all get sunny skies though.

Glenn Abbott was a big boy from Arkansas who was drafted by Oakland his first year at the University of Central Arkansas in ’69, but then missed playing that summer for military time. He returned early enough the following summer to go 8-3 with a 3.83 ERA in A ball and followed that up with an 11-10/2.72 season at that level in ’71. In ’72 he went a combined 9-16 in Double A and Triple A but with 13 complete games and a 2.96 ERA. In ’73 he led the PCL in wins as he went 18-8 with a 3.50 ERA and got a save in his only non-start. He made his debut that year in a July start, returned to Triple A, and then finished the year in Oakland with a win in a five-hitter against Kansas City and a 3.86 ERA for the year. He then began ’74 back in the minors, going 6-2 in eleven starts, before he returned to Oakland in June to finish the season as the A’s fifth starter, going 5-7 with a 3.00 ERA. In ’75 he moved to more of a swing role, going 5-5 with a 4.25 ERA and spending a few mid-summer weeks back in Triple A (2-2 in four starts with a 3.60 ERA) before in his final game of the regular season combining with Vida Blue, Paul Lindblad, and Rollie Fingers to throw a no-hitter. In ’76 his numbers continued to slide as he went 2-4/5.49 in just 19 games. After the season he was selected by Seattle in the expansion draft and in ’77 he led the Mariners in victories while going 12-13 with a 4.45 ERA. The next two years were pretty miserable for Glenn stats-wise as he went a combined 11-26/5.23 before he had a pretty good bounce in ’80 going 12-12 with a 4.10 ERA. In ’81 he lost a bunch of time to an elbow ailment and his record slid to 4-9 as his ERA improved to 3.94. That off-season he had surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow but while recovering came down with viral meningitis, lost 30 pounds and some of his hearing, and missed the whole season. While recovering early in ’83 he got tendinitis in his pitching shoulder which contributed to not great rehab numbers in Triple A (0-2/6.08). But he was called up anyway and in his first start in June threw a five-hit one run complete game against the Royals. By mid-August he was 5-3 though his ERA had fattened to nearly 5.00 and he was sold to Detroit for whom he would have a nice stretch run, going 2-1 with a 1.93 ERA in seven starts. But his follow-up in ’84 wasn’t so great and after some time back in Triple A he was released, missing the big Series run. Glenn finished with a record of 62-83 with a 4.39 ERA, 37 complete games, and five shutouts. He threw a hitless inning in the post-season and was 55-48 with a 3.45 ERA in the minors. After playing he immediately went into minor league coaching: for the Mets (’85-’89); Oakland (’90-2002); Texas (2003-’05); San Diego (’06-’10); and back with the Mets (’11- present). He has been in professional ball non-stop for the past 44 years.

Rick Henninger is another big boy from not too far away in Nebraska. After being drafted by Cincinnati and passing in ’66, Rick went to the University of Missouri from where he was drafted his sophomore year in the first round by the Senators. Rick had a big curve and would later add a palmball and a screwball and began things the following summer by going 4-6 with a 3.22 ERA in Double A. A big target, Rick was a horrible hitter – he would go 2 for 120 in the minors – but he moved quickly on the mound. In ’70 he went a combined 12-10 with a 3.28 ERA in Double A and Triple A but he was then beset by injuries which pretty much killed his numbers the next year, going a combined 4-7/5.97 at the same levels. In ’72 he bounced at the higher level, going 9-8 with a 2.87 ERA, and in ’73 he was 12-5 with a 3.81 ERA when he was called up to Arlington. He would get in six games in September, going 1-0 with a 2.74 ERA in his only MLB action. In ’74 his record fell to 7-9/ 4.99 in Triple A and in ’75 he moved to the Cleveland franchise where he went 3-7 with a 5.64 ERA before being released. After a season in Mexico in ’76 Rick’s pitching career was done. In the minors he went a combined 51-52 with a 4.00 ERA. After playing he remained in Texas where he has since had a long career in the oil exploration field.

Craig Swan went to Arizona State after a standout baseball career in Long Beach, California. While there he went 47-9 with a 2.25 ERA and 459 strikeouts and in ’72 was on the CWS all-star team. That same year he was drafted as a third-rounder by the Mets and he then matched his ASU ERA while going 7-3 in Double A. He then spent most of the next three years at Triple A where, while he was healthy, he threw excellent ball and went a combined 22-15 with a 2.66 ERA. In ’74 he lost a bunch of time to tendinitis but he bounced in ’75 to win his league’s pitcher of the year award.During that time he also pitched a bit in NY But that didn’t go so well as over those three seasons he went 2-7 with a 5.81 ERA as a spot guy. He got untracked in ’76 when he went 6-9 with a 3.54 ERA in the rotation for a pretty good team. In ’77 the team got bad fast and Craig went 9-10 with a 4.23 ERA as he worked to resolve some control issues. That he did, and after an excellent spring training in ’78 he went 9-6 in 28 starts while leading the NL with a 2.43 ERA. Despite his achievements on the mound it was a frustrating season: he was 1-5 to start even though his ERA was 2.67; in nine games in which he got a no-decision he went at least seven innings and only gave up 14 earned runs (his ERA in those games was 2.17). Then in ’79 he went 14-13 with a 3.29 ERA for another horrible team. Then in ’80 he began the season 5-4 with a 2.21 ERA when the tendinitis returned in his shoulder. That was followed by a lower back ailment and finally a small rotator cuff tear that ended his season in August at 5-9 with a 3.58 ERA. He rested and stretched the shoulder and after a pretty optimistic training camp returned to the mound. In his second start he was nailed in the back by a Ron Hodges throw trying to nail a runner going to second. Craig missed the rest of the pre-strike season and then all the post-strike one when the shoulder pain returned. In ’82 he had a nice bounce when he went 11-7 with a 3.35 ERA and came in second to Joe Morgan for the NL Comeback Player award. But by ’83 the rotator cuff issue was back and a downward spiral never abated as Craig went a combined 3-9 with a 6.15 ERA which included some brief ’84 time with California. That was his final season and he finished with a record of 59-72 with a 3.74 ERA, 25 complete games, and seven shutouts. At the tail-end of his career, some of his therapy was the Rolfing technique and Craig really took to it, so much that he became a practitioner, opening his own shop in CT where he is still going strong.

Dan Vossler played at least basketball and baseball while growing up in Portersville, California. In the former sport he appears to have put up a record 39 points in a game and in the latter he was good enough to be drafted by the Twins coming out of high school in ’66. Instead he opted to play ball at USC- Riverside where he set a record one year with a 1.80 ERA though his other stats are elusive. His junior year of ’69 he was drafted again by Minnesota and this time he signed, beginning his career the next summer by going 5-3 with three saves and a 2.83 ERA in A ball. He went 10-10/3.04 at that level in ’71 and then was a league all-star at Double A in ’72, going 10-8 with a 2.11 ERA and five saves. He then spent the next two years in Triple A but a combined 10-21 record and 4.97 ERA over that time got him away from the game following the ’74 season. He never made it to the Major Leagues and finished his career with a 35-42 record, a 3.52 ERA, and ten saves. And that’s it. For a big guy he has been impossible to find.

Look at how big these guys were! These personal dimensions would have been as fitting on NBA rookie cards as they are here. We get 18 seasons and that ERA title out of these guys which doesn’t work out to that much per inch.

I guess for the hook-up we bypass Vossler. To keep it fair, let’s just get to the ’74 Twins. From the last card we get:

1. Glenn Abbott and Sonny Siebert ’75 A’s;

2. Siebert and Bake McBride ’74 Cardinals.

For the round the card trip we get:

1. Glenn Abbott and Paul Lindblad ’73 to ’76 A’s;

2. Lindblad and Dick Billings ’71 to ’72 Senators/Rangers;

3. Billings and Rick Henninger ’73 Rangers;

4. Henninger and Elliott Maddox ’73 Rangers;

5. Maddox and Craig Swan ’78 to ’80 Mets;

6. Swan and Jerry Koosman ’73 to ’78 Mets;

7. Koosman and Bob Randall ’79 to ’80 Twins;

8. Randall and Steve Braun ’76 Twins;

9. Braun was on the ’74 Twins.

#597 - '74 Rookie Shortstops

The second rookie batch is designated as a group of shortstops but Manny Trillo almost never played that position up top. But that’s just nit-picking.

Dave Chalk came out of Texas and stayed there in college for the University of Texas where he was a three-time All-American with a .368 career average. A first-round pick out of school by the Angels, he hit .253 that summer of '72 in Double A and moved up the ladder fast. After hitting .293 at that level in the first couple months of ’73 he moved to Triple A where he hit .236 while putting in his first significant time at shortstop. He then made his debut with the Angels in September, hitting .232 the rest of the way in his new position. He stayed in Anaheim thereafter and besides being a very good fielder and moderately productive batter, he was quite diverse. In ’74 he was an All-Star at shortstop while also playing third. In ’75 he was again an All-Star, this time at third base, which he played exclusively as the Angels tried a bunch of rookies at his old position. That was his best offensive year as he put up a .273/3/56 season with a .353 OBA. By ’76 it was apparent that the prior year’s shortstop experiment was pretty much a wash – though the main guy, Mike Miley, showed flashes of brilliance only to die in a car crash – and Dave returned to that position. In ’77 Bobby Grich came along as a free agent and Dave moved back to third where he posted his best average of .277. In ’78 new kid Carney Lansford moved him back to short where a pretty good year – and career – got wrecked by a late-September knee injury. He was still in recovery mode in May of ’79 when he was traded back home to Texas for Bert Campaneris. He only got into a couple games for the Rangers when at the June deadline he and Mike Heath went to Oakland for pitcher John Henry Johnson. But Dave’s mobility was severely limited that year and his average shrank 30 points. He then signed with Kansas City as a free agent and for the next two years did utility work, tasting post-season action in ’80 when in his tone appearance he walked, stole second, and scored. For his career Dave hit .252 with nearly 300 runs batted in and scored. After playing he was a scout, primarily for Seattle, and also returned to the Longhorns, where he did some coaching work. His daughter later played softball for Texas where Dave continues to reside.

John Gamble grew up in Nevada so it is hard to imagine a more appropriate surname. His parents were both educators – his dad was a dead ringer – and by high school John was a good enough shortstop to be taken by the Dodgers in the second round of the ’66 draft. He finished that summer in Rookie ball, hitting .225. He remained at that level in ’67, upping his average to .298 and then in ’68 hit .254 in A ball, all while playing shortstop. In ’69 he made some noise in A ball by hitting .297 and stealing 33 bases for a couple teams and then in ’70 at that level stole 60 bases and scored 99 runs while hitting .254, mostly as a third baseman. Following that season he was taken by Detroit in the Rule 5 draft and in ’72 he was moved up to Double A where he hit .252 with 38 stolen bases. He made his Detroit debut that September as a pinch hitter and played a game at shortstop later that month. In ’73 all his appearances up top were as a pinch runner before he was returned to Triple A for the balance of the season where he hit .291 in his dual role. In ’74 he hit .240 in a season split between two Triple A teams but only stole ten bases which may indicate an injury around this point. He rebounded to hit .288 at that level in ’75 and finished his career with a .210 season at that level in ’76. John went 0 for 3 with a run scored for Detroit and hit .264 with over 200 stolen bases in the minors. He’d obtained a degree from the University of Nevada during the early Seventies and there are some indications that he followed his parents into education but I have been unable to confirm anything since his playing days.

Pete Mackanin hails from Chicago from where he was drafted by the Senators in ’69 upon completing Brother Rice High School on the south side. He hit .231 with decent power that summer in Rookie ball while playing third base. Like Dave Chalk he would move around the infield a bit during his career and in A ball in ’70 he also played shortstop as his average slipped to .202. He bounced offensively at that level in ’71, hitting .259 with seven triples in a season in which most of his time was spent at second. The next year he played all three positions while at Double A and a bit at Triple A where his offense again got whacked pretty hard. He revived big at the higher level in ’73, hitting .302 as he played strictly shortstop, a position he continued when he made his debut for Texas late that summer. But after hitting .100 in his 90 at bats with 26 K’s, he returned in ’74 to Triple A where he had a lights-out year, hitting .291 with 28 homers and 103 RBI’s. After the season he and reliever Don Stanhouse were sent to Montreal for outfielder Willie Davis. With the Expos Pete became the regular second baseman the next two years. He had some moments, like hitting 12 homers while stealing eleven bases in ’75, but overall he hit .224, struck out a bit much, and had a few too many errors. In ’77 Montreal signed Dave Cash and Pete spent the season as a reserve guy, getting minimal plate time. He then spent ’78 back in Triple A where he had another bang-up power year while playing third and shortstop, with a .276/17/112 season before he was placed on waivers that September. Philadelphia grabbed him and he spent the balance of that year and all the next on the Phillies roster, although he almost never appeared. After the ’79 season he was traded to Minnesota for pitcher Paul Thormodsgard and for the next two years he saw a lot more action while moving between second and shortstop. In ’80 he had his best MLB season, hitting .266 with 35 RBI’s in 319 at bats and in ’81 his average dipped to .231 in his final year up top. He signed with the White Sox as a free agent, was released during spring training of ’82, and then returned to Texas where for the next two years he picked up where he left off, as a Triple A, mostly corner infield power guy. In ’82 he hit .268 with 16 homers and 73 RBI’s in 377 at bats and in ’83 he had a .269/11/91 year. In ’84 he played third base for the Cubs Triple A franchise, slowing down a bit with a .248/8/44 season in his last year. Pete hit .226 with 30 homers and 27 stolen bases in the majors and .263 with 103 homers and 624 RBI’s in the minors. He immediately moved into managing after that in the minors for the Cubs (’85-’89); Cincinnati (’90-’92); Baltimore (’93-’94); Montreal (’95-’96); and Pittsburgh (2001-’02 and ’06). In between he was an MLB coach with Montreal (’97-2000) and Pittsburgh (2003-’05). He was appointed manager mid-season twice up top: for the Pirates in ’05 and for Cincinnati – for whom he’d been scouting – in ’07. He went a combined 53-53 in those roles, and those were not great teams. In 2008 he was a scout for the Yankees before returning to coaching as the bench guy for the Phillies from 2009 trough 2012. During that time he was on the short list as manager for a few spots, including Chicago and Boston. For 2013 he has been a Yankees scout. His minor league record is 985-944 with a few championships and a TSN Minor League Manager of the Year award.

When Manny Trillo was signed by the Phillies in ’68 he had been a catcher on his high school team in Venezuela. But the team liked his arm too much and turned him into a left side infielder. He hit .261 in a short summer season that year in A ball and then .280 at the same level in ’69 before going to Oakland in the Rule 5 draft. He duplicated those numbers the next two seasons in Double A for the A’s while continuing to concentrate on the left side. In ’72 he moved to Triple A where he hit .301 while playing a considerable amount of games at second for the first time. The next year it was all second base as he was being groomed to take over from Dick Green. He hit .312 that year while knocking in 78 runs around his Oakland debut in June where he hit .250 while doing late-inning work. He stayed up top to open the ’74 seasons and got some starts at second but after not hitting too well returned to Triple A where his average slid to .253 before he returned to Oakland in September to finish the season. After it he went to the Cubs with Bob Locker and Darold Knowles for Billy Williams. Once in Chicago Manny’s MLB career took off in earnest as he was named the team’s starter at second, hit .261, and fielded well enough to come in third place in ROY voting. He remained with the Cubbies through ’78, rarely missing a game and providing pretty good offensive punch while excelling defensively. In ’77 he made his first All-Star team. After the ’78 season he returned to the Phillies in a big trade and for whom he again took over as the regular guy. His average would pop a few points as he would have an award-filled run during his four seasons there: three Gold Gloves, two more All-Star games, and two Silver Slugger awards as the NL’s best offensive second baseman. He also got a Series ring in ’80 after being named mvp of the NL Championship Series after hitting .381. In ’83 he went to Cleveland as part of the group that brought Von Hayes to Philly. He was an All-Star again before going to Montreal to finish the season. He then moved to San Francisco as the regular guy for ’84 and ’85 before returning to Chicago where he spent the next three years doing mostly infield reserve work. He ended his playing career after an ’89 season with Cincinnati with a .263 average, 61 homers, and 571 RBI’s. He hit .267 in 17 post-season games, winning two rings. Defensively he led NL second basemen in putouts twice, assists four straight years, and double plays and fielding percentage once each. Lifetime he is in the top 100 in that last stat and in the top 50 on the other ones. After playing Manny was for a few years a coach in Venezuela before returning to The States in that capacity in ’96 with the Cubs, beginning a long career. He coached in the Chicago system (’96-’98); was director of minor league development for the Phillies (’99), coached in the Yankees system (2000); coached in the Milwaukee system (2001-’03); and coached and managed in the White Sox system (’04-present). For the past few years he has also assumed admin roles for the Sox.

Gamble is the oldest guy here and Mackanin the youngest. I bet this card does pretty well in terms of MLB service also. Between these four there were 25 MLB seasons, six All-Star selections, two Gold Gloves, and two Silver Sluggers.

Now first we move between two young AL guys:

1. Dave Chalk and Leroy Stanton ’73 to ’76 Angels;

2. Stanton and Dick Pole ’77 to ’78 Mariners.

And then around the card:

1. Dave Chalk and Denny Doyle ’74 Angels;

2. Doyle and Tony Taylor ’70 to ’71 Phillies;

3. Taylor and John Gamble ’72 to ’73 Tigers;

4. Gamble and Woodie Fryman ’72 to ’73 Tigers;

5. Fryman and Pete Mackanin ’75 to ’76 Expos;

6. Mackanin and Andre Thornton ’76 Expos;

7. Thornton and Manny Trillo ’75 to ’76 Cubs.

#545 - Billy Conigliaro

The 1973 season began pretty well for Billy C. Finally acquired legitimately by Oakland – initially he was traded for Oscar Brown in June of ’72; then he wasn’t because he was on the disqualified list due to his retirement; then in November he was again as a free agent away from the Brewers; and finally in February he was reinstated on the Brewers roster and sold - a good training camp led to his winning the starting center field job from Angel Mangual and other new guy Billy North. By late April he’d started there in ten of the club’s first 14 games and was hitting .300 when a hard slide into second pinged his knee a bit and he sat a few games. He returned to do some pinch hit work but by early May it was evident something was seriously wrong and he went under the knife to repair some damaged cartilage. By the time he returned in July North had taken over in center and though this Billy got some turns in left his hitting was still affected by his tender knee. Here he poses in Oakland for what would be his final card. By the likely time of this photo his average was crashing and the fun April was far behind. He’d get some playoff and Series time and then undergo more surgery to do further repair work on his knee. He wouldn’t make it out of spring training in ’74, though, his roster spot ostensibly taken by Larry Haney, when in reality he was probably dropped to clear room for Herb Washington, Charlie O Finley’s newest pinch runner. In the end, just like with his brother Tony, injury derailed a promising career. At least he got a ring out of it. And a long happy life. Those two things eluded Tony.

Billy Conigliaro grew up in Lynn, Massachusetts where he was, like his brother, a pretty big deal football and baseball star. At Swampscott High School he was a halfback, pitcher, and outfielder. Sought after by a bunch of D-1 schools for the former sport he opted to sign with the Sox when they upped his bonus to $60,000. Generally regarded as a better fielder and faster runner than Tony but with not as much power, he hit .272 that summer in A ball. The next three seasons he lost time to the military and injuries. In ’66 he flopped a bit in Double A - .226 with 24 RBI’s in 82 games – but hit .313 in a few games back in A ball. In ’67 he only got 124 at bats between his late reporting and a broken hand and hit .274 but with 29 RBI’s in A ball. In ’68 he put up a 7/41/.238 season in Double A. His brother’s beaning in ’67 caused Tony to miss the balance of the season and all of ’68. In ’69 Billy had a super spring training, hitting north of .400 and Tony was finally ready to come back so the long-sought Conigliaro brothers outfield seemed ready to occur that season.

Going into ’69 spring training the initial thought was that Billy Conigliaro would take over his brother’s old spot in right field. Initially that seemed workable because with the loss of Joe Foy at third base to expansion, George Scott was moving to that position and Carl Yastrzemski was taking over first base. That left Billy, Reggie Smith, and other newbie Joe Lahoud the three outfield spots. But when Tony C returned earlier than expected there were suddenly four guys to share space. Billy ended up getting some starts in right and center – his natural position – to open the season and he continued his spring training onslaught, hitting .313 through early May. But for a non-power guy he was putting up a few too many K’s and with Tony having a nice comeback and Lahoud better in the power department, Billy became the odd man out. In early May the Sox picked up Don Lock from the Twins and Billy got sent to Triple A. There he had a nice year and did show some power, hitting .298 with 13 homers and 81 RBI’s before returning to Boston in mid-September for some reserve work and an occasional start at both positions. While he hit pretty well average-wise he also recorded 23 K’s in his 80 at bats. In ’70 Lock was gone and while Tony continued his comeback in right, Billy won the starting job in left with another hot spring and this time Lahoud got shut out a bunch. Billy had a mostly unfettered rookie year and his numbers were good enough to win a spot on the Topps Rookie team. While Tony posted his best year, the Red Sox powers-that-be were not totally convinced that his eyesight was back long-term and they took advantage of his big numbers to trade him to California. The Conigliaro brothers were not shy about expressing their opinions and Billy let the world know that the reason for Tony’s departure was a conspiracy headed by Yaz and Reggie Smith to get him out of town. The locker room in ’71 became pretty hostile and while Billy had a nice start to the season – he was hitting over .300 through May and was at the top of the AL in doubles after being moved to center -  his caustic attitude and open opinions began eating away at his playing time. In August he hurt his ankle which impeded his swing the rest of the year and his at bats and RBI’s declined, though his doubles totals remained high. After the season he was part of the big trade with Milwaukee in which he, George Scott, Joe Lahoud, Jim Lonborg, Ken Brett, and Don Pavletich went to the Brewers for Marty Pattin, Tommy Harper, and Lew Krausse.  

When Conigliaro went to Milwaukee he claimed he was finally free of both the conspiracy boys and of his brother’s domineering shadow. He had another good training camp and began the season as the team’s regular guy in right. But he came out slowly and didn’t get above .200 until late May. Still, Milwaukee showed a lot of patience and Billy was still starting most games through mid-June. But in a double-header towards the end of the month he saw that old nemesis Joe Lahoud – who’d also come over in the big trade from Boston – was penciled in the line-up and Billy C packed up his bags and left, retiring to return to Boston to work in a couple of businesses he and his brother had purchased. The Brewers had no idea what was going on and shortly after they arranged the initial Ollie Brown deal and then found it was voided because they also put Billy on the disqualified list to clear space. When things finally got cleaned up Billy landed in Oakland, had his brief season and was then done. He had a short comeback in ’77 when Charlie O invited him to spring training in the wake of all his free agent losses. Billy did well enough in camp to be offered a Triple A contract but he balked at a return to the minors and that was it. So his stats on the back of his card are his final ones up top. He went hitless in four post-season games and hit .264 in the minors.

Conigliaro’s time after baseball was certainly not uneventful, and a lot of tragedy was involved. While still playing in Boston he and Tony had purchased a couple business interests: a Ramada Inns franchise that was expanding in New England; and a golf course club on the water in Massachusetts. Billy and Tony were both active in their management from about ’72 on and at some point the golf club morphed into a lounge. Billy was also an avid photographer and he began his own photography business. In ’76 he made news when he was indicted for an assault at Tony’s club but nothing came of that. In ’81 he lost his house to a fire but the big tragedy came in ’82 when he was driving Tony to an audition for a local announcing gig. Tony had been having physical issues on and off since his beaning and on that trip he suffered a debilitating heart attack. He was rushed to the hospital and was in a coma for a while. He recovered a bit but never fully and he had to be in pretty much permanent care either at home or in hospitals until his death in ’90. While spending a big part of that time helping care for his brother, Billy also continued to run the brother’s businesses and opened a camera store. In the Nineties he moved into home renovation and got his contractor’s license. In 2002 he got married for the first time and shortly thereafter began to reconnect to baseball, since then appearing regularly at card shows and other events on behalf of the Sox.

Billy gets some color in the star bullets and cartoon. A big ladies man while playing and presumably after he would get about 25 letters a day from female fans during his career. Topps gives him a 5 card which is an awful big stretch for his recent work.

Those big trades help a bunch here:

1. Conigliaro and Jim Lonborg ’69 to ’71 Red Sox and ’72 Brewers;

2. Lonborg and Ron Schueler ’74 to ’76 Phillies.

#516 - Horacio Pina

Now in a continuation of mini-streaks we get the second of two parenthetically-named post subjects in a row. Horacio Pina bears down on a sunny day in Oakland. He stayed there for only one season as evidenced by the Traded card but did enough good work to earn a full Series share. He’d come to the A’s in a trade for Mike Epstein who’d curried disfavor with owner Charlie Finlay after going o-fer in the ’72 Series. Horacio put up one of his best seasons for Oakland, keeping his walk totals relatively low while getting eight saves. While he had some trouble in the post-season, officially he ended up with five shutout innings of work. And the ring of course. On the Traded card he appears to be out in the Oakland outfield and my bet is that the airbrush job is of one of his Ranger uniforms since on his regular card he looks a bit tanner.

Horacio Pina was a soccer player as a kid who didn’t start playing ball for real until he was about 15 (lots of this color comes from his SABR site). He then played some semi-pro ball in Mexico for a bunch of years before Cleveland signed him early in ’67. He’d gone 4-6 with some wildness and a high ERA in ’65 but modified that a bunch in ’66 when he went 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA and 28 K’s in 24 innings of pro ball. Both years he also pitched in his local semi-pro league as well. In ’67 he went 16-11 with a 3.28 ERA as a starter in Mexico, 1-0 with excellent control in a few games in A ball, and 14-7 back in Mexico in winter ball. In ’68 he didn’t pitch as much but he put up better numbers: 9-6 with a 2.21 ERA in Mexico and 3-1 with a 0.69 ERA in Triple A. That August he made his debut for the Indians and the resulting season was quite good, with a couple saves in his 12 games. In ’69 his record was good but he was back on the wildness kick and his ERA ballooned. After the season he was traded to the Senators with Ron Law and Dave Nelson for Barry Moore and Dennis Higgins.

In DC Pina got in tight with manager Ted Williams which was a pretty unusual thing for a pitcher to do. Horacio threw sidearm against righties and over the top against lefties so he was a bit bi-polar in his delivery. But he did generally as he was told and his time with Ted went pretty swimmingly. By the time he got to Washington he was strictly a reliever and in ’70 he got six saves and in ’71 he added two. While his control was still an issue he was one of the team’s most consistent guys on the mound. In ’72 when the team moved to Texas, Horacio did just fine in the arid air, recording 15 saves. After the season he went to Oakland where he did his bit and then after this trade he moved to Chicago. His time in the NL was a little sloppy – 3-4 with a 3.99 ERA and four saves – and didn’t last the season as in July he was sent to California for catcher Rich Stelmaszek. Back in the AL he fired a 2.31 ERA in his few innings of work. Despite that comeback Horacio got cut during spring training in ’75 and he returned to Mexico where he spent the next four years throwing quite good ball for the Aguascalientes franchise. In ’78 he returned briefly to The States to throw a few shutout innings for the Phillies but outside of that it was all Mexican ball through 1980 when he went down with a torn rotator cuff that finished his career. Horacio went 23-23 with a 3.25 ERA and 38 saves up top in The States. He did those five innings of shutout ball in the post-season and went 100-68 with a 2.34 ERA and 24 shutouts during his time in Mexico.

After playing Pina coached a couple seasons in Mexico and then returned to his hometown where he opened and operated a cantina, fished, and lives off his baseball pension.

That second star bullet occurred during ’67. He also tossed a couple no-hitters during his Mexican ball days. Horacio’s English wasn’t the best and in a video of the ’73 Series he kind of messes up when he gets introduced and then breaks up laughing. When he got to Oakland pitching coach Wes Stock changed his delivery so that he threw the same way to guys on both sides of the plate.

Horacio was traded for Bob Locker who was promised a return deal when he went to Chicago the prior year. Ironically Locker was another sidearm guy. He wouldn’t throw for Oakland at all after this trade.

These guys may have met in winter ball and a little bit in ’74:

1. Pina and Deron Johnson ’73 A’s;

2. Johnson and Willie Montanez ’70 to ’73 Phillies.eHHeHYeHJh

#479 - A's Celebrate/1973 World Series

And there it is. For the second time in two years Oakland won a Game Seven to take the Series title. Here Sal Bando jumps on Darold Knowles who has jumped on top of Ray Fosse after Knowles got Wayne Garrett to pop up to end the game. That appears to be umpire Russ Goetz rushing to safety in his maroon jacket before the field gets stormed by A’s fans. They’d actually already mobbed Reggie Jackson in right after the second out and time had to be called until they were escorted away from things. But for a few short moments it was good to be an A. Yeah, their very successful manager was leaving and the players all had to still put up with owner Charlie O Finley. But for the rest of the off-season the battling A’s didn’t have to battle any more and they would return essentially intact for ’74 and one more Series win. What’s a little controversy if it means three straight titles?

So once again Topps disses the pitchers, which is too bad since they generally outperformed the hitters. We remedy that below. So the Mets outhit, outscored, out-homered, out OBA’d, and, from that fat difference between runs and RBI’s, out-took-advantage-of-errors and still ended up on the losing end. But they also left a bunch more guys on base – about 68 to 58 – and, from my recall of the narratives, just weren’t as clutch. On the Oakland side Joe Rudi quietly had himself a nice Series and Gene Tenace, though he only hit .158, had a .467 OBA from all those walks – nearly half his team’s total. Reggie had a nice Series too, but he got recognized for it by being named mvp. On the NY side Rusty Staub really kicked butt and added a homer to his three from the NL championships. I love that Willie Mays went out with a respectable .286. NY was pretty democratic with the walks but poor Wayne Garrett really stands out with all those K’s. But the big question NY fans had after the Series was why wasn’t George Stone used more? On the surface the answer was pretty obvious: he was a lefty as was most of the Oakland starting roster. But Jerry Koosman and Jon Matlack were lefties also and they each got plenty of time. Stone was NY”s hottest guy down the stretch and he had a real nice start against Cincinnati in the playoffs but Yogi went with his three guys and that was the hand he dealt himself. For the Oakland guys it must have been nice for the other team to have some controversy for a change. Here are the pitching stats:

	G	GS	W	L	S	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Koosman	2	2	1	0	0	8.2	9	3	3	7	8	3.12
Matlack	3	3	1	2	0	16.2	10	7	4	5	11	2.16
McGraw	5	0	1	0	1	13.2	8	5	4	9	14	2.63
Parker	3	0	0	1	0	3.1	2	1	0	2	2	-
Sadecki	4	0	0	0	1	4.2	5	1	1	1	6	1.93
Seaver	2	2	0	1	0	15.0	13	4	4	3	18	2.40
Stone	2	0	0	0	1	3.0	4	0	0	1	3	-
	7	7	3	4	3	65.0	51	21	16	28	62	2.22
	G	GS	W	L	S	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Blue	2	2	0	1	0	11.0	10	6	6	3	8	4.91
Fingers	6	0	0	1	2	13.2	13	5	1	4	8	0.66
Holtzman	3	3	2	1	0	10.2	13	5	5	5	6	4.22
Hunter	3	2	1	0	0	13.1	11	3	3	4	6	2.03
Knowles	7	0	0	0	2	6.1	4	1	0	5	5	-
Lindblad	3	0	1	0	0	3.1	4	0	0	1	1	-
Odom	2	0	0	0	0	4.2	5	2	2	2	2	3.86
Pina	2	0	0	0	0	3.0	6	2	0	2	0	-
	7	7	4	3	4	66.0	66	24	17	26	36	2.32

Those are some damn good pitching lines. Lots of unearned runs, particularly behind Matlack and Fingers. And poor Tom Seaver: the guy had the best stats of anyone and only came away with a loss.

It’s December 31 and this puppy is going to bed for the year. Happy New Year!