#642 - Terry Harmon

Next up is Terry Harmon, who looks a little glum at Shea Terry had nine Topps cards during his career and in seven of them – he had a big smile in ’73 and kind of one in ’77 – he was super serious. His at bats and his average declined a bit in ’73 so maybe that explains the expression on his card; but his defense was at its norm high achievement-wise. If he had any forecasting abilities when this photo was shot, his look to the very near future may have caused some concern. In ’74 each of the three positions occupied by Terry were handled by regulars – Dave Cash at second; Larry Bowa at short, and Mike Schmidt at third – who each played in every game in ’74. Poor Terry saw action in only 26 innings that year as a result and he would never get over 100 at bats in a season again. Still, he put in a pretty good run for an infield back-up guy and he would use that acquired profile to leverage a longer run elsewhere once done. He just wasn’t up to putting his TV face on any of his cards yet.

Terry Harmon, like the subject of the last post, was born and raised in Ohio and then attended college there. Unlike Chuck Brinkman, though, Terry has a more fully-bodied bio. A big three sport athlete in his Toledo high school, he went to Ohio University after he graduated in ’62 and his first varsity baseball year in ’64 hit .420 followed by a .378 in ’65, both years leading his team to conference titles. The Phillies then drafted him following his junior year, but on the advice of his college coach Terry held out for more money and that summer hit .322 while playing for a local semi-pro team. He signed shortly thereafter and looked pretty good the next year as he kicked off with a .289 season in A ball while playing shortstop. He remained at that level and position the next year where his average slipped to .241 but his OBA wasn’t too bad at .342 and he snuck in a couple defensive innings in Philly that summer. In ’68 he moved up to Triple A where he added some work at second and raised his average to .257 but missed over two months to a separated shoulder. But he did well enough to get promoted for good – except for a short stint in autumn IL ball in ’69.

By the late Sixties the Phillies had descended to the bottom half of the new NL East division. Dick Allen was still smacking the crap out of the ball but nobody else was and Philadelphia was looking to replace its aging – and troubled – stars with some home grown new blood. Veteran shortstop Bobby Wine had just been sent to Montreal when Harmon was called up to spell new kid Don Money at short and older guy Cookie Rojas at second. Terry turned in some nice D at both positions his rookie year and did OK at the plate for a middle infielder back then. Then in ’70 the infield got younger as Money was moved to third and Rojas was sent to St. Louis to make way for rookies Larry Bowa and Denny Doyle, respectively. Bowa was always an innings hog so Terry’s plate time declined a bunch as he continued to play mostly at short. But the next year between the trade of veteran utility guy Tony Taylor to Detroit and the tendency of Doyle to be a bit less sturdy than his successor – Cash – at second, Terry got a lot more at bats as his primary position moved to second. That season he set a record with 18 chances there in one game. In ’72 he amped things up by adding 80 points to his average and turned in a real nice .372 OBA which may explain that big smile on his ’73 card. After the step back in ’73 offensively and the 15 at bat season the next year he got more work in ’75 when Bowa was hurt for a brief spell, though his average stayed below .200. In ’76 he hit .295 in 61 at bats and in ’77 moved back to filling in at second after Cash left to go to Montreal as a free agent. That was Terry’s final season and he finished with a .233 average. He scored a run as a pinch runner in his only post-season appearance and hit .259 in the minors.

As noted above Harmon remained in front of the camera as a pitch guy for various products, first on the big Philly Prism cable channel and then went national on QVC, where he specialized in selling jewelry. He’s been retired in southern Jersey for a couple years now.

Again we get another batch of star bullets with defensive props. It looks like Terry could have had another one for his excellent college stats. Hunting in central and southern Jersey back in the Seventies must have been a little nasty.

Watergate is all done so all that’s left is the hook-up:

1. Harmon and Dick Allen ’67, 69, and ’75-’76 Phillies;

2. Allen and Chuck Brinkman ’72 to ’74 White Sox.

Winter break is up and so is a team card so the next post won’t be for a bit.

#632 - George Culver

On a busy sunny day at Shea we get yet another final card of pitcher George Culver showing a pitching form that appears to have even the cops behind him interested. George had come over to the Phillies from LA early in August which makes it a bit easier to get a time-frame for this photo. The only time the Phillies were at Shea after the trade was an early September stand during which they lost three out of four which may help explain George’s concerned look. His ERA spiked a bit after his arrival even though his record was pretty good. By this point George had been pitching with bone chips in his elbow for a couple years so every visit to the mound was a pretty painful ordeal for him. He would get into another 14 games for the Phillies in ’74 with the same control issues as well in his final MLB work. At least he gets to go out in an un-retouched uniform.

George Culver grew up in the Bakersfield area of California. In high school he lettered in the big three sports plus track and cross country. When he graduated in ’61 he was offered a $1,000 bonus by the Phillies but shot that down to attend Bakersfield College, where he pitched for two years before he was signed by the Yankees for $2,500 in ’63. That summer he threw well in the rotation for three A teams, going 7-6 with a 2.07 ERA. And 170 K’s in 139 innings. He was then selected by Cleveland in the First Year Draft and in ’64 he went 11-6/ 2.41 in Double A before improving to 4-2/1.18 in seven starts in Triple A that year. In ’65 he shared his first Topps card with Tommie Agee from two posts ago but that year had a tougher season in Triple A as he went 10-11 and his ERA popped to 4.95. That kept him on the farm but in ’66 he rallied to go 14-10/2.93 on the same Portland team and that September he made his Cleveland debut.

Culver made the Tribe roster out of spring training in ’67 where as a rookie he worked exclusively out of the pen. His ERA was a tad high but his record was quite good as he added three saves. After that season he went to Cincinnati in the deal that brought Tommy Harper to Cleveland. For the Reds George joined the rotation and was the team’s busiest pitcher, finishing second among starters in ERA despite posting a losing record. That June he threw a no-hitter against Philadelphia. The next year he began experiencing the elbow problems and he moved between the rotation and the pen and missed six weeks as his ERA bloated. After the season he was sent to St. Louis for pitcher Ray Washburn. For the Cards George had a tough start to the season as a spot guy and midway through he was sent to Houston for Jim Beauchamp and Leon McFadden. For Houston he settled down a bunch throwing out of the pen and put up three saves. He remained with the Astros in ’71 and for the next two years was one of the team’s go-to pen guys, putting up seven saves the first year and upping his strikeouts a bunch in ’72 when he moved to a setup role. During spring training of ’73 he was sold to LA where he again did set-up work but his K totals tumbled a bit. Still, he posted a good ERA and added a couple saves before his move to Philly. In ’74 he threw well as a starter in Triple A – 7-4 with a 2.23 ERA in 13 starts – but not too great in Philadelphia. In ’75 he had less success at the lower level and midway through left to pitch in Japan but didn’t throw too much better. By then his MLB time was done and he finished at that level with a record of 48-49 with a 3.62 ERA, seven complete games, two shutouts, and 23 saves.

For a time during off seasons Culver worked as a sportswriter for local papers in the Bakersfield area, where he continued to reside. Around 1970 he became involved in doing fund-raisers for his old college, and after Japan he returned to the area full time to do odd jobs. In ’78 he managed the local independent affiliate while pitching in 23 games and going 2-0 in the pen. He then hooked up with the Phillies organization again as a roving pitching instructor (’79-’82), minor league coach (’83-’85 and ’89-’98), and manager (’86-’88). In that last role he went a combined 263-294 and made his league’s playoffs twice. After some time away he came back to coaching, this time in the LA organization, which he did from 2004 to 2010. In between and since he has remained very active in local baseball, particularly in supporting his alma mater for which he has raised around one million dollars through golf tournaments and other events. He continues to reside in the Bakersfield area.

George’s no-hitter gets star billing. That second one is a bit odd since he only had those two saves that year, though it was a pretty good one. George has some funny cards. In ’68 and ’70 Topps uses the same photo in which he has real short hair and looks like he’s 19. In the early Seventies he was sporting as big a set of muttonchops as anyone in the sets then. He has been inducted into some local halls of fame for his charity work.

In Watergate news the whole tape thing is coming to a head:

10/20/73 – President Nixon had offered what he considered a compromise regarding the tape recordings made by the system he had installed in his White House office. Instead of handing over the requested tapes, those tapes would be reviewed by Senator John Stennis, a Democrat from Mississippi. While that compromise appeared to be accepted by the Senate Committee it was not by Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, who continued to demand the tapes. In what became known as “The Saturday Night Massacre”, Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox, whom Richardson had appointed to the position in the first place. Richardson refused and instead tendered his resignation. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox but Ruckelshaus refused as well. Depending on the timing of following statements Ruckelshaus then either resigned or was fired by Nixon. Nixon then turned to Solicitor General Robert Bork to fire Cox, since in the wake of the two resignations, Bork was now Acting Attorney General. Bork complied and fired Cox. Cox’s investigative powers were then turned over to the FBI who raided the Special Prosecutor’s offices and cleaned out all the files. The move, widely seen as desperate and a whitewashing of the scandal, pretty much backfired. Congress got pissed and pretty much immediately resolutions appeared in the House to have President Nixon impeached. Within a few days Nixon back-tracked and indicated he would share some of the files with Judge John Sirica. He also instructed Bork to name a new Special Prosecutor.

11/1/73 – Bork names Leon Jaworski the new Special Prosecutor. Jaworski had his own politically-connected law firm in Texas, was categorically a Democrat and a friend of LBJ, but had voted for Nixon twice. He came into prominence by overseeing several high-profile WW II-related war crimes and court martial trials in both the US and Europe after the war.

A guy who seemed a shoo-in for the Hall early in his career helps here:

1. Culver and Vada Pinson ’68 Reds;

2. Pinson and Steve Barber ’72 to ’73 Angels.

#619 - Mike Anderson

In the early Seventies the Phillies had some serious sluggers on the team’s Triple A roster. A few of them – Greg Luzinski, Mike Schmidt, and Larry Hisle – went on to duplicate those feats in their MLB careers. And then there were guys like Mike Anderson here who never really replicated their excellent lower level work up top. In ’73 Mike was ratcheting himself into the Phillies line-up as a fourth outfielder behind Del Unser, Luzinski, and Bill Robinson. Mike was a very good defender with an excellent arm and in ’74 he would succeed Robinson as the regular guy in right but when the power failed to climb and the Phillies picked up better-hitting outfield role players like Ollie Brown and Jay Johnstone his starting time became short-lived. Here he brings back the action shot via a pensive gaze in an away stadium.

Mike Anderson grew up in South Carolina where in high school in Timmonsville he was a big three sports guy. As a QB in football he participated in the ’68 Shrine Bowl, an annual game between the best HS players of North Carolina and South Carolina. In baseball he was a first baseman and pitcher and in ’69 was a first round pick by the Phillies. He began his assault on minor league pitching right away with a big summer in Rookie ball that included a .425 OBA. In A ball the next year he moved to the top line-up spot so his RBI total slipped but he kept the OBA level up there with a .429.  In ’71 he didn’t lose a bit when he jumped to Triple A and posted his biggest numbers while maintaining his OBA. He debuted that August and remained the balance of the season in Philly. In ’72 he was initially viewed as one of a young starting outfield group with Greg Luzinski and Willie Montanez with Mike in right field. But after a poor offensive start he was returned to Triple A in late May and played out the rest of the season at that level. After spending all of ’73 with the Phillies he put up a stat line of .251/5/34 in his 395 at bats in his regular role in ’74. In ’75 he alternated in right with Jay Johnstone while posting a line 0f .259/4/28 in 247 at bats. While Mike was putting up a slugger’s strikeout total he wasn’t hitting like one, and after the season he was traded to St. Louis for pitcher Ron Reed.

In ’76 Anderson hit pretty well, posting a .291 average and a .371 OBA, but with almost zero power and in only 200 at bats as a reserve corner guy. In ’77 he quadrupled his homer total but his average collapsed by 70 points and shortly after the beginning of the ’78 season he signed as a free agent back with the Phillies and began the season in Triple A, hitting .313. with 34 RBI’s in 49 games. But he was released in June anyway and was immediately signed by Baltimore, with whom he spent the rest of the season but got minimal at bats as a late-inning defensive guy. He was released after the season and again signed with Philadelphia. Again he began the season in Triple A but by late April he was back in Philly for whom he again did the late inning thing and hit .231 in 79 at bats. In ’80 he returned to Triple A where he hit .327 in half a season before moving to the Mexican Leagues for the second half of the year. In ’81 he put in a partial season with the Pittsburgh Triple A franchise and then was done. Mike hit .246 in his MLB action and .320 in the minors with over 100 homers and a .413 OBA.

And that’s it on Mr. Anderson. He’s got another name on which it’s very tough to do a search and there is pretty much no profile on him at all since he played.

Mike has a nice signature and gets deserved props for his two biggest minor league seasons. He pitched a bit in the pros as well, throwing a scoreless inning for the Phillies in ’79 and posting a 1.12 ERA in five Triple A games in ’80.

In Watergate new things were getting heady as accusations were flowing all over the place:

4/26/73 – L. Patrick Gray resigned as acting head of the FBI after John Erlichman, a White House aide, reported he had seen John Dean, a White Hose attorney, give Gray Watergate-related documents that Gray later destroyed. Whether the documents were the same ones that Gray handed over to Dean earlier was not known. Reports of what the documents actually were were pretty varied: there were indications they included forged State Department cables implicating JFK in the assassination of South Viet Nam premier Ngo Dinh Diem in ’63 as well as documentation regarding Edward Kennedy’s car accident in ’69 in which a young woman was killed. Erlichman had been testifying before the Grand Jury and, while admitting some involvement with Gray and in the Robert Vesco case, denied any wrongdoing.

The Vesco case involved a Detroit native, Robert Vesco, who was a self-made financier who initially made most of his money in the mid-Sixties by acquiring and then aggressively expanding a company called International Controls Corporation (“ICC”). He grew ICC through debt-financed takeovers and by the early Seventies decided he wanted to move over to the investment side, seeking to leverage his controlling stake in ICC to acquire a much bigger company. His eventual target was a mutual fund firm called Investors Overseas Service Ltd. (“IOS”) whose founder was in dutch with the SEC and was looking for a rescue, but because of his regulatory problems nobody legit would touch him. Along came Vesco who engaged in a hostile takeover battle and eventually won control of the $1.4 billion fund. But Vesco soon began pilfering investor funds and stole over $200 million by ’72, now bringing an SEC investigation on himself. He and an attorney who was close to President Nixon’s nephew Donald arranged a fat $200,000 donation to CREEP for which Vesco expected help from then Attorney General John Mitchell in getting the SEC off his back. There was never any significant evidence that any Nixon cabinet members intervened on behalf of Vesco but by the time the Watergate details began receiving high-profile attention a separate Grand Jury was called to investigate the White House’s ties to Vesco and the accepted donation – illegal in its own right – was enough to make many assume automatic guilt in aiding him. Vesco would flee the country in early ’73 initially setting up shop in Costa Rica with his $200 million bankroll and buying off that country’s President who in turn established a law that Vesco could not be extradited to The States. When Vesco lost favor with the succeeding President he then moved to Cuba where by the late Eighties he became involved in drug smuggling and was later incarcerated there. He passed away in 2007.

Let’s close this post on a lighter note and get Mr. Anderson with Mr. Mason:

1. Anderson and Tom Underwood ’74 to ’75 Phillies and ’77 Cardinals;

2. Underwood and Lou Piniella ’80 to ’81 Yankees;

3. Piniella and Jim Mason ’74 to ’76 Yankees.

#608 - 1974 Rookie Pitchers

The final rookie card of the set gives us four NL pitchers who would have varied degrees of success during their MLB days. For one of them – probably the most hyped one initially – this would be his final card. The rest all get sunny skies, two of which appear to be in San Francisco.

Bob Apodaca was primarily an infielder while growing up in the LA area. After high school he went to Cerritos College, a local two-year school, where he was converted to a pitcher. That conversion seemed to go well because after Bob transferred to Cal State he put up two pretty good years: 10-4 with a 1.87 ERA his junior year and 8-8 with a 2.55 ERA and three saves his senior year. That second year was ’71 and after the season Bob signed as a free agent with the Mets and then went 7-1 with a 3.60 ERA in A ball as a spot guy. In ’72 he went 11-7 in a swing role in Double A with a couple saves and a 2.81 ERA. He then moved to the pen and Triple A in ’73 and went 6-3 with a 1.80 ERA and eleven saves before his call-up in September, during which he barely pitched. He would then remain in NY the next four seasons, doing most of his work out of the bullpen. In ’74 he did his spot thing, getting eight starts in his 35 games, while going 6-6 with a 3.50 ERA and three saves. In ’75 he had his best year, going 3-4 with a 1.49 ERA and 13 saves as the team’s closer. That year he missed nearly all of July after his nose was broken by a Johnny Oates comebacker. In ’76 Skip Lockwood took over as closer and Bob would suffer some nagging injuries but still pitched well: in ’76 he went 3-7 with a 2.81 ERA and five saves and in ’77 4-8 with a 3.43 ERA and five saves again. Just as spring training was closing in ’78 Bob suffered a ligament tear in his right elbow and he would not pitch at all the rest of the season. He had two attempted comebacks the next three years that didn’t go too well and he was done as a player. He went 16-25 with a 2.86 ERA, a complete game, and 26 saves in his MLB action and 25-16 with a 3.24 ERA in the minors. After playing he remained in the Mets organization as a pitching coach in the minors until promoted to NY in ’96, where he would remain through the ’99 season. He was then the Brewers pitching coach (2000-’01) before returning to a final year in the NY system (2002). In 2003 he became the Rockies pitching coach which he did until he stepped down during the 2012 season. Since then he has been a special assistant to the Colorado GM.

Dick Baney was already being scouted when he was pitching in the eighth grade in Anaheim. By the time he was done in high school he’d thrown twelve no-hitters and his senior year went 13-3 while hitting .414 all of which combined to get him tabbed in the third round of the ’65 draft by the Angels, Anaheim’s new residents. But they wouldn’t throw Dick enough money so he opted to go to Fullerton State where he threw a bit of fall ball until in January he was taken by Boston for a $50,000 bonus. He went 8-13 that summer with a 2.81 ERA in A ball and then 12-13. 3.65 the following year at the same level. In ’68 he went 14-6. 1.84 in Double A and after the season was tabbed by the new Pilots in the expansion draft. He had some nice chats with Jim Bouton in ’69 spring training that made “Ball Four” but Dick spent the first half of the season in Triple A where he went 7-8 with a 4.40 ERA. He debuted that July, gave up a homer to Harmon Killebrew, the first batter he faced, and after a few games reurned to the minors. He got back up in late September, won his only start, and got in less than 20 innings of MLB time. Then it was back to the minors for a while. In ’70 he went a combined 5-5, 5.18 in a year split between Milwaukee and Baltimore after he was involved in the trade that made Dave May a Brewer. In ’71 he went 10-4, 3.74 with another mid-season switch when he was sold to Cincinnati. In ’72 he got sold to San Diego for whom he had a 5-4, 5.67 year mostly in the pen. Then it was off to the Oakland system briefly before returning to the Reds fold in a ’73 in which he went 8-5, 3.66 before finally returning to MLB action in September. He had a nice stretch run, going 2-1 with a 2.93 ERA and a couple saves, but missed post-season action and returned to the minors to start the ’74 season. After going 4-2 with a 3.38 ERA in Triple A he returned to Cincy in June but wasn’t used too much the rest of the way, posting a win and a save and a high ERA in his last MLB work. ’75 was a bit messy back in Triple A and he was released. He attempted a comeback in ’79 in the Inter-American League and was doing pretty well, going 3-4 with a 3.48 ERA when the league folded, ending his career. Dick finished with a 4-1 record, three saves, and a 4.18 ERA up top and went 76-67 with a 3.65 ERA in the minors. He returned to California to work with his dad’s contracting business, did other sales work, and got into real estate sales and investing and has done pretty well in his endeavors. He has recently become an advocate of pre-’80 MLB players that didn’t do enough topside time to get pensions.

John D’Acquisto is the third guy on this card to come from southern California, John from the San Diego area. There he was a linebacker and big deal pitcher in high school and the Giants made him a first rounder in the ’70 draft. John was a big guy who threw heat, though with not too much control, and that summer he went 2-5 with a high ERA and way more strikeouts and walks than innings pitched in Rookie ball. He began to get things under control the next year in A ball when he went 10-13 with a 3.13 ERA and 244 K’s in 233 innings, a total that nearly doubled his walks. In ’72 his line bumped up some more at that level as he went 17-6 with a 3.32 ERA and 245 K’s in his 209 innings.Those numbers moved him all the way up to Triple A in ’73 where he went 16-12 with a 3.57 ERA before coming up to San Francisco in September to go 1-1 with a 3.58 ERA the rest of the way. In ’74 he joined the rotation and went 12-14/3.77 to win a spot on the Topps Rookie Team. But his success faded fast when early the next season, after pitching in pain with some horrible numbers, he required an operation to remove bone chips from his pitching elbow. ’76 was not a good comeback year as his record was terrible, his ERA stayed high, and he walked nearly a batter an inning, almost twice more than he struck out. After the season he and Dave Rader went to St. Louis for Vic Harris, John Curtis, and Willie Crawford. This John would begin the ’77 season with a muscle pull in his lower leg, miss more than a month, and shortly after he was healthy again go home to San Diego with Pat Scanlon for reliever Butch Metzger. The rest of the year he would split time between the Padres and Triple A where his numbers were pretty good at the lower level but not too hot up top. In ’78 he was put in the pen and there had his best numbers, going 4-3 with a 2.13 ERA and ten saves in his 45 games. He returned to a swing role in ’79, going 9-13 with a 4.92 ERA, before moving back to the pen in ’80 where he was 2-3 with a save in 39 games before an August trade to Montreal for Randy Bass. After he threw pretty well the rest of the way he returned to the West Coast as a free agent where continued elbow problems would contribute to some not great pitching for the Angels and A’s at a few levels. More of the same came in ’82 for the Braves and the next year for the White Sox, both in Triple A. By the end of the ’83 season John was done. He finished topside with a record of 34-51 with a 4.56 ERA, seven complete games, two shutouts, and 15 saves. In the minors he was 57-58 with a 4.42 ERA and nearly a strikeout an inning. After playing he returned to California where he became an investment advisor and had a pretty good thing going until he became involved in a scheme in the mid-Nineties that stole over $22 million from his clients. Initially sentenced to over five years in jail, his sentence was revoked when evidence was presented that he had been duped as well and was above board. But after that experience he got out of the business, returned to school, and eventually got a doctorate in biomechanics. With that in hand he worked for a company called Rough Edge Software and then Sorganics, which is researching alternative fertilizer products. He now lives in Arizona. He has a SABR bio that is a bit spotty in its details.

Just to shake things up, Mike Wallace was not raised in California, but in Vienna, Virginia, not too far from DC. Mike had a great run in high school, during which he was 28-4 with a 0.97 ERA and led his team to the state championship in ’68. The next June he was drafted by the Phillies and went 6-6 that summer with a 3.97 ERA and 123 K’s in 102 innings of Rookie ball. In ’70 he went 8-8/3.66 in A ball, in ’71 10-12/3.52 in Double A, and in ’72 16-7/3.46 in Triple A for a nice progression. That last year he led his league in wins. But then ’73 got a little messy. Mike began the season in Triple A where there are some indications he was dealing with an injury and his early season numbers were 6-5/4.67 with some tough control issues. But in June he was called up to Philly anyway after Larry Christenson was sent back down for a bit. Mike threw a complete game win in his first start and hung out through mid-August when he was sent down to Double A when outfielder Mike Anderson came off the DL. At the lower level he went 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA in three starts before returning to the Phillies in September and finishing 1-1 with a 3.78 ERA and a save. He began the ’74 season in Philly but didn’t pitch too much before a May trade for Ken Wright to the Yankees. NY put Mike in Triple A for a bit where his numbers – 1-1 with a save and a 0.87 ERA in five games – got him back up quickly. For the Yankees he continued pitching well, going 6-0 with a 2.41 ERA as a set-up guy. In ’75 some nasty early outings got him sold in June to St. Louis and for the Cards Mike went 5-6/4.44 as a swing guy in Triple A and then 2-0/2.08 as a reliever up top. He stayed in St. Louis for all of ’76 where he returned to a set-up role and went 3-2/4.07 with a couple saves. He was traded to Texas after that season – Mike’s only two solo cards are both air-brushed (pretty badly) – where after some not great outings he returned to the minors. His ERA remained elevated that year in the Texas system and in ’78 back in Philadelphia’s. In ’79 he moved to the Inter-American League where he did excellent work as a starter, going 11-1 with a 2.27 ERA before the league folded. His manager there, Davey Johnson, helped Mike get signed by Baltimore but after he went 0-6 with a 6.34 ERA in 15 Triple A games Mike was done. He went 11-3 with a 3.91 ERA, a complete game, and three saves for his MLB work and in the minors was 71-60 with a 3.89 ERA. After playing Mike returned to the Vienna area and by the early Nineties was back in baseball. He coached at a couple colleges: William & Mary (’90-’91); and George Mason (’92-’97). He then moved on to coach in a summer collegiate league for the Vienna Senators, which he did from ’97 until the team folded in 2009. Since 2011 he has been a broadcaster for the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, an independent radio network where his beat includes the Nationals.

I’d heard that there were misspellings on this card but I don’t see any. As noted above, California is pretty prevalent here. These last four give us 15 MLB seasons with a Rookie Team member. So the most successful bunch of this rookie set would be card 604 with Frank White and Andre Thornton providing most of that group’s MLB magic.

These two missed playing together by not much:

1. Frank Taveras and John Stearns ’79 to ’81 Mets;

2. Stearns and Bob Apodaca ’74 to ’77 Mets.

For our final round the card we get:

1. Bob Apodaca and Tom Seaver ’74 to ’77 Mets;

2. Seaver and Johnny Bench ’77 to ’82 Reds;

3. Bench and Dick Baney ’73 to ’74 Reds; Bench and Ken Griffey ’73 to ’81 Reds

4. Griffey and Dave Winfield ’82 to ’86 Yankees;

5. Winfield and John D’Acquisto ’77 to ’80 Padres;

6. D’Acquisto and Bobby Murcer ’75 to ’76 Giants;

7. Murcer and Mike Wallace ’74 Yankees.

So four was our quickest loop around the rookie cards and nine our longest. Back to the rest of the set.

#599 - 1974 Rookie Pitchers

Now we get to a card with more than one unrecognizable name on it. But though this card may not do as well as the prior ones in showcasing future MLB career longevity winners, it does have something all its own to offer and that is the final “Washington Nat’l” card of the set. There is apparently a third rendition of this card – the large-type version of which I am pretty sure I am without and will most likely remain.

Ron Diorio was a high school basketball star in Waterbury, CT, and moved gradually into pitching after beginning his time as a catcher. He then attended Central Connecticut State before transferring to New Haven College where he continued to play both sports. In hoops there he was a center and averaged 8.9 ppg and 7.4 rpg. His pitching line was better as he went 24-3 with a 1.57 ERA and 262 strikeouts in 235 innings. He was briefly a teammate of Joe Lahoud and was an All-American his senior year of ’69 when he was also drafted by the Phillies. For them he would do almost exclusively pen work as he moved up the chain. In ’69 he went a combined 7-11 with six saves and three complete game starts with a 2.57 ERA split between Rookie and A ball. In ’70 he went 1-3 with three saves and a 1.84 ERA at the higher level. ’71 was a combined 6-2, 2.38 with nine saves split between A and Double A. The next year was 8-4, 3.03 with eight saves at the higher level and ’73 may have been his best season with a 5-1, 1.71 ERA, eleven saves year at Triple A before he was called up in early August. He did nice relief work in Philly, getting a save and posting a 2.33 ERA in his 19 innings. After pitching winter ball he threw a couple games early in ’74 before being sent down to Double A where he went 3-3, 2.67 with four saves through June. He was then promoted to Triple A but his first game his dad passed away. Ron’s family was close and his numbers showed the effect as he went 1-0 with a 5.27 ERA the rest of the way and was then released. In ’75 he hooked up with the Montreal organization for whom at Triple A he went 2-5, 2.44 with three saves. Then it was on to the Yankees where in ’76 he was 3-3, 1.55 with seven saves in Double A and in ’77 6-4. 4.59 with eight saves in Triple A. Released again, he would spend ’78 pitching in Mexico where he went 1-2 with a 3.13 ERA. Ron finished with a record of 42-36 with a 2.86 ERA and 62 saves in the minors and a 3.15 ERA on no decisions in 25 games up top. He had become involved in real estate back in CT in off-seasons while he played and then took a job as Waterbury’s Fair Housing Officer when he was done, which he continued to do through ’86. That year he took a job with the Nocera Company, rose to partner in ’96 and still resides professionally. He also refs local hoops games. Just about all the background comes from his SABR bio.

Like Ron Diorio, Dave Freisleben (pronounced freeze-le-ben with the accent on the first syllable) played both hoops and baseball in high school, but Dave did it a few notches south, in Pasadena, Texas. Grabbed by the Padres out of high school in ’71 he moved fast through the system and that summer went 7-3 with a 2.97 ERA and four shutouts in his 13 A ball starts. He then went 17-9, 2.32 in Double A in ’72 and in Triple A the next year 16-8 with a 2.82 ERA. In ’74 he went 2-1 in his first three starts before moving up to San Diego in late April. Again he went out strong, winning his first three starts and throwing a shutout in his sixth game. By mid-June he was 6-2 and he still had a winning record by late August. Earlier that month he threw 13 shutout innings at Cincinnati but didn’t get the decision. Later that month he worked into the 12^th inning of a loss. But he fell prey to the team’s lack of hitting, losing nine in a row and finished 9-14 with a 3.66 ERA. ’75 was a tough sophomore season as he went 5-14 with a 4.28 ERA. Part of Dave’s problem was control and over his MLB run his walks would match his strikeouts. Part of it, too, at least according to Padres management, was his waistline. Dave began ’76 back in Triple A and returned to San Diego in late May where he had a nice bounce when he posted his best numbers with a 10-13, 3.51 year. But then ’77 started ugly as he went 0-4 in April with an elevated ERA. He returned to Triple A where he went 4-4, 3.94 until he returned in late June. From July through year-end he improved to 6-4, 3.87 as a swing guy and went 7-9, 4.61 on the year. By then Dave was apparently suffering from recurring injuries and his ’78 was pretty nasty: after an 0-3, 6.08 start as a little-used spot guy he went to Cleveland in June for pitcher Bill Laxton. He did just as bad in the AL, going 1-4, 7.11 in ten starts for the Tribe who placed him on waivers after the season. He was picked up by Toronto and in ’79 went 2-3 with three saves and a 4.95 ERA as a long guy before he was released, ending his playing time. Dave finished 34-60 with a 4.30 ERA – also his strike and walk total – 17 complete games, six shutouts, and four saves. In the minors he was 48-28 with a 2.95 ERA and 13 shutouts. After playing Dave got a degree in law enforcement at San Jacinto college and became a police officer back in Pasadena. He then became a golf pro and currently appears to run a fishing service out of San Leon, according to his Facebook page.

Frank Riccelli grew up near Syracuse where he was a good enough pitcher – three-time all-state – to be picked by the Giants as a first rounder in the ’71 draft. Like Dave Freisleben he moved quickly and that summer he went 7-3 with a 2.56 ERA as a starter in Rookie ball. He had heat that year and struck out 116 batters in his 88 innings. He continued throwing hard in ’72 in Double A, going 9-9, 3.18 with 183 K’s in 164 innings. His first couple seasons in Triple A were a bit tougher and the K’s came way down. In ’73 he went 10-11 with a 4.25 ERA and in ’74 fell to 3-7, 6.16 in far less innings so he may have been injured. But in ’75 he returned to Double A, putting up a 14-6, 3.26 year before in ’75 returning to the higher level. He still could not match his success in Triple A and over the next two seasons he went a combined 17-20 with a 5.64 ERA around a few brief innings in San Francisco in ’76 during which he went 1-1 with a high ERA. Immediately after the latter season he was sold to St. Louis where he threw considerably better, going a combined 12-10, 2.86 between two Triple A teams.  That second team was a Houston affiliate and in ’78 Frank got a couple innings up top before spending all of ’79 with the Astros. That year he went 2-2 with a 4.09 ERA as a seldom-used spot guy and he had a big day at the plate when he knocked in three runs against Cincinnati in a game. After being released during spring training of ’80 – he had his second Topps card that year, a big gap with six years – he appears to have taken the year off before attempting a few comebacks over the next three years with affiliates close to his home base of Buffalo (Pittsburgh) and Syracuse (Toronto), none of which lasted too long. Frank was done after the ’83 season with a record of 3-3 with a 4.39 ERA up top and 72-68 with a 4.17 ERA in the minors. He has been tough to track since then but seemed happy and healthy in 2012 when he was inducted into the Christian Brothers hall of fame.

Greg Shanahan was born and raised in Eureka, California and after graduating high school attended UC-Santa Barbara and then nearby Humboldt State University where he played with Dane Iorg and from which he was drafted by the Dodgers in ’70. In A ball that summer he went 5-5 with a 3.66 ERA while striking out a batter an inning. At the same level in ’71 he went 8-10, 4.01 while leading his league with 182 K’s (in 164 innings). He split ’72 between A and Double A, going a combined 10-8, 3.12 with 187 K’s in 171 innings. In ’73 he went 12-12, 4.18 in Triple A while again leading his league in K’s before he got his September debut in LA. He struck out the first batter he faced, Willie McCovey, and in 16 innings posted a 3.45 ERA with a save. He then spent nearly all of the next two seasons in Triple A where his combined numbers were messy at 13-24, 4.64, though he again threw pretty well in his few innings in ’74 up top. Greg was released in spring training of ’76 and spent that year pitching in Mexico before returning to The States in ’77 when he went 11-11 with a 2.54 ERA for Kansas City’s Triple A franchise. That was his final season and Greg put up a 3.57 ERA and a save in his eleven MLB games and went 62-70 with a 3.81 ERA in the minors. In off-seasons he’d returned to the Eureka area to work in insurance and in ’78 he got his license and shortly thereafter opened his own shop, which he still has. In ’96 he established the Humboldt Crabs, an entry in a Far West summer league for college and post-college players and was its GM through 2008.

So like on all the other cards although it says Washington on the front the back continued to denote the team the San Diego Padres, which would of course be the correct designation. Here we are a bit more challenged in terms of MLB service as these guys combined for seven years and no awards. At least the hook-ups should be challenging. Here we go with those:

1. Ron Diorio and Mike Schmidt ’73 to ’74 Phillies;

2. Schmidt and Dick Allen ’75 to ’76 Phillies;

3. Allen and Jim Tyrone ’77 A’s.

Now around the card:

1. Ron Diorio and Mike Schmidt ’73 to ’74 Phillies;

2. Schmidt and Bobby Tolan ’76 Phillies;

3. Tolan and Dave Freisleben ’74 to ’75 Padres;

4. Freisleben and Derrell Thomas ’74 Padres;

5. Thomas and Frank Riccelli ’76 Giants;

6. Riccelli and Von Joshua ’76 Giants;

7. Joshua and Greg Shanahan ’73 to ’74 Dodgers.

That wasn’t too bad.

#587 - Larry Christenson

The latest big deal rookie of the ’74 set is Larry Christenson and this is his rookie card since at this time the prior year Larry was still playing high school ball. Larry had a pretty good debut in ’73, sticking with the MLB roster out of camp when he was just 19. He threw a five-hit complete-game win at the Mets in his first start ever, giving up only one run. Tellingly, he also walked six in that game and a little wildness and too many big hits given up would have him back in Triple A by early June. There he didn’t throw much better though his control got more balanced and his record moved back to the winning side. Larry would be a Phillie his whole career and would battle through lots of injuries to do pretty well. Here he casts a glaze in Candlestick probably not too soon before he was sent down. But he’d be back pretty soon.

Larry Christenson grew up in Washington State where he played nearly everything, including in high school tennis, cross country, baseball, and basketball. That last one was his biggest sport and during his senior year in which he averaged 21 PPG as a forward he was recruited by all the Pac-Ten schools. He was headed in that direction when he sort of exploded in baseball that spring, going 7-2 with a 0.28 ERA and 143 strikeouts in his 72 innings. He also hit .406 and stole eleven bases. That June of ’72 the Phillies made Larry the third pick of the draft and after a very good start in Rookie ball that summer he joined the Phillies out of the gate in ’73.

In ’74 Christenson went 11-9 with a 3.30 ERA and much better control in Triple A before returning to Philadelphia late that August to go 1-1 in some relief work with a 4.30 ERA and a couple saves. He again began the next year in Triple A but after 12 shutout innings in his two starts he was back in the pen by mid-May. By mid-June he was in the rotation and he finished the year 11-6 with a 3.67 ERA and only 45 walks in over 170 innings. In ’76 he upped his win total to 13 with the same ERA but missed some time due to injury. He had a chronic bad back since high school and as a result would suffer occasional groin pulls. A good hitter, that year he teed off a couple solo homers in a game against the Mets. In ’77 Larry had his big year, going 19-6 with a 4.06 ERA and doubling his strikeout totals from the prior year. He also had his first playoff action. Then in ’78 his record was a disappointing 13-14 but he lowered his ERA nearly a run and topped out his complete game (9) and shutout (3) totals. Then in ’79 the injury bug bit him hard and before the season even began. He’d signed up to do an 1,800 mile bike ride – that’s pretty impressive – for charity back on the left coast and was going at a pretty good clip on the tour in February when he fell off the bike and broke his collarbone. While the initial injury was bad enough, it got worse when after the season started the collarbone developed a spur that required surgery. He missed a ton of time and for the year went 5-10 as his ERA flew up to 4.50. It would be more of the same the next two seasons as he lost time to elbow injuries, more groin pulls, and a smash to the knee on a comebacker. In ’80 he went 5-1 in his 14 starts and in ’81 4-7 around the injuries and the strike. In ’82 he had a relatively healthy year, going 9-10 with a 3.47 ERA in his first season of over 200 innings since ’78. But the rebound was short-lived as in ’83 after a not bad start – 2-4 but with great control and a 3.91 ERA – he hurt his elbow again and required two more surgeries. The Phillies released him after the season – on his birthday! – and Larry was done with a record of 83-71, 27 complete games, six shutouts, four saves, and a 3.79 ERA. In the post-season he was 1-2 with a 7.40 ERA in six games. He hit .150 for his career but with eleven homers and 46 RBI’s in 427 at bats.

Christenson was only 29 when Philadelphia let him go after the ’83 season and he had a deal with the club that if he rehabbed successfully they would take him back. So the next couple years that was what he did, for a while returning to do some kinesiology work with a certain Dr. Mike Marshall, former LA reliever. But the rehab never really worked and by ’86 he had moved on to a new career as a financial advisor, which he began in earnest after moving back to the Philadelphia area – where most of his professional contacts resided – in ’87. He worked on the advisor side through ’94 and then moved to the investment management side that year for the next ten years, part of it with Phoenix Investment Partners, a huge money manager. In 2004 he founded his own business, Larry Christenson Investment Partners, which offers products and services to investment managers. It has been a pretty successful run for him and has allowed him to be very involved in charitable work and occasional appearances on behalf of his old team. He continues to reside in the Philadelphia neck of the woods.

There’s Larry’s high school record as a senior so I didn’t need to plow through those old news articles. Who were the two guys chosen ahead of Larry? We’ve seen one of them already and the other would have his Topps unveiling in the ’76 set: Dave Roberts, third baseman from the University of Oregon was selected first by the Padres; and Rick Manning, then a high school shortstop from the Niagara Falls area in NY, was selected second by Cleveland. I do not know what Larry did for the lumber company in the off-season but given the status of his back, I hope it wasn’t swinging an axe.

These one-team guys can be tough:

1. Christenson and Ed Farmer – what a save! – ’74 and ’82 to ’83 Phillies;

2. Farmer and Jack Brohamer ’72 to ’73 Indians.

#564 - Mike Ryan

Like Jack Aker of two posts ago, Mike Ryan gets his final card pictured in a uniform he would not be in in 1974. In January of that year he was traded to the Pirates for Jackie Hernandez, who is ironically the subject for the next post. Mike’s at bat totals had been moving south since ’70 and in ’73 with new guy Bob Boone behind the plate nearly all the time, Mike’s total dropped below 100, though he did put up his best average in Philly, with his .232. Mike’s specialty was defense and he managed to build a pretty long career despite finishing with an average below .200. Here he poses at Shea with an unusually dark bat. I have one that exact color and it’s made out of bamboo, which I think is pretty cool. I don’t think they were using bamboo back then in bats. If they were, maybe that helped explain Mike’s average.

Mike Ryan grew up in Haverhill, Massachusetts, not terribly far from the New Hampshire border. In high school he played baseball but the Catholic school he attended had no athletic teams so Mike played sandlot ball. In ’60 he was part of an all-area team that played in a tournament held at Yankee Stadium and it was there Mike was discovered, signing late that year with his home-state Sox. The following year he hit only .185 in D ball but fielded quite well. He remained at that level in ’62, led his league in both putouts and assists, and boosted his numbers pretty considerably to .215/10/49 with a .353 OBA, though he did also K a ton. The next two years were spent in Double A where he continued his excellent defense and boosted his numbers somewhat. In ’63 he had a .229/10/45 year though with 106 K’s in just 388 at bats; in ’64 it was .248/5/34 and though his power numbers fell he also more than halved his strikeouts. He then got called up to Boston in October and had a great debut, knocking in and scoring a couple runs. Unfortunately on one of his scores, he tore a ligament in his knee which prompted a slow recovery the following year. He did begin the season on the Sox roster but after not hitting crazy well got moved to Triple A where he hit .236 with 19 RBI’s in 161 at bats before returning to Boston.

In ’66 Ryan got the starting nod and turned in some pretty good defense, though he gave up a ton of steals. He also raised his average a bunch though that wasn’t saying too much. In ’67 the Sox brought in Dick Williams and he and Mike didn’t see eye-to-eye on pitch selection all the time. So while Mike split games pretty evenly with Bob Tillman and Gerry Moses, when the Sox picked up Elston Howard late in the year, Mike got to watch the rest of The Impossible Dream season from the bench. He improved significantly on his runners caught that year and managed to get a couple Series at bats. After the season he was traded to Philadelphia for Gene Oliver and Dick Ellsworth. That first season of ’68 he split time behind the plate with Clay Dalrymple and while his offense was nasty bad he picked off a pretty nice 58% of the runners who took off on him. In ’69 Clay got sent to Baltimore, leaving Mike the starting catcher role and he turned in his biggest offensive year with 12 homers and 44 RBI’s. Prior to the ’70 season the Phillies acquired Tim McCarver as part of the Curt Flood/Dick Allen deal and McCarver was named starting catcher. But he got hurt in an early game against the Giants, breaking his hand on a foul ball. Ryan was back in the starting role, but it lasted less than a game as he got steamrolled at the plate by Willie McCovey and broke a finger. The Phillies would get so desperate for catching help later that season they had to pull Doc Edwards out of retirement. For ’71 McCarver was back and Mike played behind him that year, John Bateman in ’72, and Boone in ’73, getting not too many at bats. He finished things up with batting .100 in only 30 at bats behind Manny Sanguillen and retired at the end of the ’74 season. Mike had a .193 average with 28 homers and 161 RBI’s for his career and went o for two in his Series at bats. He had a .991 fielding average and caught 44% of the guys that tried to run on him, way better than league average.

Like Hal McRae Ryan moved directly into coaching. He managed in the Pitssburgh system from ’75 to ’76 and then returned to the Philadelphia one for many years, managing (’77-’78); coaching in the minors (’79); and coaching in Philly (’80-’95). His managing record was 236-316. He retired after his Philadelphia coaching days ended and lives in New Hampshire.

Not surprisingly Mike’s star bullets are all defense. Nicknamed “Irish” he also likes antiques according to a cartoon on another one of his cards. According to Mike’s SABR bio, he picked those two up from his wife.

I forgot all about this guy while figuring how to make this one short:

1. Ryan and Cookie Rojas ’69 Phillies;

2. Rojas and Hal McRae ’73 to ’77 Royals.

#538 - Cesar Tovar

In one post we get back both an action shot and a Traded card. That seems about right for Cesar Tovar, a guy who once played nine positions in a game. Cesar came to Philadelphia after the ’72 season for Joe Lis, Ken Reynolds, and Ken Sanders. The Phillies had just sent third basemen Don Money and John Vukovich to Milwaukee to clear a path for college guy Mike Schmidt and they then picked up Cesar for insurance in case Mike had trouble with big league pitching. And initially he did, so it was a good thing Tovar was around. But as the season went on Schmidt got more settled at third, Cesar had to have surgery on his knee, didn’t get too much time in the outfield when he returned, and he publicly declared he wanted out of Philly. So did Larry Bowa which was a bit ironic since one of the other reasons the Phillies brought in Cesar was to be an influence on Bowa. But that probably wasn’t what they had in mind.

Cesar Tovar was born in Caracas, Venezuela, where he grew up playing ball, principally at second base. He was signed by Gabe Paul, then working for Cincinnati, while Paul was on a scouting expedition for a friend of Cesar’s named Gus Gil. The Reds wanted Gil and Gil asked them to sign his friend or the deal was off. That Paul did and Cesar got started that summer in D ball where he hit .252. In ’60 he moved up to C ball where he hit significantly better, with ten triples, twelve homers, and a .304 average. Somehow those numbers got him moved back to D ball in ’61 where he put up a 19/78/.338 year while also stealing 88 bases. In ’62 the Reds got it right and moved him up to B ball where he had a 10/78/.329 season with 56 steals. In ’63 he got loaned to the Twins and in Triple A that year he made an impression with an 11/49/.297 season with 41 doubles and 115 runs scored while splitting time between shortstop and the outfield. In ’64 he returned to Cincinnati, stuck in Triple A, added third base to his positions, and had a pretty good year , hitting .275 with 94 runs and 40 stolen bases. When the Twins came calling for a middle infielder, Cesar was their second choice – apparently Tommy Helms was their first – and Minnesota got him for pitcher Gerry Arrigo.

Tovar began ’65 on the Twins roster and did OK, but not good enough to stick, so in a month he was back in Triple A, where he hit .328 with eleven homers and 28 stolen bases the rest of the way. In ’66 he stuck in Minnesota and had a pretty good rookie year, spending most of his time at second while stealing 16 bases. In ’67 and ’68 he had very similar seasons – he had 35 stolen bases the latter year – while splitting time pretty evenly between third base and the outfield. That first year he led the AL in plate appearances even though he had no regular position. In ’68 he did his one position per inning thing in a game against the A’s. That was appropriate since the first guy to pull that off was Bert Campaneris, who played in that game. In ’69 the Twins got Billy Martin as a manager and Cesar quickly became a favorite of the manager with his hustle and versatility. He upped his stolen base total to 45 that year and beginning that season was principally an outfielder. Minnesota went to the playoffs that year and also the next when Cesar led the AL in doubles and triples in what was probably his best season. In ’71 he led the AL in hits. In ’72 a shoulder injury pulled his stats down a bunch. That November he was sent to Philadelphia.

While Larry Bowa’s wish to be traded didn’t happen – good thing for both him and the Phillies – Tovar’s request was honored and he got sold to the Rangers. Reuniting with Martin seemed to do the trick as Cesar had a nice bounce, upping his average to .292 and his RBI total to 58 while again playing around the outfield. But ’75 got a bit tumultuous as injuries and a fast fallout by Martin with management led to Billy’s departure. Cesar’s numbers came in with the rest of the team as his RBI totals halved and his average fell to .258. That season he was primarily a DH for both the Rangers and Oakland to where he was sold in late August for the stretch drive during which he hit .231 the final month. He did mostly pinch hit work for the A’s in ’76 before he went to the Yankees the final month-plus – again reuniting with Martin – where he finished out his career in the same role. Cesar batted .278 for his career with 46 homers and 226 stolen bases and 834 runs. He only K’d about once every 15 at bats and he hit .250 with four runs in eight post-season games.

Tovar had a long winter career in Venezuelan ball during and after his US one. When he was done he was fourth in career games played and hits, second in runs and stolen bases, and third in doubles. He hit .286 for his career there, which as a player lasted through ’85. Immediately after his stateside career ended he played the next three regular seasons in Mexico, hitting well over .300 in each one. When he finished up as a player in Venezuela he continued there as a coach. He was a big smoker and by the early Nineties he had a few health problems as a result. Early in ’94 he contracted pancreatic cancer which killed him later that year. He was 54.

Cesar has a nice clean signature that is very compact, sort of like him. He doesn’t have the parenthetical name thing going but that’s because his mom and pop never married.

The back of the Traded card gives a glimpse of Cesar’s early history with Billy Martin. The two were very similar players though Billy did a bit better in post-season work. According to the book "Seasons in Hell", during his first season with the Rangers, Cesar habitually ran into other players so much while chasing down fly balls that he was told he should wear a cowbell so his teammates could hear him coming. "More cowbell!"

Gabe Paul could certainly link up these two guys in a hurry but through teammates we have to look elsewhere:

1. Tovar and Del Unser ’73 Phillies;

2. Unser and Steve Mingori ’72 Indians.eHHeHYeHJh

#515 - Willie Montanez

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.eHHeHYeHJh