#650 - Mike Epstein

And the penultimate action shot belongs to .... Mike Epstein on his last Topps card swinging away at Yankee Stadium and apparently connecting since it looks like Thurman Munson’s glove is empty. Mike got back to California the hard way – through the Texas Rangers – and by the time this card came out was pretty much done emotionally with his first go in baseball. According to the book “Seasons in Hell” Mike was admittedly mailing it in and was more interested in getting his pilot’s license than in anything going on on the field. Looking at this photo, though, he still seemed to have the ability to uncork a huge swing every now and then. This shot was taken in either early June or September since those were the only two times since Epstein’s acquisition he played in NY for California and I believe this shot is from the same game as the one of Vada Pinson. Mike got with the Angels via a May trade that moved him, Rick Stelmaszek, and Rich Hand for Jim Spencer and Lloyd Allen. That was after the trade that got him out of Oakland initially, when he was sent to Texas rather cheaply for reliever Horacio Pina. That trade was initiated by one of two events, depending on the source: Mike’s o-fer performance in the ’72 Series (A’s owner Charlie O); or Mike’s laying out of Reggie Jackson in the locker room (Epstein). Either way it led to a pretty fast decline for Mike who would go from getting some MVP votes for his ’72 work to being out of the game less tan two years later. But he wouldn’t stay away for too long...

Mike Epstein was a big kid born in the Bronx, NYC. Sometime after he was bar mitzvahed his family relocated to the west coast and Mike went to high school in LA where he was all-area as both a fullback and a first baseman. He then went to Berkeley where he continued to play both sports and after hitting .375 his sophomore year was wooed by the Dodgers via Tommy Lasorda but remained in school at his dad’s insistence. In ’64 he upped his average to nearly .400, made All-American, and was selected to the first ever US Olympic baseball team. He then signed with the Orioles, put in some IL time, and returned to Berkeley to finish his studies. In ’65 he broke in with a bang, putting up a .338/30/109 line in A ball while playing first. In ’66 he jumped to Triple A where his line of .302/29/102 earned him TSN’s Minor League Player of the Year and a brief end of season look in Baltimore. Around then Boog Powell had settled in at first base so Baltimore wanted to turn Mike into an outfielder, which would require more time in the minors. Mike balked and early in June of the ’67 season after barely playing he was sent to DC for pitcher Pete Richert.  He immediately took over first but he was putting up too many K’s and not enough power so by the end of the season he was splitting starts with Dick Nen. After winter ball and a good spring training Mike was back in as the regular guy in ’68 but by mid-May his average was still below .100 so he returned to Triple A for some hitting work where he put up a .400/5/13 line in just eleven games. He was back up top in June and hit .276 with twelve homers and 31 RBI’s the rest of the way.

In ’69 Washington named a new manager in Ted Williams and Epstein would become one of Ted’s star pupils. Pretty much all of Mike’s offensive numbers would rise significantly and that season he sported a .414 OBA as the Nats put up their first winning season in this rendition. Expansion probably contributed to those numbers, though, and the next year Mike fell back to earth a bit. The next year Oakland was looking for a power guy at first and Mike went to the A’s with reliever Darold Knowles for catcher Frank Fernandez, first baseman Don Mincher, and reliever Paul Lindblad that May. He got the lion’s share of work at first the rest of the way, continued to have pretty good OBA numbers, and got his first post-season action. Then in ’72 he led Oakland in homers and got his Series win though he didn’t have such a great time offensively. That November he was sent to Texas and he then finished things early in the ’74 season with California. For his career Mike hit .244 with 130 homers, 380 RBI’s, and a .358 OBA. In the post-season he hit .108 with a homer in his 13 games and in just over two minor league seasons he hit .325 with 64 homers and 224 RBI’s.

As mentioned above, Epstein had sort of moved away emotionally from baseball by the time he retired. He would relocate to Colorado where he had his own ranch and also his own precious metals company for a few years. But the baseball bug never left him entirely. By the early Nineties he was in the San Diego area and coaching, first for a big deal amateur team and then in the Milwaukee system (’93, when he also went 4-7 as an interim manager), for some independent teams (’96-’99), and in the San Diego system (2000). He also coached at San Diego High School in ’95. Since about ’94 he has also run his own hitting school which by now has a sort of national network and has developed a system called rotational hitting. Both Mike and his son are busily involved in the school and if that photo on the site is recent Mike looks damn good.

This is a good swan song card and has some serious star bullets. Per the cartoon, Mike was no Ron Hunt, but every season from ’68 to ’72 he was in the top four in the AL for HBP. After coming across the “Seasons in Hell” book for the Joe Lovitto post I had to hunt it down. It’s a hilarious book with lots of behind the scenes dope of the Rangers from ’73 to ’75. Though Epstein was barely there at the time, he gets lots of mention, especially in a bit in which he pissed off some former teammates after being traded to California by indicating none of them was incentivized to win. Texas then won its next three games against California to kick off its only real winning streak that year.

Another hook-up that takes us through the AL:

1. Epstein and Bernie Allen ’67 to ’71 Senators;

2. Allen and Roy White ’72 to ’73 Yankees;

3. White and Fernando Gonzolez ’74 Yankees.

#598 - '74 Rookie Outfielders

At first glance this card seems to not have the snap of the first two but on closer inspection we get our first major award winner, a guy who played forever and had some pretty good genes, and two guys who figured in the ’73 pennant race. So maybe I need to stop taking first glances.

One of the biggest plays in the NL East in ’73 was the “ball off the wall play” that I’ve discussed on a couple Mets posts. Going into the September 20^th games the Pirates were a game up in the division and the Mets a game and a half out. In the top of the 13^th inning of a game tied 3-3 with two outs and Richie Zisk on first Dave Augustine came up and launched a fly off Ray Sadecki that for all the world looked like a home run. But a gust of wind caught the ball and it bounced off the top of the wall directly into the glove of Cleon Jones who fired to to Wayne Garrett who in turn fired it to Ron Hodges who nailed Zisk – a notoriously slow runner – trying to score. Dave got a double but Hodges won the game in the bottom of the inning and after another win by NY the next night the Mets moved into first place for good. Dave had been a pitcher/outfielder while growing up in West Virginia and was drafted by Cleveland in a late round his senior year of ’68. He passed to go to Miami Dade and after a year there was signed by the Pirates. That summer he hit .224 with a few too many K’s in a season split between A and Rookie ball. Dave was a speedster and a top of the order guy and in ’70 A ball he improved to .309 with a .360 OBA. In ’71 at that level his average fell to .247 but he stole 36 bases to get promoted to Double A. After hitting .301 with 12 homers, 52 RBI’s, and twelve steals at that level in ’72 he moved up to Triple A Charleston the next year when he began a long residency in that city. Over the next five years Dave would average .246 in Triple A ball for Pittsburgh around his couple looks up top in ’73 and ’74. In ’77 the franchise had moved to Columbus and after that year he was traded to Houston for outfielder Jim Fuller, who will be coming up in a while. With the Astros it was all Triple A as well in their new franchise in – where else? – Charleston. This time around he hit .280 in two seasons before in ’80 splitting time at that level between Texas and Kansas City. In ’81 he re-signed with the Pirates for whom he spent the last three seasons of his career in Triple A, finishing during the ’83 season. Dave hit .207 in his 29 at bats in Pittsburgh and .257 with almost 1,300 hits and 130 stolen bases in the minors. He would return to Charleston after his playing career where he has been a long-time employee of B Stanley Gill, a furniture manufacturer.

Back in the Seventies, Ken Griffey did not need to attach a “Sr.” to his name to differentiate him from his progeny. Ken was born in Donora, PA, not terribly far from Pittsburgh and his dad had played high school ball with Stan Musial. Ken was a big deal athlete at that level as well, scoring 152 points his last two years in football, mostly as an end, and setting school game records in hoops with 40 points and 27 rebounds as his team went 21-1 his senior year of ’69. That year he tried out for the Reds and got drafted in a late round. Ken was fast – at one time he had the MLB record for circling the bases – and his first summer in Rookie ball he hit .281 while stealing eleven bases. But he had a tough time in the outfield and would have to work hard on getting his defense to match his offense the next few years. A ball in ’70 was a step back as his average fell to .244 in a shortened season that was also impacted by a hostile environment. Ken then had a huge jump in A and Double A ball in ‘71 when he hit a combined .348 with 13 triples, 29 steals, and a .425 OBA. ’72 was then all Double A where he hit .318 with 14 homers, 96 runs scored, and 31 stolen bases in 34 attempts. He didn’t lose a step the next year in Triple A where he was hitting .327 with 88 runs and 43 stolen bases before he was called up in August. For the Reds he did a nice job the remainder of the year, helping to subdue the mess in right field by hitting .384 during the pennant drive. In ’74 he began the season in a big slump, spent most of May and June back in Triple A where he hit .333, and returned in early July to boost his average 100 points the rest of the way. By then he’d settled in as Cincinnati’s every day right fielder, a role he would keep through the ’81 season. While with the Reds Ken hit .303 while scoring over 700 runs and stealing over 150 bases in a run that included three All-Star seasons. In ’82 he went to the Yankees in a trade and spent the next four-plus seasons and hit .285 while playing all outfield spots, first base, and DH. In mid-’86 he went to Atlanta until late in ’88 a slow start had him move back to Cincinnati where he did some back-up work through a mid-year trade to Seattle in 1990. There he joined his son in the Seattle outfield and finished his career in style by hitting .327 mostly as a pinch hitter his final two seasons. Ken hit .296 for his career with 2,143 hits, 152 homers, 200 stolen bases, 859 RBI’s, and a .359 OBA. In the post-season he hit .240 with eleven RBI’s and eight steals in 20 games. After playing he remained in the Seattle system as a coach through ’95 before becoming the Rockies hitting coach in ’96. He then began a long affiliation back with the Reds as MLB coach (’97-2001); admin guy and broadcaster (2002-’09); minors coach (’10); and minors manager (’11-present). He has gone a combined 193-227 in that last role. And Junior is now 44 – how old does that make you feel?

Steve Ontiveros grew up on a hay farm in Bakersfield, California where he was all-everything in baseball and drafted by the Giants after his senior year of high school in ’69. He had a tough time playing third that summer in Rookie ball but hit .278 with a .449 OBA. In ’70 he moved to A ball where he hit roughly the same and his defense improved. The next year at that level he became a slugger with a .321/18/92 season and a .445 OBA and followed it up in ’72 with a Double A year of .287/12/75 in his first season of significant outfield time. Then in ’73 he amped things up huge by hitting .357 with ten homers and 84 RBI’s in a season cut short by his call-up to San Francisco. He won the TSN Minor League Player of the Year and the duration of the season hit .242 while subbing at first and in the outfield. In ’74 he became the closest thing the team had to a regular at third and hit .265 with a .375 OBA while starting 72 games there. In ’75 he improved to hit .289 with a .391 OBA in more starts but both seasons showed limited power so in ’76 when the Giants traded for Ken Rietz, Steve was the odd man out, only seeing scattered plate time and hitting .176 in 74 at bats. After the season he and Bobby Murcer went to the Cubs for Bill Madlock and Rob Sperring. In Chicago he re-claimed his regular position in his best season as he hit .299 with 68 RBI’s and a .390 OBA. In ’78 he suffered an early shoulder injury that nagged him until he had an operation in early August that finished his season. He came back the next year after hitting .243 to raise his average to .285 with better power but then lost the starting gig the next year to Lenny Randle. This time he acted on his demotion by signing a contract to play in Japan for Seibu as the first million dollar American. He got to Japan that June and stayed through ’85, hitting .312 with a .403 OBA during his stay. His best year was ’84 when he hit .338 with 20 homers and 101 RBI’s. Twice he led Seibu to the Japanese Series crown. The ’85 season was his final one as a player and he finished with an MLB average of .274 with a .365 OBA. He returned to The States and to San Diego where he then worked in advertising and as an operations manager for a delivery service. He returned to baseball first as a volunteer coach at his kids’ high school in the late Nineties and then in 2006 as the hitting coach for the independent San Diego Surf Dogs. He continues to reside in the area. This Steve is no relation to the pitcher a few years down the road with the same name.

James Tyrone and his brother Wayne helped take the University of Texas Pan American team to the CWS in ’71, James’ senior year. He was a fleet outfielder who grew up in Texas and was drafted and signed that year by the Cubs. He would hit well in the minors, beginning that year with an A ball summer of .303 with 14 homers, a .405 OBA, and 25 stolen bases in just 238 at bats. The next year he hit .282 with 16 homers in Double A before a couple late games in Chicago. He split ’73 between Double and Triple A, hitting .261. In ’74 a .366 average at the higher level got him elevated to Chicago for most of the season during which he was then seldom-used and hit .185 in 81 at bats. He would then spend almost all the next two seasons in Triple A, hitting .301 with 73 RBI’s in ’75 and .268 with 20 homers and 17 stolen bases in ’76. Early the next season he was traded to the A’s for infielder Gaylen Pitts and after hitting .347 in Triple A his first month-plus was moved up to Oakland where he had his only significant MLB season, hitting .245 with 32 runs in 294 at bats. The next year was all Triple A where he hit .261 with 61 RBI’s and 16 steals and gave pitching a shot. He did that as well the next year when he finished his stateside career in the short-lived Inter-American League. James hit .227 up top and in the minors hit .291 with a .375 OBA and 104 stolen bases. As a pitcher he was 0-1 with a 0.75 ERA in twelve innings. Halfway through the ’79 season he did exactly what card-mate Steve Ontiveros did and went to Japan to play for Seibu. After hitting .291 the balance of that season he hit .276 with 35 homers from the top of the order in ’80 before moving to Nankai the next two years where his power declined a bit and he finished his playing career with an overall .287 average with 74 homers. He then returned to Texas in the Arlington area where he eventually hooked up with Ray Burris and ran a baseball school for many years. In 2009 he was inducted into his college’s hall of fame.

Griffey’s first real name was George. I think he made the right choice opting for Ken. Tallying up the careers of these guys we get 26 years of MLB service, the TSNMLPOY award, and three All-Star seasons. We are still on a pretty good roll.

Now for the Hook-ups. First with the former card:

1. Dave Augustine and Gene Clines ’73 to ’74 Pirates;

2. Clines and Manny Trillo ‘’77 to ’78 Cubs.

Now around the card:

1. Dave Augustine and Dave Parker ’73 to ’74 Pirates;

2. Parker and Dave Concepcion – lots of Daves – ’84 to ’87 Reds;

3. Concepcion and Ken Griffey ’73 to ’81 Reds;

4. Griffey and Champ Summers ‘’77 to ’79 Reds;

5. Summers and Manny Trillo ’75 to ’76 Cubs;

6. Trillo and Steve Ontiveros ’77 to ’78 Cubs;

7. Ontiveros and Rodney Scott ’78 Cubs;

8. Scott and James Tyrone ’77 A’s.

#585 - Merv Rettenmund

In a nearly identical pose to the one on his ’73 card, Merv Rettenmund gives us that staring down the bat handle thing. Merv’s not smiling in this photo like he was in ’72 though, and he had reason not to in ’73. After a hot start for a couple weeks his offense faded pretty quickly and by mid-season he was losing starting time in right field to new guys Rich Coggins and Al Bumbry. It was a continuation of the flameout that was initiated partly with a shoulder injury he suffered in ’72 and led to the trade pictured here. Judging from the palm trees in the background I’d say the regular card photo is a spring training shot. The Traded card photo appears to be from Yankee Stadium. It would take a little while for things to get right again for Merv but before too long baseball would be a happy place for him again in very different part of the country.

Merv Reteenmund grew up in Flint, Michigan, where he is still legendary as a football and baseball star and where his dad played semi-pro ball. Merv preferred the latter sport and his dad pushed him to sign after high school but when Ball State of Indiana offered him a full ride to play both sports Merv opted to go in that direction. Merv had great wheels and while at Ball State he broke a single season rushing record and for his career averaged 7.6 yards a carry, still the school record. He got hurt in the third game of his senior year, though, and missed the rest of the season. In baseball there he hit .321 for his career and after his senior year he played in the Basin League, the Upper Midwest and Canadian summer college showcase. He was runner-up for the league mvp in ’64 and played with and against Del Unser, Jim McAndrew, Don Sutton, Ken Suarez, Dick Billings, and Clyde Wright, to name a few. It was in that league that he first began playing in the outfield; he was normally a catcher up to that point. In November of ’64 Merv signed with Baltimore, a day before the Cowboys drafted him in a late round. He kicked things off in ’65 with a .244 season with a bit of power and lots of speed in A ball; once the O’s saw his wheels he was strictly an outfielder. In ’66 he upped his average to .307 and nearly doubled his homer and RBI totals to 21 and 69 respectively at the same level. He had a big season in Double A in ’67, hitting .286 with a .411 OBA and 29 stolen bases. That helped get him on the Baltimore roster to open the ’68 season and though Merv hit well in his couple plate appearances the outfield was crowded and he went down to Triple A where his .331 average, .459 OBA, and 22 homers in under 400 at bats got him that year’s TSN Minor League Player of the Year. It also got him a one-way ticket to Baltimore.

1969 was a good year to be a part of the Orioles, at least if you weren’t a rookie outfielder trying to get a regular spot already manned by three All-Stars. While Rettenmund performed well enough as the fourth outfield guy it was a frustrating season for him and he nearly quit to teach full time – he got his BS in Education from Ball State in ’66 – before his Series check made him decide to hang out. In ’70 his plate appearances moved up after Paul Blair went out following a beaning in late May. Merv made the most of the opportunity by leading the Orioles in hitting, stealing 13 bases, and providing pretty good power in what amounted to just over half a season. He then hit .375 with three RBI’s in his three post-season games. He continued on the same track in ’71 when he again led the team in hitting, upped his OBA to .422, and stole 15 bases. Against Pittsburgh in the Series he hit a big homer to help win the first game though he cooled off after that. Partly as a result of Merv’s performance the O’s shipped Frank Robinson to the Dodgers after the season and Merv was given the starting job in right field. But things went south for Merv pretty quickly. Pressing himself to replace Robinson’s power he messed up his already unorthodox swing and had to work his way up to a .260 average by early July when he dinged his shoulder hard making a diving catch in a game against Detroit. He didn’t miss too much time but the injury arrested his average getting better and he later went down for real that year when he tore an ab muscle. The O’s missed the post-season for the first time since ’68 and a year later Merv moved to Cincinnati.

Things didn’t improve with Rettenmund’s move to new surroundings. He returned to an outfield reserve and was basically a stopgap as the Reds transitioned to developing guys George Foster and Ken Griffey. In his two seasons in Cincinnati Merv hit only .227 in under 400 at bats, though his OBA wasn’t bad and he stole ten bases against only one pick. He also won his second Series ring but he was pretty happy when right after the ’76 season began he was sent to San Diego for infielder Rudy Meoli. That year wasn’t exactly a salve for his general hitting woes as he basically matched his Reds average overall. But his OBA was .361 and he did very well as a pinch-hitter, putting up an even .300 average in that role. That was a telling stat and would be Merv’s prime position the duration of his playing career. In ’77 he upped his overall numbers to a .286 average and a .432 OBA and in the pinch was pretty fantastic with a .328 average and a .451 OBA with a record 16 walks in that role. In May he had two consecutive rare games in the field in which he had four RBI’s. He became a free agent after that season and moved up the coast to Anaheim. There in ’78 his pinch average wasn’t so hot at .153 but of his two hits in that role one was a grand slam and his OBA was still quite good at .352. Overall he hit .269 with a .433 OBA and mot of that time was spent as a DH. In ’79 he hit .263 overall and in the pinch hit .417 with a .533 OBA. After a couple games in 1980 he was released in June. Merv was done then with a .271 average, 66 homers, 329 RBI’s and a .381 OBA. He hit .183 with eight RBI’s in 29 post-season games.

Rettenmund made a lot of fans late in his career with his pinch hit work and before he was released as a player he was already coaching for California. He did that through ’81 and was then the team’s director of minor league hitting. From ’83 to ’85 he coached at Texas for buddy Doug Rader but was let go when Rader was canned. From there it was minor league (’86-’88) and then MLB (’89-’90) hitting coach for Oakland. Then it was back down the coast to San Diego (’91-’99 and 2006-’07) in between which he coached for Atlanta (2000-’01) and Detroit (’02-’05). Since ’07 he has been retired from the MLB level but has continued to coach some travel teams in the San Diego area.

Merv sure has a full formal name, doesn’t he? It nearly crowds out his signature. He has star bullets and a cartoon that has been alluded to above. He was not a participant in the ’71 All-Star game and I do not have access to see the other members of that TSN team. Merv did one of those Orioles trips to Japan early in his career and became a travel nut in off-seasons. His wife liked it so much she became a travel agent in the southern California area.They later had a granddaughter who was the place kicker for her high school football team.

Topps gives Merv a nice little write-up on the back of his Traded card. The Orioles also got Junior Kennedy in the deal and, no disrespect to Merv, got the better half of the trade. It did get him on the way to the left coast though, where it seems he had his most long-lasting success.

The hook-up takes us through St. Louis:

1. Rettenmund and Luis Melendez ’76 to ’77 Padres;

2. Melendez and Ken Rudolph ’75 to ’76 Cardinals.

#187 - Don Baylor

Look how thin Don Baylor is! Hard to believe but when this guy first came up he was as much a threat to steal a base as hit a home run. Or get popped with a pitch. In his sophomore year of '73 this Don capitalized on Don Buford's departure to Japan which gave Baylor more playing time and his numbers picked up pretty well, especially his average by 33 points. It was also a season of firsts: his first season of over 30 stolen bases; his first post-season action; and his first year to lead the league in hit by pitch. For that last stat Don would ultimately lead the league eight times. Here, like many future Yankees, he gets a shot at Yankee Stadium in this set.

Don Baylor was an Austin, Texas kid who excelled at baseball and football in high school. Football would be a big influence on his baseball career: in '66 when he was a safety he made two successive hits with his right shoulder, the first pinching the nerve and the second dislocating the joint. Those injuries would pretty much wreck his throwing arm which would later contribute to his time as a DH. Don went to Blinn Junior College from where he was drafted and signed by Baltimore in '67. He kicked things off pretty well that season with a big year in Rookie ball, then put up pretty much identical numbers between three levels in '68, and then boosted his power a bunch the next year in Double A. Then in '70 he won the TSN Minor League Player of the Year with a big year in Triple A. After another year of similar numbers in '71 he would reach the O's outfield for good in '72 with Frank Robinson's departure to LA. Don's numbers that year were good enough to get him a spot on Topps' Rookie Team that season. His '74 was a pretty good comp to the prior year and in '75 he would set personal bests for Baltimore with 25 homers and 76 RBIs, the best power numbers by an Oriole outfielder since Frank Robinson's glory days.

In '76 Baylor was the other side of one of the big Oakland breakup trades, going to the A's with Mike Torrez for Reggie Jackson and Ken Holtzman. The fans expected Don to take Reggie's place as the big power guy but he wasn't that kind of a hitter. In an otherwise forgettable season, Don would steal 25 straight bases en route to a total of 52 as part of a team that set the single-season record and nearly got to another division title despite reduced pitching. But it was a short stay as Don would be one of the first official big name free agents and go to the Angels, along with teammate Joe Rudi and former teammate Bobby Grich. Hopes were high in Anaheim for '77 but Grich and Rudi got hurt and Don felt the wrath of the fans when another losing season resulted even though he put up comparable numbers to those of '75. He would ratchet things up seriously in '78 (34 homers and 99 RBIs) and then lead California to the division title in '79 with his MVP season. It was also his only All-Star season as he led the league with 139 RBIs and 120 runs while bashing 36 homers. He also played every game including two months during which his shoulder was dislocated. Pretty amazing numbers for a guy that injured.

1980 would be a big disappointment for Baylor as he broke both his wrist and a toe, missed a considerable part of the season, and saw his numbers tumble hard. After the strike season of '81 during which he had a nice bounce, he put up a pretty good year for another division-winner in '82, with 24 homers and 93 RBI's. By then the bulk of his time was spent at DH. He would then go the free agent route again, hooking up with the Yankees for three seasons. Two of those years he won the Silver Slugger at DH and during his NY time he averaged 24 homers and 88 RBI's. In '86 he went to the Red Sox for Mike Easler and in his last full season he won another Silver Slugger - 31 HR's and 94 RBI's - and got plunked 35 times. He also finally won a post-season series. During '87 he got sent to the Twins for their pennant run.That year he won everything and contributed by hitting nearly .400 in the two post-season series. He then went back to Oakland in his final season, again returning to the Series. For his career, Don hit .260 with 338 homers and 1,276 RBIs. He had over 2,100 hits, 285 stolen bases, and was HBP 267 times, a record when he retired. In the post-season he was a .273 hitter with four homers and 21 RBIs in 38 games.

Baylor successfully moved into coaching and managing after he played, starting right up in the majors. He coached for the Brewers ('90 to '91) and Cards ('92) before taking the job as he Rockies' initial manager in '93. In '95 he took the team to a wild card spot and won Manager of the Year. He remained with Colorado through '98 then managed the Cubs from 2000 through half of '02. In between he coached the Braves. In '03 to '04 he coached for the Mets and then the Mariners in '05. After some time away - some doing commentary - he returned as hitting coach for Colorado in '09 and then the Diamondbacks this year. His managing record to date is 627-689.

Don's Texas roots are showing in his personal info. He also gets some props for his last two minor seasons. The poetry angle is pretty interesting. His signature looks like he was trying to conserve paper.

Baylor takes a couple guys to get to Scherman:

1. Baylor and Jason Thompson '80 Angels;
2. Thompson and Mickey Stanley '76 to '78 Tigers;
3. Stanley and Fred Scherman '69 to '73 Tigers;

#165 - Willie Davis

This is Willie Davis' third year in a row with an action card. And this one is much better than the '73 one when it looks like he was nearly beaned. Here Willie looks like he's stroking one to left field in what appears to be the same park as on Joe Ferguson's card which would make it Philadelphia. If it fell in there's a good shot that Willie would be at second base by the time the photographer was ready for another shot. Willie's final season in LA maintained his path through the early Seventies with another All-Star nod and his third Gold Glove season in a row. His trade here would be a very big deal and is represented by a Traded card that falls under the not-too-bad designation as there is only a bit of the cap that needed to be air-brushed. He seems bemusedly happy at his future home at Jack Murphy Stadium.

Willie Davis was born in Arkansas and grew up in LA where he was a star in football, basketball, track, and baseball at Theodore Roosevelt High and probably pre-ordained to join the Dodgers with whom he signed upon graduating in '58. He went to C ball in '59 and tore it up so much that in '60 he jumped all the way to Triple A which he demolished also (in his two seasons he got over 400 hits, 83 doubles, 42 triples, scored 266 runs and hit .349). In '60 he was named The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year. The downside of this is that when Willie came up he thought he was a power hitter and recognized that that was where the - relatively - big money lay. As a result, despite an occasional decent homer tally it took a very long time for Willie to establish himself as a hitter and his averages tended to be all over the place.
 
Davis got a call-up in late '60 and hit pretty well. In '61 the phase-out of Duke Snider and the phase-in of Willie as the LA center fielder began and in '62, his first season as a full-time starter, he led the league in triples and showed good further power with 21 homers and 85 RBI's. He also stole 32 bases, topped out in runs scored with 103, and was solidifying himself as a premier defensive guy. The following four seasons he would waffle back and forth between bad and good averages and three of those four years he would get to the Series, winning two of them. His even years tended to be better stats-wise - in the Sixties he averaged 86 runs in even years against 59 runs in odd years - and in '64 he stole a personal best 42 bases. In '67 and '68 Willie's average got stuck around .250 and his power declined to the point where he was down to single digits in homers. He also was creeping up in strikeouts to near the century mark. This caused the big re-evaluation.

1969 would be a significant season for Davis. He broke his arm in spring training and then missed more time after he got hit in the face and broke his cheekbone. While he was sitting out he decided that his game wasn't hitting homers, but getting on base. That process was cemented after a June game at Forbes field in which he hit three towering blasts that all ended up as putouts. He switched to a heavier bat used by Ken Boyer, choked up and cut down on his swing, and hit .353 the rest of the season, which included a club-record 31-game hitting streak. He also knocked 50 strikeouts off his total. In '70 he led the league in triples and in '71 he made his first All-Star game and won his first Gold Glove. That year he put together the second-longest Dodger hitting streak of 25 games. During that three-year stretch he was the only NL guy outside of Pete Rose to hit .300 each season. '72 and '73 were both Gold Glove seasons and in the latter one he was an All-Star again.

In '74 the Big Trade (Part I) sent Davis to Montreal where he had an excellent season, with a line of .295/12/89 with 86 runs scored. But the Expos had a lot of young outfield talent coming up and early in '75 they sent Willie to the Rangers for Pete Mackanin and Don Stanhouse. For Texas he started most games in center as his average fell to .249. His stay in the AL was short, though, and in June he went to the Cards for Ed Brinkman. He experienced a pretty good revival in St. Louis, adding 42 points to his average and upping his RBI totals pretty well.  After that season he was on the road again, going to San Diego for Dick Sharon. After a year with the Padres he went to play ball in Japan for two seasons. There he hit well enough - .306 with 25 homers; .293 with 18 homers - but he managed to piss off his teammates with his Buddhist chantings. In '79 Willie returned to the States for a year of pinch-hitting with the Angels. That was his last season in the majors and he finished with a .279 average, over 2,500 hits, 138 triples, 182 homers, and almost 400 stolen bases. He also scored over 1,200 runs and knocked in over 1,000 and in the post-season hit .179 in his 17 games. He still holds lots of career LA Dodgers records.

Willie had some interesting post-season experiences. In '65 against the Twins he stole three bases in one game. In '66 he famously had three errors in one inning. In '79 he went one for two as a pinch hitter. After he finished playing Willie was a player-manager for a couple seasons in Mexico. He was an avid golfer and after his baseball career ended he spent a bunch of time doing that. By the mid-Nineties he was living back with his parents and in '96 he was arrested for threatening them with a sword when they wouldn't lend him $5,000. There is very little information on him between that time and his death in 2010 at age 69.

Willie gets the star treatment in his cartoon. He was one of a few Dodgers in the '60s who would see TV and movie time. Willie was in "Mr. Ed" and "The Flying Nun", two '60s sitcoms, as well as the movie "Which Way to the Front?"

I like the "...has been known..." comment here. Topps also should have let us know a couple more times how fast Willie was. This was a huge trade as LA desperately wanted a premier reliever and gave up their only established non-pitching star to get him. The next day the Dodgers would pick up Jimmy Wynn to replace Willie.

This is a longer road than I thought it would be:

1. Davis and Willie Crawford '69 to '73 Dodgers;
2. Crawford and Marty Perez '77 A's;
3. Perez and Tom House '71 to '75 Braves.

#127 - Tom Paciorek

Tom Paciorek is doing the big bat extended swing pose at Candlestick. This card is finally his first solo one after rookie cards in both '71 and '73 so he certainly deserved a shot to stretch it out. Tom is the third Dodger so far for whom '73 was his first significant season and with less than 200 at bats it was barely that. And things weren't going too swimmingly for him as through July he was hitting .213 with only five RBI's on less than 100 at bats, lots of them pinch ones. But from August on he got some outfield starts - primarily in left and center - and hit .295 the rest of the way.

Tom Paciorek grew up much like Willie Horton did from a few posts back: poor and crowded in Detroit. He and a few of his siblings were big local sports stars and Tom would attend the University of Detroit (until they cut their football program) and then the University of Houston from where he was drafted and signed by the Dodgers in '68. He put in two seasons of Class A ball and in '70 landed at Triple A where he was a big part of those kick-ass minor league behemoths that Tommy Lasorda managed. Tom would hit over .300 and drive in over 100 runs each of the next three seasons and in '72 was named TSN's Minor League Player of the Year. He got tiny amounts of playing time at LA each year and in '73 was on the roster to stay. But the outfield was crowded, especially with line drive hitters, and Tom could never crack the lineup full time. His at bats and average declined each of the next two seasons though he did get a little post-season action in '74 and did well hitting .667 with a double. After the '75 season he went to Atlanta with Jimmy Wynn, Lee Lacy, and Jerry Royster for Dusty Baker and Ed Goodson. In '76 he enjoyed his first season with more than 300 at bats and hit .290. In '77 the outfield got crowded again, his playing time was cut in half, and his average fell to .239. '78 was weird in that Atlanta cut him twice and after the second time Tom hooked up with Seattle. In the AL things got better.

Paciorek had a pretty good '78 half season for the Mariners, hitting just shy of .300. He followed it with a decent '79 in which he put up his first double-figure homer season and then in '80, at age 34, finally got into enough games to get over 100 hits. In '81 he hit .326 with a lifetime MLB high of 66 RBI's and made the All-Star team, continuing his snake-bit ways by having his best season in the strike year. As a reward for those numbers Seattle sent him to the White Sox for Todd Cruz and Jim Essian. In '82 and '83 Tom kept his average north of .300 and then got some starting time in the playoffs. His numbers came in in '84 and the next year he went to the Mets in a mid-season trade. He spent his last two seasons with the Rangers where he hit in the .280's. For his career he hit .282 with 86 homers and 503 RBIs. In the post-season he hit .316 in eight games. His baseball-reference bullpen page is about the most detailed I have ever seen.

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

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

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

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

#109 - Bobby Grich

Back to the action shots and this one is a good one. It is taken in Baltimore and it looks like Pedro Garcia of the Brewers slid in to second base just as the ball was entering Bobby Grich's glove. After a few seasons of bopping all over the Baltimore infield, Bobby sure took advantage of the pre-season deal that sent incumbent second baseman Davey Johnson to Atlanta.He played every game, overcame a hand injury to post a great OBA of .373, and won his first Gold Glove. But in this particular game, as in the Sal Bando shot in Oakland, however, there are damn few fans around to see any of Bobby's achievemants. I don't know how these teams made money back then.

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

Following the '76 season, Grich would leave Baltimore to sign as a free agent with the Angels. Year one was a bust as he got hurt fairly early in the season and the loaded Angels disappointed. Bobby came back slowly in '78 but the next year recorded his best offensive season: a .294 average with 30 homers and 101 RBIs, the only time he would top 30 and 100, respectively. He and Don Baylor, another former Oriole, led the Angels to their first playoff. In '81, the strike year, Bobby led the league in homers with 22, earning a Silver Slugger. He continued to produce through two more playoff years, '82 and '86. In that last series he was part of a team that was up 3 to 1 on Boston and then lost three straight. There was an endearing photo of Bobby losing it in the dugout at the end of the final game. He had had enough and retired on the spot. For his career he hit .266 with 224 homers and 864 RBIs as well as a .371 OBA and over 100 stolen bases. He is currently 80th all-time in walks. In his 24 post-season games Bobby hit .188 with three homers and nine RBI's. Defensively among second basemen he is 17th all-time in putouts and 18th in assists. Twice he led the league in fielding percentage.

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

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

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

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

#97 - Bob Bailey

Here is a placid Bob Bailey at Shea. I find it funny to see such low-lying buildings outside the fence; it looks almost suburban. I cannot tell who the Met is in the background, though my guess is John Milner. Bob's '73 was a bit interesting. On the plus side he recorded a nice bounce from his dip in '72 and his RBI revival and .380 OBA helped keep Montreal in contention until the final week of the season. But the flip side was that the perception of him as a defensive liability at third base sort of came home to roost when reliever Mike Marshall complained about it to the press. So being a mellow guy was probably a good thing for Bob. 

Bob Bailey was a very big deal when his career started. An All-American in high school in California, he was signed by the Pirates in '61 for $175,000 which I am pretty sure was the biggest signing bonus ever at the time. He didn't start off terribly well in the minors - further confusing me on the '60's version of a bonus baby - in '61 hitting only .220 and getting 27 errors in 71 games at shortstop in A ball. He came back nicely in '62, hitting .299 with 28 homers and 108 RBI's in Triple A, winning TSN's Minor League Player of the Year. He moved to third base that year, a position he would keep when he came up to the Pirates in '63. To make way for Bob, Pittsburgh got rid of fan favorite Don Hoak. Bailey had some decent moments in Forbes but for the most part his iffy fielding and not great power numbers produced numbers that were discounts to Hoak's and that coupled with some poor Pittsburgh records didn't exactly endear Bob to the Pirates fans. Or management. So prior to the '67 season, when LA was looking to dump Maury Wills because he was viewed as too old, Pittsburgh took a flier and gave up Bob and Gene Michael for him. In LA Bob's numbers slid further - a .227 average with 12 homers and 67 RBIs in two seasons - further diluting his early promise. Following the '68 season he would be sold to the new Montreal Expos.

In '69 Bailey played first and the outfield, grabbing more time at the infield corner after Donn Clendenon went to the Mets. He also set a personal high with an RBI total of 53. The numbers took off in '70 when he hit 28 out and grabbed 84 ribbies in only 352 at bats. He also hit .287 with a .407 OBA. At that point he was back at third base after Coco LaBoy, the NL's '69 Rookie of the Year initiated what became a multi-season sophomore jinx. Bob would take over that position as Montreal's regular through '73. In '72 he got hurt and his numbers fell a bit. After his bounce in '73, manager Gene Mauch moved Bailey to the outfield for two-third's of the season, mostly to quell criticism over Bob's fielding, though ironically Marshall had been traded to LA. In '74 Bob put up over 100 walks and closed in on the .400 OBA again, while recording 20 homers and 73 RBI's. In '75 Bob relinquished third for good to Larry Parrish and his at bats came down pretty hard, though his on base and other numbers were still quite good. Following that season he went to the Reds for Clay Kirby. For Cincinnati Bob got a few starts at the infield corners and left field and did a bit of pinch hitting and did pretty well in that role, recording a .308 average. Late in '77 he went to Boston where he remained his final season of '78 as a DH. Lifetime he hit .257 with 189 homers and 773 RBIs. And despite all the noise about his fielding he is in the top 75 for lifetime assists and double plays at the hot corner.

After his playing career ended, Bailey did some managing and coaching in the minors for Montreal ('79-'83), Houston ('84-'85), and the White Sox ('86). As a manager he went 303-225. He then sold time shares.

In '71 Bailey was involved in a pretty surreal experience. He was a runner on third base in a game in Montreal against the Cards when it started to pour. The bases were loaded and the pitcher walked the batter, forcing Bob home. The Expos at the time were down by a run and Bob's run would have tied the game, about to be called because of the rain. Before he could score, Gene Mauch came running out and started pushing him away from home plate. After a while Bob relented and the two walked off the field without Bailey having scored. What had happened was that since he assumed the game would be called and he had done his homework, Mauch wanted a win rather than a tie. Since the game was called in mid-inning, the rule basically stated that if the home team was not able to TIE or go ahead, the score would be reverted to the last complete inning. The Cards had scored twice in the top of the called inning, so the score reverted back an inning and the Expos won the game. Pretty wild.

The rookie award from the second star bullet was also '62, not '63. Bob's dad played minor league ball for a few seasons. Those three seasons of 80-plus RBI's look pretty good. He is still ranked highly in a bunch of offensive categories for the franchise.

This one will be fun:

1. Bailey and Tom Seaver '77 Reds;
2. Seaver and Jerry Hairston '84 to '86 White Sox.

#44 - Mel Stottlemyre

1973 was Mel Stottlemyre's last productive year as a Yankee starter. During '74 he would develop rotator cuff problems that would end his pitching career. But his '73 was pretty good. Mel posted a way better than league average ERA and his ninth straight season of over 250 MLB innings, both which deserved a better than .500 record. But such was life with the Yankees back then. I find this card interesting for a couple reasons. First is that it appears to be a spring training shot as I believe Mel is right outside the left field foul line and there are no stands in the background. Two is the guy in the background has a red helmet on, so where is this shot? Maybe it's the spring home of the White Sox? Philly? The Reds? Lastly, the knee stain is interesting. I would say it is from sliding drills but since '73 was the first DH year, there would be no reason for Mel to be doing that. Maybe it's a photo from a prior season. See all the thought tangents? Who says baseball cards are superficial.

Mel Stottlemyre was a career Yankee. He was signed in '61 after he finished his degree at Yakima Community College in Washington. That year he went 9-4 as a starter in D ball with well over a strikeout an inning. That last stat was a bit of a surprise because Mel was a sinker specialist and didn't normally put up a lot of K's. In '62 he advanced to B ball, where he went 17-9 with a 2.50 ERA. The following year in Triple A Mel was made a swing guy which really wasn't his best role, evidenced by his going 7-7 with a high ERA. He remained at that level in the same role to start off the '64 season. GM Ralph Houk got wind of that, ordered Mel's return to the rotation, and by mid-summer he was 13-3 with a 1.42 ERA. By early August he was a Yankee.

Stottlemyre reported to a Yankee team that was typically smack in the middle of a pennant race but was toting some hurting mound arms, hence at least part of the reason for his summons. All Mel did was post his 9-3, 2.06 stretch run without which NY probably would not have made the Series. Then to make things even more stressful for the new guy, in each of his three Series appearances that fall, Bob Gibson was on the other side. But the new guy threw pretty well which was good since it was the last playoff action he'd see as a player. Unfortunately Mel's NY time coincided almost perfectly with a big post-season drought for the Yankees. But that occurrence sure wasn't his fault. In '65 Mel won 20 for the first time while leading the AL in innings and with 18 complete games. That year he was an All-Star as he was in '66 though with the moving on of middle infielder's Tony Kubek and Bobby Richardson, that part of the diamond - and elsewhere - got a bit porous and Mel's ERA popped as he led the AL in losses. A much-improved '67 was enabled by some infield solidity and like a bunch of pitchers, Mel posted probably his best line in '68 while returning to the All-Star game, as he would the following two seasons. In '69 he again led the AL in complete games, this time with 24. He continued to roll until '72 when a very challenged offense contributed to another season of AL-leading losses. After his tortured '74 Mel was released during spring training of '75 (though George Steinbrebnner had just told him he'd be a Yankee for life) which ended Mel's playing career. He finished 164-139 with a 2.97 ERA, 152 complete games, 40 shutouts, and a save. In that '64 post-season he went 1-1 with a 3.15 ERA in his three games. At times a pretty good hitter, for his career Mel was a .160 batter with seven homers and 57 RBI's.

Shortly after his playing career ended he took up a new one as a pitching coach, first for Seattle as a roving guy ('77-'82), then up top for the Mets ('84-'93), Astros ('94-'95), and Yankees ('96-2005) for whom he had great success. He left that last gig after getting in an argument with - who else? - George Steinbrenner. In 2008 Mel took a one-year gig as the pitching coach for Seattle. He has had myeloma for some time now and since then has had to devote almost all his time to its treatment. He also had two sons pitch in the majors.

The first star on the back mentions his '64 season in the minors. Given his sons' eventual careers, there must have been an awful lot of pitching on those home movies. Mel's other son tragically passed away when he was only eleven from leukemia. Mel would spend a bunch of time working with the subject of the next post in NY.

Let's drag out another dynastic Yankee for the separation exercise:

1. Stottlemyre and Joe Pepitone ' 64-'69 Yankees;
2. Pepitone and Jimmy Wynn '70 Astros.

#10 - Johnny Bench

This is the first "honor" card of the set and its subject is already the third Hall of Famer of the set, an All-Star catcher who was at the top of his game when this shot was taken. This is part of the opening trend of action shots; including the Aaron card, three of the first ten shots qualify. Johnny Bench was cranking then but entered the '73 season as a question mark since he'd just had off-season lung surgery to remove a tumor that was happily benign. But he was able to then produce a typically excellent season during which he threw out 49% of base runners who tried to steal on him (vs a league average of 36%); did a great job pulling an ailing pitching staff together; and had a fifth consecutive year of 25 or more homers while also going over the century mark for the third time in RBI's. He was a guiding force in getting Cincinnati to its third post-season in four years. A lot of people seem interested in the geography of the shots: which stadium and who else resides in the shot, etc. That is not really my bag, but given the Mets uniforms in the dugout in the back, it is definitely Shea. That may be Tom Seaver to the right. I do not know if the shot was taken during the '73 playoffs, but it would add to the drama if it was.

Johnny Bench grew up in Oklahoma, where of course Mickey Mantle was his idol. He played the big three sports - football, basketball, and baseball - and was widely recruited by schools in all three while at Binder HS. But Cincinnati made him a second round pick in the '65 draft so Johnny went that way and right off the bat that summer in A ball showed his skill behind the plate and in working with pitchers while hitting not too badly for a 17 year old. In '66 at that level he improved his offense substantially to hit .294 with 22 homers and 68 RBI's in only 98 games when he was pushed up to Triple A. But there he got hit by a foul tip, breaking his hand, and missed the rest of the season. To top that off, on his way home after the season he was in a bad car accident. He came back strong in '67 though, when he started at the higher level and put up a line of .259/23/68 again in 98 games before he was called up to Cincy at the end of August. For his work that year he won The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year.

Bench's month up top didn't produce great offense in '67 but he sure did impress people with his work behind the plate, challenging veteran pitchers on pitch selection and even realigning the infield defense. In '68 the Reds traded incumbent starting catcher Johnny Edwards to St. Louis and this Johnny was made a starter out of the gate. He didn't disappoint, winning a Gold Glove, being named an All-Star, and winning the NL Rookie of the Year award. Most impressive was his stat line which was exceptional in a year everyone else's was challenged. A founding member of the Big Red Machine, Johnny's power numbers were pretty awesome his first few seasons. He picked things up in '69 and then sandwiched two huge MVP seasons around the very discounted '71 when the team couldn't get anyone on base ahead of him. While '72 went very well, he may have experienced his pro ball nadir in the Series that year when he struck out on an intentional walk (to be fair Gene Tenace snuck his mitt back over the plate after having Johnny pitched way outside for the prior three pitches and Johnny was caught looking). His Reds would tear up the NL in '73 and then lose in a huge upset to the Mets in the playoffs.

In '74 Bench upped his offense again to a .283/33/129 line, leading the NL in RBI's for his third and final time, though Cincinnati lost the division to LA. But in '75 and '76 the Reds came back strong, winning that dramatic Series over Boston in '75 and crushing everyone in the post-season by going 7-0 in '76. That first year Johnny put up a typical line of .283/28/110 but in '76 he would have his worst season since '71 due to a bad back. But he atoned by having a monster post-season, hitting .333 against the Phillies and a sick .533 with two homers and six RBI's in the four-game sweep of the Yankees. Johnny would follow that up with his a very nice '77 during which he had a .275/31/109 line and then over the next three seasons average 23 homers and 74 RBI's as he missed time each year to knee and other injuries, though catching was still his primary position. In '81 Johnny hit .309 in an abbreviated season and that year began playing mostly at the infield corners. He stuck around through '83 and then retired. Johnny finished with a .267 average with 389 homers, 1,376 RBI's, and a .342 OBA. When he retired he set the record for most homers by a catcher. He may have been even better defensively, finishing in the top 20 all-time for putouts and double plays for catchers and in the top 70 for assists. He caught 43% of attempted base stealers against an NL-average 35%. He was an All-Star 14 times and won ten Gold Gloves. In the post-season he hit .266 with ten homers and 20 RBI's in 45 games. He made the Hall on his first shot in '89.

Bench kept an active profile while playing, making frequent television appearances. He continued that when he retired, doing sportscasting, hosting theme-based shows, and making commercials. He has been an avid golfer and is an active speaker, many times on behalf of baseball.

The back of the card has a lot of stars, which is appropriate. As mentioned above, the homer mentioned in the last star was his only RBI of that series. He would make up for that in spades in '76 in another Series against a New York team. As far as the cartoon goes, it highlights Bench's wide range of skills. I remember seeing him on a variety show when I was a kid. He was also a very good bowler, which I believe was mentioned in a cartoon on another one of his cards. Johnny has a SABR page.

For the degrees of separation, this one gets a little trickier:

1. Bench and Bobby Tolan, '70 to '73 Reds;
2. Tolan and Nate Colbert, '74 San Diego Padres;
3. Colbert and Mickey Lolich, '75 Detroit Tigers.

That ties for the longest list so far.