#629 - Rusty Staub

As a welcome back to the land of baseball cards, Rusty Staub gets a rather odd action shot at Shea. Rusty had some contractual differences with Topps that left him without cards in the ’72 or ’73 set, though he does make at least one appearance in the latter set jogging towards center on Tommie Agee’s card as Agee makes a catch (more on that card on the next post).  Here, Rusty looks like he is conversing with someone to his left – the catcher maybe – while just about every fan’s focus appears to be on something in the outfield. Rusty was in the midst of his second season in NY, having come over from Montreal in a big trade prior to what would be a bit of a train wreck for him in the ’72 season. Then, like a lot of his teammates, ’73 was sort of a mixed season for him. Early on, Rusty got nailed in the hand by a pitch which made it pretty tough for him to grip a bat the balance of the season. Because of the plethora of injuries suffered by just about every other starter he never went on the DL and the injury contributed to discounted power from his recent full seasons. But he was still the team’s biggest power threat and he came up big in the post-season with three homers – his only hits – and five RBI’s in the playoffs and a .423 average with six RBI’s in the near-upset of Oakland in the Series. And even with the injury it was better than the prior year. So if Rusty is smiling here as I suspect, he had reason to.

Rusty Staub grew up in New Orleans, which seems about right given what he did in his off-seasons. In high school there he played basketball and baseball. His senior year he hit .474 and homered to win the state championship. The prior summer he led his team to the American Legion world series and the summer after his senior year he hit .553 for that team. That summer was ’61 and when Legion play ended Rusty was signed by Houston to a bonus baby contract. He had a big first year in B ball, putting up a line of .293/23/93 with 115 runs and a .429 OBA while playing first base. Houston then elevated him all the way up and that year he split time between – primarily – first and right field. His numbers weren’t crazy impressive but he put up more walks than strikeouts and earned a spot on the Topps Rookie team. He remained in Houston to start the ’64 season but after struggling offensively returned to the minors, where in Triple A he put up a line of .314/20/45 with a .427 OBA in just 226 at bats, so there was nothing left for him to prove at that level.  When he returned in ’65 he was moved to right field as his primary spot, put up his first double digit homer tally, and added 40 points to his average. In ’66 he added another 25 points to his average, got into slugger territory with his RBI total, and put in some time in left. In ’67 he put up the best average of his career while leading the NL in doubles and in ’68 he hung in there offensively in a tough year to do that while playing only first base again. In both ’67 and ’68 he was an All-Star. Early the next year he was sent to the new Montreal Expos for Jesus Alou and Donn Clendenon in a deal that was almost derailed because Clendednon refused to report (he did not want to play again for Houston manager Harry Walker). The deal got fixed when the Expos subbed Jack Billingham, Skip Guinn, and $100,000 for Clendenon.

With Montreal Staub became a fan favorite. Named “Le Grande Orange” by the Canadians for his red hair, he endeared himself to the fans up north by responding to them in French when he was asked for autographs. He wasn’t too shy with the bat either. In ’69 he jumped on the homer train as he put up a .426 OBA. In ’70 he hit the 30 homer mark the only time in his career and in ’71 he nearly had triple figures in both runs and RBI’s. He’d also become an excellent right fielder and he and first baseman Ron Fairly made a very good right side defensive duo even though they were probably the two slowest guys in the league. All three years Rusty was an All-Star as his OBA during his initial time with the Expos topped .400. Then, just before the start of the ’72 season he was part of another big trade in which he went to NY for three guys who would turn into immediate starters for Montreal: Tim Foli, Mike Jorgensen, and Ken Singleton. His first year with the Mets was going great guns: in mid-June he was hitting over .300 and NY was in first place. Then he got hit in the hand by a George Stone pitch. He would continue to play for over a week but it would turn out that his hand was broken and he would miss the first significant amount of time in his career in seeing his season halved. After his dramatic comeback season in ’73 he put up a .258/19/78 line for a crappy ’74 club and then in ’75 improved to .282/19/105 as he set a team record for RBI’s. As a reward he was on the road again, this time to Detroit in a horribly-balanced trade which got the Mets Mickey Lolich, who was well past his prime.

With Detroit Staub returned to the All-Star game in ’76 as the starting AL right fielder as he went on to post a .299/15/96 line for his first shot in the new league. He then became a full-time DH as well as an RBI machine the next two seasons as he put up stats of .278/22/101 and .273/24/121 respectively. But Rusty did not want to DH and in ’79 he held out in spring training and didn’t get into the line-up until early May. He started off well enough and his power stats were pretty much in line with where they’d been the past few seasons, but his average slid to under .240 and he’d burned some bridges with the holdout so in July he was sent back to Montreal for cash and a minor leaguer. He was warmly received by his old fans and picked up his average by 30 points the rest of the way as he did some reserve work at first and in right. His return was short-lived, though, and after the season he went back to the AL to Texas for Chris Smith and LaRue Washington. With the Rangers he got off to another hot start - .412/2/9 through April – when he went down with an injury and missed the next month-plus. He finished with a .300/9/55 line in his 340 at bats and after the season signed as a free agent with the Mets. Back in NY he would spend the initial part of the ’81 season starting at first and then split starts there the rest of the way with fellow re-acquiree Dave Kingman. He also did some significant time as a pinch hitter and that year of his overall .317/5/21 line – on 161 at bats – his pinch stats were .300/0/6 with a .467 OBA. In ’82 he reversed things, getting most of his starts late in the season as his line slipped a bit to .242/3/27 but he showed more power in the pinch with a .211/1/13 in 57 at bats. By ’83 NY was getting more solid at Rusty’s field positions and from about mid-year on he was exclusively a pinch hitter. That year in that role he went .284/3/25 in his 81 at bats and .296/3/28 overall in 115 at bats. In ’84 he was .273/1/18 in just 66 pinch at bats and in ’85 .262/1/8 with a .404 OBA in 42 at bats in his final season. Rusty finished with a .279 average, 292 homers, 1,466 RBI’s, 2,726 hits, and a .363 OBA for his career. In his only post-season he hit .341 with four homers and eleven RBI’s in his eleven games. All-time he is in the top 100 in hits, doubles, total bases, walks, singles, and RBI’s. Defensively he is in the top 25 for right field assists, putouts, and double plays.

Staub kept busy before and after he was playing. While he was laid up in ’72 he refined a lot of the cooking skills he learned from his mom, preparing meals for teammates, and later cooking in some local restaurants. By ’77 he opened his own ribs place on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and he later added another one on Fifth Avenue. After playing he was a color announcer for over 20 seasons for NY and during that time he also established a fund that helped families of NYC police and fireman injured or killed in the line of duty. That fund exploded after 9/11 and raised over $125 million for affected families. He’s been an active community guy in NY as well and has been elected to the Louisiana, Mets, and Expos halls of fame.

 Almost all the info on the back of Rusty’s card has been covered above. He relocated from Houston to NY later during his Mets time and remained there a long time thereafter. In the NL playoffs in ’73 he nailed his shoulder slamming into the wall after making a catch of a long fly hit by Dan Driessen and had to throw underhand during the Series. It didn’t seem to hurt his hitting too much though.

In mid-summer of ’73 the existence of the White House taping system and the acquisition of the tapes by the Special Prosecutor and the Senate Committee were the main themes but news-wise they were a dead issue until the Supreme Court’s decision over their release. So most news now was tangential stuff:

7/21/73 – Around this time former Attorney General John Mitchell testified before the Committee. By the time of Mitchell’s testimony it had already been established that he’d been involved in both planning and covering up the Watergate and other break-ins so he was past denying his own involvement. So the recurring theme of Mitchell’s testimony – again in contrast to John Dean’s testimony – was labelled in the press the “see no evil, hear no evil, say no evil” thread. Mitchell claimed that he and others involved never told President Nixon of any White House involvement in the break-ins and subsequent actions so that he would have no knowledge of them and therefore be insulated from any political fallout. After his testimony, and with the lack of any definitive news regarding the tapes, negative public opinion regarding Nixon abated a bit. But then...

Early August ’73 – Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew became a big political liability for issues completely unrelated to Watergate. Agnew, who was never accused of any Watergate involvement nor was asked to testify, had built his recent reputation as a conservative populist bulldog who frequently baited the press and anyone else he deemed as liberal with alliterative characterizations like “nattering nabobs of negativism” and many references as being effeminate. Prior to joining the Nixon ticket in ’68 he was the Governor of Maryland and around this time investigations into accusations of bribe-taking by him while in that role from various contractors became high-profile. Those prosecuting the accusations ran a double thread against Agnew: that he accepted the bribes and that he failed to report income from them. While there was no association between the President and Agnew’s actions while governor, the revelations generally prevailed a “What’s next” attitude on the public regarding the administration.

So my general rule is 100 at-bats are necessary to “officially” make guys teammates. In this case those at bats took the latter player six years but he gets there:

 

1. Staub and Ivan Murrell ’63 to ’68 Colt .45’s/Astros.

#444 - Vic Davalillo

From a member of the Topps rookie team of ’72 we go to a member of the Topps rookie team of ’63. Vic Davalillo gets his last Topps card for a few years as shortly after this card came out he would be released by Oakland and spend a few seasons playing in Mexico. But despite his 61 at bats and sub-.200 season for Oakland in ’73 – a big downtick from his ’72 year – Vic came in handy for the A’s. When Bill North went down with an injury just before the post-season, it was Vic who took his place, hitting .625 with a double and triple against the Orioles in the AL playoffs. He didn’t hit nearly as well against the Mets – one hit in eleven at bats – but he continued to get a bunch of time in the field against NY and got another ring to add to his ’71 one. That was a nice way to end a season in which he hit nearly 100 points under his career average and got sold to Charlie O when that guy stockpiled role players for his ’73 pennant drive. It would be another one of those in a few years that brought Vic back to the States.

Vic Davalillo grew up in Venezuela in a family of all boys. His dad died when Vic was young – how young varies depending on the source used for Vic’s birthdate – and Vic played ball and worked while still in school. His older brother Pompeyo – Yoyo was his nickname – was by then a bit of a local baseball legend and left to play ball stateside. Vic was studying to be a mechanic when in ’57 he began playing for national powerhouse Leones. Yoyo had already left a legacy there and in ’58 the elder brother was playing for the Cincinnati farm team in Havana when he introduced scouts to his brother, who had a nice short season on the mound. Cincinnati signed Vic in ’58 and he split that summer between D and C ball, going a combined 6-6 with a 3.08 ERA. In a ’59 all in D ball he went 16-9 with a 2.48 ERA in his best season as a pitcher and in ’60 he posted a 6-9 record with a 2.86 ERA in B ball while also starting 24 games in the outfield (he hit .271). That trend continued in a ’61 split between B, A, and Triple A in which he went 4-4 but his average slipped to .238. After that year the franchise for which he was playing – the old Havana one – got moved to the Cleveland system and the Indians opted to keep Vic. For them he spent a full season in the Triple A outfield – he pitched six games – and produced great numbers with a .346 average, eleven homers, 99 runs, 200 hits, and 69 RBI’s. The next year he went up to Cleveland.

Davalillo settled right into the Indians outfield. With his pitching arm he made a pretty good defender and he brought some speed as well. Nicknamed Mighty Might by fans he was having a nice rookie year when he was hit by a pitch from Hank Aguirre that broke his arm, resulting in nearly two months of missed time. He still finished with that .292 average to make the Topps team but that HBP affected his aggression at the plate. He returned in ’64 to win a Gold Glove but many felt the drop in his average came from his hesitancy at the plate. ’65 saw an offensive revival good enough to earn Vic an All-Star nod, a .301 average, and 26 stolen bases, the most of his career. In ’67 he began to lose some starting time in center, first to Jim Landis, and then to Chuck Hinton and Don Demeter as Cleveland went to a platoon system in the outfield. After a slow start in ’68 he was sent to California for Jimmie Hall, another outfielder. While he raised his average to .298 the rest of the way, he lost his regular spot in center to Jay Johnstone the next year and after barely playing, was sent to St. Louis for Jim Hicks. Again he pushed his average up in his second home but it was his worst overall season as he hit .219 on the year. For the Cards in ’70 he was a back-up outfielder extraordinaire as he hit .311 with 33 RBI’s in 183 at bats. The next year he and Nelson Briles went to Pittsburgh for George Brunet and Matty Alou. Perfect timing for Vic as he again went super-sub, hitting .285 in the regular season – mostly while playing right – and got his first post-season work. In ’72 he moved to left where he got a bunch more playing time as he started against right-handers. Then in ’73 new kids Richie Zisk and Dave Parker limited Vic’s playing time and he got sold to Oakland.

In ’74 Davalillo was seldom used, put up numbers comparable to his ’73 ones, and was released in May. By then Vic had developed a reputation as a big drinker and it was thought that some behavior while intoxicated also led to his dismissal. Either way he immediately went to Mexico where he hooked up with Cordoba where he hit .329 in ’74 and .355 with 70 RBI’s in 114 games in ’75. In ’76 he hit .333 for Puebla and in ’77 he was hitting .384 for Aguascalientes – for whom Yoyo was manager – when Al Campanis sent scout Charlie Metro down to find a lefty pinch-hitter. Charlie signed Vic on the spot and he was back in the States, hitting .313 the rest of the way in that role as a great complement to Manny Mota. He then began a winning rally against the Phillies in the NL playoffs and hit .333 against the Yankees in the Series. In ’78 he and Mota were again magic, with Vic hitting .312 and putting up the same average against NY in the Series. He pinch-hit two more seasons for LA, finishing up in ’80 when he was 43. Vic hit .279 for his career, stole 125 bases, and hit .323 with a .400 OBA in 22 post-season games.

Davalillo played for an even longer time in his native Venezuela than he did stateside, setting an all-time national mark with a .325 average in 30 years and retiring when he was 50. He won a bunch of batting titles there and was and is a national icon. He was inducted into his country’s hall of fame in 2003 and since playing has managed an amateur team and given lots of clinics in his homeland.

Vic’s card back is interesting in some unusual ways. Regarding the star bullet, initially he was given credit for the 24 hits which tied Dave Philley’s record. But later it was decided that his second hit in a game in which he moved to the field wasn’t technically a pinch hit so his number was reduced by one. The record was broken in ’76 by Jose Morales, ironically a part-time teammate in Oakland. Topps also has Vic’s birthdate listed as 1939, which is what he generally told people. It was actually in 1936.

At this point I have covered a year’s worth of music news for both ’73 and ’74. Maybe I’ll revive the whole Watergate thing. Here is something a bit entertaining: normally I get between 50 and 100 hits a day to the blog. Yesterday it was 250. The added traffic came from an S+M site. Not exactly my target audience.

One of my favorite second basemen links these two:

1. Davalillo and Dave Cash ’71 to ’73 Pirates;

2. Cash and Tom Hutton ’74 to ’76 Phillies.

#325 - Tommy Harper

Tommy Harper is the third AL guy in a row which has been pretty rare so far in this set. He does break one streak though, in that his '73 season was a pretty big one. In a sort of comeback year Tommy boosted his offensive numbers pretty considerably in Boston and led the AL in stolen bases, setting a Red Sox record in the process. He gets a sunny spring training shot here, which is appropriate because he was generally a well-spoken, thoughtful guy. He got good props in "Ball Four" and his profile would get raised years later after he was done playing but we can get to that below.

Tommy Harper came out of California where he played high school ball with Willie Stargell and Curt Motton. He was all-league in both football and baseball at Encina Alameda High near Oakland and continued reaping league awards at San Jose Junior College. He then transferred to San Francisco State and was hitting over .500 when he was signed by the Reds in '60. He had a deceptively good first summer that year in B ball, hitting .254 while playing second, but with a .427 OBA, 65 runs, and 26 stolen bases in only 79 games. He spent '61 at the same level and position, boosting his average 70 points and showing some good power from his leadoff spot with 15 homers and 65 RBI's. The next year he jumped all the way to Cincy, starting the opener at third but after a few games was admittedly overwhelmed and sent down to Triple A the rest of the season. There Tommy had a big year, hitting .333 with 120 runs, 26 homers, 84 RBI's, and a .450 OBA while working on his game at third. The next season he went up for good.

In '63 Harper took over right field for the Reds, becoming, with fellow rookie Pete Rose, the first of a new generation of Reds that would ultimately become The Big Red Machine. Tommy put up pretty good numbers on offense, most of them approaching those of Mr. Rose, who won that year's NL Rookie of the Year. Tommy did get named to the Topps rookie team. In '64 he moved to left, switching positions for the most part with Frank Robinson, and suffered a bit of a sophomore setback. Then in '65 he turned it on and though hitting a relatively - for a leadoff guy - light .257 led the majors in runs scored with 126. A bunch of those runs were knocked in by recent post subject Deron Johnson. In '66 Tommy boosted his average a bunch but in '67 he did a big about face and after the season he was traded to Cleveland for Brad Raudman, George Culver, and Fred Whitfield.

For the Indians Harper pretty much bottomed out. The Cleveland outfield was a bit messy in '68 - eight different guys started at least 55 games - and Tommy was used mostly against lefties which didn't work too well. So when the new Seattle Pilots nabbed him in the expansion draft that winter, Tommy wasn't unhappy. In the Pilots first - and only - season he played everywhere, primarily at second and third. His average wasn't anything special but he put up a .349 OBA - the highest of his career to date - and led the majors with 73 stolen bases, the highest AL total since Ty Cobb swiped 96 in 1915. Then in '70 Tommy rewrote the Pilots/Brewers record book - it WAS only a year old - when he had his best overall season. Settling in pretty much at third, he hit .296 with 104 runs, 31 homers, and 82 RBI's to make his first and only All-Star team. He finished pretty high in AL MVP voting and became the fifth guy - and first infielder - to hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases in the same season. After a discounted '71 in which he again became itinerant in the field, Tommy was part of a big trade that sent him, Lew Krausse, and Marty Pattin to the Red Sox for Jim Lonborg, Ken Brett, Don Pavletich, George Scott, Billy Conigliaro, and Jim Lahoud. Inserted into center field his stats in '72 were almost identical to those of the prior year. After the big step-up in '73 he slowed down a bit in '74, playing mostly left field and DH. After the season he went to the Angels for Bobby Heise. For California he played mainly first base and did a notch better than in '74 until mid-August when he was sold to Oakland for their then-annual pennant run. Tommy did a nice job, hitting .319 the rest of the way and stealing a perfect seven bases. He got his first post-season appearance and walked but that was pretty much his last hurrah. In '76 he signed as a free agent with Baltimore for whom he DH'd and pinch hit. He was released at the end of the season and retired with a .257 average, 146 homers, 567 RBI's, 972 runs, and 408 stolen bases.

In '77 spring training Harper went to Oakland, hoping to hook up with the decimated former champs. When that didn't work he took a scouting gig with the Yankees. In '78 Boston hired him away into their sales organization and from '80 to '84 he was the Sox first base coach. In '85 he moved back to the admin side, this time as an assistant GM. That tenure got stormy, however when Tommy complained to management about the team's long-standing policy in spring training of offering passes to the local Elks Club, which only admitted whites (in '85?!!). He was fired that December and in response filed a discrimination suit through the EEOC the following January. There is an interview with Tommy linked to here when he was working at an auto maintenance place as a follow-up gig. He won the case in December and the Sox stopped using the club. By '88 Tommy was back in baseball as a consulting base-running coach for the Expos. From '90 to '99 he was a Montreal coach proper. In 2000 he returned to Boston and remained on the coaching staff through '02. Since then he has worked as a roving and consulting hitting coach for the Sox, most recently bailing David Ortiz out of his 2011 slump.


Tommy gets the solo star bullet and it came up on top. His cartoon is kind of lame. In "Ball Four", a book Tommy has disavowed but is presented quite well in, it is explained that he showed up in Seattle's spring training camp fresh from his military tour in the Air Force. The service thought so highly of him that they invited him back offering him the position of staff sergeant if he re-upped. Tommy's response was "You can make me a general and I'm not coming back."

In music news on this date, Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were" took over Number One in the States in '74. Sorry about that Tommy.

Since we are still all-AL, this one should be quick:

1. Harper and Danny Cater '72 to '74 Red Sox;
2. Cater and Steve Kline '70 to '71 Yankees.

#300 - Pete Rose

Pete Rose brings us back to the action shots, his just after he apparently dragged a bunt down the third base line at Shea. Pete has the fourth Reds action shot taken at Shea so far - Billingham, Bench, and Clay Carroll have the others - and given the size of the crowds I have been tempted to say they are playoffs shots. Billingham and Carroll did pitch in game five but in Bench's shot it looks like he hit his down the third base line and Seaver appears to be on the bench. But Bench hit only against Seaver in that game. Plus I have seen no obvious Rose at bats in any of the Shea games that would be a bunt situation. So I may be reaching. In any case, '73 was one of the best seasons of Rose's excellent career at this point and for all his hits - nobody else in the Seventies except Joe Torre in '71 and Rod Carew in '77 had as many - and for sparking the Reds to the division title he won the NL MVP. I think the most surprising thing about this card is that it only represents about halfway through Pete's career.

Pete Rose was about as local as you can get for a future Red. He was born and raised in Cincinnati and played football and baseball in high school. In the latter sport he would frequently play second base and his DP partner was Ed Brinkman, who was the more sought-after player. Pete's dad was a big athlete - he played local football for the first Bengals team - and he had Pete stay back a year in high school which meant he was ineligible to play his senior year. Instead he played for a local amateur team and in the summer of 1960 he was signed by the Reds. That summer he played D ball and hit .277 while playing second and third. The next year he upped his average to .330 - with 30 triples - while playing exclusively second and in '62 he hit for the same average in A ball. In '63 he was named second baseman on the Reds, replacing incumbent Don Blasingame (and pushing aside a young Cookie Rojas).

Rose started his Major League career strongly, allowing his hustle to replace some defensive inadequacies at second, and putting up a pretty good average. He won NL Rookie of the Year, and had one of the top OBA's on the team. He did his military hitch during the off-season and in '64 experienced a bit of a sophomore jinx, spending some time on the bench. He came back strong in '65, leading the NL in hits and boosting his OBA to .382. He made his first All-Star team and recorded the first of what would be nine straight .300 seasons. In '66 the Reds traded Frank Robinson and though Pete again had over 200 hits the team sort of had a crap year. So in '67 they moved people around a bunch and '66 ROY Tommy Helms moved to second as Pete took over left field. In '68 Tommy Harper moved to Cleveland and Pete moved to right field, where he stayed through '71, and won his first batting championship. In '69 he had probably his best offensive year, adding a .428 OBA to his NL-leading average and 120 runs. He also won his first Gold Glove. In '70 he got his first post-season experience and in '72 he led the NL in hits for the fourth time. That year with the acquisition of Cesar Geronimo, who had a stronger arm, Pete returned to left field. From '74 to '76 Pete led all of baseball in runs and doubles and the latter two years won two Series rings. A big part of the Reds' success those two seasons was Pete's move to third base which both plugged a defensive hole there and allowed George Foster to become a full-time outfielder. After two more excellent seasons - the last in which he recorded his 3,000th hit - Pete left Cincinnati as a free agent and signed with the Phillies.

Rose's first season in Philly in '79 saw him hit .331 with a .418 OBA. Since the Phillies had Mike Schmidt at third, Pete took over first base. The next season his average fell to .282 but he turned it on in the playoffs against Houston and won another ring against the Royals. In '81 he led the NL in hits for his last time with 140 in the strike season and hit .325, also the last time he would hit over .300. His average moved significantly lower the next couple years and after an '83 in which he hit .245 he was released. But at age 43 Pete was within a few hits of 4,000 so Montreal picked him up. As planned, he got his 4,000th as an Expo and then returned to Cincinnati in a mid-season trade for Tom Lawless. After hitting .365 the balance of the '84 season Pete, now the manager as well, played himself as the starting first baseman in '85, allowing him to break Ty Cobb's hit record that season. After a short '86 he was done as a player. He finished with a .303 average on 4,256 hits, 2,165 runs, 756 doubles, 160 homers, 1,314 RBI's, and a .375 OBA. He hit .321 in 67 post-season games. He made 17 All-Star games, won two Gold Gloves, and a Silver Slugger and led the NL in hits seven times, doubles five times, runs four times, and average three times. He had over 200 hits ten seasons.

Rose managed the Reds from '84 to '89, going 412-373 for his career. In '89 he ran afoul of commissioner Bart Giamatti for allegedly betting on baseball games - possibly including his own - charges he initially denied but has slowly taken responsibility for over the years. The '89 agreement he forged with baseball banished him from association with the game and so far has wrecked his chance for election to the Hall. He was also busted for tax evasion and served some jail time in the early Nineties. He has since written a couple books, pleaded his case for reinstatement, and supports himself through appearances and memorabilia sales.



Pete has a great card back deserving of the milestone card in this set. He would only hit .214 in the '72 Series. An interesting record he has is the most career RBI's for a player that never hit 100 or more in a single season.

We'll use some old guys for this hook-up:

1. Rose and Deron Johnson '63 to '67 Reds;
2. Johnson and Felipe Alou '68 Braves;
3. Alou and Gene Michael '71 to '73 Yankees.