#609 - Rico Petrocelli

Rico Petrocelli had some pretty good cards over his career, both front and back. In ’75 he had a fat smile on his action card and in ’76 he looked like he was going to spit a huge wad of tobacco juice. In ’67 and ’69 he had the same photo for his two All-Star seasons. This card, though, isn’t one of his best but it does a good job reflecting Rico’s ’73 season. He would play hurt all season, nursing a pretty constant elbow injury that would take him out of the line-up by mid-August and require an operation after the year ended. And he wasn’t crazy happy being with the Sox as he joined Reggie Smith later that month in asking to be traded. Reggie would eventually get his wish but Rico stayed put and a few years down the road would finish his career in Boston which is pretty wiggy considering he grew up a Yankees fan.

Rico Petrocelli grew up in a large family in Brooklyn where in high school he was accomplished in basketball and baseball. In the latter sport he was a pitcher/infielder but the former role ended during some NYC playoffs his senior year of ’61. That was when his elbow snapped and a bunch of scouts lost interest which contributed to a delay in his signing. When that did happen, it was by the same Boston scout who signed Yaz from Long Island a couple years earlier. So Rico didn’t get started professionally until ’62 when he hit .277 with 17 homers and 80 RBI’s in B ball and also led his league in errors at shortstop. The next year he put up a .239/19/78 line in Double A and though his average dropped so did his E totals as Rico was a fast learner. He also made his topside debut that September, doubling off the Green Monster in his first at bat. In ’64 it was back to the minors and that year in Triple A he recorded a .231/10/48 line that got him so frustrated he decided to become a switch-hitter and was noted as one on his ’65 rookie card. But his defense continued to improve and that next year he would be called up for good.

Eddie Bressoud had been the Boston shortstop for a few years by 1965. Eddie could hit – in ’64 his average was .293 with 15 homers – but his range was declining and the Sox were afraid his average would soon follow. So Petrocelli won the starting shortstop gig in camp that year, as a switch-hitting rookie. But some early-season Mendoza-level offensive numbers ended the two-sided experiment and over the course of the year Rico added some points to his average. His final line and some uneven fielding numbers – both in part courtesy of his still ailing elbow – weren’t over the top but were good enough to get a spot on that year’s Topps Rookie team. In ’66 he continued to be bedeviled by the elbow and even had some DL time in August, but he became the starter outright, nearly doubled his RBI totals, and improved defensively. Prior to the ’67 season two good things happened for Rico – he had an operation on his problem elbow; and his former manager Eddie Popowski got promoted to be his infield coach, among other roles. Topps embraced the news giving Rico an exclamation point on his card back in that set and it all seemed to gel pretty well as he was an important cog for the pennant winner, improved markedly on defense, upped his average over 20 points, and was named an All-Star. He also won that year’s Game 6 of the Series with two big homers. Rico began accumulating bone chips in his elbow post-operation and in ’68 he missed a bunch of time and saw his offense come down hard. But in ’69 he cut down on his calcium and went on an offensive tear, winning another All-Star nod, and setting an AL record for homers by a shortstop. Defensively he was popping as well as he set another AL record for consecutive error-less games at shortstop with 44 and put up his league’s best fielding percentage for the second straight season.

In ’69 the third base situation in Boston was pretty messy in the wake of Joe Foy’s departure. It was pretty much the same in ’70 but was a bit better in Petrocelli’s few games at the position. He also continued his offensive burst with his lifetime high in RBI’s. Those games at third would be a good prelude to the rest of his time in Boston as that winter the Sox picked up Little Looie Aparicio from Chicago to play shortstop and third became Rico’s permanent home. Over the next couple seasons his average fell a few points but he kept his RBI totals pretty high and continued his excellent defensive work. After his problematic ’73 he got his second elbow operation and returned to offensive form the next year, with a .267/15/76 line. But a beaning by Jim Slaton in September ended Rico’s season and caused him balance problems the rest of his career. In ’75 his power took a dip - .239/7/59 - but he bounced in the Series to put up good numbers against Cincinnati. In ’76 his offense continued its decline in a year he split third with rookie Butch Hobson. Rico was released at the end of spring training of ’77 and ended his career with a .251 average with 210 homers and 773 RBI’s. In the post-season he hit .241 with three homers and nine RBI’s in 17 games. Defensively he is in the top 100 shortstops in career fielding percentage.

After Petrocelli finished playing he remained in the Boston area and remained close to baseball by writing a newspaper column and through radio broadcasting, both as a color guy and a talk radio savant, which he did through the ’80 season. He then returned to the business side full-time – see below – until ’86 when he began a three year management stint in the White Sox chain. In ’89 he returned to Boston full-time to manage the sports operation side of The Jimmy Fund and would manage one more year at nearby Pawtucket, RI, in the Boston chain in ’92. His record as a manager was 257-312. He then remained with the organization through ’98 as a roving instructor and was inducted into the team’s hall of fame in ’97. Following that run he moved to New Hampshire where he established his own company with his son Mike, the Petrocelli Marketing Group. He has a SABR bio.

The star bullets are back and these ones feature some stuff covered above. The cartoon refers to Rico’s PR work for both Tulsa Oil and Gibbs Oil, distribution companies. He would do more marketing work in that field after his playing time. In a couple sequential cartoons in the Sixties Topps indicated that Rico played drums to help develop his wrists and keep his elbows loose. No idea as to whether that helped or hurt the bone chips situation.

Someone from Rico’s old stomping ground seems the best route here:

1. Petrocelli and Danny Cater ’72 to ’75 Red Sox;

2. Cater and Bobby Murcer ’70 to ’71 Yankees;

3. Murcer and Mike Wallace ’74 Yankees.

#514 - Paul Schaal

There are a few things to like about this action shot. Yes, it’s blurry. But it’s also the final card of Paul Schaal’s career and I always like when Topps sends guys out with an action shot. It also looks like Paul is adjusting mid-swing to a pitch in Comiskey, and it’s always good to see a pro being resourceful. Lastly, I believe that’s Chicago manager Chuck Tanner in the background on the step of the dugout. Chuck’s got his hands on his head, as if he’s saying “Geez, you just threw him THAT pitch?” Makes me wonder what the outcome of this at bat was. The outcome of a lot of at bats for Paul in ’73 was pretty good as he raised his average 60 points from the prior year. Unfortunately for Paul, the biggest event of his season career-wise may have been when, after a couple weeks trying to play himself back in the line-up after he hurt his ankle, the Royals put him on the disabled list in early August and called up a kid from Omaha. That kid turned out to be George Brett and though Paul hit over .300 on his return, the stars were sort of aligned against him. But before and after then he was a lot better than a trivia answer so let’s flesh him out.

Paul Schaal – yeah, it rhymes – was born in Pittsburgh but played high school ball and hoops in Compton, which means he either played with or against Roy White of the Yankees. His senior year he hit .405 while leading his team to the state championship. Still, he wasn’t signed until after a summer of American Legion ball put him on the Angels’ radar and they gave him a $4,000 bonus. His first season of ’62 he had a good year in D ball, hitting .278 with 73 RBI’s and a .400 OBA. Paul would have a knack for getting on base that would follow him to the majors. In ’63 he moved up to A ball, hit .328, and ironed out his fielding a bit. In ’64 he moved all the way to Triple A, hit .271 with 53 RBI’s, and put more games in at second base than at third. In his few late season looks in LA that season he put in time at both positions as well.

In 1965 the Angels moved from LA to Anaheim and they took a new third baseman with them. Schaal got in the line-up on his defense and stayed there on that and some timely hits. His rookie year he came in third in assists and fielding percentage for AL third basemen and provided enough offense to get named to the Topps Rookie team that year. In ’66 he upped his average 20 points and, in putting up a nice reversal in his BB to K ratio, his OBA by over 50 points. But with California suffering a power drought – Bobby Knoop led the team in RBI’s – Paul’s RBI numbers were pretty miniscule. In ’67 Paul’s offense tumbled hard and in an attempt to fix things offensively at the position he returned to Double A where he hit .311 with a .408 OBA in a bit over a month. In the meantime the Angels tried a bunch of other guys at the position including Aurelio Rodriguez, Johnny Werhas, and catcher Tom Satriano. But none of those guys added any real value so when ’68 opened Paul was back at his spot. By June he was playing every day, was having a great defensive year, and while hitting only .212 he seemed to be recovering his stroke. But in a game against Boston he got nailed right above the ear by a Jose Santiago fastball, collapsed, and was taken to the hospital. He had a skull fracture and while damage wasn’t as bad as initially feared he lost some hearing in his left ear and had some serious balance issues as a result. He attempted to come back during the year but just getting to first base made him dizzy. After the season he was left unprotected and he was selected by Kansas City in the expansion draft.

When the Royals did their draft they also grabbed Joe Foy of Boston and with Foy's bigger stats to that point there was little doubt as to who the starting third baseman would be. So Schaal spent ’69 shuttling between Kansas City and Triple A. He had a bang-up season in the minors - .374 with a .468 OBA, 40 RBI’s, and nine stolen bases in 222 at bats – and upstairs had a nice bounce in his average. His power was a bit iffy because he was still feeling the effects of the beaning which also continued into ’70. Prior to that season Foy was dealt to the Mets for Amos Otis and Paul got the starting gig, giving some time away to Bob Oliver and Billy Sorrell. In ’71 he had his biggest year, playing every game and posting by far his biggest offensive season, including an OBA of .387. ‘72 was a big downer as his average tumbled and by the end of the year he was giving away starts to Kurt Bevacqua. After his nice bounce in ’73 got interrupted by his injury a slow start to the ’74 season got him traded back to California for former Royal Richie Scheinblum. While Paul upped his average a bunch in Anaheim and put in more time than anyone at third, he was released at the end of the season, ending his time in baseball. He hit .244 for his career with a .341 OBA. In the minors he hit .297 with a .392 OBA.

While Schaal left baseball after playing he did not walk away from a physically active career. After initially continuing working in real estate, which he did while he was playing, he moved into chiropractic care. He returned to the KC area where he has run his own wellness center for nearly thirty years.

’62 was a big year in the minors for Paul. In ’66 he hit an inside-the-park home run. He was quite skilled at pool and according to one report was considering  it as a potential career choice after baseball.

It’s about time for another easy one:

1. Schaal and Jim Campanis ’69 to ’70 Royals.

#498 - Pat Corrales

I know nobody was really a fan of these old San Diego uniforms but they sure do stand out against some beautiful outfield grass like what is behind Pat Corrales in this photo. That lawn is nearly perfect in what I’m pretty sure is Wrigley (those row houses behind right field look about right). This was it for Pat as he’d never get another MLB at bat after 1973. It was his second season doing his back-up thing for the Padres after he’d done it a bunch elsewhere in the NL. I like this card but it pales next to his one from ’73, an action shot in which he appears to have been just bowled over by Fergie Jenkins but still has the ball in his hand (Jenkins was out). There’s a good chance this shot is taken from that same day.

Pat Corrales went to Fresno High School in California where he played baseball with future MLB guys Dick Selma and Jim Maloney (Tom Seaver would be another big league alumni a few years later). He was signed by the Phillies after his senior season of ’59 and put in some time in D ball around his military work. In ’60 he showed good power with 60 RBI’s and also led his league in putouts at the same level. In ’61 he continued his ascent by hitting .309 in B ball and was making a name for himself with excellent defensive work. In ’62 he hit only .206 in a year split between A and Triple A but his average was higher at the upper level. He had a much better ’63 in Double A with a .260 and then had one of his best years in ’64 with a .304 and .367 OBA in Triple A, the year he made his debut in Philadelphia. He had a slow start in ’65 but was called up anyway after starter Clay Dalrymple was hurt and back-up Gus Triandos was aging too fast. Pat had what would be his busiest season and was named to the Topps Rookie team as he took over the starting catcher role for a bunch of games and did some solid defensive work. After the season he was involved in a big trade that sent him, Alex Johnson, and Art Mahaffrey to the Cards for Dick Groat, Bill White, and Bob Uecker.

With St. Louis Corrales didn’t get too much work behind Tim McCarver and he spent most of the season on the bench. In ’67 he spent it all back in Triple A where he had his best offensive year hitting .274 with ten homers and 54 RBI’s. He then got traded to the Reds just prior to ’68 spring training with Jimmy Williams for fellow catcher Johnny Edwards. That trade cleared the way for hot rookie Johnny Bench and so Pat’s near-term career path was pretty much set as Johnny’s back-up. Around his ’68 numbers he hit .273 in a half-season of Triple A. The next few seasons he got props for being considered the best back-up catcher in MLB which is sort of a mixed blessing I guess. In ’72 the Reds got a younger version of him in Bill Plummer and Pat spent most of the first half of the season back in Triple A where he hit .316 in 98 at bats. That June he went to San Diego for fellow catcher Bob Barton where he finished the year splitting time with Fred Kendall. In ’74 it was back to Triple A where he hit .249 before being released. Along with his stats from the card he hit .266 in the minors and went 0 for 1 in his only post-season appearance.

Corrales moved into coaching right away and in ’75 went 58-72 in the Padres chain before joining the Rangers late that year as a coach. He kept that role until the last game of the ’78 season when he was named manager, which he did through the ’80 season when he was replaced. He then returned to Philly as a coach in ’81 until he again assumed the manager role the next year. In ’83 he had the Phillies in first but GM Paul Owens was unhappy with the team being only a game over .500 so he replaced Pat with himself (he did that a few times) and took them to the Series. Pat almost immediately hooked up with Cleveland and by the end of the year was managing the team, sort of famously going from a first place team to a last place one in the same season. He took the Tribe through a very improved ’86 where he went from over 100 losses to 84 wins. That set the old SI jinx in motion when the magazine picked them to win the division in ’87 but being the Indians they finished dead last with over 100 losses again. That finished Pat there and in ’88 he managed in the Detroit chain, going 58-84, his final gig as a manager. He then coached for the Yankees (‘89) and the Braves (’90-2006) before hooking up with the Nationals where he coached (’07-’08, ’09, and ’11) and did admin work in between. In 2012 he was a special advisor to the team and in 2013 he’ll do the same role for the Dodgers.

Topps gets an A-plus for its prescient cartoon. Pat went 572-634 in his MLB managing career, which is pretty good when you consider the teams he managed. Another good star bullet is his record of reaching base three straight times on errors in one game.

San Diego’s contribution to the big centennial 1976 baseball bash was Nate Colbert’s huge double-header in ’72 in which he had five homers and 13 RBI’s in Atlanta. I covered that one on Nate’s post. He hit two out in the first game with five RBI’s, and three in the second one – one a grand slam – with eight ribbies. His five homers in a day tied a Stan Musial mark from a bunch of years back. Colbert, who grew up outside St. Louis, was at that game.

Let’s try one of my boys for this one:

1. Corrales and Tony Taylor ’64 to ’65 Phillies;

2. Taylor and Don Money ’68 to ’71 Phillies;

3. Money and Bobby Mitchell ’73 to ’75 Brewers.

#230 - Tony Perez

Tony Perez is in the midst of a '73 season that would be his final one of hitting .300 with over 100 RBI's. Tony, a generally happy guy as a player looks sort of pissed here. Or maybe he's just smirking. Maybe he just got back from a fantastic winter in PR and it's too early to be posing for baseball cards. Maybe I should just write the narrative.

Tony "Doggy" Perez grew up worshiping Minnie Minoso in Cuba where he was headed to life in the sugar cane fields until a Reds scout saw him in a company game. He was then signed for pretty much nothing - about two bucks - and whisked away to D ball in upstate NY in '60 when he was 18. He was originally a shortstop and was pretty thin at only about 160 pounds. That year he did ok playing around the infield but he had almost zero knowledge of English and had a tough time. He stuck in D ball in '61, making third base his home, and banging the ball, hitting .348 with 27 homers. He then moved up, not missing a beat, until his '64 season in Triple A where, splitting time between third and first, he hit 34 out with 107 RBIs while batting .309. Along the way he ran into minor league manager Dave Bristol - who would also later manage Tony up top - who put him on an all meat and beans diet, cranking his weight up above two bills.

In '65 after a couple games up in late '64 Perez came up for good, splitting time at first base and putting up good enough numbers to make the Topps rookie team. After a couple seasons of finding his stroke he broke out in '67, becoming the first official member of the Big Three by belting 26 out and posting the first of 11 straight 90-RBI seasons. It was also his first season where he played primarily third up top, as Tommy Helms had moved to second and Pete Rose to the outfield. By '68 the other two members of the Three - Lee May and Johnny Bench - had joined him as full timers and as a combo they would peak in '70 with 119 homers and 371 RBIs between them. Tony himself was a one-man wrecking crew early that season, with 27 homers and 79 RBIs by the end of June. All that power carried them to the Series as Tony saw his first post-season action. '71 would start off horribly for him as two hurt hands impeded his swing and he needed a strong second half to keep his RBI streak alive. He rallied in '72 as he moved to take May's place at first after the big trade and the Reds returned to the playoffs. The three years following '73 would be All-Star ones - he was named to seven overall - as the last two of those seasons Tony and the Reds would win the whole thing.

Prior to the '77 season Perez would get traded to the Expos in a very unpopular move with Will McEnaney for Woody Fryman and Dale Mitchell. It was both a cost-cutting move and one designed to free up starting time for Dan Driessen at first. Tony went to Montreal and his first season there did as well as he'd been doing in the stronger Cincinnati lineup, hitting .283 with 91 RBIs. The next two years in Montreal the streak ended but he still put up pretty good offensive numbers. After the '79 season he went to Boston as a free agent and had a great 1980, batting .275 with 105 RBIs. After a steep drop in the strike year, Tony's last season in Boston was spent backing up Dave Stapleton at first and as a DH. For the next few seasons he followed old teammate Pete Rose, first to Philly where he had his last stab at the post-season and then back to Cincy where he spent three years backing up first, finishing in '86 at age 44. Tony hit .279 with 379 homers and 1,652 RBIs in 22 seasons. He also hit .238 with six homers and 25 RBIs in 47 post-season games. He was elected to the Hall in 2000.

Perez moved into coaching right away with Cincy in '86 and even managed for a bit in '93. That season he moved to the Marlins organization where he has coached, managed, and currently works as an assistant to the general manager. His record as a manager is 74-84.

'67 was Tony's first All-Star game and he won the damn thing. His best Series may have ironically been '75 when he hit only .179. He did have three homers in his five hits that year with seven RBIs in the seven games. Plus he got to be there for Game Six, although I don't think it resonated for him the same way as it did for a lot of folks. His 30th birthday was during the '72 season, which to a degree was pretty tough for him. Lots of fans thought that he should have been the guy to go to the Astros instead of Lee May, especially due to his poor first half in '71. Guess he proved them all wrong.

I can't even believe this guy was playing back then. We're all getting old:

1. Perez and Dennis Eckersley '80 to 82 Red Sox;

2. Eckersley and Fritz Peterson '75 Indians.

#185 - Jose Cardenal

Jose Cardenal gets a "5" card. That's pretty cool since he was in the midst of his best years and has one of the best smiles in the set, laughing away at Candlestick. It's a pretty fitting pose for a guy whose '73 numbers would get him Chicago Player of the Year. Towards the tail-end of his career Mets fans used to call him "Jose Can you See", apparently as a referral to his strikeouts, but I never thought that fair as this guy didn't whiff all that much. But the Mets sucked then so I guess the fans needed an outlet. It turned out that the initial reference was to a spring training game he asked out of because he claimed his eyelids were stuck shut. That plus the time he asked out of a game because a cricket had kept him up all night helped cement his reputation as a kook.

Jose Cardenal was signed by the Giants out of Cuba in '61. He ripped through a season of D ball that year (.351 with 35 homers). After a poor '62 at Triple A he banged 36 at Double A in '63. In '64 he returned to Triple A and hit .289 with 12 homers. But like Jim Ray Hart on an earlier post, Jose couldn't crack the Giants' outfield, getting a total of 20 at bats and before the '65 season he was sent to the Angels for Jack Hiatt. In California Jose would prove to be less of a power guy and more of a speed guy. In '65 he stole 37 bases, hit .250 and made the Topps Rookie All-Star Team. In '66 he would boost his average 26 points but the following year his numbers and playing time came down because of injury. After that year he went to Cleveland for Chuck Hinton. In two seasons for the Indians Jose hit .257 and stole a total of 76 bases. He then went to the NL, traded to the Cards for Vada Pinson. In '70 he topped his previous highs in RBI's and average by a bunch, but in '71 the average dropped huge and he was sent to the Brewers in mid-season for Ted Kubiak. While he boosted his average a bit with Milwaukee, his real achievement that season was a new lifetime high in RBI's with 80. That December Jose was traded to the Cubs for Jim Colborn and Brock Davis.

For the Cubs, Cardenal blossomed. For the next five seasons, '72 through '76 he would average over .300 with 29 doubles and 25 stolen bases per season, while also reporting consistently good OBA numbers. While he had a reputation as a hot dog and a flake he was able to generate some pretty good power out of his relatively small frame. He was also a fan favorite as well as an enervating force in the locker room.

In '77 the Cubs overhauled their outfield, sending Rick Monday to LA, and Cardenal's playing time decreased mightily. Following the season he was traded to the Phillies for a guy I never heard of, Manny Seoane. For a year plus, Jose would do a decent job as a backup outfielder. He got some playoff work in the '78 NL series. In mid-'79 he was sold to the Mets in the middle of a double-header between the two teams. That trade occurred the same day that Thurman Munson died. Jose would break his hand shortly thereafter and miss most of the rest of the season. He would do some pinch-hitting in '80 before being released that August. He was soon picked up by the Royals for help during their pennant drive and would hit .340 for them the balance of the season, again in a limited role. That year he got some post-season time in the Series and he hit .200, missing a couple clutch opportunities. That would be the end of his playing career. Jose hit .275 with 138 homers, 775 RBIs, 333 doubles, and 329 stolen bases. His post-season average was .188 in six games.

Following his playing career, Jose would coach in Latin America and in the States at the minor league level. By the early Nineties he was back in the majors for the Reds ('93), the Cards ('94-'95), the Yankees ('96-'99), Tampa Bay (2000-'01), and back in Cincinnati ('02-'03). In '05 he was named assistant to the Nationals' GM and I believe he still has an administrative spot with the team.

This card is awfully crooked. Jose gets star bullet props for a couple amazing plays in '68. Thanks to baseball-reference a little digging gives the narrative for the two plays: on June 8 a shallow fly by Don Wert allowed Jose to grab Jim Freehan returning to second; and on July 16 with two on Jose made a running catch of a line drive by Chuck Hinton of California - the guy for whom he was recently traded - and kept going, picking off Jim Fregosi. Both plays happened while Sam McDowell was on the hill. Jose is one of very few guys to pull off the Bobby Bonds special in the minors: in '63 he had over 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in Double A and in '61 he pulled the same trick in D ball. He is a cousin of Bert Campaneris. Like Luis Tiant by the time of this set he hadn't seen his parents for 13 years since they were still locked in Cuba. Jose doesn't have the parenthetical name thing going which is odd for Latin guys in this set.

The big trade helps get Jose with the Rangers:

1. Cardenal and Fergie Jenkins '72 to '73 Cubs;
2. Jenkins and Jeff Burroughs '74 to '75 Rangers;
3. Burroughs on the '73 Rangers.

#85 - Joe Morgan

Well, this is weird. Joe Morgan in action against Oakland. As much as the baseball gods back then expected, this card was NOT from '73, but from '72 when these two teams did meet in the Series. Joe looks pretty intense here, like he's following a ball hit to left field and it's at Riverfront. So I am guessing it is the seventh inning of game six when he hit a single off Dave Hamilton, scoring Dave Concepcion. In '73 Joe was still running: another All-Star season included a big bump in homers, a .406 OBA, and a Gold Glove. Joe was in the midst of his most productive MLB time and though in that year's playoffs he wouldn't make too much noise against the Mets - a big reason Cincy went down that year - he would get his in a couple seasons.

As a Yankee, Red Sox (I know), and Phillies fan of the mid-70's Joe Morgan was a tough guy for me to like. But I had to respect the guy. From that perfectly erect batting stance and the cocking of his left arm to all those runs and walks and stolen bases, the guy was as complete a player as you got in his prime. He was a very serious guy as a player; in the book on the Reds excerpted last year in SI it said that when Morgan came to the Reds management deliberately put his locker next to Rose's so that Pete could pull Joe out of his shell and so that some of Joe's studiousness would rub off on Pete. I guess it worked. But after Morgan's response to "Moneyball" when it came out I realized why so many people thought he was a jerk. Every time he opened his mouth about that book he sounded foolish. I never got that: the type of player Billy Beane adored as described in the book was every inch a Joe Morgan-type player. Everything about the book idealized the player Morgan was so why he took such offense to the book's existence was beyond me. Anyway...

Joe Morgan grew up in Oakland, was signed by the Colt .45s in '62 and immediately indicated the type of player he would be during his two minor seasons: a decent to high average, a very high OBA (.471 and .440 in A and Double A, respectively), very good power for a middle infielder, and good stolen base totals. He made short appearances in both '63 and '64. During those short seasons he showed some signs of trouble with major league pitching. Nellie Fox, a player-coach for the .45's at the time, told Joe his back elbow would drop during his at bats and suggested he wiggle it while awaiting the pitch to remind him to not drop it. So that is from where the elbow-cocking came. In '65 Joe replaced Nellie at second and had a bang-up first year, leading the league in walks and finishing second in ROY to Jim Lefebvre. In '66 he had better full-season numbers but his playing time decreased due to a broken kneecap. He did get his first All-Star nod that year and was the first starting Colt .45/Astro ever named. Another very good season followed in '67 and then Joe hurt his knee again in '68 and missed pretty much the entire season. He came back in '69, putting up good numbers and upping his stolen base totals to the 40's. But over the next three seasons - one of which was an All-Star one - his average slipped to about 20 points less than it had been before he got hurt - his OBA stayed about the same - and he was viewed with his roommate Jimmy Wynn as a troublemaker by Harry Walker, his manager. Those plus the desire for a power-hitting first baseman prompted Houston to make what is considered one of the worst trades ever: Joe, Dennis Menke, Cesar Geronimo, Jack Billingham, and Ed Armbrister to the Reds for Lee May, Tommy Helms, and Jimmy Stewart.

Needless to say Morgan blossomed with the Reds: his average popped to around .300, his OBA jumped well above .400, and his homer and RBI totals shot up. For the rest of the '70s he would grab 8 All-Star appearances, five Gold Gloves, two MVPs, five division winners, and two Series championships. In '72 he led the NL with 122 runs, 115 walks, and a .417 OBA. In '74 his OBA was .427. His numbers during his two MVP seasons were pretty amazing - a .327/17/94 line with a killer .466 OBA in '75; a .320/27/111/.444 in '76 - and both years the Reds won the Series. Another excellent '77 followed and Joe didn't really slow down until '78 when his average dropped 50 points (he still had 75 RBIs that year) and '79 when his RBI totals got quashed. For 1980 he returned to Houston for a year as a free agent; they made the playoffs for the first time so there was still some magic. He then went to the Giants for two seasons earning Comeback Player of the Year in '82 (14 homers, 61 RBIs, .289). In '83 he had his last hurrah, rejoining Rose and Tony Perez on those ancient Phillies and returning to the Series. In '84 he finished things up with Oakland. He made the Hall in '90 based on his 2,517 hits, 689 stolen bases, 1,650 runs, 268 homers, and a .392 OBA to go with all the awards. In the post-season Joe hit .182 with five homers, 13 RBI's, 26 runs, and 15 stolen bases. Since his playing career he has been a high-profile announcer, most recently for ESPN, a job he just left.

This is another card that could have a wealth of star bullets. That first one is odd - maybe Topps named their own guy? or TSN? - since it wasn't even close in that year's voting (Lefebvre was on a Series winner which is probably why he won). Anyway, it's wrong. Maybe the trips to the pool hall got him in dutch with Harry.

This will require more steps than I thought it would. These guys opposed each other in the '75 Series:

1. Morgan and John Batemen '65 to '68 Astros;
2. Bateman and Don Money '72 Phillies;
3. Money and Rick Wise '69 to '71 Phillies.