#634 - Eddie Mathews/Braves Field Leaders

When I was a kid I couldn’t always tell whether or not Eddie Mathews was a white guy and it was photos like this one that confused me. Eddie sure had a nice tan going which I guess came with the territory of working in sunny Atlanta. He’d returned there as a coach a couple years earlier and was elevated to manager about two-thirds of the way through the ’72 season. He improved things a bit and ’73 was his first – and only – full season in the role. There would be some exciting times what with all the homers but the launch pad that County Stadium resembled back then, coupled with some injuries, and just some dreadful pitching, made it difficult for the team to get any real traction. He would improve to a winning record in ’74 but, combined with other issues, that improvement wasn't enough and he gave way to Clyde King 100 games into that season. Here he looks moderately concerned home in Atlanta. Things down the road would warrant that expression.

Eddie Mathews was born in Texarkana, Texas, and as a young boy he relocated to Santa Barbara, California, where he was a big deal high school football and baseball star. He was highly sought by many schools for the former sport but opted to sign with the Braves in ’49 for a $6,000 bonus. In D ball that summer he had a .363/17/56 line in just 240 at bats and the next year put up a .286/32/106 line in Double A. He split the next season between Double A and Triple A but missed most of it to Navy service for the Korean War before he was recalled because his dad was sick and Eddie was his family’s only income producer. In ’52 he was called up to Boston where, though his average was a bit light and his K totals a tad high, he wowed people with his defense at third and hit 25 homers. He cranked things up big the next year with his .302/47/135 line. His homer total led the NL and his OBA was .402 as he made his first All-Star game. Over the next two seasons he would average lines of .289/41/102/.418 as Milwaukee’s main slugger as a young teammate Hank Aaron was establishing himself. Eddie’s RBI totals fell a bit the next few years as Aaron became a premier slugger himself and Eddie’s line averaged .274/33/89/.370 as he took two trips to the Series, winning one. In ’59 he again led the NL in homers during a .306/46/114/.390 season followed up by another big power year in ’60 with his .277/39/124/.397 year. Beginning in ’61 he led the NL in walks three consecutive years as his lines averaged .279/28/92/.394. By then he’d been having some back and shoulder issues that were beginning to compress his swing a bunch and in ’64 his numbers fell to .233/23/74/.344 before a big bounce in ’65 with a .251/32/95 line. By ’66 the back pain was serious and his days as a big slugger were over. After a final season in ’66 with Atlanta he was sent to Houston where he played primarily first base in ’67 before an August trade to Detroit to help in the stretch run. He remained with the Tigers in ’68 as primarily a pinch hitter for the eventual Series champs. Eddie then retired with a .271 average with 512 homers, 1,453 RBI’s, 2,315 hits, and a .376 OBA. In the post-season he hit .200 with a homer and seven RBI’s in 16 games with a .385 OBA. He was an All-Star nine times and defensively ranks in the top ten for third basemen in putouts, assists, and double plays.

For a couple years after playing Mathews was a salesman for a couple firms but he wasn’t a big fan of that work. So in ’71 he returned to baseball as a Braves coach and then assumed the manager position in ’72. By then he had a pretty serious drinking problem and that problem was part of what led to his dismissal in ’74. He was 149-161 as a manager which would turn out to be significantly better than his immediate successors. He then worked briefly with the Brewers – where he turned down the manager job – before moving to San Diego and having a run as a scout. He would return to formal coaching with the Rangers, Oakland (’81-’83) and Atlanta (’88-’89) around his scouting work. He was admitted to the Hall in ’78 and in ’92, a couple years after retiring, he had a second serious attack of pneumonia, his first being while with the A’s. He was nearly better by ’94 when he wrote his autobiography and was attending card shows on a regular basis. He did that through ’97 when he was in a bad boating accident that shattered his pelvis. Thereafter things were very tough for him physically and in early 2001 he passed away from complications of pneumonia and heart problems. He was 69. He has a detailed SABR bio.

Jim Busby grew up in rural Texas and in ’45 went to TCU on a football scholarship. I have read that he was in the Army during WWII but since he had just turned 18 when the war ended that doesn’t seem right. By his junior year he was TCU’s starting QB and in ’47 he took his team to the Cotton Bowl. He also hit over .500 as a fleet outfielder and ran track as well, setting the school record in the 100-yard dash. In ’48 he was signed by the White Sox and that summer hit .305 in a season split between B and A ball. In ’49 he hit .306 at those same levels and missed about half the season so it was most likely that then was his Army time. In ’50 he moved up to Triple A where he hit .310 with 17 stolen bases around his few games in Chicago. In ’51 he made the team in spring training as its starting center fielder and as a rookie hit .283 with 68 RBI’s and 26 stolen bases. He was also an excellent fielder who over his career would only post 16 errors. Early in ’52 he went to Washington for Sam Mele and there his average slid a bit before rebounding the next two years when he averaged .306 with 81 RBI’s and 15 stolen bases per season. After a slow start in ’55 he returned to the Sox where he finished out the year. He then went to Cleveland as part of a deal for Larry Doby where his .235/12/50 line was a bit of an improvement. In early ’57 he was on the move again to Baltimore for Dick Williams – I guess he liked being traded for future managers – where he hit .250 but his power stats depleted a bunch. By ’58 he was a reserve guy and he filled that role for the Red Sox, back in Baltimore, and in Houston before he finished as a player during the ’62 season. Jim put up a .262 average with over 1,100 hits and 97 stolen bases during his career. He is in the top 50 all-time for putouts in center and the top 100 in assists and double plays. He remained with Houston as a coach the duration of the ’62 season and stayed there through ’67. He then moved on to Atlanta (’68-’75), the White Sox (’76), and Seattle (’77-’78) before going 37-27 as a manager in ’79 in the Inter-American League. After that league folded he moved to Florida full-time where he ran some orange groves he’d acquired earlier. He then retired in Georgia where he passed away in ’96 at age 69.

Connie Ryan was born in New Orleans where he would be a star athlete at the same high school later attended by Rusty Staub. Ryan then earned a baseball scholarship to LSU, where he remained through his sophomore year of ’40 when he left to sign a minor league contract with Savannah, a B-level affiliate of the Atlanta Crackers, an independent team. After hitting .302 that year as s econd baseman, he moved up to the A-level Crackers in ’41 and hit .300 there. In ’42 he was sold to the Giants where he had a tough time in NY before returning to Double A, hitting .243 that season. Immediately prior to the ’43 season he was sent to the Braves as part of a deal for Ernie Lombardi and as the regular guy at second Connie hit .212. He improved that substantially in ’44 when he was hitting .295 with 13 stolen bases before he enlisted for WW II after D-Day. Named to the All-Star team that year, he remained in the service through ’45 and returned to Boston as the starting second baseman in ’46 and ’47, hitting .241 and .265 with 69 RBI’s respectively. In ’48 Boston acquired Eddie Stanky and Connie became a reserve, getting only 122 at bats that year and limited time in the Series. In ’49 he was a utility guy, playing all infield positions, which he continued through early in ’50 when he went to Cincinnati for Walker Cooper. With the Reds he returned to a starting role that season and for all of ’51, hitting .246 during that time. He then moved to the Phillies in a big trade for the ’52 season, where he retained the regular role, hitting .257, until he was placed on waivers in ’54 (despite hitting .296 at the time). The ChiSox took him and Connie finished out his career that year and the next with Chicago and then back in Cincinnati with a .248 average with just under 1,000 hits. He went 0 for 1 in his only Series at bat and is in the top 100 all-time in putouts at second. He remained in baseball in a bunch of roles. As a minor league manager he went a combined 403-383 for the Braves (’55-’56, ’68-’69), Cincinnati (’58), Houston (’62), and Kansas City (’67). He was also an MLB coach for Milwaukee/Atlanta (’57, ’71, ’73-’75) and Texas (’77-’79) and manager for both going a combined 11-22 in interim roles for the Braves (’75) and the Rangers (’77). In between and thereafter he scouted for Houston (’61, ’63-’66), Kansas City/Oakland (’67, 70, 71, and in the Eighties), the Braves (’69-’70), and Texas (’76). He would then retire to the New Orleans area where he passed away in ’96 at age 75.

Ken Silvestri grew up in Chicago where he was an all-state football player for two years and then went to Purdue on a football scholarship (this has been a very educated coaching group thus far). He spent two years at Purdue, playing both baseball and football, before being signed by the White Sox in ’36. He spent his first two years in D ball, hitting .270 and .307, with 23 homers that second year. He moved up to Double A in ’38 and spent more time there in ’39 – both years hitting .272 - around his debut in Chicago. He hit lightly his rookie year, batting just .173 in minimal plate appearances. He raised that to .250 in ’40 with ten RBI’s but in just 24 at bats. After that season he went to the Yankees where he took on the Ralph Houk role – almost zero plate time – before Houk got there. Ken again hit .250, this time in 40 at bats, and won a Series ring, before enlisting for WW II, which would take him away from baseball the next four years. He returned in ’46 to hit .286 again in limited time before Houk assumed his role and Ken spent the bulk of the next two years in the minors, hitting a combined .226 but with a .377 OBA. He then moved to the Phillies via the Rule 5 draft for the ’49 season, returned to the Series in ’50, and finished his MLB time in ’51 with a .217 average in just 203 at bats over eight seasons. He returned to the service in ’52 and ’53 in Korea and then came back to baseball in ’54 as a player and then player/manager in the Yankees system, which he did through ’58. He went 255-242 his four seasons as a manager and won two league titles and finished his minor league playing career with a .268 average. He would then get a bunch of MLB time as a coach with the Phillies (’59-’60), the Braves (’63-’75), and the White Sox (’76, ’82). In between he coached in the St. Louis system (’61-’62) and Chicago’s (’77-’81) before going into semi-retirement as a scout for the ChiSox beginning in ’83. He was still scouting for the team when he passed away in ’92 at age 75.

Herm Starrette grew up in Statesville, North Carolina, where he was a big deal pitcher and basketball player. His brother George would be a pro hoops player and Herm was offered a basketball scholarship to Wake Forest but opted to go to local Lenoir-Rhyne College where he pitched his freshman and sophomore seasons of ’57 and ’58 before signing that June with the new Orioles. That summer he went 7-9 in C ball before improving at that level in ’59 to go 17-7 and 9-7 in ’60 around some military time. Up until then a rotation guy, in ’61 in B ball he went 11-7 as a spot starter and in ’62 became a reliever, going 14-10 with a 2.65 ERA in 61 games in A ball. The next three years he would pitch well out of the pen in Triple A, going a combined 14-7 with a 2.14 ERA. He also got three looks in Baltimore over that time-frame and although he threw well – 1-1 with a 2.54 ERA in 46 innings – he never stuck. Back in Triple A in ’66 he hurt his arm and was done as a pitcher, finishing with a minor league record of 72-50 with a 3.32 ERA. He then became a pitching coach in the Orioles chain, succeeding George Bamberger in ’68 as director of pitching and continuing the Baltimore streak of developing premier starters. He did that through ’73 when he became the Atlanta pitching coach. He remained with the Braves through ’76 and then moved on to San Francisco (’77-’78 and ’83-’84), Philadelphia (’79-’81), Milwaukee (’85-’86), the Cubs (’87), and Baltimore (’88). He then became minor league pitching coordinator for the Expos (’89-’92) and Boston (’93-2002) both while working closely with Dan Duquette. After Duquette was replaced as Boston GM following the 2002 season, Herm retired to Florida where he still resides.

I’ll skip over Watergate stuff this post and go straight to the double hook-up. For Eddie Mathews as a manager:

1. Mathews managed Ralph Garr on the ’72 to ’74 Braves;

2. Garr and Dave Hamilton ’76 to ’77 White Sox.

That was pretty good. Now for Eddie as a player. I am just going to add a step to the above:

1. Mathews and Sonny Jackson ’67 Astros;

2. Jackson and Ralph Garr ’72 to ’74 Braves;

3. Garr and Dave Hamilton ’76 to ’77 White Sox.

#542 - Rich Gossage

Topps brings us back to the regular cards with an action shot of a young guy who would become a Hall of Famer. Very prescient of them as there was not terribly much about Goose Gossage’s ’73 that indicated he’d be a star. After a pretty good rookie year in ’72 too may homers and too many walks in too few innings made his ERA shoot up and got him a summer furlough to Triple A where things went much better. And when he returned in September he finished the season with nine shutout innings so it wasn’t all bad. Here he appears to be throwing against Oakland and while I do love the shot thematically, it is difficult for me to imagine what the photographer was trying to capture by sliding Goose way to the left. He sure does look like he’s about to bring some heat though.

Rick Gossage – he was named Rich by the scout who signed him and that one stuck – grew up fairly economically challenged in Colorado where by high school he was a basketball forward and was throwing hard and well enough to generate MLB interest. His dad passed away from lung cancer when Rick was a junior and the next year he was drafted and signed in the ninth round by the White Sox. That summer he was off to three quick starts in Rookie ball where things went well and then to A ball where they didn’t. But in ’71 he fixed that latter hitch with a new pitch he’d learned from Johnny Sain and Chuck Tanner, a slurve. He put up super numbers in A ball that season and in ’72 made the Sox roster out of spring training. That year between Wilbur Wood, Tom Bradley, and Stan Bahnsen finishing nearly all their starts, Rick didn’t get a ton of work in the pen and his intervals between appearances were pretty erratic. But through the end of September he had gone 7-0 with a 3.39 ERA and a couple saves in about 85 innings all in relief. On the last day of the season he was given a start and he got bombed, taking the loss and watching his ERA climb by nearly a run. It was that year that he roomed with Bradley who noticed that when Gossage looked to the catcher for a sign that he tended to crane his neck like a goose. Hence his new and permanent nickname.

After the mixed results of ’73 Gossage returned in Chicago the next year and posted better numbers of 4-6 with a save and a 4.13 ERA around some time back in the minors. In ’75 he ramped things up in a big way, going 9-8 with an AL-leading 26 saves and a 1.98 ERA in his first All-Star year. He was also AL Fireman of the Year for the first time. ’76 got weird when the Sox ran out of starters early in the year with Wilbur Woods’ injury and both Goose and bullpen-mate Terry Forster put in starting time. Goose actually did a pretty good job, completing 15 of 29 starts and posting an ERA of 3.94. But the Sox were understandably pretty shaky then and he went only 9-17. After the season he and Forster went to the Pirates in the trade that brought Richie Zisk to Chicago. While Zisk had a big year, Goose may have had a better one, going 11-9 with a 1.62 ERA, 26 saves, and 151 K’s in 133 innings. It may have been his best season and he and Kent Tekulve formed a compelling bullpen duo. Goose wanted to stay in Pittsburgh but when the Pirates produced a lame offer he became a free agent and signed with the Yankees.

The signing of Gossage by the Yankees was pretty unexpected by lots of people. NY already had a bullpen ace in ’77 Cy Young winner Sparky Lyle and running through both pitchers’ recent seasons it was apparent they both performed tons better with lots of work. So nobody was sure how The Boss and his managers were going to be able to utilize the two of them effectively. This dynamic is a huge part of “The Bronx Zoo,” Lyle’s diary of the ’78 season. An early indication of where things were heading was made in the season’s first game – I remember listening to it on the radio while doing yard work – when Goose came in to relieve Ron Guidry in the eight inning of a 1-1 game against Texas. He promptly gave up a game-winning solo shot to none other than Richie Zisk. It would go like that a little bit for Goose with Lyle not-so-quietly stewing in the background. But he got right pretty quickly and pitched pretty super ball during the August surge that pulled NY into first from 15 back. Ironically one of his worst outings during that span was the playoff game against Boston when he got his 27^th save. He also went 10-11 in his fourth straight All-Star season with a 2.01 ERA before putting up decent playoff numbers and then throwing six shutout innings against LA in the Series. The balance of Goose’s time in NY was pretty eventful, though not always in good ways. In ’79 he was having a decent season when he got hurt in a clubhouse incident with Cliff Johnson that got Heathcliff exiled to Cleveland and put Goose on the DL for almost three months. He still went 5-3 with 18 saves but his outage and the death of Thurman Munson put a halt to the NY playoff streak. In ’80 Goose went 6-2 with a MLB-leading 33 saves and a 2.27 ERA as he returned to the All-Star game and Fireman of the Year status and the Yankees to the post-season. But this time Goose got bombed his only post-season appearance. In ’81 he came back during the strike year with a pretty amazing year, going 3-2 with 20 saves in just 32 games, his second successive year of over a strikeout an inning, and a miniscule 0.77 ERA. This time he followed suit in the post-season as he threw a combined 14 shutout innings with 15 K’s and six saves. In ’82 he went 4-5 with a 2.23 ERA and 30 saves and in ’83 he went Bill Campbell with a 13-5 record, 22 saves, and a 2.27 ERA. Both seasons he struck out a batter-plus an inning and during that time in NY he proved himself to be one of the best free agent signings ever. He departed the same way, signing with San Diego prior to the ’84 season.

At 32, the days of Gossage striking out over a runner an inning were pretty much behind him. But he was still huge and fierce on the mound and his seasons in San Diego would generally be only a modest discount to his ones in NY. In ’84 he came along just in time to help lead a Padre surge to the NL championship, going 10-6 with a 2.90 ERA and 25 saves. In ’85 his mound time started to decline a bit but he still had an excellent year, going 5-3 with 26 saves and a 1.82 ERA in 79 innings (after averaging over 100 all his full seasons since ’74). In ’86 his ERA popped a bunch – to 4.45 on an uncharacteristic eight homers in 65 innings – but his other stats were good with a 5-7 record and 21 saves. In ’87 his ERA dropped but so did his other numbers as he went 5-4 with a 3.12 ERA and eleven saves in 52 innings. That ended his San Diego time and he then travelled a bit, going to the Cubs in ’88 in a trade and then to the Giants and back to NY as a free agent where in both stops he did spot relief work and accrued 18 saves. In ’90 he spent part of the season in Japan, going 2-3 with eight saves. He then returned to the US, over the next four years putting in time with Texas, Oakland, and Seattle and going 11-9 with three saves during that span. He retired after the ’94 season at 42, finishing with lifetime marks of 124-107, a 3.01 ERA, 310 saves and 1,502 strikeouts in 1,809 innings. In the post-season he went 2-1 with a 2.87 ERA, eight saves, and 29 strikeouts in 31 innings in 19 games. He made nine All-Star teams and is currently 15^th all time in games pitched, eighth in games finished, and 19^th in saves.

Gossage made enough money while playing that when he was done he was able to return to Colorado and spend pretty much all his time contributing to and promoting youth sports in the area. In 2000 he co-wrote his autobiography, “The Goose is Loose.” He has both a SABR page and his own website. In 2008 he was – finally, according to him – admitted to the Hall of Fame. He brought Chuck Tanner and Dick Allen to his induction, both of whom he claimed were instrumental in his development as a professional. Classy move.

Despite that not great ’73 season Goose gets some pretty good star bullets. Topps didn’t include Instructional League stats on its backs back then so that second star bullet is not represented elsewhere.

This one will be pretty quick:

1. Gossage and Walt Williams ’72 White Sox;

2. Williams was on the ’73 Indians.

#531 - Gene Mauch/Expos Field Leaders

Gene Mauch has the Sparky Anderson old thing going on. In this photo he is about 48 years old. But he has a fat smile on his face and he should as he was about to lead the Expos to their best season for a few years, one in which they would contend until a late-September slump took them out of the running for a division title. He used the NL’s best OBA to run his “small-ball” theme pretty well and if he had one more dependable starter he could have won the whole thing. What he did win was the NL’s Manager of the Year award. The nice thing about the ’73 fade was that it wasn’t his fault. That probably made it a lot easier to bear than that one in ’64.

Gene Mauch was born in Kansas but relocated to California as a kid and played middle infield and pitched while attending Fremont High in LA.. He was signed by the Dodgers in ’43 just out of school and that summer after hitting .322 in B ball put in a few games in Double A. Shortly after starting at Brooklyn and then hitting .283 in Double A he enlisted, spending the balance of that year and all of ’45 in WW II. He returned in ’46 to put in a full season at shortstop in Triple A, hitting .248 with a .359 OBA, but with tons of errors. After the season he was traded to Pittsburgh where he moved to second and after hitting .300 the first half of the season was promoted. He spent the balance of the season hitting .300 in a few games of infield back-up. After a flip back to Brooklyn (with Billy Cox and Preacher Roe) a slow start as a reserve got him to the Cubs on waivers. The rest of that year and the next he got 300 at bats worth of back-up infield work. Prior to the ’50 season he was traded to the Braves where he did a season-plus up top and also hit over .300 in Triple A in ’51 and ’52. In ’53 he went down to Double A as a player/manager and went 84-70 and made the playoffs. He then returned to Chicago where he played for three seasons in the PCL, hitting well each year and topping out with a .348/20/84 season in ’56. Those numbers turned on the Red Sox who purchased Gene for the stretch run – he hit .325 – and then kept him up top for all of ’57 where he split time at second and had his biggest year at that level, hitting .270 with 28 RBI’s in 222 at bats. He was then released as a player and went to Triple A to manage for the Sox and in both ’58 and ’59 took his team to its championship series, winning the whole thing the second year. He turned in some time as a player there also and finished that role after the ’59 season. Gene hit .239 in the majors in just over 300 games and .291 in the minors with a .385 OBA.

Mauch was planning on returning to the Boston organization for the ’60 season but instead got hired into the Philadelphia one as a coach up top and took over the team two games into the season. The first two seasons were pretty tough but by ’62 Gene and management had built a pretty good nucleus around outfielders Johnny Callison and Tony Gonzales and that season he won his first Manager of the Year award. Then with the arrival of Chris Short and Jim Bunning on the mound and rookie slugger Dick Allen in a couple years he had the team in first place with a bit over a week to go in September ’64. But the Phillies famously lost ten straight as Gene opted to go with his two above mound starters almost exclusively; three straight losses were to the surging Cardinals who went on to win the Series. Still Gene again won Manager of the Year again and kept the Phillies on the plus side of the win column even though the talent got scarcer and there were all sorts of fallouts between him and Allen. He was canned midway through the ’68 season and was then hired to manage the new Expos. Again the going was rough initially and while he never got to a winning record with Montreal he did get them to a respectable place pretty quickly by building around a good core and playing smart fundamental ball. He lasted with Montreal through ’75 and then was hired to run Minnesota. There he kept the team competitive even after Rod Carew’s departure, until he was let go during the ‘80 season. A year later he was following Jim Fregosi in managing the Angels and in ’82 he won his first divsion title. He was released after losing to the Brewers in the playoffs and was then hired back for ’85 when owner Gene Autry realized he acted too hastily. Again within a year Gene had California on the playoff track, winning his second division title. But reprising an old theme, after his team had its his opponent on the ropes, the Angels allowed Boston to recover to win the playoffs. Gene managed the Angels one more season and then, facing health problems, retired from managing. He was a big smoker and would have lung problems the rest of his life. Gene went 1,902-2,037 and he has coached and won the most games without winning a title. He worked for the Angels front office for a bunch of years and passed away from lung cancer in 2005 when he was 79.

Dave Bristol was born in Macon, Georgia, and was also a middle infielder in high school, as well as an all-city basketball guard and halfback. He was signed by Cincinnati in 1951 after a year at Western Carolina University – he would complete a degree there and at UNC in education – and then hit .270 in D ball that summer. In ’52 and ’53 he moved up to C ball where he hit roughly .245 before later the second season he joined the military. He returned in ’55 to hit .247 in B ball and in ’56 moved back to D ball where he hit .274. In '57 he had moved to C ball where he was hitting .333 when he was asked to manage a D club. There he hit .332 while leading the club to a record of 38-59, significantly better than his predecessors. He continued to play through ’61, recording big seasons in C ball in ’59 (.289/13/97) and in D ball in ’60 (.295/15/85) and finished with a .283 average. He remained in the Cincinnati system as a manager through ’65, running up a record of 662-562 during that time and winning league championships in five of those nine seasons. In ’66 he was brought up top to coach and early that season was named manager. As a manager he was a taskmaster and bench jockey who got in trouble for riding the umps. He did a pretty good job putting together the team that would become The Big Red Machine but couldn’t get to the playoffs so was dismissed following the ’69 season. He was hired by Montreal but then jumped ship to manage the Brewers which he did from ’70 through mid-’72. In ’73 he became a coach with Montreal for real, which he did through ’75. He then moved to manage the Braves where in ’77 he was replaced by team owner Ted Turner for a game before the league put a stop to that and Dave returned to finish the season. In ’78 he coached the Giants and then took over managing in ’79 as the team failed to move ahead in its rebuilding. But there he clashed with Jack Clark and got into a fight with John Montefusco and was done after the ’80 season. After a year out of the game he returned to coach for the Phillies (’82-’85, ‘88) and the Reds (’89 and ’93). In between and thereafter he returned to his off-season business of raising horses back in North Carolina. Dave’s record was 657-764 overall up top and he continues to reside in his base state.

Larry Doby was born in South Carolina and relocated to New Jersey when he was a kid after his father died. He spent high school in Paterson where he was all-state in the big three sports and track and he played both semi-pro (with Monte Irvin) and Negro League ball before he finished school (he adopted the surname Walker when he played in the Negro Leagues). After graduating in ’41 he went to Long Island University on a hoops scholarship. He did not finish out the year but did play pro hoops for the Harlem Rens and baseball for the Newark Eagles the following spring, playing second and hitting around .390. He then transferred to Virginia Union University and then in ’43 again played for Newark before being inducted into the military. He played some service ball over the next three seasons while being stationed in the US and the Pacific. He returned to Newark in ’46 and hit .341, which got him noticed by Cleveland owner Bill Veeck. After a winter of pro hoops for the Paterson Crescents he returned to Newark where he was hitting .458 with Negro League-leading totals of 16 doubles and 13 homers when he was signed by Veeck and later that summer became the first black player in the AL. He only got some token time at the plate that first season but returned in ’48 to take over center field and hit .301 before leading Cleveland hitters in the Series with a .318 average. In ’49 he hit .280 while upping his RBI total to 85 and increased everything in ’50 with a .326/25/102 season with an AL-leading .442 OBA. After a knee injury hurt his power a bit in ’51 he returned to put up his three biggest power years, averaging 31 homers and 111 RBI’s through ’54 while hitting about .272. During that time he led the AL in homers twice and runs and RBI’s once. In ’55 he hit .291 with 26 homers but a leg injury helped pull his RBI number down to 75 and after the season he was traded to the White Sox. His first year in Chicago he had a .268/24/102 season but he again injured his leg in ’57 and his numbers slipped to .288/14/79. He was then traded back to Cleveland where he hit .283 with 13 homers and 45 RBI’s in half a season in ’58. He then went to Detroit and back to Chicago for a few games before re-joining Cleveland at their PCL franchise. There a couple games in he broke his ankle and missed the rest of the season. He signed with Toronto of the IL in ’60 but was cut when his ankle didn’t come around. After returning to Paterson to coach and run his club in Newark he went to Japan in ’62 with Don Newcombe to play for Chunichi as the first Americans to play there. That ended his playing career and he finished with a .283 average with 253 homers, 970 RBI’s, and a .386 OBA. He hit .237 in ten post-season games and made seven consecutive All-Star teams. In ’63 he resumed his work in Paterson which he did until he became a scout and minor league hitting coach with the new Expos in ’69. He moved up top to coach from ’71 to ’73 and then returned to Cleveland to coach in ’74. There were rumors that he would become MLB’s first black manager but when the Tribe traded for Frank Robinson that opportunity slipped away and Larry was released as a coach prior to the ’75 season. In ’77 he moved to the White Sox as hitting coach and then replaced Bob Lemon as manager mid-way through the ’78 season. He went 30-57 in that role before again becoming hitting coach in ’79. He then moved on to basketball and from ’80 through ’90 worked for the New Jersey Nets in various community-relationship roles. He then did some admin work for the MLB offices but mostly retired to Montclair, NJ. He was inducted into the Hall in ’98 and passed away in Montclair in 2003 from cancer. He was 79.

Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish had a dad who was nearly a full-blooded Native American and who obviously liked names. Cal grew up in Oklahoma and was signed by the Dodgers as a bonus baby pitcher in ’44 out of high school and therefore began his career right away in the majors. He went 3-10 that summer with a 7.82 ERA and then spent the next two years in the military, grabbing an inning on his return late in ’46. He then got traded – with Gene Mauch – to Pittsburgh where he did a couple seasons in Triple A and won 12 games in ’48. But his control wasn’t great and his ERA was toppy so he was traded to the Cubs and had another mediocre season in ’49 at the same level before going 20-11 with a 3.60 ERA in ’50. That got him back up top but a ’51 season of 4-10 with a 4.45 ERA moved him back down and he spent the next four seasons in the PCL going a combined 56-53 with a 3.55 ERA and much better control. He then got purchased by Cleveland for whom he returned to the top. After a not great ’56 he put together three pretty good seasons: 9-7 with a 2.74 ERA in ’57; 16-8, 2.99 in ’58; and 19-8, 3.63 in ’59. He then went with Billy Martin to the Reds in a trade but went only 4-14. He had another losing season in ’61 with the White Sox before going to Philadelphia where over the next two years he was 24-16 with a 3.66 ERA. After a couple games in ’64 he was done and finished with a record of 92-92 with a 4.01 ERA, 57 complete games, five shutouts, and seven saves. In Philly Cal’s old buddy Gene Mauch was the manager and in ’65 Gene named Cal pitching coach which he did through ’66 before working the next two seasons as a scout for the team. He then re-joined Mauch as a coach for the new Expos which he did through ’75. He then moved on to Milwaukee as its pitching coach (’76-’82) and scout (’83- late Nineties) and then retired. He passed away in Oklahoma in 2010 at age 84 from leukemia.

Jerry Zimmerman was born in Omaha, Nebraska and moved to Oregon as a kid where he excelled as an athlete at Milwaukie High. There he was chased down by every MLB club after hitting .423 for his career – and .621 his senior year of ’52 – as a catcher. The Red Sox won him with a bonus of between $65,000 and $80,000 and he hit .230 that summer in C ball. He upped that to .265 in ’53 but with very little power. In ’54 he hit .302 in D ball, followed by a .275 in B ball in ’55 and a .231 in A ball in ’56. He was very adept at handling difficult pitches and had very low error and passed ball totals. He had one of his better offensive years in ’57 with a .266 Double A year and then hit .250 in Triple A the following year. After starting off ’59 badly he was released and picked up by Baltimore. His average didn’t improve and after the season he was sent to Cincinnati for whom in ’60 he hit .279 in Triple A. He finally made The Show in ’61 when he stepped in as part of a three-man rotation at catcher and had the best average – at only .206 – of any of the guys in that position on the pennant winner. He got some Series time and then was traded to the Twins for whom he spent the next five seasons backing up Earl Battey. He returned to the Series in ’65 and had his best season up top in ’66 when he hit .252 with 15 RBI’s. He took over as a starter in ’67 when Battey got sick and also was the club’s bullpen coach, a role he continued partly in ’68, his last season. He finished with an average of .204 in the majors, .258 in the minors, and went hitless in one at bat in the post-season. While in the minors he had played for Gene Mauch and he rejoined him as an original Expos coach in ’69, staying there through ’75. He then returned to Minnesota with Mauch and coached there through ’80 and in ’78 umped a game during the umpire strike that year. He was then a scout for the Yankees for two years before taking on that role with Baltimore, which he did through ’97. He passed away from a heart attack in ’98 when he was 63.

The double hook-up returns since Gene did some good time in the majors. For him as manager:

1. Mauch managed Mike Marshall on the ’70 to ’73 Expos and the ’78 to ’80 Twins;

2. Marshall and Mickey Stanley ’67 Tigers.

And for him as a player:

1. Mauch and Jim Piersall ’57 Red Sox;

2. Piersall and Jim Perry ’59 to ’61 Twins;

3. Perry and Mickey Stanley ’73 Tigers.

#520 - Tim McCarver

Lots of people know this guy, even ones who weren’t around when this card came out. There are very few regular watchers of baseball over the past 30 years or so who don’t have a strong opinion of Tim McCarver, and that opinion is probably pretty balanced between like and dislike. I’m probably in the former camp, but I’ve always been happy to hear someone talk baseball who knows more about it than I do. And Tim is and has certainly been a talker. Even back in ’73 he was always good for a sound byte. He spent that year back in St. Louis for the first time in a few years after being spirited away by the Phillies in ’70. This time around Ted Simmons was the regular guy behind the plate so Tim put in most of his time at first with Joe Torre. He put up his best numbers since his old Cards days but his stay this time wouldn’t be crazy long as he’d be moving on again before ’74 was out. Tim shows his lefty batting stance at Candlestick. It’s an appropriate pose because a big Lefty would help extend Tim’s career for a while.

Tim McCarver grew up in Memphis where he was a big deal football and baseball star at Christian Brothers High School. He got lots of D-1 offers for full rides in the former sport but when the bonus numbers got big – he signed for either $65,000 or $75,000 depending on the source – he opted to sign with the Cards in ’59. He then hit .360 in D ball and .357 in a few games in Triple A before making his debut that September in St. Louis when he was only 17. He’d put in a few more games up top the next couple seasons but put in most of his time in the minors. In Double A in ’60 he hit .347 and then in ’61 and ’62 came down to earth a bit in Triple A with a .229 and .275 respectively, though the second season he added a bit of power with eleven homers and 57 RBI’s. After that year he was ready to go topside for good.

McCarver pretty much stepped into the starting role in ’63, replacing Gene Oliver as catcher. He put up some pretty good offensive numbers starting that season but what really ingratiated him to his teammates was his work behind the plate. Soon after getting his regular spot – and according to the book “October 1964” with some tutoring regarding his Good Ole Boy ways – he became tight with Bob Gibson which could be a tough thing to do back then. After hitting nearly .290 his first couple years he went to the Series in ’64 where he hit .478 with a game-winning homer against the Yankees. In ’66 he had his first All-Star year and led the NL in triples, a first for a catcher. In ’67 he had his highest average as he returned to the All-Star game and came in second in MVP voting to teammate Orland Cepeda. St. Louis also returned to the Series that year and the next and while Tim didn’t hit too well the first year, he did win another ring. He hit .333 in the ’68 loss to Detroit. In ’69 he put up better regular season numbers and then was part of the big trade between St. Louis and the Phillies in which Dick Allen became a Card and Curt Flood a Phillie, but not for long.

McCarver’s time in Philadelphia didn’t start off too well as a broken hand early in the season pretty much wrecked his year and had the Phillies scrambling to find replacements. He came back to start in ’71 and got into a mid-season fight with ex-teammate Lou Brock. In ’72 after starting off as the regular guy, he was traded to Montreal in June for John Bateman and the rest of the way caught and played a bit in the outfield for the Expos. After the season he returned to the Cards for Jorge Roque, a young outfielder. In ’74 Tim’s playing time contracted significantly after Torre moved to first full-time and Simmons rarely sat. After hitting .217 in just over 100 at bats, he was sold to Boston in September to help fill in for the injured Carlton Fisk. While hitting .250 for the Sox down the stretch it was rumored he was also next in line for the Boston manager gig when Darrell Johnson was having a tough time. But after hitting .381 as a pinch hitter in ’75 and with the Sox making their big pennant run, Tim was released in June. He was picked up by the Phillies shortly thereafter and in pretty much the same role hit .254 the rest of the way.

Beginning in ’76 McCarver took on the role that he would have the duration of his playing career as Steve Carlton’s personal catcher. Tim and Carlton had been in the same battery in both St. Louis and earlier in Philadelphia and for the next four years most of Tim’s starts would be when Lefty was on the mound. The first couple years Tim would make the most of the opportunity offensively as well, posting a .300 average with an over .400 OBA while putting up 59 RBI’s in 324 at bats in ’76 and ’77. Both seasons Philly made the playoffs as well as in ’78, when Tim’s average slipped to .247. After hitting .241 in ’79 he retired – during their time together Carlton went 77-41 – until he was brought back for a couple games in ’80 so he could be a four decade guy. Tim finished with a .271 average on 1,500 hits, 97 homers, and 645 RBI’s. He stole 61 bases and had a .337 OBA. Defensively he led the NL in assists once and fielding percentage twice. In the post-season he hit .273 with two homers and 12 RBI’s in 28 games.

McCarver began his broadcasting career while playing – it was in his contract – doing some spot work for the Phillies in ’78 and ’79.  He then stayed with the Phillies full-time through ’82 before moving on to the Mets (’83-’98) and Yankees (’99-2001). During that time he also did post-season work for all the networks and since 2002 has been working games for Fox. He has won three Emmy’s as a sportscaster and was inducted into the Hall as one in 2012.

Tim gets a good star bullet and an irrelevant cartoon. He stayed in Memphis a lot longer than I’d have expected. In that “October 1964” book Tim is described as an eager guy with a temper. In a few instances teammates had to talk to him about keeping a cool head during his first couple seasons.

How about using a guy for whom McCarver was traded:

1. McCarver and Dick Allen ’75 to ’76 Phillies;

2. Allen and Bill Sharp ’73 to ’74 White Sox.eHHeHYeHJh

#456 - Dave Winfield

These cards are always fun – a rookie card of a Hall-of-Famer. Dave Winfield looks poised and cocky at Jack Murphy Stadium probably shortly after his debut. Dave went straight from the College World Series to the Padres in ’73 and never looked back, playing not one inning of minor league ball. He had quite a busy year, jumping from the NIT’s in hoops to the baseball season to the pros, much of it related on the card back. And his rookie stats, while not overwhelming, were pretty good when one considers the team on which Dave played. But perhaps his most telling statistic, which doesn’t appear anywhere on the card, is that Dave, relatively flush with his “around $100,000” signing bonus, was already buying up groups of tickets to home games to donate to local hard-luck kids and their families. Seems Dave started being a good guy at a young age.

Dave Winfield was born and raised in St. Paul and played hoops and baseball in high school. Drafted by the Orioles upon graduating in ’69 he instead opted for a full ride for baseball at the University of Minnesota where he continued both sports (more on the back). The Padres nabbed him in the first round of ’73 and he was on the field shortly after the end of the CWS in which his guys were runner-ups to USC. Until then Dave was actually primarily a pitcher but following the Goldpanners’ lead San Diego told him he was strictly a fielder and so Dave set up shop in the outfield, the first couple seasons in left and then for the duration of his Padres years in right. He pretty much improved every year, posting his first 25-homer and 90-RBI season his first of twelve successive All-Star seasons in ’77. His best season was probably ’79 when he hit .308 with a .395 OBA, 34 homers, and 118 RBI’s and won his first of what would be seven Gold Gloves in the next nine seasons. He also ramped up his charity work, adding health care to his menu and having part of his renegotiated salary go directly to buy tickets for the kids. In ’80 his numbers came in a bit and after the season he became a free agent, signing with the Yankees.

Winfield’s timing in moving to Yankee Stadium wasn’t crazy great. His first year was the strike one and while his numbers pretty much paralleled his best back in San Diego and he won the first of his six Silver Sluggers he sort of imploded in the post-season although I will say he forever endeared himself to this fan when he asked for the ball after his lone Series hit against LA. With Reggie leaving prior to the next season the Yankees fell into a prolonged rut post-season-wise though Dave put up excellent numbers the rest of the decade, averaging about 26 homers and 104 RBI’s his seven full seasons. He was also a class act, continuing to expand his foundation and handling George Steinbrenner’s constantly berating crap with poise and humor. In ’89 he hurt his back and missed the entire season and after a slow start to the follow-up season was traded that May to the Angels for pitcher Mike Witt. The balance of that year and the next went pretty well and in ’90 he won Comeback Player of the Year. He again became a free agent after the ’91 season and signed with Toronto for whom he DH’d and won his final Silver Slugger in his last 100-RBI year. He also finally got back to the post-season and while his numbers weren’t so great, he did get some redemption by knocking in the Series-winner against Atlanta. It was a one-year gig and he signed with his – nearly – hometown Twins in ’93 at age 41, putting up 21 homers and recording his 3,000^th hit. In ’94 he endured another strike year and during it was traded to Cleveland. By then his back was a hot mess and once that season started he put in a few games at DH but missed the post-season and then retired. He hit .283 for his career with 3,110 hits, 540 doubles, 88 triples, 465 homers, and 1,833 RBI’s. His OBA was .353, definitely not a HOF value, but pretty good in light of his enormous strike zone. Defensively he is currently 20^th all-time in assists from right field. In the post-season he hit .208 with a couple homers and nine RBI’s in 26 games.

Winfield has remained pretty high-profile and busy since his playing days. He has broadcast for both Fox and ESPN and has had a morning radio show on the west coast. He has also done one-off narration gigs for various specials. He does speaking gigs all the time and remains actively involved with his and other athletes’ foundations. He was inducted into the Hall on his first ballot in 2001.

Dave’s card back is all college stuff so this is a good place to toss around information about his younger days. In high school both he and his brother were on two American Legion state champs. At Minnesota Dave played freshman hoops and baseball and after a sophomore year off from the former sport made the varsity team as a walk-on his junior year. He averaged 5.4 rebounds and nearly seven points per game as Minnesota won the Big Ten and made it to the second round of the NCAA’s. His senior year he upped his numbers to 6.1 rpg and 10.5 ppg as the team had a better overall record and went to the NIT”s. In baseball he made varsity his sophomore year and his first two seasons was pretty much exclusively a pitcher. In the summer of ’71 he played for the Goldpanners in Alaska where he pitched and hit well. When he returned to Alaska after his junior year in ’72 the Goldpanners decided his bat was of more value and he was made an outfielder, pitching more sparingly. His two-year stats in Alaska were 13-4 with a 3.71 ERA, five saves, and 143 strikeouts in 128 innings with a .308 average, 18 homers, and 72 RBI’s in 84 games. He was the team MVP his second year. His senior year at Minnesota he followed suit, getting lots more at bats. He didn’t disappoint, hitting .384 with eight homers and 33 RBI’s. On the mound that year he was 9-1 with a 2.74 ERA and 109 strikeouts in 62 innings (the card says 82 but the 62 seems more likely for ten starts). For his career at Minnesota he hit .354 with nine homers and 42 RBI’s in 64 games. Regarding the draft bullet, the one unnamed team was the Utah Stars, who were led by Willie Wise and Ron Boone. Dave sported a pretty kicking ‘fro back then so it would have been fun to see Willie and him and their hair on the courts together. Here they are:

For San Diego’s contribution to the ’76 baseball centennial the team offered up Nate Colbert’s big day in a ’72 double-header. The games took place August 1 at Atlanta and Nate went a combined seven for nine with seven runs scored and 13 RBI’s. His first game line was 5-3-4-5 with a single and two homers. The second game line was 4-4-3-8 with all the hits being homers, one a grand slam. He raised his average 14 points that day which is an awfully tough thing to do that late in a season. Ironically Dave’s coming of age for the Padres is one thing that eventually made Nate expendable.

With two left coast guys this exercise gets pretty easy:

1. Winfield and Tito Fuentes ’75 to ’76 Padres;

2. Fuentes and Tom Bradley ’73 to ’74 Giants.

#400 - Harmon Killebrew

I’ve been on a good jag about being current with my posts but I couldn’t do this one on Friday the 13^th, so I skipped a day, or a few since I don’t post on weekends and then got side-tracked. For the big 400 card Topps gives us an action shot of The Killer, who, despite an off year, is very deserving. And it was an off year: early season knee problems killed his power and then required surgery, pretty much cutting his year in half. And while he would return to double digit homer totals his next couple seasons, Harmon was in decline mode so he was not likely to get such an honorary card designation again. Let’s just chalk up the big number to his eight years of 40-plus homers. He is set to tee off somewhere on the road, but it’s hard to tell exactly where. He swung a pretty mean bat; he is about as far away from a choke grip as I’ve seen in the set.

Harmon Killebrew was born and raised in Payette, Idaho. In high school he played the big three sports and was an all-American in football. He planned to go to Oregon – his dad spent a bunch of time in Portland – but a state senator saw him playing summer baseball and happened to know Nats owner Clark Griffith and it was bye-bye football. Harmon signed with DC in ’54, a year outside of high school, for either $50,000 or $30,000, depending on the source. Either way, the amount was enough to land him bonus baby status and he spent his first two years exclusively on the Nats roster, rarely playing, and not hitting terribly well when he did. But he did show some big occasional power and when he was allowed to he hit the minors in ’56 where he hit .325 with 15 homers in A ball. He rose a level each season, continuing to show pretty good power, and after a few stints each year at the top was ready in ’59 to take over a regular spot in DC.

In ’59 Killebrew became the regular Washington third baseman which was his normal position in the minors. Finally given a chance to get decent at bats he responded by hitting an AL-leading 42 homers, probably making DC fans wonder why the team took so long in giving him the gig. Then in ’60 he split time between first and third while missing over a month due to hamstring problems. The guys who subbed for him while he was out were Reno Bertoia (3^rd) and Julio Becquer (1^st) which are both awfully good baseball names. In ’61 the team moved to Minnesota to become the Twins and Harmon spent most of his time at first while putting up the first of four consecutive 40-plus homer years. Then in ’62 he moved to left field when Don Mincher became the regular guy at first and continued to yank them despite playing with a pulled quad for a couple months. In ’63 a hurt knee contributed to his RBI totals sliding below 100 and in ’65 he cracked his elbow, missing a couple months during the big playoff run. But he hit .286 with a .444 OBA against the Dodgers in the Series and followed it up with two healthy seasons.  He also moved back to the infield as his knees were in pretty much constant pain and he did a better job as a fielder there anyway. Then after a slow start in ’68 he pulled a hamstring in the All-Star game and missed the rest of the year. But he returned big in ’69, leading the majors with 49 homers and 140 RBI’s while posting a .427 OBA to lead the Twins to the first AL playoffs. While the O’s would pitch around Harmon in that series – he was walked six times in three games – it ended an amazing decade in which he led the AL in homers five times, RBI’s twice, and walks three times. He hit the most homers of anyone in the decade and was an All-Star nine seasons.

The Seventies pretty much picked up where the Sixties left off for Killebrew as in ’70 he put up another 40-plus homer and .400-plus OBA year. That was his last year as the regular guy at third and in ’71 while the homer tally dropped he did lead the AL in RBI’s and walks in his final All-Star year. Then in ’72 the knee issue hit hard and the ribbies and average tumbled. After the further slowdown in ’73 he came back to DH in ’74 for about half a season to hit 13 homers and 54 RBI’s. After the year ended he was given the option of coaching, managing in the minors, or being released. He opted for the last one, hooked up with Kansas City for a year of DHing and was done. He finished with 573 homers, 1,584 RBI’s, 2,086 hits, a .256 average, and a .376 OBA. In the post-season he hit .250 with three homers, six RBI’s, and a .444 OBA in 13 games. He was elected to the Hall in ’84, his fourth year of eligibility.

After he was done playing, The Killer did some parallel professional things. In baseball he announced: for the Twins (’76-’78 and ’84-’88); Oakland (’79-’82), where he also served as hitting coach; and California (’83). He also had his own insurance agency from ’76 to ’87 and auto dealership from ’84 to ’90. That last year he relocated to Arizona and began to make a living from personal appearances. He also did a bunch of charity work, including organizing the Danny Thompson Memorial golf outing every year in Idaho and other work to raise funds for kids. In late 2010 he contracted esophageal cancer – he’d had issues with his esophagus in the early Nineties as well – and in May of 2011 decided to go into hospice care, passing away a few days later a few days shy of his 75^th birthday.

Harmon gets no space for star bullets but certainly wouldn’t be hurting for them. He has a classy signature. When he retired he would be the number one guy in career homers for a right-hander.

 A couple of music items are worth noting. On July 13, 1973 the Everly Brothers put on their last concert in many years as a duo after Phil Everly smashed his guitar and walked offstage. Brother Don continued to perform, explaining the group breaking up by saying “the Everly Brothers died ten years ago.” They wouldn’t perform together again until ’84. The following day ex-Byrds guitarist Clarence White is killed by a drunk driver while loading a van after a concert. He was 29. On July 13, 1974 a new Number One song tops the charts in George McCrae’s “Rock Your Baby.” George had been an AOR guy who had also written hits for other artists, so of course his big one was written by someone else: Harry Wayne Casey, better known as KC of KC and the Sunshine Band. Finally on July 17^th, Cat Stevens performs a charity gig for UNICEF at Madison Square Garden, and in return the group names him its first “pop music ambassador.” Pretty ironic title for a guy who would later demand the killing of author Salman Rushdie.

I am falling back again on the ex-MVP for the hook-up:

1. Killebrew and Zoilo Versalles ’59 to ’67 Senators/Twins;

2. Versalles and Mike Paul ’69 Indians.

#350 - Bob Gibson

This is NOT Bob Gibson's last card. They would come in '75. But it is his last card memorializing a good year although it wasn't all smooth running. When the Cards were having a tough time early in '73, so was Gibby, starting off at 2-5 but with a healthy 3.34 ERA. He then went 4-1, pulled his ERA below 3.00 and was looking to get a win total to match '72's when he went down in late July with a knee injury. He missed about ten starts, effectively killing St. Louis' chance for a division title, but returned in late September to win his final game. Here he looks warm before a sparse crowd at Candlestick. Bob had absolutely zero problem throwing at hitters and I am pretty sure that being on the receiving end of that stare could be an intimidating place to be. Even in '73.

Bob Gibson was raised in housing projects in Omaha, Nebraska. His dad passed away before he was born and he had an older bother Josh - not the Negro League catcher - help look after him. He was a small kid most of his time in high school but ended up being a superior baseball and basketball player. The Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues attempted to sign him but his brother pushed him into college and Bob won a hoops scholarship to nearby Creighton University and was the school's first black player in both sports. When he graduated in '57 he signed with both the Cardinals and the Harlem Globetrotters. When the Cards scouted him in Omaha every other MLB scout was there for the CWS to see a kid from USC named Ron Fairly. The two would be teammates in Bob's last season. That summer he threw so much heat in A ball that he was bumped all the way up to Triple A - Omaha of course - where his manager was Johnny Keane. He was having a tough time finding the plate though and in '58 he pitched for two teams at the higher level, going a combined 8-9 with a 2.84 ERA. In '59 he started the season in St. Louis but between too many walks, an inability to get a regular spot in the rotation, and a less than great relationship with manager Solly Hemus, he was sent back down to Triple A. There he went 9-9 with a 3.07 ERA. After a few games there in '60 he was back up top for good.

Gibson and his manager his first few years, as noted above, didn't get along too well. Most of the black guys on the Cards thought Hemus was a racist, and none of them had a super relationship with him. For Bob's first couple seasons he caught as much pen as starting time and his inconsistent appearances didn't give him much time to work on his control. But with Gibson at 2-6 through the early part of the '61 season, Hemus was fired and replaced by Johnny Keane, a manager with whom Bob had an excellent relationship. Keane stuck Gibby in the rotation and he went 11-6 the rest of the way. He then improved his strikeout to walks ratio markedly in '62 as he won 15 and made his first All-Star team. A mostly better '63 followed in part because the strike zone was expanded. Then in '64 he capped an awesome season with an even better Series, winning the clincher in Game Seven. Then came the big years: in the next six seasons came six All-Star games, six Gold Gloves (he would get nine of those in a row), two Cy Young awards, and an MVP. The only season in that time he didn't win 20 he was injured in '67 and that year he had one of the most dominant Series ever, seemingly purely on spite, when he went 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA. In '68 he had his amazing MVP year that inluded what I still think is one of the wiggiest stats I've ever seen: nine losses in a year in which his ERA was only 1.12. No wonder they lowered the mound the next season. In '70 he nabbed his second Cy and the next season most of his streaks ended as nagging elbow pain pulled his wins south by a few games. After a nice bounce in '72 came his last Gold Glove season. In '74 the elbow issues were compounded by serious knee issues - they would be drained 22 times the next two seasons - and an 11-13 '74 was followed by a 3-10 '75. That last season his knees were so out of whack that he pulled some pen time which didn't work for Bob and he opted to retire before the season was over. Gibby finished with a record of 251-174 with a 2.91 ERA, 255 complete games, 56 shutouts, and six saves. In the post-season he went 7-2 with a 1.89 ERA in nine starts in which he totalled 92 strikeouts in 81 innings. When he was done Bob had several team and other records including most wins as a Cardinal (251), most NL strikeouts (3,117), most strikeouts in a Series game (17), most seasons with 200 or more strikeouts (nine), most consecutive starts (303), and most complete games in the Series (seven). No surprise he was elected to the Hall in '81, his first year of eligibility.

After Gibson retired he traveled the country a bit and then returned to Omaha where he served on a bank board and opened his own restaurant. He returned to baseball in '81, coaching for old friend Joe Torre on the Mets and then the Braves ('82-'84). He then did radio announcing for the Cards ('85-'89) and color for games on ESPN ('90). He would do a bit of instructional work for St. Louis for a few years before a one-year gig as a coach proper in '95. He would start an annual golf tournament in '97, put out two autobiographies, and from about '95 on has been actively involved with The Baseball Assistance Team.


Bob never passed Walter Johnson on that list but he was the first NL guy to top 3,000 strikeouts. He also threw a no-hitter in '71. I remember his commercials as a kid. The one that stands out the most is his one for an asthma product, an ailment he picked up in the housing projects.

Bob and John rarely crossed paths but a pitcher will help:

1. Gibson and Rick Wise '72 to '73 Cards;
2. Wise and John Vukovich ''70 to '71 Phillies.

#330 - Juan Marichal

As far as final cards go this one is about as good as any I've seen. How many icons get to go out with their most visual trademark? Juan Marichal is still kicking high at age 35 at Candlestick even when there's just one fan in the stands. I had always thought his kick was a big power move but on researching this post I found that it was basically a ploy: he did it so everyone would concentrate on his leg and not see what pitch was coming. Pretty clever guy. The other iconic shot of Juan was his braining of Johnny Roseboro in '65. It was a pretty scary shot with Marichal's bat raised high above his head and ready to come down again on an already bleeding Dodgers catcher. It was sort of a milestone moment in Juan's career and after it a lot of people became non-fans despite his pretty amazing numbers. The incident probably delayed his induction into the Hall for a few years until Roseboro himself had to vet him as a good guy. Pretty noble of John - I am pretty sure I wouldn't be that forgiving of someone who hit me over the head multiple times.

There is a lot going on with this post. Not only is it an action shot of a player's final card, but it also represents the halfway point in the set. On top of that there is a Traded card. And this one is special because until recently - RIP Ron Santo - it represented the only one of an HOF player. So it's the only one that claimed any real value. And this Traded card is pretty good. The artist really didn't have to do anything and Juan is smiling on a sunny day. No biggie moving to the AL.

Juan Marichal came out of the Dominican Republic where in high school he was a shortstop until his junior year when a far-sighted coach had him take the mound. He already had a fastball back then and quickly added a curve. He then played ball for a team run by the dictator's son before being signed by the Giants in '57. That year he went 21-8 in D ball with 256 strikeouts and only 50 walks in 245 innings, with a 1.87 ERA. He spent '58 in A ball, going 18-13 with a 2.39 ERA and almost as good a K to BB ratio. During that season he picked up a change-up and slider to add to his retinue. He moved to Triple A in '60, taught himself a screwball, and went 11-5 before being called up that July. So before he even hit the bigs Juan was armed with five pitches he could throw for strikes. And the big kick.

Marichal had as good a first game as almost anyone, giving up one late hit in a start against the Phillies while striking out twelve. In '61 he won 13 despite missing three weeks late in the season with a leg injury. During '62 spring training he took off to get married and then returned to win 18 and help pitch the Giants to the Series. Then came the fireworks. Discounting '67 when a leg injury had him miss about 12 starts, for the years '63 to '69 Juan averaged 23 wins, nine losses, and a 2.30 ERA. And zero Cy Young's. Juan's big years always happened when someone else's did so he kept getting shut out. But he did make the All-Star team every year from '62 to '69. In spring training in 1970 Juan got sick and was given a shot of penicillin to which he had a horrible reaction and had to be hospitalized the next ten days. It turned out he suffered a bad allergic reaction and it affected his full season in a negative way. In '71 he had a nice bounce and was told he would pitch the division-winning last game of the season which he won 5-1. He lost his only playoff start to Pittsburgh even though he only gave up two runs. Then '72 and '73 were further impacted by the allergic reaction - he was developing arthritis and had to take regular cortisone shots to control it - and probably age. By the time he was sold to the Red Sox after the '73 season all his boys in SF had left and he expected the sale because there were strong rumours that owner Horace Stoneham was running out of money.

After the trade Marichal would go 5-1 in limited work in Boston but with an ERA that approached 5.00. At the end of the season he was released and signed with the Dodgers but after a couple lame starts he retired. Juan finished with a record of 243-143 with an ERA of 2.89, 52 shutouts, and 244 complete games. He won two victory titles, an ERA title, and led the NL in shutouts and complete games twice each. He pitched in a total nine All-star games and went 0-1 in the post-season with a 1.50 ERA, two walks, and ten strikeouts in 12 innings over two starts. After playing he did some scouting and by the early Eighties was the Oakland director of scouting in the DR. He left that to become Minister of Sports for his home country from 1996 to 2000. In '98 he was involved in a nasty car crash - he was not driving - that left him hospitalized for a while. The silver lining there was that he got a good doctor that prescribed rehab work for his arm and shoulder and within a few months he had more mobility in his pitching arm than he'd had in years. In the late '80's and early '90's he also did some Spanish-language broadcasting for various stations. He was elected to the Hall in '83 and since 2000 has been mostly retired.


On the regular card back we get one good star bullet and one obvious one. I like the cartoon. He would also eventually have a son. When I was growing up most of my friends that were dogs with women ended up having daughters as a sort of kharmic payback. If that theory holds water Juan must have been quite an operator.


Topps gets pretty creative with this Traded card. Check out that headline. Plus that first sentence is pretty good. They don't attribute the quote to anyone but it is a pretty interesting one in that back then Boston regularly came in second place and in '72 only missed first by half a game. But I guess that's losing. In any case Juan wasn't the guy to get them over the top. That would be that other colorful Spanish-speaking pitcher on their staff with a unique motion.

So to catch up on music news for this month there are only a couple items. In '73 a new Number One song hit in the States. "Crocodile Rock" by Elton John would be the first chart topper of his career (that's pretty surprising) and was taken from his album "Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player." That album also produced the hit "Daniel." In '74 on the 7th Barry White won the first four of what would be many gold records. Barry was a big deal that year, charting as both a solo guy and with his Love Unlimited Orchestra, a 40-piece band. His golds were for "Never Never Gonna Give You Up" and "Stone Gon'" (solo) and "Love Theme" and the album "Under the Influence of Love Unlimited" (with the orchestra).

I guess Marichal pitched against Belanger a bit in '74 but outside of that their careers never crossed:

1. Marichal and Lindy McDaniel '66 to '68 Giants;
2. McDaniel and Curt Blefary '70 Yankees;
3. Blefary and Belanger '67 to '68 Orioles.

#283 - Mike Schmidt

Well this is nice. After a pretty dry run, we get the second Hall of Famer in four cards and that doesn't even count the guys detailed on the Giants team card. Mike Schmidt shows us his stance on his last card sans mustache at a site that frankly has me mystified. He is in a road uniform so that can't be a Phillies bullpen cart behind him. That would leave either Riverfront or Busch but they were both turf fields and Mike is standing on grass. So I'm guessing it's a spring training shot. Wherever it is Mike looks a tad pained which was how the '73 season must have affected him: lots of strikeouts, lots of boos, a sub-.200 average, and not enough power. But that would all change fast.

Mike Schmidt came out of Ohio and went on to play ball at Ohio University. There he was twice an All-American shortstop where he ironically had a tough time breaking into the lineup his freshman year. But incumbent Rich McKinney - who went on to play for the White Sox, among other teams - got drafted and Mike put up some good numbers in local summer ball. In his three years on the OU team he hit .326 with 27 homers and 98 RBIs in 386 at bats and in '70 led them to the College World Series. In '71 he was drafted and signed by the Phillies and that summer played Double A ball at Reading, sticking to shortstop and displaying good power for that position but a lot of K's and not enough average. After a winter in PR he went to Eugene, a Triple A team, played mostly second, and boosted his offensive numbers significantly. By the end of the season he was up in Philadelphia.

After the '72 season the Phillies traded incumbent third baseman Don Money to the Brewers and handed Schmidt the job. It was a tough first year but manager Danny Ozark was a fan and stuck with him. Ozark was rewarded in '74 when Mike flirted with .300 much of the season, led the NL in homers, and nearly doubled his walk total, rendering his high strikeouts pretty much moot. He also made the first of what would be 12 All-Star teams. Mike would lead the NL in homers for three consecutive seasons and not coincidentally his arrival helped propel the team from division doormat to division winner by '76, the last of those seasons. That year he also acquired what would be the first of ten Gold Gloves - nine consecutive - at third base. He did an excellent job on turf and was a specialist at barehanding chops to the bag. When added to his defensive work, his offensive show indicated a pretty complete player. Besides leading the NL in homers eight times, he also led in RBIs and walks four times, OBA three times, and slugging five times. After the three division winners from '76 to '78, the '79 team lost out to the Pirates but Mike set new highs in homers - 45 - and with 120 walks. But the best was yet to come.

1980 would be the year of third basemen. George Brett flirted with .400 most of the year and Schmidt ratcheted things up with 48 homers and 121 RBIs to win his first MVP award. The two would meet in the Series and after a brief slowdown in the NL playoffs against Houston, Mike resumed his hot hitting putting up two homers and seven RBIs in the six games with his .381 average for the winners. Then in '81 he had probably his best offensive year with 31 homers, 91 RBIs, and career highs in average (.316) and OBA (.453) even though a third of the season was wiped out by the strike. Those stats got him his second MVP. He would put up another seven excellent seasons including '86 when he won his third MVP with a .290 average, 37 homers, and 119 RBIs. The award was even more meaningful for him as the year before he had no fun in a season in which he was moved to first base. Early in the '88 season Mike had an injury to his rotator cuff that significantly hurt his ability to both hit and field. Ultimately that injury led to his retirement early in the '89 season. He finished with a .267 average, 548 homers, 1,595 RBIs, and a .380 OBA. He also stole 174 bases and added six Silver Sluggers to his awards total. Defensively he is third all time in assists at third base. In the post-season he hit .236 with four homers and 16 RBIs in 36 games.

Schmidt has had a moderately public profile since he finished playing. He coached for a couple seasons and from 2004-'05 managed in the minors. He also did some broadcasting for a season. Most of his energy has been spent on various promotions and activities for multiple sclerosis research.


Mike's first star bullet encapsulates the numbers that got him onto the OU starting lineup. Regarding the cartoon I remember an article in the first issue of a magazine called "Inside Sports" that partly profiled his love of model trains as well.

On December 2, 1973 The Who, still on their "Quadrophenia" tour, trashed a Montreal hotel room and got thrown in jail. They got out after agreeing to pay $4,000 in damages. The night in the suite with the bars led bassist John Entwistle to write the song "Cell Block Number 7."

This is an interesting hookup:

1. Schmidt and Dick Allen '75 to '76 Phillies;
2. Allen and Doyle Alexander '71 Dodgers.