On the Pirates checklist
front we get a significant part of what would be the team’s starting line-up in
’74. Two signatures here – Ken Brett’s and Jerry Reuss’s – belong to people not
on the team in ’73. There is one Hall of Famer in Willie Stargell and one cusp
guy in Al Oliver. There could have been another of those latter guys in Dave
Parker but he didn’t make the cut. Manny Sanguillen seems to prefer the
multi-level signature. On to the pitchers we go.
Pete Mikkelsen was born in
Staten Island and is reported to have remained there through high school but he
graduated from a school in Alhambra,
California, the same town in
which Ralph Kiner went to high school. So maybe Pete moved out there late in
his high school career. Wherever he was he attracted the attention of the
Yankees who signed him in ’58 out of school, sending him to D ball that summer.
Pete didn’t do too great, going 0-4 with a high ERA and lots of walks as a
reliever that summer. He was a big kid but his fastball and curve were sort of
mediocre. In ’59 he went 9-9/4.44 as a spot guy in D ball and in ’60 improved
to 13-10/4.43 in C ball. In ’61 he began his Marines reserve hitch and moved up
to A ball where he went only 4-10 as a spot guy again but posted by far his
best ERA with a 3.49. He also pitched well that year in a couple Double A
games. In ’62 he hurt his shoulder and was unable to throw his big sinker any
more so he modified it by developing a palmball he threw from shoulder height.
He moved to the pen in A ball that year and between his injury and military
duty his innings came down but he posted a 3-5 record with a 3.18 ERA and
nearly a K an inning with his new pitch. In ’63 he refined it and finally stuck
in Double A, going 11-6 with a 1.47 ERA as a reliever. After a good spring in
’64 he moved up to NY and became the ace of the pen with a 7-4 record, 3.56
ERA, and twelve saves. In the Series that year he gave up a grand slam to Tim
McCarver but otherwise pitched well. In ’65 he fell to 4-9 in the big tumble
with just one save but he lowered his ERA to 3.28. He then went to Pittsburgh for aging
pitcher Bob Friend and had a big year, going 9-8/3.07 with 14 saves. In ’67
injuries and more reserve work sort of killed his season and after going just
1-2 with two saves and a 4.31 ERA he was taken by the Cubs off waivers. Pete’s
time in Chicago was not productive and early in
’68 he went to St. Louis
for whom he went to Triple A. There he sandwiched a nice 16-4/1.91 season in
the rotation around a few good games up top in June. At the end of the year he
went to the Dodgers for Jim Ellis and for LA he did his most consistent work,
the next four seasons going a combined 24-17 with a 3.27 ERA and 20 saves. ’72
was his last year – his last Topps card was in ’68 – and he finished with a
record of 45-40 with a 3.38 ERA, 49 saves, and went 0-1 with a 5.79 ERA in his
four post-season games. He moved to a farm he’d purchased in Washington state after he finished as a
player and worked the farm until he passed away in 2006 from cancer at age 67.
Vic Willis was covered on the
Braves team card post.
Burleigh Grimes grew up in Wisconsin where by his
early teens he was working at lumber mills and already throwing a spitter. He
signed with a local D league team in 1912 when he was 18 and over the next
year-plus went 10-6 at that level with a decent ERA and got purchased by the
Tigers. Detroit
then flipped him to an A league team for whom he went 6-7 the rest of the way.
He then won 23 for a C team in ’14, and then 17 and 20 for an A team in ’15 and
’16, respectively, both years with super ERA’s. Late in ’16 he was purchased by
Pittsburgh and
he went 2-3 from mid-September on in the rotation. In ’17, though, he was only
3-16 with a high ERA and prior to the ’18 season he was sent to Brooklyn in a trade that brought the Pirates Casey
Stengel. With the Dodgers/Robins Burleigh became a star, winning 19 games his
first year while missing part of that season and nearly half of the next one
for Naval duty. Ex that ’19 season he averaged 21 wins a year through ’24 wile
leading the NL once in games, winning percentage, wins, and strikeouts, three times
in complete games, and twice in innings pitched. In ’20 the spitter was
outlawed but Burleigh was grandfathered in and allowed to continue throwing it
the duration of his career. He could be pretty nasty on the mound and regularly
threw at batters. After a nasty bad year in ’25 – 12-19 with a 5.04 ERA – and a
not great season in ’26 he was sent to the Giants prior to the ’27 season in a
three-team deal. With NY he bounced to win 19 with a better ERA. But he didn’t
get along with John McGraw and in ’28 he was sent to Pittsburgh – Round 2 – for Vic Aldridge. That
year Burleigh recorded his biggest season, going 25-14 with a 2.99 ERA while
leading the NL in wins, starts, games, complete games, innings, and shutouts.
After winning 17 in ’29 he wore out his welcome again and went to the Braves
and then St. Louis
for whom he won 13 in just over half a season in ’30, returning to the Series.
He then won 17 for the Cards in ’31 before having an excellent Series, going
2-0 with a 2.04 ERA in his two starts. But he was then on the road again, going
to the Cubs – for Hack Wilson, among others – back to St.
Louis, back to NY, and finally back to Pittsburgh – Round 3 – where he finished
things in ’34. Burleigh went 270-212 with a 3.53 ERA, 314 complete games, 35
shutouts, and 18 saves. In the post-season he was 3-4 with a 4.29 ERA in nine
games. He could hit, posting a .248 regular season average with 168 RBI’s and a
.316 Series average. After playing he turned to managing various minor league
franchises: for St. Louis (’35-’36 and ’45-’46);
Brooklyn (’39-’40); Pittsburgh
(’42-’44); the Giants (’46-’48); and the Browns (’52-’53). In ’37 he managed
the Dodgers for two seasons, replacing Stengel, and going 132-171 his only
seasons up top. He missed the ’41 season after being banned for reportedly
spitting in an umpire’s face. From ’48 to ’52 he was a scout for the Yankees.
He also scouted for Kansas City (’54-’56) and Baltimore (’60-’71), his
final gig in basball, retiring at age 77. He then returned to Wisconsin. Voted into the Hall in ’64, he
passed away at home in ’85 when he was 92. He has a SABR bio.
Jack Chesbro has a bio on the
Yankees team post.
Murry Dickson was born in Missouri and relocated to Leavenworth, KS,
as a kid. He threw American Legion – check out his SABR bio for an interesting
tidbit during that time – and semi-pro ball near home before he was signed by St. Louis in ’37 when he
was 20. He had a couple choppy years in the minors his first two seasons but in
’39 won 22 in A ball before making his
short debut with the Cards in September and then in ’40 won 17 in Double A. In ’41
he won 21 in Double A and then made the St.
Louis roster the following year. The next two years he
worked as a spot guy, going a combined 14-5 with a 3.38 ERA and a couple saves
for the NL champs. He then enlisted, initially playing service ball, but by
mid-’44 he was on the front lines in Europe
and saw lots of action. He returned to St.
Louis in ’46 to post maybe his best season, going 15-6
with a 2.88 ERA and a save in his spot role. His starts picked up a bit the
next couple years though he went a combined 25-32 before being traded to Pittsburgh following the ’48 season. With the Pirates he would generally put up
good ERA’s but also losing records. His first two seasons he went a combined
22-29 but in ’51 became a full-time starter while going 20-16 for a team that
won only 63 games. The next two years he led the NL in losses with 21 and 19,
respectively. He then went to the Phillies prior to the ’54 season, again
posted a better than league average ERA, and again led the NL with his 20
losses. He won twelve in ’55 and after a crappy start to the ’56 season went
back to St. Louis
where he went 13-8 after the trade. Prior to the ’57 season he hurt his
shoulder and only got into 14 games, going 5-3. He then went to Kansas City, the Yankees
and back to KC in ’59 where he finished things out of the pen at 42. Murry put
up a 172-181 record with a 3.66 ERA, 149 complete games, 27 shutouts, and 23
saves. In five post-season games he went 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA while winning two
rings. He, too, could hit, putting up a .231 regular season average, and a .400
post-season one. A union carpenter in off-seasons he took that on back in Leavenworth full-time
after playing and passed away there in ’89 from emphysema. He was 73.
Elroy Face was born in Stephentown, NY, not too
far from Albany,
and threw American Legion ball there in high school. When he graduated he went
to the Army where he continued to pitch in service ball in Guam,
and when he returned home also did the same for some local teams. A little guy,
he never planned to play pro ball, but was spotted in a tournament by a Phillies
scout in ’49, when he was 21. Signed that year he made an immediate impact,
going a combined 32-7 with a 2.88 ERA his first two years of D ball. Prior to
the ’51 season he was selected by the Dodgers in the minor league draft and
that season went 23-9 in A ball with a 2.78 ERA followed up by a 14-11/2.83
season in Double A in ’52. He was then selected by Pittsburgh in the Rule 5 draft which meant an
automatic promotion to the top in ’53 where he had a tough season as a spot
guy, going 6-8 with a 6.58 ERA. The next year it was back to Triple A, but not
before he learned a new pitch in spring training from ex-Yankee reliever Joe
Page, a forkball. While it wasn’t crazy successful for him right away – he went
12-11 with a high ERA in ’54 and then 5-7 /3.58 as a spot guy in ’55 back in
Pittsburgh – it worked wonders when he moved into a relief role later that
second season. That year he had five saves and then in ’56 went 12-13/3.52 with
six saves while leading the NL with his 68 games. In ’57 he went 4-6/3.07 with
ten saves while missing some games after being hit in the face by a comebacker.
He set an NL record that year by pitching in nine straight games. In ’58 he was
5-2/2.89 with an NL-leading 20 saves before raising his profile huge in ’59 by
going 18-1 with his record winning percentage with a 2.70 ERA and ten saves.
His last two seasons he won a total of 22 consecutive games. In ’60 he helped
take the Pirates to the Series with his 10-8/2.90/24 save season while again
leading the NL in games. He saved three as well against the Yankees in the
Series. In ’61 he again led the NL with 17 saves and in ’62 he turned that trick
again with 28 while going 8-7 with a personal best 1.88 ERA. He would remain
with the Pirates through most of the ’68 season, generally continuing to pitch
well, though he was injured for part of ’64 and nearly all of ’66. Over that
time he averaged 15 saves a season in his healthy years. Late in ’68 he was
sold to Detroit
for its stretch drive but missed out on the post-season. Early in the ’69
season he went to the new Expos as a free agent where he went 4-2/3.94/five
saves his final year up top. In ’70 he finished things out with California in Triple A –
he was 42 – and was done with a record of 104-95 with a 3.48 ERA, six complete
games, and 193 saves. In his lone Series he posted a 5.23 ERA in his four
games, but got those three saves. Another carpenter, in off-seasons he did
cabinetry work and actually also traveled the yodeling circuit (there’s a
yodeling circuit?). After playing he became the carpentry foreman at Mayview State Hospital
before retiring in the early Nineties. He continues to reside in suburban PA.
Marty O’Toole was born in PA
and relocated to Framingham,
MA, at a young age. He grew up in
a family of pitchers, two brothers having played extensive minor league ball.
Marty began his pro career in ’07 when he was 18 and won 20 games for the local
Brockton team,
a B-level squad. According to his SABR bio, baseball-reference and other sites
incorrectly have credited his brother’s stats for ’06 and ’07 to Marty. In ’08
he went 31-11 for the same team which got him purchased by Cincinnati late in the season. After a brief
look he went back to Brockton
– apparently he pissed off management – and in ’09 won 26 games. He was then
purchased by Boston,
who optioned him to the A leagues where for two teams Marty went a combined
22-8. In ’11 he was 15-11 by late July with a bunch of double-figure strikeout
games and a bidding war began for his services. Eventually that was won by Pittsburgh, which paid
$22,500 for Marty’s contract which was abetted by other fees that ultimately
made Marty one of the most expensive pitchers of his day. When he made it to Pittsburgh late that year he threw three
straight complete-game wins before finishing his short season there 3-2 with a
2.37 ERA. In ’12 he put up a 15-17 record with a 2.71 ERA while leading the NL
with six shutouts and his walk total. But Marty was already having severe arm
problems due to his extreme usage in the minors which amounted to over 1,500
innings and 154 complete games in his 163 starts. Officially diagnosed with
rheumatism in his throwing shoulder, he only went a combined 8-17 his next two
MLB seasons and finished at that level with a record of 27-36 with a 3.21 ERA,
31 complete games, and two saves. In ’15 he returned to the minors where he
went 14-15 that year in Double A and then a combined 39-26 the next three years
for Omaha, a
team in the A-level Western League. He finished with a record in the minors of
164-88. By the time he was pitching in Omaha
he’d left his family in the wake of what was considered to be depression after
being publicly derided for his physical flameout in Pittsburgh. He worked at a clothing store in Omaha and then managed an independent team there in ’19. Shortly thereafter he relocated to Oregon and then Washington,
where by the late Twenties he was running a pool hall. He was a taxi cab
dispatcher in the town of Aberdeen
when he was found dead apparently after a fall down some stairs in ’49. He was
60.
Technically Bob Veale should
have had a card in this set with Boston
since he had eleven saves for the Sox in ’73. But he doesn’t so here we are.
Bob grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, where in high school he played
first when he didn’t pitch, and was a batboy and occasional pitcher for the
Black Barons of the Negro Leagues. He had a shot at getting signed by the
Kansas City Monarchs but instead opted to go to Benedictine College in Kansas
wher he played both hoops and baseball his four years there. Signed by Pittsburgh when he
graduated in ’58 he had a tough start that year in C ball. A big guy and a hard
thrower, Bob could rack up K’s but also put up big walk totals. He had a much
better ’59 season in B ball, going 12-5 with a 3.49 ERA with 187 strikeouts and
126 walks in 147 innings. He then spent the next two years in Triple A, going a
combined 24-20 with a 2.98 ERA while posting nearly a strikeout an inning. He
began ’62 in Pittsburgh, where he went 2-2 as a
spot guy before returning mid-year to Columbus
to go 8-5. In ’63 he was back with the Pirates where he again did spot work, going
5-2 with three saves and a crazy good 1.04 ERA in 78 innings. The next year he
joined the rotation where in ’64 he had maybe his best year, going 18-12/2.74
while leading the NL in walks and with 250 strikeouts. He would lead the NL in
walks four of the next five seasons, though none of those totals was crazy
high. In ’65 he had a comparable year with all those K’s and a record of
17-12/2.84. In ’66 he went 16-12 with his final season of over 200 strikeouts
and in ’67 16-8 as his ERA elevated a bit and his complete games halved. In ’68
Bob went 13-14 with a 2.05 ERA, which was the lowest ERA posted by someone with
a losing record in that many starts since 1914. Bob had two more seasons in the
rotation before being made a reliever in ’71, when as a setup guy he went 6-0
with a hefty 6.99 ERA, one of the wiggiest stat combos I think I’ve seen in baseball.
After spending a significant part of ’72 in the minors – 4-3 with a 2.82 ERA –
while rehabbing from an injury, Bob was sent in September to Boston where he posted two wins and two saves
while throwing shutout ball down the stretch. In ’73 he went 2-3/3.47 with
those eleven saves and he finished his playing career the next year in Boston with a 120-95
record, 3.07 ERA, 78 complete games, 20 shutouts, and 21 saves. He was an
All-Star twice and had a 13.50 ERA in an inning of post-season ball. He coached
through at least ’84 for various organizations – not having Google news search
is a killer for this stuff – and then did some scouting before retiring back to
Birmingham,
where he still resides.
Al “Lefty” Leifield was born
in Illinois and grew up in St. Louis where he worked and played company
ball after having to leave school early when his dad died. In ’02 and ’03 he
played local ball and then in ’04 signed with Des Moines, and A team for whom he went 16-17
with a low ERA. In ’05 he improved to 26-9, was signed by Pittsburgh, and was able to go 5-2 with a
2.89 ERA for the Pirates that September. In ’06 he cracked the rotation
full-time, going 18-12/1.87 and posting all those shutouts. In ’07 he went
20-16/2.33, and in ’08 15-14/2.10. Al was a control pitcher and he would
continue to post excellent ERA’s, going 19-8/2.37 in ’09, 15-13/2.64 in ’10,
and 16-16/2.63 in ’11. He lost his only Series start in ’09 though he got a
ring and in ’12 he hurt his arm, starting badly before a May trade to the Cubs,
for whom he went 7-2 after the trade with a 2.42 ERA. In ’13 his arm problems
returned, and instead of going to the minors for rehab he returned home to St. Louis to work in a
saloon. He then joined the San Francisco PCL team, going 13-8/2.47 in half a
season and then 21-19/2.22 in ’14. He then put in three years of Double A ball,
going a combined 39-39 with a 2.62 ERA before returning to MLB action with the
Browns in ’18, for whom he did some spot work before the season shut down due
to WW I. In ’19 he continued in that role for a 6-4/2.93 season before
finishing his MLB stay in a bit of work the next year. Up top Al went 124-97
with a 2.47 ERA, 138 complete games, 32 shutouts, and seven saves. He finished
115-92 in the minors with a 2.40 ERA. He then coached for the Browns, Red Sox,
and Detroit
before returning to the minors to manage independent ball from ’29 to ’32. He
then did some more coaching before returning to St. Louis in ’36 to work for the city’s water
department, which he did until retiring in ’62. He passed away in ’70 when he
was 87. He, too, has a SABR bio.
Al Mamaux was born and raised
in Pittsburgh and after high school attended Duquesne University there from where he was
signed by the Pirates in 1913 when he was 19. That year he went 18-16 in D ball
before coming up to Pittsburgh
for his September debut. The next year he worked through some injuries as a
spot guy and went 5-2 with a 1.71 ERA. In ’15 he went 21-8 with a 2.04 ERA. Al
was a fastballer pretty strictly and didn’t always have the best control and
though in ’16 he went 21-15 with a 2.53 ERA for a sixth-place club, he led the
NL in walks and earned runs. Those two stats were a prelude to a horrible ’17
when he went 2-11 with a 5.25 ERA and twice as many walks as strikeouts in only
16 games. Apparently Al liked ice cream a bunch and was a bit of a late night
guy and, like Burleigh Grimes above, feuded with his manager. He was sent after
the season with Grimes to Brooklyn where he
missed nearly the whole ’18 season because he enlisted in the Army for WW I.
The next two years he went a combined 22-20/2.67 for the Dodgers as he moved
from the rotation to a spot role, putting up four saves that second season,
when he also saw his only Series action. The next three years he pitched out of
the pen as his ERA ramped up and he finished with the Yankees in ’24 with an
overall 76-67 record, 2.90 ERA, 78 complete games, 15 shutouts, and ten saves.
In the post-season he put up a 4.50 ERA in three games of relief work. He hit
.182 up top and didn’t strike out terribly much. In both ’23 and ’24 Al spent
considerable parts of the season in Double A where he went a combined 28-16
with a 3.28 ERA. In ’25 he coached in the minors for the Yankees befre being
sold to the independent Newark Bears, a Double A International League team.
Again, he coached for the ’26 season before also returning to the mound in ‘27.
The next three seasons he went 25-10/2.60, 15-8/3.33, and 20-13/2.91 before he
scaled down his appearances the next couple years. He would finish 131-74 in
the minors and in ’30 took over managing the team. He was very popular and
helped improve the team significantly, winning the league title in ’32 and ’33.
He left after losing the playoffs that second year and after a year off managed
Albany, a Nats
affiliate for two season, but didn’t do nearly as well. He would finish with a
495-480 managing record. In ’37 he became the head coach at Seton Hall where he
went a combined 69-19 through ’42. That last year his Pirates were undefeated
and were led by a first baseman named Chuck Connors, who would go on to be The
Rifleman on TV. He left the school to do wartime work duty the next few years
and by ’45 had relocated to California where
for years he worked as a security guard at an amusement park in Santa Monica. He was
admitted to the halls of fame of the International League, Seton Hall, and
Duquesne, where he finished up his degree in the off-seasons. For years he also
did a singing bit on the vaudeville circuit. He was still working as a guard
when he passed away in ’63 at age 66.
Charles
“Babe” Adams was born and raised in Indiana
farm country until he was 16 when, according to his SABR bio, he went to live
on another farm in Missouri,
where he played ball in high school. He remained there after graduating,
working the farm, and for the next six years pitching for the town team. In
’04, when he was 22, he picked up a curve from an opponent which would become
his money pitch in pro ball. The next year he signed with a C team in Parsons, Kansas, and went 21-9
with a 2.05 ERA, which led to a purchase by the Cards. He began ’06 on the St. Louis roster, didn’t
pitch too well in his only game, and in May was returned to the minors, where
he finished out the year 9-10/3.01 in A ball. The next two years at that level
he went 24-13/1.99 and 22-12/2.08 with excellent control, which would be his
hallmark. Late that first year he got purchased by Pittsburgh for whom he put in some more lousy
innings. In ’09 he made the roster in the spring and while doing spot work went
12-3 with an absurd 1.11 ERA before getting three starts in that year’s Series
and winning all of them. The next year he moved into the rotation from where he
would throw excellent ball the next six seasons, going a combined 99-69 with a
2.46 ERA and only 300 walks in 1,550 innings. He was hurt in ’12 and missed
half the season and during that time twice led the NL in WHIP. In ’16 a
shoulder injury led to a poor record and rather than return to the minors for
rehab he went home. But in ’17 his arm felt better and he did report to an A team to go 20-13/1.75. In ’18 he moved up to
Double A, went 14-3/1.67 in half a season, and returned to Pittsburgh that July
to go 1-1/1.19 the rest of the way out of the pen. He returned to the rotation
in ’19 fully-healed, and the next three seasons went a combined 48-28 with a
2.20 ERA, all three years leading the NL in WHIP, and in ’20 leading the league
in shutouts while in ’21 leading it in winning percentage with his 14-5 record.
In ’22 he faded a bit to go 8-11 but in ’23 he went 13-7 at age 41. He remained
with the Pirates through ’26 doing spot and pen work and in ’25 returned to the
Series, 16 years after his last visit (I wonder if that’s a record). Babe
finished with a record of 194-140 with a 2.76 ERA, 206 complete games, 44
shutouts, 15 saves, and just 430 walks in almost 3,000 innings. In the
post-season he was 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA, three complete games, and a shutout. In
’27 Babe pitched for some local C clubs, going a combined 6-1, before he
retired to be a full-time farmer. Problems during the Depression also had him
pick up gigs as a sports reporter for various papers. In ’58 he relocated to Maryland to be near a
daughter and he passed away there in ’68 at age 86.
Ray
Kremer was born and raised in Oakland,
where he played high school ball and then led his semi-pro team to an area
title in 1913, when he was 20. In ’14 he got signed to a Double A team but had
a messy season so in ’15 he moved down to B ball where he was 7-5/3.14 before
the league threatened to fold and he went home. Prior to the ’16 season he was
signed by the Giants but he’d developed rheumatism in his shoulder and again
wasn’t very effective and so was cut. In ’17 he signed with the Oakland Oaks, a
PCL team for whom he pitched the next seven seasons. His shoulder issues flared
up from time to time and his team wasn’t so hot, so though he had a decent ERA
he was a combined 42-64 his first four seasons. In ’21 he went 16-14 for his
first winning season in six years and he followed that up with 20 wins in ’22
and 25 wins in ’23, finally shaking the “warm weather” pitcher tag and being
signed by the Pirates at the end of that season. In ’24 he joined the Pittsburgh rotation as a
31-year old rookie, leading the NL with 41 games and four shutouts as he went
18-10 with a 3.19 ERA. In ’25 he went 17-8/3.69 before getting three starts in
the Series and winning two of them. In both ’26 and ’27 he led the NL in ERA
with marks of 2.61 and 2.47 while going 20-6 and 19-8 respectively. He won 15
in ’28 and 18 in ’29 before posting the rather amazing record of 20-12 – his
wins led the NL – with a 5.02 ERA in ’30 as batters collected all those hits to
put up an average of .322 against him. He won eleven in ’31 before slowing down
considerably the next couple seasons, finishing his MLB career in ’33 when he
was 40. Lifetime at that level he went 143-85 with a 3.76 ERA, 134 complete
games, 14 shutouts, and ten saves. In the post-season he was 2-2 in his four
starts with a 3.12 ERA and two complete games. In ’33 and ’34 Ray pitched a bit
back in Oakland
and finished his minor league career with an additional 115 wins. He then
became a mailman for over 20 years before retiring upstate a bit in the late
Fifties. He passed away from a heart ailment in ’65 when he was 71. He is yet
another Pirate with a SABR bio.
Wilbur
Cooper was born in West Virginia and as a
young boy relocated to Ohio where he threw
local ball before signing in 1911 with a D team from Marion. After going 17-11 for them late that
summer he was sold to an A team in Columbus
for whom he finished 3-3. In ’12 he went 16-9 with a 2.76 ERA for Columbus, now a Double A team, before a late August trade
to Pittsburgh,
where he finished 3-0 with a 1.66 ERA. The next year Wilbur worked out of the
pen with some spot starts, going 5-3/3.29 with a save. In ’14 he moved into the
rotation where he would remain the next eleven seasons as an excellent control
guy. That year he went 16-15/2.13 and then fell a bit in ’15 to 5-16/3.30. Wilbur
had lousy timing and managed to spend his whole career in Pittsburgh between two Series years. In ’16
he went 12-11 despite that great ERA but the next year he started posting big
wins, going 17-11/2.36. From ’18 to ’24 he averaged 21 wins a season with
well-above league average ERA’s. He led the NL in ’21 with 22 wins after
setting a personal high the prior year with his 24-15 season. He won 20 in ’24
before being part of a big trade to Chicago
that depressed the crap out of him. In ’25 he went only 12-14 before finishing
his MLB career the next season in Chicago and Detroit. Wilbur went
216-178 for his career with a 2.89 ERA, 279 complete games, 35 shutouts, and 14
saves. He was a pretty good hitter, putting up a .239 average with 106 RBI’s
and only 140 K’s during his career. He returned to the minors in ’26, moving to
Oakland in the
PCL in ’27 and winning 25 games there the next two years. He won 17 in A ball
in ’29 before finishing his playing career in ’30 at that level with an 83-76
record. He then moved into real estate in the Pittsburgh area full-time outside
of three seasons managing D teams from ’35 to ’37. He relocated to California in ’47 where
he continued in real estate while also being involved heavily in local amateur
baseball. Another pitcher with a SABR bio, he passed away in ’73 when he was
81.
Even
splitting these up, that was a ton of bios. Time to see how Topps does
representing this team. Offensively Milt May has a non-Traded traded card with Houston and Vic Davalillo has a regular one with Oakland with whom he
finished the ’73 season. That leaves only the newly retired Gene Alley as the
only guy on the team with more than four at bats without a card. Gene hit .203
with 25 runs in his 158 at bats in his final season. On the pitching side we
miss: Bruce Kison, who got shut out after having a card in ’72 and ’73 and went
3-0 with a 3.09 ERA in his seven starts; John Morlan, who went 2-2/3.95 in ten
games and would get his only card in the ’75 set; John Lamb, 0-1/6.07 with two
saves in 20 games in his final MLB season, who was nearly killed by a line
drive in ’71 and was the brother-in-law of Steve Blass; Jim McKee, 0-1/5.67 in
15 games in another last call; Tom Dettore, 0-1/5.96 in twelve games his rookie
year, who would have cards with the Cubs in ’75 and ’76 and then a long run as
a Pirates minor league pitching coach; and Chris Zachary, 0-1/3.00 with a save
in six games in another final season, a one-time Houston phenom who made his
debut in ’63. That adds up to eleven decisions and three saves missing.
Overall, that combo is pretty good.
No
Watergate news this time, just the hook-up:
1. Dave Cash was on the ’73
Pirates;
2. Cash and Ollie Brown ’74
to ’76 Phillies.
