#641 - Chuck Brinkman

Well, this one’s gonna be quick. Due to the apparently permanent demise of Google news searches, there is next to nothing in the websphere or elsewhere about this guy. Yeah, he was a catcher, and yeah, he had a more successful brother play for many more years than he, but that stuff is all obvious. Here Chuck Brinkman demonstrates more than a passing resemblance to brother Ed while taking a cut at Yankee Stadium. ’73 was by far Chuck’s busiest year at the MLB level as prior Number Two guy in Chicago Tom Egan spent the whole year in Triple A before returning to California. Then newbie Brian Downing got hurt on his very first play in Chicago so Chuck elevated his plate time by more than a double over any of his other seasons. Unfortunately that was all he elevated offensively as his average stayed at well below Mendoza levels, though he did – as the card back points out – hit his first and only MLB home run that season. It came off Rudy May in a home game won by the Sox 6-2 (in May no less) and since it scored the third run was the game-winner, appropriately enough for a one-time event. Like Milt Pappas on the last post, this card represents Chuck’s last.

Chuck Brinkman followed his brother Ed as a baseball star at Cincinnati’s Western Hills High School by a year, graduating in ’62. Chuck then moved on to Ohio State where as a senior he was on the all-CWS tournament team as his guys won the Series, the last Big Ten team to do so. That year of ’66 the biggest name on the Ohio State roster was that of Steve Arlin from many posts ago who was that year’s mvp. Chuck was then selected by the ChiSox in that June’s draft and got things going that summer with a light-hitting great defense year in A ball. He hit .260 at that level in ’67 but then fell to .204 the next year. In ’69 he moved up to .237 in a season split between Double A and Triple A. In not one of those seasons did he have exactly a full year, topping out at 339 at bats in ’67 but averaging only 235 at bats the last three seasons. Usually that meant military time but that wasn’t the norm for college graduates so maybe Chuck’s time was just depressed because of his average. That changed in ’70 when he got 415 at bats in Triple A, hitting .231 while topping out in RBI’s with 30. In both ’69 and ’70 he got some late summer looks in Chicago but didn’t show too much at the plate. Still he had a good arm, and a great knack for blocking low pitches, definitely a plus for a staff full of knuckleballers. So from ’71 to ’73 Chuck stayed up all season, never seeing too much plate time but making damn few errors either. In ’74 he had his normal amount of at bats in Chicago before a July sale to Pittsburgh in what would be his final year. He hit .143 for both teams and finished his MLB work with a .172 average. Despite very little field time he threw runners out at a 38% clip, on par with the league. He hit .226 in the minors.

Pretty spare, right? Too bad because that’s it. At least he had some cards to memorialize his baseball time but I can’t find anything for what he did away from it.

Not too surprisingly all of Chuck’s star bullets regard his defense. And then there’s that May homer off May. Sticking to name stuff umpire Joe Brinkman was not related to the brothers. Yeah, that’s filler.

So when your party abandons you like the Republicans did in August of ’74, what’s next?:

8/7/74 – Three senior Republican congessmen meet with President Nixon and advise him that his prospects for now avoiding impeachment are pretty bleak. Nixon apparently agrees because:

8/8/74 – President Nixon, citing a deteriorating support base within Congress, announces his resignation.

For Chuck only the ’73 season really got him significant MLB playing time, so the hook-up has to begin there:

1. Brinkman and Ed Herrmann ’72 to ’74 White Sox;

2. Herrmann and Don Pavletich ’69 White Sox (all catchers!);

3. Pavletich and Milt Pappas ’66 to ’68 Reds.

#615 - Johnny Jeter

Back to another final card, Yankee Stadium is the setting for a guy with a last name that would be right up there with Ruth and Gehrig a couple generations down the road. This Jeter wouldn’t exactly put up the same career numbers but he’d have his moments. Johnny came to the AL before the ’73 season – he was airbrushed on his ’73 card – to take over the lead-off role in what should have been a dynamic line-up that would challenge for the division title. He was also supposed to be the starting center fielder but both those plans changed at the beginning of the season. In the field other NL transplant Ken Henderson won the starting role in center and at the plate Johnny’s hot start was trumped by another one by Pat Kelly, whose early numbers led to an All-Star selection. So Johnny became a role player, getting time at all three outfield spots in what was a pretty streaky season. He had a bunch of multi-hit games but as many hit-less ones and struck out 74 times in his under 300 at bats. He was also supposed to steal bases but only put up four during the season so his time in Chicago was pretty short and after the season he would be moving on again. Topps seems to have caught Johnny here in a verbose moment. I wish he had more of those because he has been a tough guy to fill in the blanks for bio-wise.

Johnny Jeter grew up in Louisiana where he was a center fielder for both his high school team and then at Grambling University. There he starred in the outfield with John Wyatt, who would go on to be a Red Sox pitcher, and helped take the Tigers to the NAIA tournament in ’64. After the tournament Johnny was involved in some controversy when he and the team’s catcher, Wilbur Hammond, signed with the Pirates and the school subsequently accused Pittsburgh of raiding the team’s talent pool. That signing looked justified when in ’64 Johnny hit .335 in Rookie ball and in ’65 .291 with 13 homers from the top spot in A ball. He slowed down a bit in ’66 with a .249 combined with zero homers on two A teams. But he bounced nicely at that level the next two years with enviable stat lines: .315/18/73 in ’67 and .296/18/79 in ’68. That former year he led his league in homers, triples – with nine – and total bases. In ’68 he put up eleven triples. After a false start in Double A at the tail end of ’67 Johnny finally managed to bring his hitting props to a higher level in ’69 when he hit .285 with 25 homers and 60 RBI’s around his June debut in Pittsburgh. He then spent all of the ’70 season with the Pirates as the team’s fifth outfielder before returning to Triple A in ‘71 where he posted a .324/17/84 line with 36 stolen bases, 30 doubles, nine triples, and a .378 OBA. That August he went to the Padres with pitcher Ed Acosta for pitcher Bob Miller.

Jeter spent the rest of the ’71 season in San Diego where he hit pretty well down the stretch while playing center. But Johnny had two constants that would be big hurdles in his MLB career: he hit much better in reserve roles; and his strikeout totals were way too high. Both were accented in ’72 when San Diego made him the team’s starter in center and in his busiest season up top he put up his lowest average and 92 K’s in his 326 at bats. After the season he was sent to the White Sox for reliever Vicente Romo. He improved on those ’72 numbers but after the ’73 season Johnny was on the move again, this time to Cleveland for a minor leaguer. True to form Johnny hit .353 for the Tribe, but in only 17 at bats. He spent nearly the whole season in Triple A where he hit .285. He then goes missing from baseball the next two years before resurfacing in ’77 with Tampico in the Mexican leagues. After another year away in ’78 he closed things out with a .258 season for Santo Domingo in the Inter-American League in ’79 before that league’s collapse ended things for Johnny as a player. He hit .244 during his MLB time and .294 with over 100 stolen bases in the minors. In the ’70 post-season he went hitless in his two at bats.

Jeter seems to have returned to Louisiana after playing, indicated by his son Shawn being drafted in ’85 after starring in high school ball in Shreveport. Shawn would later have a cup of coffee with the ChiSox – fitting for this post – and played about as long as his dad did in the minors. But Johnny goes MIA. It’s pretty tough to search for him without that other Jeter guy taking up all the results.

Johnny or Johnnie or John had some pretty memorable moments in the minors. He had a nice one too in ’72 when he homered twice in a game but he also had a bad one that year as well. In a game against the Giants he successfully stole second when Chris Speier informed him he could go back because the batter hit a foul ball. Neither Speier nor Tito Fuentes had the ball because Johnny got such a jump there was no throw. But then Dave Rader fired the ball to first as Johnny was walking back and he got tagged for an out. Oops.

Back to the Watergate timeline:

3/26/73 – By now James McCord had been testifying before the Grand Jury for three days. On this date it was reported that McCord told the Jury that both John Dean, counsel to the President, and Jeb Stuart Magruder, former deputy campaign manager of CREEP and current Assistant Commerce Secretary, had known about the plot to bug the Watergate Hotel headquarters in advance of the bugging. Both Dean and Magruder denied this.

3/28/73 – James McCord implicates former Attorney General John Mitchell in the Watergate bugging as well. Mitchell, now back in private practice, also denies McCord’s assertions. It was around this time that Michell’s estranged wife Martha became newsworthy in her own right. Nicknamed “The Mouth of the South” Martha Mitchell was outspoken and unfiltered and was beloved by the press for her candor, particularly in regard to her husband. She would relate details about John Mitchell’s personal as well as professional life that would help build a case against him. They would formally divorce later in ’74 and she would pass away from cancer in ’76.

 Let’s go the NL route for the hook-up:

1. Jeter and Clarence Gaston ’71 to ’72 Padres;

2. Gaston and Adrian Devine ’75 to ’76 and ’78 Braves.

#605 - 1974 Rookie Pitchers

This next rookie card is the second one that gets an honor number designation, which is unavoidable due to the choice by Topps to issue the rookie cards sequentially. One pitcher on the card was worthy of the designation pretty much right of the bat, but we get to him last. One pitcher for sure gets photographed in a city that would be his stomping grounds years down the road. As usual, there are very few smiles; rookie jitters perhaps.

Vic Albury was a first baseman and pitcher when he was drafted by the Indians in ’65. He had helped lead his high school team from Key West, FLA, to its state championship in ’63 and two summers later began his pro career by hitting .233 in A ball while playing first. Then it was off for three full years (?!!) of military duty; that sounds a bit long to me and I have a hunch that he left baseball for a bit before reappearing with his hometown team in ’69, an A franchise of San Diego’s. Vic had a nice year, going 12-10 with a 2.32 ERA before a bit of a rough ’70 split between Triple A and A ball, going a combined 7-10 with a 5.83 ERA. He was then drafted by the Twins for whom he turned things around big in Double A, going 12-7 with a 1.73 ERA and 13 saves as a reliever and hitting .354 with 17 RBI’s in only 65 at bats that included some during a few games back at first. Unfortunately that was followed by a ’72 – during which Vic had his first rookie card – in which he hurt his elbow in spring training enough that surgery was mandated and he didn’t get on the mound until August and would only see 18 innings of Triple A ball. In ’73 he went 8-11 in the rotation with a 3.99 ERA before he was called up in August. He did surprisingly well in his 23 MLB innings, going 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA, given his walks outnumbered his strikeouts, which would become a running theme. His true rookie year of ’74 he would be mostly in the rotation with 22 starts of his 32 games, and go 8-9 with a 4.12 ERA. In ’75 his ERA elevated a bit as he took on more of a swing role, going 6-7 with his only save. In ’76 it was all relief as he went 3-1 with a 3.58 ERA in his final season up top. He went a combined 18-17 at that level with a 4.11 ERA, six complete games, a shutout, and that save. He put up 220 walks against 193 K’s. In ’77 he pitched for Syracuse, then the Yankees’ Triple A team, going 9-9 with a 5.13 ERA and a couple saves in a swing role. He was apparently on loan because after the season he declared free agency as a Twin. He pitched in Mexico in ’78 before in ’79 throwing for Puerto Rico of the short-lived Inter-American League and then signing with Cleveland the rest of the way. He went a combined 6-4 with a 3.80 ERA that year which would be his last as rotator cuff problems helped to end his career. In the minors he went a combined 54-53 with a 3.72 ERA, 29 complete games, and 19 saves. By ’82 Vic was coaching in the Cleveland system, which he would do through early ’85. At some point he appears to have returned full-time to Key West where a street and baseball field were named in his honor. According to one local chat site a Vic Albury did get back and fall on bad times and then pass away but I do not know if it is our boy here as according to baseball-reference he is still around.

Ken Frailing grew up in Marion, Wisconsin, where the baseball seasons were short and he also played football and basketball in high school. He finished his hoops career with 1,000 points and his senior year went 13-0 with a 0.17 ERA for a team that went 16-0 overall. That spring of ’66 he was drafted in the fifth round by the White Sox. That first summer was a bit tough as he went 1-6 with a 5.07 ERA split between Rookie and A ball. He then spent the next three seasons in A ball, going a combined 14-14 with a 2.97 ERA around his military time while throwing for some pretty bad teams. In ’67 only 28 of his 51 runs were earned. In ’70 he moved up to Double A where his 4-9 record was a lot more indicative of his team than him as his ERA was only 2.71. He then spent the next two years at Triple A Tucson where the dry air elevated his ERA to a combined 5.27 as he went 14-19 before his September debut in Chicago. He then had his best year in ’73, going 11-3 with a 2.86 ERA in Triple A before some more late-season MLB action. When he left the Sox for the Cubs in the Ron Santo trade the following winter he was 1-0 with a 2.11 ERA in his 14 games. With the Cubs, Ken used his lefty status as a way to lever himself into the mix as a swing guy and his rookie year of ’74 he went 6-9 with a save and a 3.88 ERA. He remained in Chicago in ’75 but early in the season suffered shoulder issues and his work was reduced to all middle relief as his line fell to 2-5 with a 5.43 in less than half as many innings. He split ’76 between Chicago – 1-2 with a 2.41 ERA in 19 innings – and Triple A where he was 2-3 with a 4.50 ERA around lots of down time. In ’77 he got his shoulder operated on and he put in a few innings but was released while in rehab. He signed with the Sox for ’78 which he spent in Triple A as a player-coach in his final season, during which he went 8-5 with a 3.11 ERA and eleven saves. Ken went 10-16 with a 3.96 ERA, a complete game, and a couple saves during his MLB time and 55-61 with a 3.73 ERA in the minors. A pretty good hitter, he hit for over a .220 average at both levels. In ’79 and ’80 he coached in the KC system before later that latter year relocating to Sarasota, FLA, where he began a new career selling insurance. He has a very nice SABR bio.

Kevin Kobel attended a Catholic high school outside Buffalo, NY, and while there made a couple all-Catholic state teams in baseball. Nabbed by the Brewers in the ’71 draft at 17 he started fast by going 5-1 with a 2.55 ERA in A ball. The reality of being in the Brewers system set in the next year when he went 3-15 with a 4.31 ERA in Double A San Antonio – more dry air – before things got back on track in ’73 with a 12-8/3.40 year at the same level. In his few games in Milwaukee that year his run wasn’t too impressive but he remained on the Milwaukee roster all of ’74, going 6-14 with a 3.99 ERA in the rotation. Though his record wasn’t too hot, he owned the Yankees, going 3-1 against them giving up just one run per in the three wins. In ’75 a tough spring training followed up by a bad shoulder sent him to Triple A where he only got in seven games but went 3-2 with a 2.40 ERA in them. He remained at that level nearly all the next two years, going 7-12 in ’76 with a 5.50 ERA and then in ’77 though the ERA didn’t drop much, his record reversed itself as he went 12-6. He got some topside work the former year but it wasn’t very good and after the ’77 season he was sold to the Mets. In ’78 a nice start in the pen in Triple A brought him up to NY in May where some initial tentative usage produced good results in the same role. With an ERA still under 1.00 in July he became a spot guy the rest of the way and finished the year 5-6 with a 2.91 ERA. In ’79 he joined the rotation full-time, going 6-8 with a 3.51 ERA for another horrible NY team. But in ’80 the shoulder pain and bad numbers returned en force and at the trade deadline he was sent to Kansas City for Randy McGilberry. That finished Kevin’s MLB time with a record of 18-34 with a 3.88 ERA, five complete games, and three shutouts. He didn’t pitch terribly well either for KC’s Triple A club and he was released by the end of the season. He then spent ’81 and ’82 pitching in Mexico before a late season tryout with the Pirates went nowhere and he was done with a 46-47 record in the minors with a 4.27 ERA. According to his Facebook page he is back in the Buffalo area where he looks pretty happy.

When Frank Tanana graduated Catholic Central High School in Detroit in ’71 he had scored over 2,500 points in hoops and had a 32-1 record as a pitcher with a 0.30 ERA. He was widely recruited by D1 schools in both sports but signed with the Angels after being the team’s first round pick that June. After briefly attending Cal State Fullerton he began his career in A ball in ’72, going 7-2 with a 2.79 ERA. In ’73 he went 16-6 with a 2.71 ERA in Double A, 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA in two starts in Triple A, and 2-2 with a 3.08 ERA after being called up to Anaheim in September. In his rookie season of ’74 he went 14-19 but with a 3.12 ERA and four shutouts to get a spot on the Topps rookie team. He followed that up with an excellent three-year run that cemented him as the best young pitcher in the game. His stat lines - 16-9 with a 2.62 ERA and 269 strikeouts in ’75; 19-10/2.42/261 in ’76; and 15-9/2.54/205 in ’77 – were all for losing teams and got him two All-Star appearances, the AL strikeout lead in ’75, and the AL ERA and shutouts – with seven – lead in ’77. In ’78 he went 18-12 but experienced some shoulder pain that led to an elevated – for him – 3.65 ERA and a dramatic drop in strikeouts. That September his teammate, outfielder Lyman Bostock was shot and killed and Frank, before then a pretty hard partyer, became a devout religious guy as a result. In ’79 he would miss over ten weeks to a shoulder operation which would limit the range in his left arm and force him to become a control pitcher. He went 7-5 but the tiny ERA’s and big strikeout totals were behind him. In ’80 he went 11-12/4.15 before being traded to Boston with Joe Rudi for Steve Renko and Fred Lynn. After a horrible season for the Sox – 4-10/4.01 – he went to Texas as a free agent and had an even worse ’82 as he went 7-18 with a 4.21 ERA to lead the AL in losses. During the next two seasons he improved to go a combined 22-24 with a 3.21 ERA before a weak start to the ’85 season got him sent to Detroit for a minor leaguer. Frank went 10-7 the rest of the way and settled in for a long Tigers run during which he went a combined 96-82 with a league-average 4.08 ERA. He won the division-clincher in ’87 and remained with the team through ’92 before spending his final season with both NY Teams. He went 240-236 for his career with a 3.66 ERA, 143 complete games, 34 shutouts, a save, and 2,773 strikeouts. He made three All-Star teams and in the post-season was 0-1 with a 4.35 ERA in two starts. Since his playing time he has been very active in fantasy leagues and on the lecture circuit as well as with various baseball and Christian charities.

The pitchers on this card put in a collective 28 seasons with four All-Star appearances and a Rookie team membership, mostly thanks to Mr. Tanana. All these guys were still residing in their home towns at this point in their careers.

The inter-card hook-up is a quick one:

1. Frank White and Jerry Terrell ’78 to ’80 Royals;

2. Terrell and Vic Albury ’73 to ’76 Twins.

Around the card takes a little longer:

1. Vic Albury and Rod Carew ’73 to ’76 Twins;

2. Carew and George Mittyerwald ’68 to ’73 Twins;

3. Mitterwald and Ken Frailing ’74 to ’75 Cubs;

4. Frailing and Jerry Morales ’74 to ’75 Cubs;

5. Morales and Doug Flynn ’80 Mets;

6. Flynn and Kevin Kobel ’78 to ’80 Mets;

7. Kobel and Andy Hassler ’79 Mets;

8. Hassler and Frank Tanana ’73 to ’76 and ’80 Angels.

#601 - '74 Rookie Outfielders (part 2)

These guys are generally older than the ones on past cards and McBride was 25 when he won his Rookie of the Year award. Armbrister has a great full name. These four provide us with a total of 31 MLB seasons, two All-Star games, and that ROY award. This will be a tough card to beat.

From the last card an old pitcher helps:

1. Ed Armbrister and Woody Fryman ’77 Reds;

2. Fryman and Reggie Sanders ’74 Tigers.

Around the card may go pretty quickly:

1. Ed Armbrister and Don Gullett ’73 to ’76 Reds;

2. Gullett and Thurman Munson ’77 to ’79 Yankees;

3. Munson and Rick Bladt ’75 Yankees;

4. Bladt and Ed Hermann ’75 Yankees;

5. Hermann and Brian Downing ’73 to ’74 White Sox;

6. Downing and Jim Kaat ’73 to ’75 White Sox;

7. Kaat and Bake McBride ’77 to ’79 Phillies.

Or not.

#582 - Bucky Dent

A few posts ago we had a one-off card of Ralph Houk, the only manager solo card in the set. This card is another one-off and completely outdoes the Houk one. It is Bucky Dent’s rookie card, an action shot at Comiskey, a full year before Bucky was actually a rookie, and therefore the first card of a member of the Topps Rookie All-Star Team of 1974. So in this instance Topps, by either plan or happenstance, did an awfully good job of predicting a player’s immediate value, at least in terms of its own reward system and that of others (Bucky would come in second place in ’74 AL ROY voting). After a nice start in Triple A Bucky made his debut in June when he got three weeks in Chicago replacing the injured Ken Henderson on the roster. Most of his work was late inning stuff but he did well enough and when he returned in August he got into the line-up as a nearly everyday shortstop, toting a .300-plus average into early September. The average tailed off but not the expectations. After a few post-Aparicio years of not great results Chicago was ready to offer the baseball world another premier shortstop.

Bucky Dent spent his youth in Georgia and Hialeah, Florida, where in high school he was a big deal fullback and shortstop. He signed a letter of intent to play football at Tennessee. That was in December of ’68 and between that time and the next summer he eschewed both the letter and the Cardinals, who drafted him that June. Instead he went to Miami Dade North where he played a season after again rejecting the Cards in January. He finally signed with the White Sox in June of ’70 - he was a first rounder both times that year – and then hit super in Rookie ball before cooling off a bit in A ball that summer. In ’71 an injury both shortened his season and reduced his offense numbers further but ’72 saw a nice bounce in Double A. He then managed to put up nearly similar numbers in his ’73 Triple A season around his two call-ups.

In ’74 Dent cranked up his MLB career as he hit .274 his rookie year as the everyday Chicago shortstop, really the first one since Luis Aparicio left following the ’70 season. He got the rookie trophy on his ’75 Topps card and that year also went to his first All-Star game as the back-up to Bert Campaneris mostly by toting a .300 average through mid-season. By the end of the year his average had fallen to .264 and in ’76 when the Sox pretty much bottomed out in their post-Dick Allen swoon he hit .246. Defensively, despite pretty much a new DP partner each year, he was doing just fine, regularly finishing in the top three in major fielding categories each year and in ’75 leading AL shortstops in assists, putouts, double plays, and fielding percentage.

In 1977 the Yankees returned to spring training after a ’76 in which they played excellent regular season ball to get to the post-season before they were devoured by Cincinnati in the Series. So the impetuous George Steinbrenner knew things had to be tweaked. He fixed the outfield by signing Reggie Jackson. And all pre-season he expressed his desire for an All-Star infield. He was covered everywhere in that respect except shortstop and after chasing the Sox for Dent George finally got him right before the season began for Oscar Gamble and two young pitchers, Lamarr Hoyt and Bob Polinski. Bucky stepped right into the lion’s den, carving out his own niche as a literal poster boy for the teenage girl set. His offense wasn’t anything special but the team had plenty of that and his defense continued along the same tract it had been. After going to the post-season for the first time in ’77 he had a tough time in ’78. A hamstring injury he incurred in spring training dogged him all year and caused him to miss about four weeks in the summer and contributed to lowering his average to .240. But by playoff time he was relatively healthy and in the one-game playoff against Boston for the division title he got things going for NY with his clutch homer. Then in the Series he hit .417 with seven RBI’s to win the MVP. In ’79 he suffered the general malaise that affected the team as a whole and then bounced the next two years with two All-Star selections. In ’80 he had his best offensive season since ’75, hitting .262 with 52 RBI’s and in ’81 his season ended early when he broke a hand sliding, also missing the playoffs. In ’82 the Yankees picked up Roy Smalley, a better hitter than Bucky, and after a couple months Dent, having been replaced by Smalley, was sent to Texas for another former NY heartthrob, Lee Mazzilli. Bucky split shortstop time the rest of the way with Mark Wagner and Doug Flynn and then took over the starting role in ’83, when he hit .237 in his last year as a regular. Texas released him just before the ’84 season began and Bucky re-signed with the Yankees, where for a month he played Triple A ball, hitting .250. The Yankees released him and he signed with Kansas City for whom he got some token at bats the rest of the way. The leg problems that had hampered him the last couple years did him in and after the ’84 season he retired with a .247 average with 40 homers and 423 RBI’s. In the post-season he hit .277 with 15 RBI’s in 24 games. Defensively he ranks in the top 100 all-time in putouts, assists, and double plays for shortstops.

 

Like a few guys in this set, Dent went right into coaching after his playing career ended. He returned to the NY fold and from '85 through '89 worked his way from A ball to Triple A, recording a winning season every year but one. That last year he took over the Yankees at the end of the '89 season from Dallas Green. He then started the '90 season with a not great record and was let go not even fifty games in. He sat out the rest of that season and then coached up top for St. Louis ('91 - '94 under Joe Torre) and Texas ('95 - 2001). In '02 he returned to the KC system and the minors where he managed and then moved back to the Yankees system in the same role from '02 through '05. He coached for Cincinnati in '06 and '07, which was his last pro gig to date. Since '86 he has also co-owned a baseball school back in Florida which was sold a few years ago but where he continued to work through late 2011. As a manager he has gone 36-53 up top and 685-598 in the minors.  

I’ll dispense with the star bullets and go straight to the cartoon, since it’s the most interesting feature on the card back. The grandmother mentioned was Bucky’s maternal one and she was a full-blooded Cherokee. Bucky had an interesting upbringing. After he was born he was given by his mom to her sister and brother-in-law to raise. His original surname was O’Dey and he thought of his aunt and uncle as his parents until he discovered they were not shortly before high school. He later developed a relationship with his birth dad and he was always close with his mom’s mom. On his high school team he played with a back-up catcher named John Teixeira, whose son Mark would later play for the Yankees. There is also some good dirt on Bucky in “The Bronx Zoo.” Early in the ’77 season before he got rolling, George Steinbrenner tried to trade Ron Guidry to the Sox for Dent. Good miss. When Bucky hit that three-run shot off Mike Torrez in the playoff game it was the second big shot hit off Torrez by a Yankee shortstop. Earlier in the season Fred Stanley grand slammed him.

This gets pretty easy since these guys played together:

1. Dent and Jim Spencer ’78 to ’81 Yankees.

#557 - Jim McGlothlin

This is the second final card of a player in a row and that hasn’t happened in this set for a long time. Jim McGlothlin had to be a very recent arrival in Chicago when this photo was taken as he wasn’t traded there until the end of August. He wouldn’t pitch terribly much once he got there, throwing 18 mostly relief innings in September. He would not make it out of spring training in ’74 with Chicago so this card contains all his MLB stats and by the time of the card’s issuance he would be done as a player. But the true tragedy for Jim was that about a year later when he was in Florida visiting various spring training sites he got sick and quickly shed about 45 pounds. The initial diagnosis was stomach cancer and Jim, who became a full-time farmer in Kentucky once his career ended, did not have any health insurance. So to help him out his former teammates on the Reds held various fund raisers for his medical expenses. I was never a fan of those guys back then but that was an awfully sweet thing to do. Jim had a brief recovery but later in the year he would get sick again – leukemia was finally diagnosed – and just before Christmas of ’75 he would pass away. Pretty sad stuff.

Jim McGlothlin was born and raised in a suburb of Los Angeles and was a pitcher of enough renown at Reseda High School that a local paper called him invincible his senior year. He was signed by the Angels after a summer tournament and began his career in ’62 in D ball where he went 13-5 with a 2.79 ERA and lots of heat, striking out 165 in 129 innings. In ’63 he began the season in Triple A where he went 5-6 in 15 games. But his ERA got fat and the second half of the season he moved to Double A where his numbers actually got worse. He spent all of ’64 at the higher level in Hawaii where he went 5-10 as a starter while knocking a run off his ERA to 4.33. In ’65 he had a big season in Seattle, the new California Triple A spot, going 14-8 with a 2.55 ERA, before moving up top in mid-September. He lost all three of his starts for California but pitched pretty well. In ’66 he made the Angels roster in camp and spent the first couple months as a spot guy, throwing pretty well until a couple sloppy games in late June that got him returned to Seattle where he again put up over a K an inning and went 3-3 with a 4.34 ERA in his twelve games.

In ’67 McGlothlin again made the California roster in camp, this time as a member of the rotation. He was having an excellent season and from late May through late July his ERA never topped 2.00. He’d been hit in the hand by a comebacker in late May but shortly thereafter threw three straight shutouts. By late July he was 9-2 with a 1.76 ERA and a ticket to the All-Star game in which he threw two shutout innings. But in a game earlier that month he was nailed in the eye by a liner and the rest of the way went only 6-8 with an ERA of nearly 5.00. But the whole season was quite good and he finished leading the AL with his six shutouts. In ’68 and ’69 he was a victim of the team’s anemic hitting and during that time went a combined 18-31 though his ERA was roughly on par with the rest of the league. In November of ’69 he was sent to Cincinnati with Pedro Borbon for Alex Johnson and Chico Ruiz.

True to form, McGlothlin’s first season in Cincinnati was a streaky one.  By early July he was 11-4 with a 2.79 ERA. Then his knee took a shot off of – of course - a comebacker and the rest of the season he was 3-6 with a 4.85 ERA. He got his first Series action in a start that October. In ’71 he missed a couple starts with an eye infection and despite an improved ERA, like the rest of the team he had a tough time matching his ’70 numbers. In ’72 he put in a bit more pen time and most of the season fought a high ERA though he was able to finish with a winning record and some more post-season work. But in ’73 his control went south in a big way and splitting time between the rotation and the pen he was never able to get a good rhythm. He was sent to Chicago for Steve Kealey and pitched his final ball that season. Away from the stats on his card he recorded 36 complete games, eleven shutouts, and three saves (all in ’68). In his three post-season games he had no decisions with an 8.64 ERA in eight-plus innings. He’d gone 41-36 with a 3.61 ERA in the minors.

Jim had a perfect fielding average in ’70, something he also pulled off in ’73. One of his nicknames was “Red”, appropriate for the face of his last card because that color is everywhere on it.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using Mr. Kirby again, another pitcher who passed away at a young age:

1. McGlothlin and Pete Rose – one of the fund-raising leaders when Jim was ill – ’70 to ’73 Reds;

2. Rose and Clay Kirby ’74 to ’75 Reds;

3. Kirby and Dave Campbell ’70 to ’73 Padres.

#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.

#519 - Bill Sharp

I always liked this action shot of Bill Sharp. I liked it even more a couple years later when I realized it was a dead ringer for one of my favorite all-time cards, Fred Lynn’s ’76 card. This is Bill’s rookie card and his swing looks great as Jerry Hairston watches on deck in Chicago. Bill had been in town more-or-less since May when he was called up to help fill in after Ken Henderson got hurt. Bill would get starting time when Henderson was down and did the expected good defensive work in center field. By the end of August he was hitting .224. But the rest of the way he hit about .380 and got everyone excited and helped pull Chicago back above .500 the first week of September. Then he was about the only offensive performer the rest of the way as they finished the year 5-14. It was a nice way to end his first season and most of those fans look pretty happy with the result of this swing, an apparent liner to right. It also looks good on a rookie card.

Bill Sharp grew up in Lima, Ohio where he starred in three sports: as a guard in hoops; an outfielder in baseball; and an all-state quarterback. After graduating in ’68 he got a full ride to Ohio State in that last sport and got to play under Woody Hayes. He was a QB his freshman year but broke a rib in an inter-squad game and didn’t see too much action. His sophomore year he moved to punter and safety and made some noise at both positions but thereafter decided to concentrate on baseball. That he did, and his junior year of ’71 he was all Big Ten and third team All-American after hitting .345. That year he was drafted by the Sox in the second round and got things going that summer in Double A where his average was light but he did nice work in center. In ’72 he pulled his military hitch – he said basic training was a lot easier than playing under Woody – and started the season super late but did push his average up 60 points at the same level. In ’73 he was playing in Triple A and putting up comparable numbers when he was called up in the wake of Henderson’s injury and the sale of Rich Morales to San Diego.

After the big finish in ’73 Sharp spent ’74 toggling between Triple A Iowa, where he hit .333, and Chicago, where he played primarily in right since Henderson was healthy that year. While splitting time in that position with Pat Kelly Bill hit .253 with 24 RBI’s in 320 at bats. After kicking off ’75 in the same role, he was traded to the Brewers for outfielder Bob Collucio in early May and spent the rest of the season swapping starts in center field with Gorman Thomas. Bill hit .255 the rest of the way with 34 RBI’s. In ’76 the Brewers split center between Thomas and new guy Von Joshua and Bill got moved to right to back up Sixto Lezcano. Between his new role and a knee injury his at bats tailed off to just over half of his ’75 total and at the end of spring training of ’77 he was opted to Triple A Spokane. But he re-injured his knee early in the season after hitting .211 in a couple games and retired by the end of the year. He finished up top with a .255 average and in the minors hit .277.

And that’s pretty much it for Mr. Sharp. He apparently returned to Ohio State to finish his degree and also did some work in community relations for Interlake Steel in his off-seasons while playing. In 2009 his number in high school was retired by his school but outside of that tidbit there is precious little out there on Bill. It appears he shows up for golf tournaments and old-timers days so he is alive and well. But nothing more specific than that.

Topps gives us about the longest star bullet regarding a single play I have seen in this set. Bill hit .366 in September for the Sox.  Below I show the ’76 Lynn card; the hands are a bit lower but you can see what I mean.

Sharp and Hegan played together but he and Thomas didn’t. But let’s try this:

1. Sharp and Von Joshua ’76 Brewers;

2. Joshua and Derrel Thomas ’75 to ’76 Giants.eHHeHYeHJh

#501 - Eddie Leon

Topps keeps the action shots going with this one of Eddie Leon about to deliver a throw to first. Eddie looks sort of relaxed on the throw. Maybe he just speared a line drive and is kicking off an around-the-horn. He appears to be in Oakland, the same venue at which a few other Sox guys were shot. ’73 was Eddie’s first year in Chicago, he being traded there after the previous season for Walt Williams. It would be his last year as a regular as a bad back and a young guy named Bucky Dent conspired to push him to a reserve role the next season. Eddie actually had a pretty good season in the field, putting in considerable time at shortstop for the first time in four years. But that back thing really knocked the crap out of his average and so by this point the writing was pretty much on the wall for him baseball-wise.

When Eddie Leon grew up in Tucson, Arizona, he developed enough of a reputation as a shortstop that he was dogged pretty consistently by a Phillies scout. His high school was sort of a baseball powerhouse and Eddie was on a state champ each year. After high school he opted to go to the University of Arizona where he was a starter for three years. In ’65 as a sophomore he hit .328 and was tabbed by the Twins in the first round. But the team’s offered bonus was way shy of what he wanted so he stayed in school. In ’66 he hit .378 with over 70 RBI’s and led Arizona to the CWS, also earning All-American honors. So he again was tabbed in the first round, this time by the Cubs. Again he declined, but that was because he was only a few credits shy of his degree in civil engineering and he wanted to get that done. So he returned for his senior year, hit .340 and that summer was drafted – first round of course – by Cleveland. (Baseball-Reference indicates he was a second-rounder but a few sites elsewhere say he went in the first round and that sounds better.) Eddie finished his summer split between Double A and Triple A but it was pretty forgetful with his .209 average. In ’68 he spent the year at Triple A Portland where he did much better, raising his average to .245 while also putting up significantly better numbers in the field. In ’69 he had a pretty good spring training and returned to Portland where he hit .262 in a bit over half a season. That July he was called up to Cleveland after third baseman Max Alvis went down with an injury.

When Alvis went out a contingent of people took his spot at third and Leon became the regular guy at shortstop. That .239 average wasn’t so hot and his E totals were a tad high but they were both better than anyone else’s at the position and it was Cleveland. So in ’70 when rookie Jack Heidemann came up, he got the shortstop gig and Eddie was moved to second to keep him in the lineup. The result wasn’t exactly an All-Star year, but both his offense and his defense picked up at a pretty good clip in what was basically a seamless transition. Eddie remained at second in '71 and continued to improve his offense even though Cleveland was headed the other way. At least he did until mid-summer when a nasty back injury took him out of the lineup. That injury would prove to be pretty much a career killer and when Eddie returned in ’72 it was difficult for him to torque his frame during his swing, his average fell a bunch, and he became the infield backup guy behind newbies Jack Brohamer at second and Frank Duffy at short. After the season he moved to Chicago. His ’74 year was all strictly backup behind Dent with only a handful of at bats and after the season he was on the road again, this time to NY where for the Yankees he had a game up top before he went down to Mexico to finish up that year and all of the next for Tampico. Eddie finished with a .236 MLB average and a .243 in the minors.

Staying in school proved to be a wise decision for Leon. Before he was done playing he was using his civil engineering degree for some construction work and he moved into planning and building real estate in and around his home town of Tucson. He became a big deal on local civic boards and a pillar in the community, making his county’s hall of fame in the 2000’s.

So this one I never get. How was Eddie able to play semi-pro ball and continue to play in college? Maybe the semi- part was no pay. He would finish with 55 sacrifice hits during his career, a pretty good number considering it was done in about three full seasons.

Eddie and Lee’s brother Carlos played together for a bit but that doesn’t really help:

1. Leon and Vada Pinson ’70 to ’71 Indians;

2. Pinson and Lee May ’65 to ’68 Reds.

#486 - Steve Stone

For our second double card post in a row we get a guy going the other way, from the AL to the NL. Steve Stone shows some big hair in what appears to be a dreary day at Yankee Stadium, though that may just be the exposure on the camera since there are plenty of shadows. I believe those are Yankees over his right shoulder and my guess is that’s Roy White closest to Steve. Besides the Yankees thing and the double card thing, Steve has a couple other things in common with Felipe Alou, the last post subject. He’s got the Traded card, of course, and he was also coming off a relatively short tenure with the team on his regular card. Steve’s stay with the Sox was for a full season, so it was a bit longer than Felipe’s. He’d come to Chicago from the Giants after the ’72 season with Ken Henderson for Tom Bradley. “73 worked out a bit like his two seasons with the Giants: spot work with most of his games being starts along with some middle relief. The results were a mixed bag as he put up another losing record and his ERA was a tad high, but his innings continued to increase and he finished pretty high in the AL in strikeouts per inning. The big question regarding the Traded card is: where’s all the hair? The photo Topps uses for Steve on this card is one from his Giants days so it’s at least a year older than his regular photo. I like the mop top better but both of these would pale to his ’78 one when his chest hair sort of overwhelms whatever he had on his head. So Steve’s fist stay in the AL was rather short-lived. He’d raise his profile considerably the next time.

When Steve Stone was growing up in Euclid, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, he was a star athlete at a variety of sports: volleyball, tennis (a city champ at age 12), ping pong (see card back), and obviously baseball. In ’65 he was the starting pitcher in the state’s East-West All-Star game and he romped. Playing behind him were Thurman Munson (shortstop), Gene Tenace (third), and Larry Hisle (center), so it’s not terribly difficult to figure out why. He then moved on to Kent State where his catcher and roommate would be Munson. In the summer of ’68 he played in the Cape Cod League, a year Steve was also all-conference. The next January he was drafted in the fourth round by the Giants. He would finish his degree in history in ’70 but in the meantime he took his 95 mph heater to A ball where he posted pretty good numbers, including well over a strikeout an inning. He improved things significantly the next year at Double A Amarillo and especially at Triple A Phoenix, where he posted his 1.71 ERA in eight starts. He then began his rookie year of ’71 in San Francisco where his first win was a 5-hit shutout of the Pirates. But inconsistency moved him back to Triple A for a bit and he missed the post-season.

After a decent rookie year Stone started strongly in ’72, going 3-4 with a 1.50 ERA through early June as part of the rotation. By then the Giants were in a nasty slump and had twice as many losses as wins in trying to repeat as division champs. In a game against the Pirates that had three rain delays, Steve hurt his shoulder while warming up and then sitting and worked sporadically the rest of the year, though the end results were a big uptick to his rookie ones. Still he wasn’t too happy with the Giants’ prescribed treatment for his shoulder and he asked to be traded. While with the Sox, Johnny Sain helped Steve ratchet up his strikeouts and after the season he returned to the NL in this trade. With the Cubs things got much better, at least initially. In ’74 Steve put up his first winning record, going 8-6 with a 4.14 ERA as a swing guy. In ’75 He bumped up his starts to 32 and went 12-8 with a 3.95 ERA. Then in ’76 it was shades of ’72, but much worse. Early that year he tore his rotator cuff. Again he chafed at cortisone treatment for it, this time going through his own regimen of freezing his shoulder and then exercising it at the suggestion of a non-team doctor. He played the year without a contract and after going 3-6 in only 15 starts he signed back with the White Sox as a free agent.

Stone had a pretty big I-told-you-so season in ’77. While his ERA popped a bunch to the highest of his career he lucked out signing with The Southside Hitmen and between the team’s offensive surges and his new stamina went 15-12 as the club’s leading starter. Free agent defections in ’78 turned Sox fortunes around a bit in ’78 but despite going 12-12 most of Steve’s numbers were an uptick and after the season he went free agent again, this time signing with the Orioles. By then he was throwing off-speed stuff to help assuage the damage done to his shoulder and with better defense behind him in ’79 he went 11-7 with a 3.77 ERA, over half a run better than his ’78 number. Prior to the ’80 season he developed a master plan: he’d always been tentative with his curve for fear of its effect on his shoulder, but he knew that it was a pretty good pitch and he decided to go all in at age 32 and see where it took him, potential damage be damned. It took him pretty far, to a Cy Young-winning year on the back of a 25-7 record with a 3.23 ERA and a perfect three innings as the AL starter in the All-Star game. He also got his first post-season experience, though that didn’t go nearly as well. The downside was pretty much the expected as his shoulder was permanently wrecked by the breaking stuff. After going only 4-7 with a 4.60 ERA in a strike-shortened and DL-shortened ’81 Steve retired in June of the following year. He finished with a record of 107-93 with a 3.97 ERA, 43 complete games, seven shutouts, and a save. In the post-season he put up a 9.00 ERA in a couple relief innings.

Stone rolled pretty well, having earned his degree in a relatively short time and as an ardent believer in positive energy (he took classes). While he was playing he was a published poet, book reviewer (for Oui magazine, remember that thing?), and successful restaurant owner. By the time he announced his retirement he was offered a color gig on Monday Night Baseball and then parlayed that experience to be the color guy for the Cubs from ’83 to 2004, with two generations of Caray’s. In ’04 he openly criticized the Cubs’ performance and after the season he resigned. He later hooked up with the White Sox as an announcer, a position he still holds.

Steve’s ’69 gets most of the attention on the back and was a pretty good kickoff, despite the losing record. He continued to play both volleyball and ping-pong at Kent State and was a bit of a pool hustler there as well. He lived pretty large and was a bachelor for a long time and even got a Playgirl spread in the early Eighties.

Ironically Stone had about the most meaningful career of any of these guys after the trade and he’d spend years paralleling Santo on the broadcasting side for the Cubs. Topps makes no predictions here which was probably a good thing.

I like when this exercise brings up a Hall of Famer:

1. Stone and Willie McCovey ’71 to ’72 Giants;

2. McCovey and Felipe Alou ’59 to ’63 Giants.

#462 - Luis Alvarado

This is the final card of Luis Alvarado. That’s sort of a shame because by ’73 he was toting around one of the fattest afros in the league and his later cards may have rivaled even Oscar Gamble’s coiff-wise. Luis looks like he’s posing pre-game at Yankee Stadium as perhaps Bill Melton takes some fielding practice behind him. Luis had a kicking action shot in ’73 where he looked like he was turning a double play in a parking lot. That year was his last of three consecutive ones with over 200 at bats – all for the ChiSox – as he backed up Jorge Orta at second and served as a bridge to the new guy at short, Bucky Dent. His .232 average in ’73 was the highest he’d put up in the majors but by then everybody knew offense wasn’t his game. Most likely by the time this card came out Luis was on the move: first to St. Louis and then to Cleveland. That itinerancy would characterize the rest of his career until he settled down back in his home base.

Luis Alvarado was born in Lajas, Puerto Rico, where he and his siblings all played ball. Signed by the Red Sox in ’67, he began his career in A ball in Waterloo, Iowa, which must have been a bit of a culture shock. There he exhibited some decent power with eight homers and 43 RBI’s while he led the league in double plays for a shortstop. In ’68 he moved up to Double A where he raised his average 35 points and led his league in hits. He also made his debut that fall in Boston. His big year was ’69 when he moved to Triple A and hit .292 with 30 doubles and 62 RBI’s while leading his league in fielding, winning both the IL’s rookie of the year and mvp awards. That season got everyone excited up in Boston, where they’d recently lost incumbent third baseman Joe Foy to expansion and the revolving door for position filler – George Scott put in the most time at third that year – didn’t go so well. So Luis was to be the answer at that position. At least until he wasn’t, which was pretty much dictated by his .224 average in ‘70 that moved him back to Triple A. There he hit only .201 and after the season the Sox jettisoned him to the other Sox with Mike Andrews for Luis Aparicio.

For the White Sox Alvarado immediately began his new task of middle infield work. He was above average defensively but never really got going with the bat as in the next three seasons he backed up Mike Andrews and then Jorge Orta at second, and then swapped time at shortstop with Rich Morales, Eddie Leon, Lee Richard, and Bucky Dent. His best game may have been one in ’71 when he turned four double plays and had ten chances at second without an error. In early ’74 he was sent to the Cards for pitcher Ken Tatum. There after a month of back-up work at shortstop he went to Cleveland with Ed Crosby for Jack Heidemann in a swap of middle infielders. With the Indians Luis got a bit more work and hit .219 the rest of the way with 12 RBI’s. In ’75 it was back to the minors where Luis played mostly second, had excellent defensive numbers, and did OK offensively as well, hitting .240 with 64 RBI’s in a season split between the Cleveland system and the St. Louis one, after a mid-season trade for – mostly – minor league first baseman Doug Howard. In ’76 he improved his average to .280 with eleven homers and 72 RBI’s, again in Triple A, and also spent time in St. Louis where he hit .286 while doing some time at second. But his relative success was short-lived as after the ’76 season he was sold to Detroit, flipped to the Mets, flipped back to Detroit, and released, all by June ’77. Luis only got three hitless at bats for all that traveling. Late in the season he hooked up with San Diego, where he made the best out of 26 token at bats in Triple A, hitting .486. That ended his baseball time in the States where he hit .256 in the minors and .214 up top.

Alvarado played a lot of winter ball in his native Puerto Rico during and after his career, regularly having about three non-baseball weeks a year. In ’79 he returned to summer ball, this time in Mexico, where over the next three seasons he played for Yucatan, Leon, and Mexico City. He then returned to Puerto Rico full-time where he ran a grocery store and coached youth leagues until he passed away from a heart attack in 2001 when he was 52.

Topps makes an error in the second star bullet as Luis’ IL mvp season was in ’69, not ’68. But those other numbers look pretty good. I used to like comic books back then also, The Black Panther and Captain Marvel – the Marvel Comics one – being my favorites. Very deep stuff.

The White Sox contributed their ’59 pennant-winning season to the 1976 baseball centennial celebration. That was the year of the Go-Go Sox who were led offensively by MVP Nellie Fox and Luis Aparicio and his 56 steals. The team had amazing defense and their pitching leader was 39-year-old Early Wynn, who went 22-10 in one of his best seasons. The ChiSox staff led the AL with a team 3.29 ERA. Manager Al Lopez was the only non-Yankee AL skipper to win a pennant since ’49 (he also turned the trick with the Indians in ’54). The Sox didn’t clinch the title until September 22, when Wynn won his 21^st before 54,000 in Chicago. It was a pretty typical win for Chicago: four double plays and a strike by left fielder Al Smith to the plate to nab Minnie Minoso and kill Cleveland’s initial run prospect. The Sox broke it open on two successive solo shots by Smith and Jim Rivera in the sixth. Little Looie also had an RBI off his two hits. And a pinch-hitter for Cleveland during the game was Chuck Tanner, the manager of the Sox at the time of this set.

These guys both played for the White Sox but we won’t go that route:

1. Alvardo and Reggie Smith ’68 to ’70 Red Sox and ’74 Cards;

2. Smith and Rick Monday ’77 to ’81 Dodgers;

3. Monday and John Odom ’65 to ’71 A’s.

This card represents the 70% mark of the set. I’ll do a recap within the next couple posts.