#288 - Gorman Thomas

Hey, it's a rookie card! In a pre-game - note all the kids leaning over the railings in the background - posed shot at Oakland, Stormin' Gorman gets his Topps debut. While his '73 season was a bit short of spectacular - to his posted stats add 61 strikeouts in limited work and you get the picture - it did presage a nice popular run in Milwaukee. Gorman's partially obscured number is 44 which he would have to give up in a couple seasons to a guy named Hank Aaron. But right now he looks carefree and clean-shaven. It wouldn't be too long before all his cards were full of hair.

Gorman Thomas was a star high school athlete in South Carolina who attended Florida State for a year before he was drafted by the new Seattle Pilots as a first rounder in '69. An infielder in high school, he played shortstop his first year in Rookie ball and produced very good numbers. '70 and '71 were spent in A ball, the first season at short and third and the second in the outfield, which was fine because that year he hit like an outfielder. He also struck out 170 times that season which would be a continuing feature of his career. In '72 he moved up to Double A, again put up strong offensive numbers, and put on an impressive display in the outfield. Despite his looks, Gorman was a graceful fielder with an excellent arm. He also had no problem crashing into walls. In '73 his numbers up top pushed him down to Triple A by mid-season. In '74 he had a big year at Triple A Sacramento, hitting .296 with 51 homers and 122 RBI's. But he got in dutch with the team's GM when he wouldn't come out and take a bow after every homer. The field on which his team played was a football field with very short foul lines of about 232 feet and Gorman didn't think his 233 foot home runs down the left field line were worthy of ovations. But Gorman was always a bit self-immolating. He hit more homers on the road that year than at home. Ironically, he didn't even lead his team in either power number. A guy named Bill McNulty hit .329 with 55 homers and 135 RBI's which earned him, as Gorman later noted, a one-way ticket to Japan.

After the big '74 season and a nice little run up top, Thomas stayed on the Brewers roster for all of '75 and '76. His numbers generally weren't great - his combined line was .188/18/64 in what added up to a full season - but about half his hits were for extra bases and he played well in the field. Still, he returned to Triple A for the '77 season and put up an excellent line: .322 with 36 homers and 114 RBIs and, with almost as many walks as strikeouts, an OBA of .436. That got him a ticket to Texas as the player to be named later in a trade for Ed Kirkpatrick. Prior to the '78 season George Bamberger was named Brewers manager and he wanted to know where the kid Thomas was. When he was told he was traded he asked the team to get him back which they did in a purchase before spring training. Nobody actually told Gorman about either trade. But when he showed up at camp that spring he was told he would be the starting center fielder which worked out fine for him. That year he hit 32 out in his first season as a regular and Milwaukee won 93, by far the team's highest total ever. For the next five years Gorman would be a power-hitting fan favorite who played an excellent center field and led the AL twice in homers (and twice in strikeouts). Three of those years he also had over 100 RBI's. In '81 he was an All-Star and Milwaukee reached the playoffs for the first time and in '82 they took a memorable Series to the seventh game.

1983 was no fun for Thomas. A nagging rotator cuff injury contributed to a relatively weak start power-wise and that June he and pitchers Jamie Easterly and Ernie Camacho were sent to the Indians for Rick Manning and Rick Waits. After finishing out the season in Cleveland he and Jack Perconte were traded to the Mariners for Tony Bernazard. In '84 the rotator cuff problem pretty much dismantled his season and he had surgery on it. It left him unable to play in the outfield and when he returned in '85 it was as the team's DH. While he hit only .215 that year, he did pound 32 homers and 87 RBI's to win the Comeback Player of the Year. It was a short-lived resurgence however as another sub-.200 start to the '86 season would result in his release. He returned to Milwaukee to finish out the year and then retired. Gorman finished with a .225 average, 268 homers, a .324 OBA and 782 RBI's. In the post-season he hit .102 with two homers and seven RBI's in 17 games.

Thomas has remained close to the Brewers franchise since playing. He has done some coaching work and makes community appearances for the team. He also has a restaurant at the stadium named Gorman's Grill. There is a long audio interview with him from a couple years ago linked to here. It is quite entertaining and cements his reputation as a down to earth guy who is actually pretty humble about his baseball achievements but has no problem speaking his mind.

Gorman is in the Wisconsin athletic hall of fame and was named by SI as one of South Carolina's best athletes. The second star bullet and the cartoon would later be linked when he called the Sacramento stadium in which he played in '74 when he knocked out 51 a pool hall. And that's some ugly signature.

We get to a pitcher for the hook-up:

1. Thomas and Mike Caldwell '78 to '83 Brewers;

2. Caldwell and Clay Kirby '71 to '73 Padres.

#287 - Clay Kirby

Now is THIS the expression of someone who has just been traded from a doormat to a contender? Certainly not. THIS is the expression of a guy in his fifth straight year of playing for a last-place team while having his worst personal season doing so. The second non-Traded traded card in the last three cards has a mutton-chopped Clay Kirby looking forlorn in his airbrushed new colors. Yeah, '73 kind of sucked for Clay. But it couldn't have been as bad as that line drive he took off of his knee from Joe Torre's bat. Or that special night in '70.

Clay Kirby grew up in and around DC and went to a local prep school called Washington & Lee in Arlington where he was a local star and heavily recruited due to a 95 mph fastball. His senior year he threw a perfect game with 19 strikeouts. In '66 he was drafted by the Cards and had a rough start that summer in Rookie ball put picked things up in A ball. In '67 he served his military hitch and then threw over a strikeout an inning while going 3-4. In '68 he went a combined 12-9 split between Double and Triple A with pretty good ERA's at both levels. Later that year the new Padres snapped him as the 12th pick in that year's expansion draft.

Kirby immediately made the roster in San Diego in the team's initial year and would be their top starter the next five seasons. In '69, despite losing 20 to lead the NL in losses, he put up a pretty good ERA. In '70 the ERA went south although he improved his record by seven games. Not only that but on July 20th against the Mets Clay gave up a run in the first inning on two walks, a double steal, and a groundout. He then threw no-hit ball through the eighth inning when he was removed for a pinch hitter. His replacement on the mound then gave up a hit to the first batter he faced. It was a meaningless game - all Padres games back then tended to be after June - so pretty much everyone was dumbfounded at Clay's removal. That game has since been known as the curse as no Padre has thrown a no-hitter ever. But Clay was a good doobie and didn't complain. Good karma from that may have helped him in '71 when he posted a fine season, becoming the first Padre to record over 200 strikeouts. He also took two no-hitters into the eighth inning that year but each time was left in and couldn't go all the way. '72 was quite good also, although the losing record re-appeared and he missed nearly a month from an elbow injury. Then after the disappointing '73 season he was sent to the Reds for Bobby Tolan and Dave Tomlin. He left San Diego with 52 wins, by far the most of any Padre pitcher then.

In Cincinnati Kirby went 12-9 in '74 with a 3.28 ERA, more than returning to his '72 mode. In '75 he went 10-6 but a return of elbow problems elevated his ERA to 4.72 and kept him out of the post-season. He was traded after the season - in '76 he has a real Traded card - to Montreal for Bob Bailey. For the Expos the elbow rendered his arm toast and he went 1-8 with an ERA that climbed another run before being released. After a comeback attempt back with the Padres - he put up numbers at Triple A Hawaii similar to his Expos ones - he was done. Clay finished with a record of 75-104 with a 3.84 ERA, 42 complete games, and eight shutouts. After playing he returned to the DC area and ran a local fund-raising golf tournament that featured MLB players. He also may or may not have been involved in real estate. He passed away in '91 from a heart attack. He was only 43.


The one-hitter in the first star bullet was the second one mentioned above and was a perfect game through the eighth inning. Topps brings back the tiny print denoting the trade. Clay and Reggie Smith should have hooked up back then to build model cars together.

Thank God for the league changers:

1. Kirby and Johnny Jeter '71 to '72 Padres;
2. Jeter and Tony Muser '73 White Sox.

#286 - Tony Muser

For a change we have a player photographed at Yankee Stadium. This time it's a White Sox and a guy who backed up my boy Dick Allen at first base for three years. In '73 Tony here actually got credit as the starter since he put up a few more at bats at the position due to Dick's injuries. It would be Tony's only season as a regular in Chicago and he did pretty well with his .285 average although he wasn't nearly the power guy Mr. Allen was. Like the subject of two posts ago, Mr. Muser would go on to have a much higher profile in his later professional endeavors than he did as a player.

Tony Muser was a Cali kid who went to San Diego Mesa College, a two-year school, to play ball. He was drafted by the Giants in '66 but shot them down. He was then drafted and signed by the Red Sox in '67 and that summer put up good offensive numbers in A ball, playing first base. In '68 he missed a bunch of time for military duty and returned to put up a good average but was a little lighter in the power department. In '69 he moved up to Triple A, did a bit better with his RBI totals, and got into some games for Boston. Ironically around this time all the scouting reports mentioned that Tony had to work on his defense. '70 was spent exclusively at the Triple A level and then prior to the '71 season he was traded to the White Sox with Vicente Romo for Duane Josephson and Danny Murphy.

Muser spent the bulk of '71 at Indianapolis, normally a Reds franchise, and put up similar numbers to his past couple seasons. In '72 his scouting report indicated his excellent defensive skills so he obviously did some work in that area. He began the year at Triple A Tucson and then moved up to provide some late-inning support at first for Allen. In '73 he got all that extra time and the following year worked off the bench and did DH work until Allen decided to "retire" with a month left in the season. In '75 Dick got sent to Atlanta - on his way back to Philly - and Tony shared starting time at first. But after batting .243 with six RBI's in 110 at bats he was traded that June to Baltimore for Jesse Jefferson. Tony revived his stroke for the O's, batting .317 the rest of the way, now as a reserve for Lee May. In '76 he hit a career high in at bats (326) and games (136) as May did a bunch of DH work. But Tony hit only .227 with zero power and with the arrival the next year of Eddie Murray he was back on the bench, also playing some in the outfield. Released prior to the '78 season, he was picked up by the Brewers and spent most of the season at Triple A Spokane where he hit .293 around a couple at bats up top when Cecil Cooper got hurt. In '79 Tony split the States to play a year in Japan and in his final season as a player put up a sub-.200 average. He hit .259 for his career and was a .284 hitter in the minors.

After Japan Muser returned to the Milwaukee system to manage. He was an immediate success, winning his league championship in Class A ball in '80 and getting to the championships again in '82 when he was in Double A. He managed in the minors for the Brewers through '84 and then was a Milwaukee coach up top from '85 to '89 and then returned to the minors, this time Triple A, to manage in Denver. He remained there through '92. In '93 he began a gig coaching for the Cubs. That lasted through mid-'97 when he was hired away to manage the Royals. Tony went 317-430 for KC until released in 2002. From '03 to '06 he would be bench coach of the Padres. He then managed in the San Diego system in '07 and since 2008 has been a roving minor league instructor. His record in the minors is 611-564.

These are pretty blase star bullets but I guess they do the job. Tony played high school ball in Lakewood but I can't get a handle on his stats there. In '86 he was badly burned in an explosion at a Brewer's facility and had to have extensive skin work. He has since been a regular visitor to burn units nationwide. He also has a baseball school he runs with his son. It is linked to here.

In the US and UK two new number one songs arrived in '74. "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas took over up top in the States, surprisingly - at least to me - over two months after it had done so in the UK. On THAT side of the pond, Barry White hit the top with "You're the First, the Last, My Everything." Besides deep-voiced love songs, Barry specialized in long song titles. For a little bit of - understandably - unknown trivia about Mr. White, one of his first bits of published recording he wrote was on a '45 one got from a cereal box. For those whose memory goes back that far, Barry wrote a song sung by the Banana Splits, or whoever actually sang the songs for that eponymous Saturday cartoon and variety show.

Muser and Smith both developed in the Red Sox system but Tony barely played there up top so we have to look elsewhere:

1. Muser and Mike Andrews '71 to '73 White Sox;
2. Andrews and Reggie Smith '67 to '70 Red Sox.

We will get to Andrews later when we discuss the Series cards.

#285 - Reggie Smith

Ah. We haven't seen one of these in a while: the non-Traded traded card. Reggie Smith looks concerned. Maybe because he wasn't the other Reggie!, but no, this guy always seemed pretty content in his own skin. Maybe because even though he'd just put up another awfully nice season, he was tired of all the verbal and physical abuse that used to come his way from the Red Sox fans. Add in a bunch of games missed from a torn knee ligament and a locker room smackdown of Bill Lee, normally a friend, and you can see the forehead lines forming. Yeah, that's probably it. Reggie asked to be traded twice during the '73 season and at the end of it he got his wish. He got to leave the land of busing boycotts and go to the land of the arch and the Gibson and the Brock. Despite the shift of latitude it was a great place to be. Just ask Dick Allen.

Reggie Smith was born down in Louisiana and relocated to LA while a kid. There he would play some serious ball eventually producing an all-state high school career in both baseball and football. From his mid-teens he also played on a local team run by a guy named Chet Brewer, a former Negro Leaguer. The team was pretty high profile and Reggie generated lots of interest. After graduating school in '62 Reggie attended Compton Junior College for a year before being signed by the Twins in '63. He'd been an infielder in high school and that summer in rookie ball put up a .257 with pretty good power for a middle infielder. But the Twins left Reggie unprotected and that December Boston grabbed him in the first year draft. in '64, moving around some service duty, he hit .318 with 15 homers and 60 RBI's in half a season as a third baseman in A ball. In '65 at Double A he played outfield and second, hitting .259 with a similar power discount. But in '66 he shot up to .320 in Triple A Toronto for manager Dick Williams and in '67 when Williams took over as Boston's manager Reggie came with him.

Smith had a gun of an arm and was fast and strong and in '67 after starting off at second base - fellow rookie Mike Andrews got hurt in training camp - he was the everyday center fielder as a rookie. He'd been a switch hitter since a teen and although he hit only .246 he set the tone for his batting style: high and away right-handed for a higher average on that side; and low and in on the left side where he was quicker and generated more power. He hit two out in the Series that year and finished second to Rod Carew in ROY voting. In '68 he decided to forgo the whole sophomore jinx thing, leading the AL in doubles and winning a Gold Glove. In '69 his numbers got him his first All-Star nod and in '70 he scored over 100 runs the only time in his career. Then in '71 he had his best season, again leading the AL in doubles and also total bases. But that was also the season of "The Conigliaro Affair."

Smith had for a while been feeling the wrath of the Sox faithful. Similar to Dick Allen's experience in Philly, Reggie had to take to wearing a batting helmet in the outfield to protect him from the metal objects tossed his way. On top of his being black - already a sin up in those parts - there was a perception that despite his steadily improving numbers that Reggie was not a hustler. But in the confines of the locker room all was generally good relations-wise and Reggie's best friend on the Sox was probably Yaz. Prior to the '71 season after continuing a pretty amazing comeback from a horrible beaning, local boy Tony Conigliaro was traded to the Angels. According to Tony's brother Billy, still with the Sox, and the rest of the C clan the trade was made because Yaz and Reggie insisted on it. Billy C called them both out on his supposition at various points during the '71 season and it made for a stressful environment for Reggie in the one place he actually got to relax. While Billy C was traded in '72, a couple nagging injuries pulled Reggie's stats down that year and after the big rebound in average in '73 there was anticipation that he would ask for a raise when his contract came up before the next season, further infuriating fans that thought he only put up better numbers when he had to. That October he went to the Cards with Ken Tatum for Rick Wise and Bernie Carbo.

In '74 a healthy Smith was ready to go in the NL. And he did, hitting .309 with 23 homers and 100 RBI's for the first and only time in his career. Reggie, now in right field, Bake McBride, and Lou Brock produced the first all-.300 outfield since '70 (by the Reds). In '75 he kept the average up but the arrival of Willie Davis meant Reggie sat a little or played some first base and his power stats declined. Then in '76 Willie Crawford arrived, Reggie played everywhere including both infield corners, and he experienced an early-season slump in the final year of his contract. That prompted the Cards to send him to LA for Joe Ferguson and the change of scenery must have helped because he boosted his average 68 points. Then in '77 Reggie led the NL in OBA with a .427 in his first 100-walk season while joining Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, and Dusty Baker in becoming the first foursome on a team to each hit over 30 homers. He returned to the Series that year and the next after a comparable season. In '79 he got badly hurt in an outfield collision with Dusty Baker and missed a considerable part of the season, putting up his worst numbers to date. But in '80 he recovered nicely and though, now 35, he lost some starting time as well as missing games from injuries, he put up a .322 average. In '81 he barely played, not able to get on the field due to reconstructive surgery in the off-season on his right shoulder. He was pretty much exclusively a pinch-hitter and only batted .200. His best hit that year was on a Giants fan who hit him with a batting helmet while he was stretching. Reggie jumped into the stands and wailed on the guy - think Ron Artest - and got suspended for a couple games. But he did finally get to be part of a Series winner that year and then ironically signed a free agent contract with the Giants. After a pretty good season at first base - .284 with 18 homers and 56 RBI's in 349 at bats - Reggie left the States to play ball in Japan. He finished with a .287 average with 2,020 hits, 314 homers - second at the time for switch hitters to Mickey Mantle - and 1,092 RBI's. He hit .234 with six homers and 17 RBI's in 32 post-season games.

In Japan Smith produced pretty good numbers his first year - .285 with 20 homers and 86 RBI's - but trouble with management, fans, and injuries led to a short season. After a partial '84 in which his average slipped to .255 he quit playing at 39. He returned to the States to be LA's minor league hitting coordinator. From '94 to '98 he moved up top as the hitting coach. He then began his own baseball school and returned a few times to coach - in the '99 Pan Am Games, the 2006 World Baseball Classic, and the '08 Olympics. I have linked to his website here and his SABR bio here.

Reggie gets some good star bullets. He was also big in music - he could play at least seven instruments - tennis, and could pilot an aircraft.


Let's bring out an old character to help with the hook-up:

1. Smith and Ken Harrelson '67 to '69 Red Sox;
2. Harrelson and Dave Duncan '64 and '67 A's.

I think everyone knows who "Hawk" is so I'll leave that one alone.

#284 - Dave Duncan

Dave Duncan shows his crouch at Yankee Stadium with a wry look on his face. Dave may be thinking about life with the Indians during his first season there as his old teammates in Oakland were on their way to another Series title. (This is the second time re-writing this post since Blogger crashed when I was publishing it the first time. Just venting but I'm pretty pissed - an hour down the tubes.) During spring training in '73 Dave had some bitter contract negotiations with A's owner Charlie O and - boom - he got sent to Cleveland with George Hendrick for Ray Fosse and Jack Heidemann. And to top it all off in the middle of what was shaping up to be his best season he broke his wrist and missed a bunch of time. It sort of went that way for a while for Dave but eventually he got the last laugh. While he may not be a Hall guy like the subject of the last post he would help a couple other guys get there as a pitching coach extraordinaire. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Dave Duncan was a big old boy from Texas but moved to San Diego as a kid and from there was signed by the Kansas City A's in '63 out of high school. That summer he only hit .145 in A ball but was already demonstrating an excellent ability to handle pitchers. The next season he was pulled all the way up to KC to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. He didn't see much action and in '65 he returned to Single A where he put up much better offensive numbers. Halfway through the season he got promoted to Double A but was over his head offensively, showing some power, but a low average and way too may strikeouts (73 in 192 at bats). So in '66 it was back to A ball where Dave surprised everyone by hitting 46 homers - the most in any level of organized ball that year - with 112 RBI's. That got him moved up in '67, first to Double A where he hit .241, and then to KC where he got some late starts. Then in '68 after a .316 bit at Triple A, Dave got the starting gig in the new home, Oakland. But while his .191 average was the best of his career to date, it wasn't good enough to hold the top spot and in '69 he moved behind Phil Roof in the lineup. It proved to be a good move since his average took a dive. In '70 Roof moved to Milwaukee and Dave shared starting time with Frank Fernandez, another good power but low average catcher Oakland picked up from the Yankees. Despite missing time that year to the service also, Dave put up his best career average and cut the strikeouts way down. In '71 he was back to number one and reached a career milestone when he was selected for the All-Star team. By that time it was no secret that under Dave's watch the Oakland pitchers had done some seriously good work on their ERA numbers. He also got to his first post-season and hit .500 against Baltimore in the playoffs. Then in '72 although the average fell he put up his best power numbers. But the last month of the season Gene Tenace pretty much monopolized the catching work and Dave got only seven post-season at bats. Then it was off to Cleveland.

After his mixed '73 season, Duncan stayed healthy in '74 and recorded career highs in games (136) and at bats (425). But his offense tumbled, particularly his average, which returned to Mendoza levels. Prior to the '75 season he was sent to the Orioles for Boog Powell and Don Hood. For Baltimore, Dave would retain the number one spot - Andy Etchebarren had been traded to California - for most of his stay. But while the power was pretty good, the average stayed around the .200 level and by the end of the '76 season Rick Dempsey, another acquisition from NY, took over the top spot. Over the winter Dave was sent to the White Sox for Pat Kelly. But after not making it out of spring training he retired, finishing with a .214 average, 109 homers, and 341 RBI's. In the post-season he hit .308 with two RBI's in seven games.

Then came the magic part of Duncan's career. After a year off he returned to Cleveland to coach in '78. While that first gig didn't result in a lot of wins, it did provide one colorful story (courtesy of "The Curse of..."). During the '79 season Dave Garcia replaced Jeff Torborg as manager and Garcia was holding a players' meeting in the locker room when Cliff Johnson began grumbling about his lack of playing time. When Garcia asked him to quiet down Heathcliff got up and moved toward Garcia in protest. Duncan then sprang out of nowhere to knock Cliff into his locker - pretty impressive given that Johnson was about 6'5" and 230 - leading the big catcher to re-think his debating strategy and grab a seat. Dave remained with Cleveland through '81 and then moved to Seattle for '82. In the off season he hooked up with old A's teammate Tony LaRussa and the next year began a working relationship that only ended this year: the White Sox ('83 to '86); Oakland ('86 to '95); and St. Louis ('96 to present). Dave was a pitching coach extraordinaire at all those stops, coaching four Cy winners along the way. He remains under contract to the Cards, despite LaRussa's retirement.


Dave has a great signature. He could probably have another star bullet and that 46 homer season sure would have looked good. Regarding the second bullet listed, Dave had a pinch-single with a man on and one out in the bottom of the ninth in the fifth game when Oakland was down a run. But the next batter, Bert Campaneris, hit into a double play, ending the game. So I don't know what Topps means by "key basehit." Clutch, yeah, but Dave's hit had zero impact on the outcome of the game.

To hook Dave up with Mike we need a league-changer:

1. Duncan and Catfish Hunter '67 to '72 A's;
2. Hunter and Sparky Lyle '75 to '78 Yankees;
3. Lyle and Mike Schmidt '80 to '82 Phillies.

#283 - Mike Schmidt

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

This is an interesting hookup:

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

#282 - Doyle Alexander

I need to get going this month after a pretty poor showing in November (only 11 posts). It was a crazy busy month so I am going to try to step it up now. We lead off December with this guy who I will always remember from his partial season with the Yankees in '76. It seemed that year in just about every other start he would take a no-hitter into the seventh inning. He had a pretty good run that year for NY, helping the Yankees get to their first post-season appearance in 12 years. It was a habit he would continue later in his career.

Doyle Alexander was born and raised in Alabama and was drafted and signed by the Dodgers out of high school in '68. He had a rough start that season in the low minors but turned it around up a level in A ball in '69. The next two seasons he would put up quite good numbers in the rotation for Double A Albuquerque and Triple A Spokane, undoubtedly helped by the monstrous lineups those teams featured. He came up top in mid-'71 into the rotation and pitched pretty well. After the season he was involved in his first big trade, joining a bunch of minor leaguers in a swap to Baltimore for Frank Robinson and Pete Richert.

For the Orioles Alexander would move between the rotation and long relief the next few years. Although his ERA was pretty high by AL standards, he posted his best season for the O's in '73 when he got his most starts for them. In '74 and '75 he pitched mostly out of the pen and after a 3-4 start to the '76 season he was part of another big trade, going to the Yankees with Elrod Hendricks, Grant Jackson, and Ken Holtzman for Rudy May, Rick Dempsey, Tippy Martinez, and Dave Pagan. For NY Doyle went 10-5 strictly as a starter the rest of the way. He would get shutout from pitching in the playoffs and lose his only start against the Reds. Following the season he would be signed as a free agent by the Rangers.

For Texas, Alexander recorded his best season to date, going 17-11 with a 3.65 ERA to lead a surprising team in wins. Texas' fortunes faded the next season as did Doyle's and his record fell to 9-10 and then 5-7 in a '79 during which he was injured. Doyle was sort up serially unhappy with his contracts and he then began a pretty itinerant part of his career going to Atlanta in '80 (14 wins) and San Francisco in '81 (11 wins with a 2.89 ERA in the strike season) before returning to NY in '82. The return trip didn't work out too well as injury and ineffectiveness led to a 1-9 record and a release early in the '83 season. But that June Toronto grabbed him as a free agent and after a couple games in the minors they brought him up. He then went 7-6 in a little under half a season, as the start to the best run of his career. In '84 and '85 Doyle won 17 each season as the Blue Jays moved into contender mode. In the middle of the '86 season he was sent to the Braves for Duane Ward. Similar to his Yankee experience the return wasn't so hot and after going 11-16 in a little over a season Doyle was sent to the Tigers in August of '87 for a minor league pitcher. He energized Detroit for its stretch drive, going 9-0 with a 1.53 ERA in eleven starts and twice beating his former teammates in Toronto to put Detroit into the post-season. It was an amazing run that ended in the playoffs when he went 0-1 with an 8.71 ERA in two starts against the Royals. And to top it off, the minor leaguer for whom he was traded turned out to be John Smoltz.

In '88 Alexander went 14-11 for a Detroit team that crashed and burned, making his first All-Star team after an 8-4 start to the season. After going 6-18 in '89 he retired, leaving behind a record of 194-174 with a 3.63 ERA, 98 complete games, 18 shutouts, and three saves. His post-season numbers weren't so hot: 0-5 with an 8.83 ERA in six games. But when you add in his clutch numbers for Detroit, Toronto, and the Yankee pennant drives, his numbers at crunch time get pretty good. After he played Doyle's activities are a bit of a mystery and all a day of looking has got me is that he apparently still resides in Arlington where he may or may not be involved in insurance.

That second star bullet is pretty ironic due to the first big trade. Doyle was a groundball specialist and pretty much all his pitches were sinkers, including a curve and a changeup. I checked baseball-reference to see how accurate my memory was of Doyle's '76 season in NY. Three times with the Yankees he went deep into the game not yielding any hits: on June 24th against Cleveland he went seven; on July 23rd against Boston he went eight; and on August 2nd against Detroit he went six and two-thirds.

On December 1 of '73 the Carpenters took over number one in the States with "On Top of the World," an appropriate title. They were always on TV back then, and it used to crack me up that she was the drummer in the group. It wasn't until much later that the tragedy of her anorexia came to light.

So they share colors but let's see how quickly Doyle gets with the Giants:

1. Alexander and Vida Blue '81 Giants;
2. Blue and Willie McCovey '78 to '80 Giants;
3. McCovey was on the '73 Giants.