#454 - Kurt Bevacqua

Geez. You take a weekend off and then Sandy comes along and that weekend turns into a week-plus. Almost half of my town is without power and the poor Jersey shore is devastated. Any readers from that neck of the woods – my former stomping ground – you have my sympathy and best wishes for recovery.

So if you were a kid of a certain age that collected baseball cards it is quite possible that the first time this guy hit your line of sight was in ’76 when Topps issued that bubble-blowing contest card featuring him with a mammoth Bazooka bubble in his mouth. Later, at least if you were from my neck of the woods – NYC and its suburbs – Kurt again grabbed some attention by catching baseballs dropped off The Empire State Building. Finally, in ’84 he raised his profile yet again by turning in a show-stopping performance in the ’84 Series. Kurt Bevacqua made a mighty long career out of diversity, almost never starting but playing just about every position on the field. In lots of ways ’73 was one of his best seasons as he got to play a bunch more than normal, partly because of the transition at third base for KC from Paul Schaal to George Brett and at second from Cookie Rojas to Frank White (though that one took years), and partly because KC really didn’t have an every day DH back then. In ’73 Kurt posted the most RBI’s and runs of his career, second most at bats, and an average that would top his career one by about 20 points. Plus he brings back the first Traded card in a while, though his trade would be short-lived as he’d be back in Kansas City before the ’74 season was over. He was pretty itinerant for a long while until he finally settled on the west coast and contributed to one of the funniest YouTube videos ever.

Kurt Bevacqua grew up in Miami and after graduating high school in ’65 opted for Miami-Dade Junior College. He dropped out his first semester and then returned in time to play ball and lead his team to the JUCO finals – they lost – while earning all-JUCO with a .393 season. Future Royal Bob Stinson was also on that team. Kurt was drafted by the Mets but opted to stay in school which he also did after being picked by the Braves the following January. After his sophomore/senior year of ’67 in which he hit over .400 he was drafted by Cincinnati and this time signed but had a not-great summer in A ball. He remained at that level in ’68 and raised his average 30 points around some military time. In ’69 he moved up to Double A and had excellent offensive numbers while playing primarily third after specializing in second base since college. His RBI tallies moved down a notch as he moved up to Triple A in ’70 but his other stats were pretty good. Unfortunately back then Tony Perez was the man at third up top and so early in the ’71 season Kurt was sent to Cleveland for Buddy Bradford. The change of scenery helped as he boosted his average to .338 for the Tribe’s Triple A team and got promoted to Cleveland that June. There he returned primarily to second as a back-up. In ’72 it was back to Triple A where he banged out some more nice numbers splitting time between second and third and a few token at bats up top. After that season he went to the Royals for pitcher Mike Hedlund.

After this trade Bevacqua barely played for the Pirates and in July he was basically sold back to KC for whom he split time between the infield corners with not too much offense the rest of the way. During spring training of ’75 he was sold to the Brewers where he hit .229 while doing relief work at second and third. He then spent nearly all of ’76 back in the minors where he hit .337 while working at shortstop and third. He was then sold to the new Seattle franchise prior to the expansion draft – in ’77 he had an airbrushed Mariners card – but was released by them late in spring training and then picked up by Texas. For the Rangers that year Kurt did well at every level, hitting .352 with 76 RBI’s as a Triple A third baseman and .333 up top while adding the outfield to his repertoire. In ’78 it was all up top and he got a bunch more at bats but his average fell to .222. After the season he joined Mike Hargrove and Bill Fahey in going to San Diego for Oscar Gamble, Dave Roberts, and cash.

From ’79 on it was all-NL for Bevacqua. In his first stint for the Padres he got his most playing time that year and did well enough, hitting .253 while filling in at third base. In ’80 he was having a pretty good season with limited at bats when in August he and Mark Lee were sent to Pittsburgh for Luis Salazar and Rick Lancellotti. This time around he only got a little more playing time with the Pirates – 70 at bats as a pinch hitter in a season-and-a-half – but a bunch more notoriety as he pretty much instigated a brawl in spring training agaist the Tigers after Bill Robinson got beaned. Kurt was released following the ’81 season and the following spring was picked up again by the Padres. This time around he stuck in San Diego for four seasons. He did a pretty good job offensively – except, ironically, in ’84 – as he again took to the infield corners. In ’84 he got into a verbal flap with Tommy Lasorda – Tommy’s response is the YouTube moment and is linked to here – after another brawl and also went into the stands after a Braves fan who threw a full beer can at him during yet another fight. But his stand-out moment was the ’84 Series when he hit .412 with two homers and four RBI’s in five games as the team’s DH. After one more year in San Diego he was done. Kurt was a lifetime .236 hitter and in the minors hit .295 with a .354 OBA. In the post-season he hit .368 in seven games.

Since he finished playing Bevacqua has been involved with his own businesses, primarily in the San Diego area. From ’87 to ’94 he did various radio gigs there related to the Padres, including his own show in the early Nineties. In ’91 he founded Major League Security, a company that sells auto security products to car dealers. In 2008 he founded Recovery Systems, another security firm that is sort of like Lo-Jack. He continues to run both of them. He is also involved big in local golfing events – he is a scratch golfer – and charity events.

Kurt gets some nice defensive props on the card back which is pretty impressive since he had to move around so much on defense. With that mustache of his – shades of Dal Maxvill’s – I could easily see him as a pool hustler.

The Traded card back is a little random and the trade itself included a player – Fernando Gonzales – who barely played up top in ’73. That final sentence is interesting since those stats don’t seem particularly good given that Kurt DH’d in 18 games.

Kansas City’s big moment that it contributed to the ’76 baseball centennial celebration was Steve Busby’s first no-hitter which occurred April 27, 1973 at Detroit, which is weird because most of these events happened in home parks. Busby walked six and struck out four while taking his record to 2-2. KC won the game 3-0 on homers by Amos Otis and Ed Kirkpatrick. The only real nail-biters in the game were in the fourth inning when two guys were on via walks but Busby got Gates Brown to hit into an inning-ending double play; and the seventh when Bill Freehan got to third but Busby got a K and a fly out. Seven balls made it to the outfield during the game for Detroit.

I am going to use Kurt’s former teammate (high school and college) for this exercise:

1. Bevacqua and Hal McRae ’73 to ’74 Royals;

2. McRae and Bob Stinson ’75 to ’76 Royals;

3. Stinson and Balor Moore ’73 to ’74 Expos.

#453 - Balor Moore

We now segue from a first round pick for the Cubs to the first round pick for the Expos. Balor Moore was the first player ever drafted by Montreal ex the expansion draft. When he was a hard-throwing high school pitcher in Texas he was deemed the left-handed version of Nolan Ryan. Things wouldn’t quite turn out that way and when this card came out it was a pretty pivotal time for Balor. While his sophomore season of ‘73 didn’t quite match up to his rookie year it had its moments. By July he was 4-10 with a 4.95 ERA and was sent down to the minors. When he returned in August he blanked the Cards in a complete game. He then went 2-6 the rest of the way during the pennant run. But there was still promise as he finished second in the NL in strikeouts per nine innings and then in winter ball he threw the first perfect game ever in Puerto Rico. Unfortunately ’74 would be a hot mess as he hurt first his ankle and then his elbow and moved from the Expos’ promising list to their doghouse. His flame-throwing days were over but Balor was a resilient guy and down the road he’d be a big success.

Balor Moore went 25-9 as a high school pitcher just outside Houston but, as he said, the defense behind him was never that hot as evidenced by the three no-hitters he threw: he lost all of them. The Expos and other teams were high on him when he graduated in ’69 but so were the Longhorns. The former group decided to make their bid after seeing him pitch one last time but unfortunately that game was a start after a state tournament in which he threw 27 innings in a weekend and Balor’s arm was tight and tired. The word was that he was injured and so all MLB teams but Montreal walked. The Expos gave him a tryout and after he struck out nine guys out of twelve they offered him $20,000. Balor said no thanks, signed with Texas, and then pitched an American Legion game in which he struck out 14 in five innings. Montreal reconsidered, upped their bid to $30,000, and Balor signed. The Expos must have been pretty happy when he tore up both Rookie and A ball that summer. In ’70 he picked up where he left off in A ball, got called up for a couple starts in Triple A, and then to Montreal for a May debut. The first outing went well but the next few innings didn’t and he was returned to Triple A for the duration of the season. There – shades of Tommy John from a couple posts ago – he was forced to learn a slider to complement his fastball and curve. All that really did was contribute to his declining control and to things bottoming out with a terrible first half of ’71 in Winnipeg. What saved Balor was his Army hitch that summer which took him away from baseball for nine months. When he returned in ’72 he put together a nice season at Double A Quebec and then got promoted to Montreal.

Moore had a pretty lame start to his ’72 stay in Montreal, going 0-3 with an ERA over 6.00 in his first few starts. But things improved markedly each month and by the end of the year he had nearly ten strikeouts per nine innings and seemed to deliver on his promise. Then in ’73 came more pressure to use the slider, a significant ramp-up in walks, and the short stint in the minors. In ’74 the control was still an issue but he improved his ERA to under 4.00 in a couple starts and had 16 K’s in 13 innings before he hurt his ankle. Sent down to Triple A to work on his control and rehab he hurt the elbow, had a couple disastrous outings, and was done for the season. After starting off the ’75 season still in Triple A with 45 walks in 27 innings Montreal – the organization never bought that his arm was hurt – sold Balor to the Angels. For them he threw much better in a few stints in A ball – a 0.96 ERA in four starts – before Frank Jobe removed bone chips from Balor’s elbow. Rehab was tough in ’76 – a 6-12 record with a 5.55 ERA in Double A – but a combined 6-4 season with a 3.52 ERA out of the pen in '77 at a couple minor league levels got Balor back to the majors where he went 0-2 with a 3.97 ERA in a few games of swing work. Early in the ’78 season he was sold to Toronto. Seems the Texas boy couldn’t stay away from Canada.

Moore looked like a good pick-up for the Blue Jays early in the ’78 season when he had a 4-1 record with a 3.18 ERA and re-established his control. Unfortunately that run was more of a blip than a resurgence and the rest of the way he was 2-8 with an ERA approaching 6.00. He would stick with Toronto through the ’80 season, going a combined 12-17 for the Blue Jays with an ERA just south of 5.00 up top and a bit worse in a few games in the minors. After being released in September 1980 he hooked up with both the Milwaukee and Houston organizations in ’81 but didn’t do too well at their Triple A levels. That finished him up in baseball with a record of 28-48, 16 complete games, four shutouts, a save, and a 4.52 ERA at the MLB level and 43-63 with a 3.90 ERA in the minors.

Though he spent a major part of his career up north, Moore returned to Texas full-time post-career and got involved in a whole new one, becoming an officer at Brittex Pipe Company in the early Eighties and the company’s owner in ’84. He continues to run the pipeline company and plays lots of golf as well as in an occasional old-timers game.

Balor’s start to his career was pretty amazing and it took a while for his ERA to have a number before the decimal point. I don’t know what this guy was doing fooling around with the Longhorns before he signed. Seems to me Baylor would have been the best choice.

So just because I’m too busy to look up Watergate stuff I am going to revive another event-type commentary to close the posts. In 1976 MLB had each team submit its best moment to the league to honor its centennial. For Montreal it was its home opener in ’69. That game occurred on April 14^th at old Jarry Park – or Parc Jarry if you were Canadian – and the Expos won 8-7 over the Cardinals. The winning pitcher was Dan McGinn who pitched over five shutout innings in relief of Larry Jaster and the hitting star was Mack Jones, who knocked in five runs with a triple and a homer.

So these two guys were in the same division but probably didn’t run into each other too much:

1. Moore and Bill Stoneman ’70 and ’72 to ’73 Expos;

2. Stoneman and Ron Santo ’67 to ’68 Cubs;

3. Santo and Gene Hiser ‘’71 to ’73 Cubs.

#452 - Gene Hiser

It goes like this sometimes. We move from a guy who had an extended career to one who barely had one, at least in terms of MLB at bats. This is Gene Hiser’s first and only solo card. He had a rookie one – with Burt Hooton – in the ’72 set. Gene is giving us the old extended bat pose while at least one guy in the background looks impressed at Candlestick. ’73 was by far his busiest year up top as it was his only season with over 100 at bats and no time in the minors. He also parked his only homer that year and it was meaningful as it tied up a game the Cubbies went on to win. Defensively, he got into 64 games split pretty evenly between all three outfield spots and made only one error. It was the only error of his career.

Gene Hiser grew up outside Baltimore where he played soccer and baseball at Towser High and then continued in both sports at the University of Maryland. He was all-ACC in baseball for three years and in his senior year of ’70 led the conference with a school-record eleven homers while being named first team All-American. That year the Cubs drafted him in the first round and he went right to Triple A where he had an OK season. After pounding the ball in ’71 spring training he split the season between a short stint of A ball, Triple A – he was loaned to the Houston organization for that run - and his debut season for the Cubs. In ’72 it was back to Triple A where he put up a nice average, showed pretty good speed at the top of the order, and posted a .396 OBA. After again getting into a few games in Chicago, ’73 was all Cubbies. In ’74 and ’75 he reprised the back and forth between Triple A and up top, fading to a .247 season at the lower level the first year but rebounding to hit .320 with a .394 OBA the second year. In Chicago he continued his reserve role, hitting .235 in ’74 and .242 in ’75 in his final MLB season. ‘76 was split between the Cubs and the White Sox in Triple A where he hit a combined .248 and closed out his career. Gene hit .202 for the Cubs and .267 with a .356 OBA in the minors.

Hiser has had a pretty good run since playing. He graduated Maryland with a degree in education and initially continued his off-season job of running a sporting goods store which he did through ’79. He then became an insurance rep for MassMutual and settled in Hoffman Estates, MD. In ’83 he and another MassMutual guy opened a financial advisory business named Barrett and Hiser which in ’97 was bought by GCG Financial. Gene remains there as a principal. For about 17 years he was also a local travel soccer coach at which he apparently had a pretty good run. He organizes and participates in various golf outings.

There are Gene’s monster ’71 spring training numbers. Too bad he couldn’t follow through on them. At Maryland he was a teammate of future Indian Jim Norris and he shared all-ACC honors with Tom Bradley, who’ll be coming up in a few posts.

Let’s use the guy with whom Gene shared his rookie card for this exercise:

1. Hiser and Burt Hooton ’71 to ’75 Cubs;

2. Hooton and Tommy John ’76 to ’78 Dodgers.

#451 - Tommy John

A guy I used to work with always said never to trust a person with two first names. But this guy always seemed pretty honest. Still over a year before his famous surgery, Tommy John looks like he’s in a bit of pain at Shea. That look sort of belies the season he was undergoing. After experiencing a season-ending injury in his first year in LA in ’72, Tommy put any fears regarding his comeback to rest early in the ’73 season and went on to record his best record – until then - in his new town mostly through immaculate control (only 50 walks in 220 innings). Then in ’74 things were going even better: the Dodgers were chugging to the NL West title behind Andy Messersmith (11-2 at the break) and Tommy (11-3) when in his final start before the All-Star game his arm “went dead.” It would be his final game of the season – fortunately for LA Don Sutton filled the gap by going an amazing 13-1 after the break – and when it was discovered by team doctor Frank Jobe that Tommy had an ulnar nerve problem, Tommy made the very unusual decision to go under the knife. History was born in the ensuing operation but it would take a while to reveal its legacy.

Tommy John grew up in Indiana which means that he played basketball. He was apparently good enough to get recruited by Kentucky and is listed on some sites as playing for Indiana State. I have been unable to verify that and according to Wikipedia Tommy attended ISU but never actually played there, which seems more plausible. What he did do, after an illustrious high school run as a pitcher during which he was 28-2, was sign with Cleveland in ’61.  His money pitch back then was a curveball and his first summer in D ball he went 10-4 with a 3.17 ERA. In ’62 he had control issues and put up a record of 8-10 with a 4.06 ERA in a season split between A and Triple A. Then in ’63 he rallied to go 15-10 with a 2.60 ERA split between Double A and Triple A and made his debut up top that September, posting a nice ERA in three starts and some bullpen work. In ’64 Tommy began the season in Cleveland, was told to add a slider to his pitch arsenal, and posted not great numbers while instituting his new pitch. By mid-year he was back in Triple A where his numbers only improved to 6-6 but with a 4.26 ERA. The following January Cleveland sent Tommy, Tommie Agee, and John Romano to the White Sox in a three-team deal in which the team picked up former star Rocky Colavito from Kansas City. According to the book “The Curse of Rocky Colavito,” it was the Tribe’s worst trade since they traded Colavito away.

With the White Sox, John moved to a team that had much better defense and with his slider a year older his numbers improved markedly since most of his outs were ground ball ones. He won 14 each of his first two years and his ERA improved each of his first four seasons. In both ’66 and ’67 he led the AL in shutouts. In ’68 he was having an excellent season though the team wasn’t doing too well when in August Dick McAuliffe charged the mound after he thought Tommy threw at him. John defended himself but during the tumble separated his shoulder and missed the rest of the season. When he returned the next year the club was in the midst of a bad run and over the next three seasons he posted losing records with escalated ERA’s – though they were well better than league averages – and even had control issues. In ’70 he led the AL in wild pitches. After the ’71 season he went to the NL and the Dodgers with Steve Huntz for Dick Allen. Tommy’s renaissance in LA was pretty complete as he posted a record of 40-15 with a 2.89 ERA in three years before he got hurt. In ’72 he missed a bunch of starts due to an elbow injury incurred while running the bases and in both ’73 and ’74 he led the NL in winning percentage. Given his future success in the post-season his loss during the ’74 Series was probably significant.

After the operation and a long rehab in ’75 John returned to the mound in ’76 and in 31 starts went 10-10 with a 3.09 ERA to win NL Comeback Player of the Year. He improved on those numbers by winning 20 in ’77 and 17 in ’78 and both years finally got post-season work, killing the Phillies in the NL Playoffs, and going 1-1 in the Series against the Yankees. After the ’78 season he became a free agent and signed almost immediately with his former Series opponents. In NY Tommy kicked off with probably his two finest seasons, going a combined 43-18 with a 3.20 ERA in ’79 and ’80. In the ’81 strike year he went 9-8 with his best NY ERA of 2.63 and that year faced his former mates in the Series. In ’82 he was 10-10 by August when he was traded to California for Dennis Rasmussen and then went 4-2 during the Angels’ stretch run. But from then through mid-’85 he went only a combined 20-30 with an escalated ERA and then was picked up off waivers by Oakland for whom he went 2-6 the second half of ’85. Tommy then returned to the Yankees as a free agent at age 43 where after a short stint in the minors he went 5-3 with a 2.93 ERA in ’86. He followed that up with a 13-6 season in ’87 and then went 11-15 as he finished up his career the next two years. When he was done in ’89 Tommy was 288-231 lifetime with a 3.34 ERA with 162 complete games and 46 shutouts. He appeared in four All-Star games and in the post-season was 6-3 with a 2.65 ERA in 14 games.

After playing John took off a year in ’90 to write and promote an autobiography. In ’91 he became the baseball coach at Westminster Academy, a school in Florida attended by his three sons. He stayed there through ’94 when he became a broadcaster for the Twins which he did through the ’96 season. From ’97 to 2006 he was mostly affiliated with the Charlotte Knights, a Triple A team for whom he did announcing and some coaching. When not with the Knights he broadcast Yankee games (’98) and was a pitching coach in the Montreal system (2002-’03) and manager of the Staten Island Yankees (’04).  After the Knights he moved to manager of the independent Bridgeport Bluefish for whom he went 159-176 from 2007 to ’09. He left that gig to take a sales and contact job with Sportable Scoreboards.

Tommy took his lifetime record above .500 in ’73 and shows a bunch of admirably low walk totals. Both years he was injured (’68 and ’72) look like they could have been his two best seasons.

A battery-mate helps in this hook-up:

1. John and Bob Boone ’82 to ’84 Angels;

2. Boone and Richie Hebner ’77 to ’78 Phillies.

#450 - Rich Hebner

Here’s Richie Hebner – Topps liked to call him Rich – posing in spring training in front of what appears to be a bunch of fans checking out some action on one of the other fields, although that one guy in what I’m hoping is a yellow shirt seems to be checking out our subject. The shot also appears to have been taken in ’73 since that looks like a piece of electrical tape coming off his left shoulder (at this point my guess is that the Pirates put the tape on the sleeves in honor of Roberto Clemente before they were able to get the patches with his number). Judging by Richie’s card number Topps loved the guy since only thirteen guys in the set received his or a higher designation (cards ending in 50 or multiples of 100). I was certainly a big enough fan of the guy – he could be a pretty entertaining interview subject – and he did have a pretty good ’73, putting up until then personal bests in homers and RBI’s. He also hit an inside-the-park homer on Opening Day (I guess that should be capitalized). But I’m not terribly sure what he did to earn the honor. Then again, I’m just a guy with a blog, so what do I know.

Richie Hebner grew up outside Boston where at Norwood High he was a hockey and baseball star. In the latter sport he hit well over .400 in both his junior and senior years. The Bruins drafted him after his senior year – in which he had 29 goals and was an All-American – of ’66 but Richie opted for the other guys who drafted him, the Pirates, who selected him as a first round pick. He wasted little time in tagging the ball in the minors, hitting .359 with 20 RBI’s in 26 Rookie League games that summer. In ’67 he hit .336 in A ball and settled in at third base after being primarily a shortstop until then. In ’68 he hit .276 in Triple A and then made his debut that September. In his first MLB at bat he had to take over the count when the guy in the line-up ahead of him had been thrown out of the game for arguing the two strike calls against him. Richie went to the plate already down 1-2 and then watched as Freddie Patek, who was on first, got gunned down trying to steal second. That sounds like a no pressure introduction to MLB.

In ’69 Hebner started hot after being given the starting third base gig in spring training. He was hitting nearly .400 in mid-May and settled for being the only rookie in either league to hit over .300 that season. He probably would have made Topps Rookie team but Coco Laboy of Montreal showed a bit more power. The next year his numbers stayed roughly the same and he then hit .667 in the NL playoffs. In '71 he missed some weekends and about half a month mid-summer - military reserve? - but when around amped up his power considerably and then was a huge hand in winning his Series ring, knocking in eight runs in his seven post-season games. In ’72 he lost his first time to bad knees but he was able to keep his power elevated that year and the next few seasons. In ’74 he got his most at bats and hits of his career as his average rose 20 points. The next couple seasons he lost a bit more time to sore knees, his homers got reduced to single digits the second year, and both seasons he put up sub-.250 averages. Following the '76 season he went to the Phillies as a free agent.

For Philadelphia Hebner moved to first base, replacing the departed Dick Allen and Bobby Tolan. There he resumed his pre-'75 stat lines, averaging .284/18/66 seasons in just over 400 at bats per. He also returned to the post-season both years and in '77 hit .357 against the Dodgers. Then in ’79 when the Phillies picked up Pete Rose to play first, Richie went to the Mets with Jose Moreno for pitcher Nino Espinosa. There, for a crappy team, he became about the 500^th third baseman in the New York history and put up nice numbers with a .268 average and 79 RBI’s. After that season he was on the move again, going to Detroit and the AL for Jerry Morales and Phil Mankowski.

Hebner had a bang-up first season in Detroit in ’80, hitting .290 with 82 RBI’s – his personal best – in only 341 at bats as he split time between first and third. But his follow-up season didn’t go so well as Richie, never a fast guy to begin with – was bedeviled by bad wheels and saw his numbers drop pretty significantly in the strike year. In ’82 he started about a third of the games at first and had revived his average almost 50 points when in August he got sold back to Pittsburgh. For the Pirates he hit .300 as mostly a right fielder during the stretch drive. He remained in Pittsburgh for the ’83 season, subbing mostly at third while he hit .265.  He then moved to the Cubs as a free agent where he spent two seasons backing up the corners and pinch-hitting. In '84 he helped win a division title by hitting .300 in the pinch and .333 overall and his second year he put up 22 RBI's in only 120 at bats. After the ’85 season he was done with a .276 average with 203 homers, 890 RBI’s, and a .352 OBA. He hit .270 with four homers and 16 RBI’s in 30 post-season games as well.

Hebner, who famously worked in his dad’s cemetery digging graves during off-seasons, moved into coaching once his playing career ended. In ’87 he coached a local American Legion team and somehow turned that into managing in the Toronto chain the next year (he did come in first place in ’88). He then went to Boston as hitting coach under Joe Morgan (’89-’91) before returning to the Toronto system as a roving hitting coach (’92-’94) and manager (’95-’96). He then hooked up with the Pittsburgh system as a coach (’97-’99) and manager (2000) before returning to the top as the Phillies hitting coach in 2001. He then began a long tenure with the Durham Bulls, then a Tampa Rays Triple A affiliate, as its hitting coach from ’02 to ’07. After that it was to the Orioles system for two years as a manager (’08-’09) and one as a coach. After not coaching in 2011 he was named the manager of the Norwood Navigators, a summer college league team, in 2012. As a manager Richie has gone 316-331. 

Richie had to get a big bonus to compete with the hockey guys. His brother umped in the International League a bunch of years and was a pretty good hockey player himself.

Charlie Sands would work here but he rarely played so let’s try this:

1. Hebner and Milt Wilcox ’80 to ’82 Tigers;

2. Wilcox and Tommy McCraw 72 and ’74 Indians.

#449 - Tommy McCraw

Tom – or Tommy – McCraw almost looks like he’s going to fall down at Yankee Stadium. New York was generally not a great place to fall down back then – especially in the Bronx – so let’s hope he kept his footing. Tommy had a pretty long run with the White Sox, but the last few years of his career he was pretty itinerant. In fact, from ’71 to his final card as a player in ’75 he was not once on successive cards with the same team. And his trades tended to occur at the beginning of the season so most of that time he was on a different team than the one on his card. The trade that got him to California for the ’73 season was one in which he and a minor leaguer were swapped for Leo Cardenas in April. Tommy was then the Angels’ first designated hitter on opening day, though most of the season he played the positions designated on his card. While Tommy probably didn’t play as much as he’d have liked – his primary role was backing up Vada Pinson in left – he did put up his best season average by that point in his career. He also got to hang out a bunch with Frank Robinson and strike up a relationship that would be beneficial down the road.

Tommy McCraw was born in Arkansas and relocated to southern California as a kid. He played at least hoops and baseball at Venice High School and hit .475 his senior year. He then continued both sports at Santa Monica College, a two-year school from which he was signed by the ChiSox in ’60. That year he hit .286 with 79 RBI’s in D ball. In ’61 he hit .326 with 96 RBI’s in C ball and then in ’62 he jumped all the way to Triple A where his average stayed intact as he moved to the top of the order and posted a .408 OBA. In ’63 he was hitting .282 at that level when Chicago first baseman Joe Cunningham went down with an injury and Tommy was called up to replace him. The rest of that season was an indication of the type of player he was for the Sox: very good defense, good speed, not too much average or power. His first few full years he split time at first – initially with Cunningham and then with Bill Skowron – and also played left field. In ’67 and ’68 he was the starter at first and then the next two years split time again – mostly with Gail Hopkins – at first and in the outfield as Chicago investigated putting more power at the former position. Tommy wasn’t too happy by the end of the ’70 season and after it he got moving, going to Washington for Ed Stroud.

DC wasn’t exactly a salve for not playing as McCraw, after a fast start, found himself in the familiar position of backing up first and the outfield. He did have a couple memorable moments, however: a lazy pop-up against Cleveland that went for an inside-the-park homer after three Indians banged into each other chasing it; and making the final Senators out ever when he was picked off trying to steal second after getting on base with a pinch hit, meaning he also had the final Senators hit ever. He also got to play for manager Ted Williams and though his average didn’t reflect Ted’s tutoring, his career would down the road. In ’72 Tommy and former Indian Roy Foster went to Cleveland for Ted Ford. There Tommy played first and all three outfield positions while getting his most at bats since ’68 and posting his best average and OBA (both of which would be topped the next year). In ’74 after starting the season with California he returned in mid-year to Cleveland in a sale. His stats for both teams that season would be eerily similar as he posted exactly 34 hits, eight doubles, three homers, and 17 RBI’s for each one, finishing the year with a .294 average. Before the ’75 season he was named a Cleveland player-coach to join new player-manager Frank Robinson. In the former capacity Tommy was released mid-season after hitting .275. That ended his time as a player with a lifetime .246 average with 75 homers, 143 stolen bases, and 404 RBI’s.

As noted above McCraw moved into his new coaching career right away. He stuck up top with Cleveland through the ’75 season and then moved to be a hitting coach in their minor league system from ’76 to ’79 when he was pulled back up to join Dave Garcia’s staff. He stayed with the Indians through ’82 and then moved to San Francisco (’83-’85) to re-join Robinson. He then moved to the Mets, first in the minors (’86-’88) and then in NY (’92-’96), sandwiched around three seasons in Baltimore (’89-’91). During his time up top in NY the team average rose from .235 to .270. He then went to Houston (’97-2000) and again hooked up with Robinson, this time in Montreal (’02-’06) where he remained through the team’s first season in DC. After that it was back in the Mets system where since 2007 he has been hitting coach of their Gulf Coast League team.

In that ’67 game from the first star bullet, Tommy nearly homered a fourth time when his last hit was caught on the warning track. He also had an interesting moment when he made it all the way home on a walk: the fourth ball got away from the catcher and Tommy was almost at second when the throw from the plate went into center; the outfielder then overthrew third base and Tommy was in. Topps gets big points for their forecasting in the cartoon.

Here we use an AL guy who finished up in the NL:

1. McCraw and Elliott Maddox ’71 Senators;

2. Maddox and Ron Hodges ’78 to ’80 Mets.

#448 - Ron Hodges

This is the rookie card of Ron Hodges. Ron had a very interesting initial season in MLB. First off he was called up despite hitting only .173 in the minors, and that was in Double A. The Mets were in a bind: Jerry Grote broke his wrist the second week of May and NY bought Jerry May from Kansas City to replace him. May then went two-for-three in his first start a couple games later but sprained his own wrist in that game and would only get into a couple more games before he got released. Then there was Duffy Dyer, pressed into a starting role, but hitting only about .140 while playing every day. So Ron got the nod, leap-frogging the Triple A guys – they weren’t hitting too well either – because he handled pitchers much better. He then hit .306 in his first 15 games while Mets starters went 8-7 with him behind the plate. While that won-loss mark doesn’t seem too hot at that point the team was 25-32 when he wasn’t starting. Ron cooled off a bit offensively, but in September he was part of probably the biggest Mets play of the year: the “ball off the wall” play where he combined with Cleon Jones and Wayne Garrett to nail Richie Zisk at the plate in a game that helped NY win their division. By playoff time everyone was relatively healthy again so Ron only got one post-season plate appearance. But he made it count, getting on base with a walk. He would then settle into a long career with the Mets as a back-up guy for Grote, John Stearns, and Alex Trevino. I always like Ron’s ’77 card when he was a dead ringer for Thurman Munson in an action shot. Plus he's got a great surname for a Met. Here he is a bit more pedestrian in a posed shot at Shea.

Ron Hodges is from Rocky Mount, Virginia, and upon graduating from its Franklin High School in ’68 went to Appalachian State University where he pounded the ball pretty hard, including his first ’69 season when he hit .422. He hit well over .300 in both ’70 – when he was drafted in the sixth round by the Orioles – and ‘71, when he was a first round pick in two separate drafts by Kansas City and Atlanta, but opted not to sign with any of those teams. He did sign with the Mets after they picked him in the January ’72 draft in the second round and forewent his senior season for a pretty good year in A ball which included a .380 OBA. After a nice IL season he moved up to Double A in ’73 and then to NY. In ’74 he stayed up top as the third-string guy behind Grote and Dyer. When in ’75 John Stearns joined the club after a trade from Philadelphia Ron spent most of the year at Triple A Tidewater – where he hit .266 with a .372 OBA – before returning to New York for the rest of his career. In ’76 he had four homers and 24 RBI’s in only 155 at bats and in ’77 he hit .265 behind Grote and Stearns. The next two years were pretty much all Stearns in that catcher’s two best seasons and Ron was the number two guy. Then in ’80 Stearns got hurt for the first time and Alex Trevino got the starting nod. Ron got hurt that year also when in a game against Montreal he separated his shoulder going into first. The next year he was on the other side of an injury – again against Montreal – when, trying to nail Tim Raines attempting to steal second, he drilled pitcher Craig Swan in the back, breaking two of Swan’s ribs. In ’82 Stearns got hurt again and Ron got a bunch more at bats (the third string guy that season was Bruce Bochy, current Giants manager), topping out career-wise in homers (five) and RBI’s with 27. Then in ’83 Ron was the starter when Stearns missed pretty much the whole year. Though he had zero power that year he hit .260 with a .383 OBA. The next year Mike Fitzgerald took over and in his last season Ron again moved to the number two position. He finished with a .240 average with a .342 OBA. That walk in ’73 was his only post-season appearance.

After playing Hodges returned to Rocky Mount where since ’85 he has been a realtor. His site is linked to here. He also has raised three sons that were pretty good athletes themselves. The youngest one, Casey, was drafted by Atlanta in 2008 and had a couple good seasons in Rookie ball and may or may not still be playing Independent League ball.

Ron gets some pretty good star bullets given his short career until then. That tournament average is probably the highest I’ve seen quoted yet on a card in this set. And those IL numbers are what got him promoted to Double A. On the Ultimate Mets Database site, sort of a go-to for Mets fans where they can comment on different players, there is a bunch of derogatory posts regarding Ron’s career until a couple members of his family castigate those posters and defend their dad. Then the negative posts sort of grind to a halt. I dunno. .240 for a back-up catcher who had a pretty good OBA and hit lefty? That doesn't sound too bad. That site is linked to here.

So Ron is the other side of the double hook-up. First for Quilici as manager:

1. Hodges and John Milner ’73 to ’77 Mets;

2. Milner and Bert Blyleven ’78 to ’80 Pirates;

3. Blyleven was managed by Frank Quilici from ’72 to ’75.

Again, the hook-up for Frank as a a player is the same:

1. Hodges and John Milner ’73 to ’77 Mets;

2. Milner and Bert Blyleven ’78 to ’80 Pirates;

3. Blyleven and Frank Quilici ’70 Twins.