#541 - Cleveland Indians/Indians Team Records/Checklist (cont.)

For the second half of the Cleveland team card we get the checklist with its abundance of signatures. We have one Hall of Famer in Gaylord Perry. All the position starters are here but only a couple pitchers, one being Dick Tidrow who I am pretty sure is not in the team photo. But another Hall of Famer is: Warren Spahn is in the first row, fourth in from the right. One other observation about that photo, which I’ll return to below concerns the guy next to Chris Chambliss, fourth from the right in the back row. He’s huge! It looks like he’s got thirty pounds on Chambliss who was pushing two bills himself back then. I think it’s Tommy Smith though I could be wrong on that. On to the pitchers.

Don McMahon was covered on the Giants manager card.

Bob Feller, like Hal Trotsy from the last post, was an Iowa farmboy who threw a mean fastball. Signed by the Indians in ’36 he went 5-3 his rookie year with 76 K’s in 62 innings and then went back to Iowa for his senior year. He never played in the minors and the next summer returned to the Tribe to go 9-7, again with over a K an inning. In his first full season of ’38 he won 17 and led the AL for the first of four consecutive seasons – seven if you just count his full ones – in strikeouts with 240. He was also an All-Star for the first of what would be eight seasons. He then went on a three-year run in which he averaged a record of 25-11 with a 2.83 ERA, five shutouts, and 255 K’s, leading the league each seasons in wins as well. In ’40 he won pitching’s Triple Crown. After Pearl Harbor he immediately signed up for the military as a Navy man and spent WW II on a battleship in the Pacific. He got back in time to go 5-3 at the end of the ’45 season and then picked up where he left off before the service, winning a combined 46 games in ’46 and ’47 with a total of 15 shutouts while again also leading the league in strikeouts. In ’48 his ERA popped a bit and his streak of 20-win seasons ended, though he won 19 and led the AL in K’s his final time. He didn’t have a great Series that year, going 0-2 with a 5.02 ERA in his two starts. Over the next four seasons he continued to average over 30 starts a year and went a combined 62-36 as his K totals declined significantly. In ’51 he led the AL with 22 wins. In ’53 and ’54 he was more of a spot starter, going a combined 23-10 those two seasons and he threw just a few starts and pitched more in relief his final two seasons of ’55 and ’56 before he retired. Bob finished with a record of 266-162 with a 3.25 ERA, 279 complete games, 44 shutouts, 21 saves, and 2,581 strikeouts. After retiring as a player Feller, who was a master negotiator, became the first president of the Major League Players Association which he did for a bunch of years. He was elected to the Hall his first shot in ’61. HaHallHe also made lots of appearances on behalf of the Indians and MLB and remained in the Cleveland area the rest of his life. He passed away in 2010 from complications of leukemia. He was 92.

Jim Bagby Sr. came out of Georgia into D ball in 1910 when he was 20. He went 5-11 that first year but the next went 22-16 at the same level and then 3-1 in A ball, both with excellent ERA’s. He then was purchased by Cleveland and though he went 2-1 with a 3.12 ERA his first five games was returned to the minors where he finished 4-6 in A ball. He then improved to eight wins in ’13, 20 in ’14, and 19 in ’15, all at the same level. He returned to the Tribe in ’16 and went 16-17 with a 2.61 ERA. The next year he went 23-13 with a 1.99 ERA. Jim threw a fadeaway and while he normally pitched well over 250 innings back then his best number in strikeouts for a season was 88, as he specialized in ground outs. After winning 17 each of the next two seasons, both with ERA’s under 3.00, he had his big year in the Series season of ’20 when he went 31-12 with 30 complete games and a 2.89 ERA. His wins led the AL and in the Series he went 1-1 with a 1.80 ERA. His win came in the game that Bill Wamsganss made an unassisted triple play. Jim also became the first pitcher to homer in a Series game in that win. He pitched in bunches, once pitching in eleven of his team’s 18 games. His ’20 season may have been a bit much as he then faded pretty quickly, going a combined 18-17 with a 5.24 ERA the next two seasons. He was traded to Pittsburgh for the ’23 season where he finished up top, going 127-89 for his career with a 3.11 ERA, 133 complete games, 16 shutouts, 29 saves, and only 450 K’s in over 1,800 innings. He was a good hitter, batting .218 with 60 RBI’s in the regular season and .333 with that homer and three RBI’s in the post-season. He finished ’23 out in the PCL and continued to pitch in the minors through 1930, when he also managed a bit in the D league. He won 70 games during that time – he went 151-131 in the minors overall – and finished pitching after his year of managing. After baseball he moved back to the Atlanta area where he ran a dry cleaning business for 14 years and then a gas station for a year. During that time his son Jim Jr. had his pitching career, going 97-96 for several AL teams. In ’41 this Jim returned to baseball as an umpire in the minors. In ’42 he suffered a stroke, which ended his umpiring days. He recovered and spent the rest of his professional time managing local department stores until his death from another stroke in ’54. He was 64. He has a SABR biography.

Johnny Allen grew up in a North Carolina orphanage after his dad died and after playing ball at Thomaston High he went to work in a local hotel. He was doing that when in ’28 when he was 23 he cadged a tryout with a Yankee scout who was staying in the hotel. Signed on the spot, he went 12-13 that summer in D and C ball. In ’29 he won 20 in B ball and after a 12-16 record in Double A the next year, he went 21-9 in ’31 at the same level. He had a nasty temper and during his time in the minors was already bitching about not playing up top. In ’32 he got his wish and went 17-4 his rookie year for NY, leading the AL in win percentage. In ’33 he went 15-7 and then in ’34 only 5-2 with a 2.89 ERA as he got on manager Joe McCarthy’s bad side with his outbursts. After going 13-6 in ’35 he was traded to Cleveland where his first year he won 15 straight before losing his final start during a season in which he missed time for an appendectomy. In ’38 a 12-1 start with an ERA below 3.00 had him on the All-Star team but an injury during the game pulled his numbers down to 2-6 with a 6.29 ERA the rest of the way. He went 9-7 the next year in the rotation and then became a swing guy the duration of his career. After going 9-8 with five saves for the Tribe in ’40 he was sold to the Browns for whom he had a crappy first half of the ’41 season and was then put on waivers. The Dodgers picked him up and over the next two seasons Johnny went a combined 18-7 for Brooklyn before going to the Giants mid-’43. He finished his career with NY in ’44 with a record of 142-75 with a 3.75 ERA – considerably better than his peers back then – with 109 complete games, 17 shutouts, and 18 saves. In the post-season he had no decisions and a 6.23 ERA in four games. He spent ’45 pitching in the Carolina League – he went 69-50 in the minors where he also hit .276 for his career there – and had relocated to St. Petersburg, FLA, during his playing career. There he had purchased a commercial building with his ’32 Series share and got into real estate. He also became an umpire in local minor leagues, rising to chief ump in the Carolina League. He retired from umpiring in ’53 to return full-time to real estate until he passed away in ’59 from a heart attack when he was 54. He too has a SABR bio.

Bob Lemon was a baseball star from Long Beach where he was primarily an infielder. He was signed by Cleveland after he graduated in ’38 and hit .307 that summer as an outfielder/third baseman in C ball. In ’39 he split time between shortstop – where he had a tougher time in the field – and the outfield and maintained his .300 average in both C and A ball. He spent most of ’40 and ’41 in A ball where he hit .255 and .301, respectively, while moving back to third. That second year he debuted in Cleveland, getting into a couple late games. In ’48 he had his big power season in Double A, again while playing third, with a .268/21/80 season that got him a couple more late looks with the Tribe. Then it was off to the Navy for WW II where, while posted in Hawaii, he fooled around with pitching a bit. He returned to the States from the Pacific in ’46 and went up to Cleveland for good, getting a few starts in center – he helped save a Bob Feller no-hitter that year – and beginning his mound career by going 4-5 with a 2.49 ERA as a spot guy. Lem would be a big ground ball pitcher, give up a bit too many dingers, but still win a ton of games. He was a lot like Catfish Hunter as a pitcher. After going 11-5 in a swing role in ’47 he broke loose in ’48 with his first 20-win All-Star season. From that year through ’56 Lem would average 21 wins a year, be an All-Star seven consecutive seasons, lead the AL in wins three times, starts three times, innings four times, complete games five times, and shutouts and even strikeouts once each. He got to the Series twice and did a bang-up job in ’48 with a couple wins and a 1.65 ERA against the Dodgers. After winning 20 in ’56 he aged fast, going a combined 6-12 the next two seasons before finishing off ’58 in the PCL. Lem went 207-128 for his career, with a 3.23 ERA, 188 complete games, 31 shutouts, 22 saves and a post-season mark of 2-2 with a 3.94 ERA in four starts. He was an understandably good hitter, batting .232 with 37 homers and 147 RBI’s for his career. He was elected to the Hall in ’76. In the meantime he stayed busy in baseball initially as a scout (’59) and coach (’60) for the Tribe. He then moved to coach for the Phillies (’61) before moving to the Angels system, first as a coach in the minors (’62-’63), then as manager at that level (’64-’66), and then as a coach up top (’67-’70). In ’69 he took a break to manage in the new Seattle chain. In ’70 the Royals hired him away to manage which he did through ’72. After a year scouting for KC he managed in the Milwaukee (’74) and Atlanta (’75) chains before hooking up with the Yankees as a coach up top (’76). He then managed the White Sox for a season-plus before being dismissed and returning to NY to manage twice (’78-’79, ’81-’82), leading the Yankees to a Series victory that first season. Between those stints and thereafter he scouted for the Yankees back in his Long Beach base. His managing records were 392-428 in the minors and 430-403 in the majors. A big drinker, Lem was in failing health much of the Nineties and he passed away in 2000 at 79.

George Uhle grew up in Cleveland and when he signed his first pro contract with the Indians in 1919 after he was discovered playing local ball he insisted on a clause that he’d go straight to Cleveland. That he did and that summer he was 10-5 with a 2.91 ERA as a spot guy his rookie year. He had a big sidearm sinker that was his out pitch. The next year his numbers tanked a bit though he did throw three shutout innings in the Series. He then went 133-109 the next eight seasons for Cleveland with a decent ERA, his best years being ’22 when he went 22-16 with an AL-leading five shutouts; ’23 when he went 26-16 and led the league in wins and complete games, with 29; and ’26 when he went 27-11 with a 2.83 ERA and again led the AL in wins and complete games. He slowed down a ton in ’27 and the next year was traded to Detroit, where over the next four-plus seasons he went 44-41 in the rotation with a 3.91 ERA. In ’33 he moved to the Giants, and after a few games there went 6-1 as a reliever for the Yankees despite a high ERA to finish out the season. He blew up a bit in ’34 in NY, finished out the season in the minors and then began coaching at that level until he was briefly called to pitch for the Tribe again in ’36, his final MLB season. George went 200-166 with a 3.99 ERA, 232 complete games, 21 shutouts, and 25 saves. Another good-hitting pitcher, he batted .289 for his career with nine homers and 187 RBI’s and was frequently called on to pinch hit. He coached in the Cleveland system in ’35 and again in ’38 and ’39 when he also pitched a bit. In ’36 and ’37 he coached in Cleveland. He then coached for the Cubs in ’40 and part of ’41 before going to the Dodgers as a coach (’41-’42) and scout (’42-’43). His last bit was as a coach for the Senators (’44) before he retired from baseball that summer with a bad back. He then became a manufacturing representative for Arrow Aluminum near Cleveland. He passed away in Ohio in ’85 when he was 86.

So in terms of actual numbers, the ’73 Indians are represented pretty well in this set. Two position guys are missing who had over 100 at bats in Leo Cardenas, who’d come over from California for a season to back up Frank Duffy at shortstop; and Ron Lolich, Mickey’s cousin, who was in his final season as an outfielder. Leo hit .215 in 195 at bats and Ron .229 in 140 at bats. The missing pitchers are Ray Lamb, a reliever who went 3-3 with a 4.60 ERA and two saves in his final season; Jerry Johnson, 5-6 with a 6.18 ERA and five saves in his sole season with the Tribe; and Steve Dunning, 0-2 with a 6.50 ERA in four games his last year in Cleveland. So not too many guys, but enough accrued stats – 335 at bats and 19 decisions – to push Cleveland towards the bottom of the list. Some of these guys are in the photo: Cardenas is in the second row, second in from the right; Lolich – I believe – is the third guy from the left in the back row next to Gaylord Perry; and Lamb is the guy with the monster handlebar mustache in the second row between Dave Duncan and Walt Williams.

For the hook-up we go through a Chicago Hit Man:

1. Oscar Gamble was on the ’73 Indians;

2. Gamble and Richie Zisk – managed by Bob Lemon – on the ’77 White Sox;

3. Zisk and Bob Robertson ’73 to ’76 Pirates.

#541- Cleveland Indians/Indians Team Records

OK, so here’s the poop for anyone who cares. I had to split for a bit and sometimes when I do that I pre-write the posts and post-date them so they go up on Blogger about once a day. Somehow I screwed that up and then completely lost this one which stinks since it is so damn long. So this one will probably come up around mid-May which will be a pretty big gap. Oh well. It couldn’t have happened to a more fitting post. The 1973 Cleveland Indians were not too crazily different from their other recent teams, except of course in the line-up. In fact, outside of Chris Chambliss not one position in ’73 was filled by the same regular guy as it was in ’71. That’s a lot of turnover and though the Tribe had some interesting young guys – Chambliss, Buddy Bell, Charlie Spikes, Dick Tidrow – come along during that span, the team also had to put up with the near constant raids by the Yankees that already claimed the team’s best slugger in Graig Nettles and would also soon claim Tidrow and Chambliss. It was also Ken Aspromonte’s second year managing and depending on who you asked Ken was either just a low-key guy or a manager who turned control of the team over to his ace Gaylord Perry and Perry’s goon, John Ellis. Either way, between the turnover, the lack of real authority, and the uneven performances the team never got any real traction and finished with yet another losing record. Things needed to change and in about a year they would with an historical appointment that worked, at least for a while. Here the team looks a bit bleached out posing at home and I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a guy in a windbreaker with the coaches before. Oscar Gamble and his afro are easy to spot as is pretty much everyone else. And this will be a split post so nothing on the checklist until the next one.

That was some team in ’54 and it’s pretty crazy how after all those wins it went down so fast to the Giants. Blame Willy Mays I guess. Here we go on the bio’s:

Leon “Daddy Wags” Wagner was covered on the Angels team post.

Carl Lind, first real name Henry, was a New Orleans guy through and through. He went to Tulane after high school where he played ball through ’25 – he was team captain in ’23 – and from the school photos of him appeared to have either also played hoops or run track. He was admitted to the school’s hall of fame in 1980 but there is no associated bio out there. Carl signed with Peoria in ’26 and in the B league that year hit .292 while playing shortstop. He then spent most of ’27 in A ball at Denver where he upped his average to .331 before playing a couple games in Double A and then being sold to the Indians for a September call-up. He only hit .135 in his few games but did nice work at second base and so was given the starting gig there in ’28. He did a nice job, leading the AL in at bats while hitting .294 and scoring 102 runs with 42 doubles. He returned to that role in ’29 and started off the season swimmingly defensively and after an April set against Detroit in which he recorded eight double plays was on a record pace for that statistic. But offensively he was in trouble and took until the end of May to get his average above .200. He’d contracted malaria in winter ball and it was surmised that his health was pretty bad for a bit. He spent the summer of ’29 on the DL and finished the year at .240 in 225 at bats. In ’30 it was more of the same except the Tribe sent him down much earlier, ending his career up top with a .272 average in 256 games. He finished out the year in A ball where he hit .307 and in ’31 hit only .226 in a season split between A and Double A. He hit .264 in A ball in ’32, his last regular season. For a short while he seems to have worked locally in the New Orleans area as a college hoops referee and may or may not have later coached at that level. Info on him pretty much dries up then and even baseball-reference has a tough time, indicating he died in both 1946 and 2001.

Earl Averill grew up in Snohomish, Washington where he played local rec ball until he had to leave school and work at age 15 in about 1917. He got re-involved with local ball around 1920 and was good enough that people in his hometown paid for him to go to Seattle for a tryout with a team loosely affiliated with the Indians in ‘24. He didn’t make the cut, joined a local team in Bellingham, WA, where he hit about .269 before upping that big to over .400 in ’25. That got him signed by the San Francisco Seals, the PCL powerhouse, where over the next three seasons Earl averaged about .342 on way over 200 hits – the PCL played about 190 games a year back then – and 27 homers as a center fielder. In ’29 he was sold to Cleveland and he was a huge hitter right off the bat, hitting .332 his rookie year, with 110 runs and 96 RBI’s. Earl would have a great ten-year run for the Tribe, during which he averaged .325 on about 190 hits, 115 runs, 37 doubles, 12 triples, 23 homers, and 108 RBI’s per year, including a ’35 season when he had to play with a blistered hand because a firecracker had gone of in it on July Fourth. He bounced big to have his biggest season in ’36 with a .378 average on an AL-leading 232 hits and 15 triples. In ’37 he developed a spinal condition that killed his stroke, though he continued to be the regular center fielder through ’38, hitting .330 that season. During the ’39 season he was traded to Detroit where he finished the year as the reular guy in left and in ’40 finally saw some post-season action as a reserve. He finished up with the Boston Braves in ’41 with a .318 average on 2,019 hits, 238 homers, 128 triples, and 1,164 RBI’s in about eleven full seasons. He went hitless in his Series at bats and made each of the first eight All-Star teams. He finished the ’41 season back in Seattle of the PCL – he hit .325 – and then retired from playing back to his hometown where he helped run the family greenhouse business. That he did until 1950 when he bought a motel that he ran the next twenty years. He retired in ’70, made the Hall in ’75, and passed away in ’83 from pneumonia at 81. He has a great bio linked to here.

Joe Jackson is covered on the White Sox team page.

Charlie Jamieson was a Jersey kid who grew up in Paterson (he went to the same high school as Larry Doby). Signed by Buffalo, a Double A team, in 1912 when he was 19, he kicked off his career as a pitcher and his first two years went a combined 27-17 with a 2.97 ERA. In ’14 he started putting in some outfield time and while his pitching stats fell a bunch to 3-8 and a 4.60 ERA, he hit .308 that year. In ’15 it was all outfield as he hit .307 in 138 games. He was sold to the Senators that September and hit .279 that final month. After another season-plus of little use he was selected off waivers by the A’s in July ’17. Though he got more regular time the rest of that season and the next his numbers weren’t so hot and prior to the ’19 season he went to Cleveland in a trade. That year he had to do after-war service work and he missed pretty much the whole season. But in ’20 he gradually worked his way into the regular spot in left, hit .319 and began his eleven seasons as the regular guy there. While with the Tribe he averaged .316 with a .390 OBA and about 89 runs a season. He had his biggest year in ’23 when he led the AL with 222 hits and hit .345. The next year he hit .359. He batted over .300 eight of his eleven full seasons and twice had over 200 hits. He wound things down in ’31 and ’32 and then played a final season in Jersey City in ’33 when he was 40. Charlie finished up top with a .303 average on 1,990 hits and hit .333 in six games in the ’20 Series. He also pitched a bit and went a combined 2-1 with a 6.19 ERA in 48 innings. While playing he frequently played in local fall leagues back in Jersey under an assumed name, though everybody knew it was him. He returned to the Paterson area full time where I have been unable to find what he did professionally. He passed away there in ’69 at age 76.

George Burns was called Tioga George after a town in PA near where he grew up in Philly to distinguish him from another George Burns who was playing when this George came up to The Show. After leaving school at 16 to play local ball, George eventually worked his way to the pros by the time he was 20 in ’13 in D and A ball out west, hitting .338 at the lower level and .301 at the higher one. He was sold to Detroit prior to the ’14 season and hit .291 his rookie year as the team’s regular first baseman. He remained with Detroit through ’17 putting up decent but unspectacular numbers, peaking in ’16 with a .286 average and 73 RBI’s. He was then sold to the Yankees and flipped to the A’s and hit .352 his first year in Philly on an AL-leading 178 hits. His average fell to .296 the next year and shortly into the ’20 season he was sold to Cleveland for his first round with the Tribe. While he barely played as a back-up first baseman he did hit .300 with three RBI’s in the Series that year. After another season of back-up work in ’21 – though he hit .361 with 49 RBI’s in 224 at bats – he was traded to Boston, took over first for the Sox, and averaged .317 with totals of 19 homers and 155 RBI’s his two seasons there. He then returned to the Tribe where he settled into a regular gig at first the next few years. After putting up comparable numbers to his Boston ones the next two seasons he broke out in an MVP ’26 season, hitting .358 with 115 RBI’s, an AL-leading 216 hits and a record-setting 64 doubles. After settling back to his pre-’26 level in ’27 – but with 51 doubles – he spent the next two seasons playing sparingly for Cleveland, the Yankees, and back with the A’s. He finished with MLB marks of .307 with 444 doubles, 72 homers, 952 RBI’s, and 2,018 hits. In the post-season he hit .250 in six games. Somehow while playing up top George also managed to manage – oops – teams in the minors his last three seasons. He did that again briefly in ’30 before that season moving out to play and then both manage and play in the PCL. He hit well out there for those super long seasons, averaging about .337 in his five years as a regular. He then relocated to Seattle full time and became a deputy in the sheriff’s department which he did through his retirement in ’68. He passed away early in ’78 from cancer at age 84. He has a SABR bio.

Al Rosen was a Jewish kid who was born in South Carolina and grew up in Florida where he played ball through bouts of asthma and boxed to defend his heritage. He became awfully good at both and after high school continued to do so at the University of Florida for a year. He left school in ’42 to play pro ball and signed with a D affiliate of the Indians where he hit .307 that summer. He then went into the Navy for WW II where he was in the Pacific Theater until early ’46. He returned that summer to C ball and hit .323 with 16 homers and 86 RBI’s and then moved to Double A the next year where he exploded with a .349/25/141 season and then got some token at bats that Fall with the Tribe as he would the next couple seasons. In both ’48 and ’49 he put up big numbers in Triple A before a mid-year call-up that second season. Initially in Cleveland Al had to play third behind Ken Keltner but in ’50 he finally gained the starting spot and, still a rookie, led the AL with a then rookie record 37 homers, hitting .287 with 116 RBI’s and a .405 OBA. In ’51 he disappointed himself with a .265/24/102 year but bounced in ’52 with a .302.28/105 season in which he led the AL in RBI’s. That was also the first of his four successive All-Star seasons. His MVP season came in ’53 when he narrowly missed the Triple Crown with a .335/43/145 season in which he lost the hitting title by .001 to Mickey Vernon. He also led the AL with 115 runs and had an OBA of .422. But Al had a bad back and after a ’54 season of .300/24/102 he faded pretty fast the next two seasons and voluntarily retired after the ’56 one. Al put up a .285 average with 192 homers and 717 RBI’s and .384 OBA in basically six full seasons. He only struck out about once every ten at bats, pretty good for a power guy. In the post-season he hit .231 in four games. After playing he became a broker in Cleveland with Bache and Company, a forerunner of what is now Prudential. He did that for 17 years while also coaching in the spring. He then left to work in casino management which he did until ’78 when he was hired to be GM of the Yankees, a frustrating task under the Boss. Al lasted through that year’s title and then quit in ’79 after being frustrated with his role (Sparky Lyle was not a fan in “The Bronx Zoo”) and then returned to casino management for a couple years. In ’80 he became GM of the Astros and though his time there was frustrating as well the team went 386-372 through ’85 when he left. He then took the same role in San Francisco where he helped revive the Giants to two playoff appearances and helped the team go 589-475 through ’92 when he retired to California, where he continues to reside. Al has a SABR page as well.

I always want to put an extra T in Hal Trosky’s name and turn him into a revolutionary but Hal actually had a pretty mellow youth while growing up on his dad’s farm in Iowa. A big three sports guy in high school, he was signed by a local scout of the Indians when he graduated in ‘31, hit .302 his first summer in D ball, and .322 in ’32 in a season split mostly between D and B ball. Hal batted cross-handed, a habit he continued in the majors. In ’33 he hit .323 with 33 homers in Double A and then .295 in his September call-up for the Tribe. His first play at first base he fielded a liner by Babe Ruth that was hit so hard it knocked his glove into right field. He then had a huge rookie year in ’34 during which he hit .330 with 35 homers and 142 RBI’s. In ’35 his numbers faded a bit to a .271/26/113 season. In ’36 he had his biggest year with a .343/42/162 season as his RBI total led the AL along with his total bases. The next three years he averaged .321/25/114 seasons but his playing time decreased each season as he began experiencing incapacitating migraine headaches. In ’40 his numbers dropped to .295/25/93 and his RBI totals coming in at under 100 bummed him a bunch. In ’41 as team captain he relegated himself to platoon work at first and after a .294/11/51 half-season he took himself out of the line-up full time to return to Iowa, farm for the war effort, and try to solve his headache issues. After sitting out all of ’42 and ’43 he returned in ’44 to play for the White Sox and as their first baseman hit .271 with ten homers and 70 RBI’s to lead the team. The headaches again took him out of action in ’45 and he returned to Chicago in ’46 to hit .254 in his final season. He finished with a .302 average, 228 homers, and 1,012 RBI’s. In ’47 he managed a local semi-pro team and for the next few seasons worked as a scout for the ChiSox. He continued farming through ’62 when he took a gig selling agricultural real estate, which he did a bit over ten years. He passed away of a heart attack at home in ’79 at age 66.eHHeHYeHJh

#540 - Bob Robertson

Now this is an action shot. Big Bob Robertson shows a mighty swing in Pittsburgh and if he’s on target the ball is about an inch out of the frame. Poor Bob was in the midst of a long career down-stride which saw a lot of early promise get arrested by injuries. By the time of this photo he had no knees and a messed-up back which constricted both his playoff time and his stats. But he was still capable of launching an occasional dinger like in September when he busted a three-run crack to put the Pirates in first place. They were able to hold onto that status for about a week before the Mets got them. Bob had some mean muttonchops on some of his cards, especially in ’73 but it’s tough to tell if he’s sporting them here. A little too much action for details.

Bob Robertson was born and raised in the college town of Frostburg, Maryland. He went to Mount Savage High School, a pretty appropriate name given some of his stats there. In hoops he scored over 2,000 points in his four seasons and in baseball as a shortstop and sometimes outfielder he hit .568 his senior year. He was signed by the Pirates after graduating in ’64 and because he grew a bunch his senior year was moved to third base. There he had a bit of trouble getting acclimated to his new position – he barely fielded .800 – but hit the ball at a .302 clip in Rookie ball with 13 homers and 63 RBI’s in only 70 games. In ’65 he moved up to A ball where he improved his numbers on both sides, fielding at a .932 average and putting up a .303 average with 32 homers and 98 RBI’s. In ’66 in Double A he won his league’s triple crown with a .287/32/99 season. He finally slowed down a bit in Triple A in ’67 when he hit .256 with 128 strikeouts in only 367 at bats. But he also had 19 homers and 63 RBI’s in his first season of playing some at first base. He came up to Pittsburgh that September and hit a massive homer at the Astrodome to get everyone excited. In ’68 he had a nice spring training but at the end of it he had to be hospitalized for a kidney infection that required surgery and then a follow-up after the infection spread to his other one. Bob missed the whole season and didn’t swing the bat again until winter instructional league ball when he had seven homers and 27 RBI’s in about 40 games. After another good spring camp he beat out fellow rookie Al Oliver for the first base job but after hitting only .180 with 27 strikeouts in his 78 at bats he was sent down to Triple A where he banged out 34 with 76 RBI’s – and a big reduction in K’s – in only 360 at bats.

Robertson returned to The Show in ’70 to again battle it out for first base time with Oliver, who had a nice rookie year. Bob got most of the starts at first while Al added some outfield time to keep him in the lineup. Bob turned in a pretty big year with those homer and RBI totals in less than 400 at bats. He then added a double to his numbers in the playoff loss to the Reds. His ’71 numbers took a slight haircut to his prior season but his post-season was awesome. He hit three out – one on a missed bunt sign – in one game against the Giants and for the playoffs batted .438 with four homers and six RBI’s. He followed that up with two homers and five RBI’s in the Series win against the Orioles, which was celebrated by the iconic photo of Steve Blass leaping into Bob’s arms. Then the bad stuff happened. Bob had missed about thirty games in ’71 because of knee problems. In ’72 Willie Stargell was moved primarily to first – ironically to take pressure off his knees – and Bob put in some outfield time which aggravated his. He also had a prolonged hitting slump and between those two elements his playing time was reduced about a third, his average collapsed, and his power numbers tanked. In ’73 he injured one knee badly at Wrigley and after a ’74 in which his numbers were pretty good in the power department – 16 homers and 48 RBI’s in only 236 at bats – he had operations on both knees. But his mobility was shot and after bouncing to .274 with a .388 OBA in ’75 (but in only 124 at bats) Bob had another knee operation. That killed his ’76 season during which he hit .217 with only two homers in 129 at bats.

The Pirates released Robertson at the end of spring training in ’77. At the time he claimed he was injured – and a back surgery performed shortly thereafter pretty much confirmed that – and he filed a grievance against the Pirates to collect his season’s pay since he claimed he should have been on the DL and not released (he won). In November he signed as a free agent with Seattle where in ’78 he had not bad numbers as a DH with a.230/8/28 season in 174 at bats. But the Mariners released him and after a short tryout with Kansas City he hooked up with the Blue Jays for whom he played a few games in ’79 before retiring. Bob finished with a .242 average with 115 homers and 368 RBI’s. In the post-season he hit .283 with six homers and 12 RBI’s in 21 games.

After playing Robertson had his own advertising agency and also some motivational speech work. He returned to baseball in the early Nineties to coach in the Houston organization (from about 1990 to ’97) before hooking up as a salesman with Bayliner, a Maryland-based power boat manufacturer, which he was doing at the time of a 2011 interview. He also does card gigs and makes appearances on behalf of the Pirates.

Topps rightfully capitalizes on Bob’s ’71 post-season work for the star bullets. His name is really Robert Robertson – no imagination there – and he liked to play guitar. I know he’s way too big but did this guy used to moonlight for The Band? And nothing personal against Bob, but in this set he’s about the least deserving of a “10” card designation of anyone so far.

The only true link has to go through the Angels since Allen just didn’t pitch enough elsewhere:

1. Roberston and Leroy Stanton ’78 Mariners;

2. Stanton and Lloyd Allen ’72 to ’73 Angels.eHHeHYeHJh

#539 - Lloyd Allen

If there was an AL equivalent for what happened to Steve Blass over in the NL this guy’s season was probably it. Now Lloyd here didn’t have nearly the pre-’73 career that Blass did, but his Angels stats – which represented his whole career through ’72 – were 8-15 with a 3.04 ERA. In ’73 he went 0-6 with a 9.42 ERA. What happened? It began in ’72 when a hamstring injury in May took him out for a couple weeks. After going 0-1 with a 1.69 ERA before the injury, Lloyd went 3-6 with a 4.08 the rest of the way. Lloyd was a power pitcher with a big fastball and slider and after the injury he couldn’t push off the mound as well. Then in ’73 he hurt a shoulder after a fight with nearly former teammate Ed Kirkpatrick in a game against KC. After a few nasty relief innings for the Angels early in the season he went to Texas with Jim Spencer for Mike Epstein, Rick Stelmaszek, and Rich Hand. The Rangers were hoping Lloyd could return to his pre-injury days but after the fight it was more problems with the arm and before you knew it Lloyd couldn’t buy a win up top. So that gloomy sky behind him at Yankee Stadium was pretty indicative of Lloyd’s recent baseball past and near future and this would be his final card.

Lloyd Allen grew up in the small town of Selma, California where he was a big Yankees fan and played the big three sports through high school. There he went 36-7 with a 0.78 ERA and 588 strikeouts in 314 innings for his career, all good enough numbers to make him the Angels’ first round pick of the ’68 draft. He got on a good track pretty quickly, that first summer in pro ball going 4-3 in ten starts with a 2.62 ERA with better than a strikeout an inning in Rookie and A ball. In ’69 he went 10-14 but with a 2.77 ERA in instructional, A, and Triple A ball and added his debut in Anaheim that September though he got rocked around a bit. He then spent most of ’70 in Double A where he went 12-8 despite a spike in his ERA to 4.56. In late August he returned to California where he wrapped up his season nicely as a set up and spot guy.

In ’71 Allen moved to both the pen and California full-time and put together a nice season as the year was falling apart for the rest of the team. He recorded 15 saves as the staff closer and seemed to be on the same path in ’72 until the hamstring problem. He finished that year with five saves as his walks topped his K’s and followed that up with his disastrous ’73. In ’74 he worked infrequently the first half of the season – Billy Martin had zero tolerance for faulty pitching – and though he dropped his ERA a ton, it was only to 6.44. In late June he was taken off waivers by the White Sox and for the rest of the season split time between Chicago – where his ERA returned to double digits – and Triple A, where he went 1-3 in the rotation with a 3.41 ERA. Up top for the season he was 0-2 in twenty games with a 7.45 ERA. More poor numbers in Chicago in ’75 meant the bulk of the year was spent in Triple A where he actually threw quite well, going 9-2 with a 3.42 ERA as a starter in a season split between the Chicago and St. Louis franchises after a mid-year sale. In ’76 for the Cards he went 11-6 with a 2.81 ERA again at Tulsa though those numbers did not prompt a call-up but a release. He was picked up by the new Toronto Blue Jays and nearly made it through spring training until his release. He then attempted short comebacks each of the next three seasons with Iowa, back in the White Sox chain. None of them went terribly well and he retired during the ’79 season. Lloyd finished with a record of 8-25 with a 4.69 ERA and 22 saves up top and 52-45 with a 3.66 ERA in the minors. He also hit .200 against MLB pitching.

Allen got involved in the restaurant business away from playing and by 1980 had become a franchise representative for various chains. He has for a bunch of years now been vice president of international franchising for Escape Enterprises, a steak chain.

Lloyd has some pretty good star bullets, but there are better ones. He led his baseball team to league championships all four seasons of his high school career and in one season threw three consecutive no-hitters. According to Bobby Valentine, Bill Buckner was so pissed that Lloyd was drafted ahead of him in ’68 that in a minor league game he vowed to line a pitch off Allen’s head. That he did; pretty painful retribution. I have not been able to dig up any of Lloyd’s football stats but he was inducted into Selma High School’s hall of fame earlier this year.

So Lloyd and Cesar were teammates in ’74 but Lloyd had too few innings on the mound for the Rangers that year. Let’s use a guy who came over from California with him:

1. Allen and Jim Spencer ’69 to ’73 Angels and ’74 Rangers;

2. Spencer and Cesar Tovar ’74 to ’75 Rangers.

#538 - Cesar Tovar

In one post we get back both an action shot and a Traded card. That seems about right for Cesar Tovar, a guy who once played nine positions in a game. Cesar came to Philadelphia after the ’72 season for Joe Lis, Ken Reynolds, and Ken Sanders. The Phillies had just sent third basemen Don Money and John Vukovich to Milwaukee to clear a path for college guy Mike Schmidt and they then picked up Cesar for insurance in case Mike had trouble with big league pitching. And initially he did, so it was a good thing Tovar was around. But as the season went on Schmidt got more settled at third, Cesar had to have surgery on his knee, didn’t get too much time in the outfield when he returned, and he publicly declared he wanted out of Philly. So did Larry Bowa which was a bit ironic since one of the other reasons the Phillies brought in Cesar was to be an influence on Bowa. But that probably wasn’t what they had in mind.

Cesar Tovar was born in Caracas, Venezuela, where he grew up playing ball, principally at second base. He was signed by Gabe Paul, then working for Cincinnati, while Paul was on a scouting expedition for a friend of Cesar’s named Gus Gil. The Reds wanted Gil and Gil asked them to sign his friend or the deal was off. That Paul did and Cesar got started that summer in D ball where he hit .252. In ’60 he moved up to C ball where he hit significantly better, with ten triples, twelve homers, and a .304 average. Somehow those numbers got him moved back to D ball in ’61 where he put up a 19/78/.338 year while also stealing 88 bases. In ’62 the Reds got it right and moved him up to B ball where he had a 10/78/.329 season with 56 steals. In ’63 he got loaned to the Twins and in Triple A that year he made an impression with an 11/49/.297 season with 41 doubles and 115 runs scored while splitting time between shortstop and the outfield. In ’64 he returned to Cincinnati, stuck in Triple A, added third base to his positions, and had a pretty good year , hitting .275 with 94 runs and 40 stolen bases. When the Twins came calling for a middle infielder, Cesar was their second choice – apparently Tommy Helms was their first – and Minnesota got him for pitcher Gerry Arrigo.

Tovar began ’65 on the Twins roster and did OK, but not good enough to stick, so in a month he was back in Triple A, where he hit .328 with eleven homers and 28 stolen bases the rest of the way. In ’66 he stuck in Minnesota and had a pretty good rookie year, spending most of his time at second while stealing 16 bases. In ’67 and ’68 he had very similar seasons – he had 35 stolen bases the latter year – while splitting time pretty evenly between third base and the outfield. That first year he led the AL in plate appearances even though he had no regular position. In ’68 he did his one position per inning thing in a game against the A’s. That was appropriate since the first guy to pull that off was Bert Campaneris, who played in that game. In ’69 the Twins got Billy Martin as a manager and Cesar quickly became a favorite of the manager with his hustle and versatility. He upped his stolen base total to 45 that year and beginning that season was principally an outfielder. Minnesota went to the playoffs that year and also the next when Cesar led the AL in doubles and triples in what was probably his best season. In ’71 he led the AL in hits. In ’72 a shoulder injury pulled his stats down a bunch. That November he was sent to Philadelphia.

While Larry Bowa’s wish to be traded didn’t happen – good thing for both him and the Phillies – Tovar’s request was honored and he got sold to the Rangers. Reuniting with Martin seemed to do the trick as Cesar had a nice bounce, upping his average to .292 and his RBI total to 58 while again playing around the outfield. But ’75 got a bit tumultuous as injuries and a fast fallout by Martin with management led to Billy’s departure. Cesar’s numbers came in with the rest of the team as his RBI totals halved and his average fell to .258. That season he was primarily a DH for both the Rangers and Oakland to where he was sold in late August for the stretch drive during which he hit .231 the final month. He did mostly pinch hit work for the A’s in ’76 before he went to the Yankees the final month-plus – again reuniting with Martin – where he finished out his career in the same role. Cesar batted .278 for his career with 46 homers and 226 stolen bases and 834 runs. He only K’d about once every 15 at bats and he hit .250 with four runs in eight post-season games.

Tovar had a long winter career in Venezuelan ball during and after his US one. When he was done he was fourth in career games played and hits, second in runs and stolen bases, and third in doubles. He hit .286 for his career there, which as a player lasted through ’85. Immediately after his stateside career ended he played the next three regular seasons in Mexico, hitting well over .300 in each one. When he finished up as a player in Venezuela he continued there as a coach. He was a big smoker and by the early Nineties he had a few health problems as a result. Early in ’94 he contracted pancreatic cancer which killed him later that year. He was 54.

Cesar has a nice clean signature that is very compact, sort of like him. He doesn’t have the parenthetical name thing going but that’s because his mom and pop never married.

The back of the Traded card gives a glimpse of Cesar’s early history with Billy Martin. The two were very similar players though Billy did a bit better in post-season work. According to the book "Seasons in Hell", during his first season with the Rangers, Cesar habitually ran into other players so much while chasing down fly balls that he was told he should wear a cowbell so his teammates could hear him coming. "More cowbell!"

Gabe Paul could certainly link up these two guys in a hurry but through teammates we have to look elsewhere:

1. Tovar and Del Unser ’73 Phillies;

2. Unser and Steve Mingori ’72 Indians.eHHeHYeHJh

#537 - Steve Mingori

Steve Mingori looks kind of lonely showing us the end of his delivery in a shadowy part of the Oakland Coliseum  A more representative shot would be of him midway through his pitch so we could see his specialized three-quarter delivery that he used pretty effectively throughout his career, particularly when it was delivering a screwball. Steve was actually a mighty happy guy around the time of this photo. A lifetime resident of the Kansas City area, he’d recently reached there professionally as well when a June trade brought him to the Royals for journeyman pitcher Mike Jackson. It was a good move for him right off the bat as after a middling start on little use split between Cleveland and Triple A he put up much better numbers on more use in his new home. Back then KC was big on the reliever-by-committee strategy and Steve would do a nice job as both a lefty set-up guy and finisher over the next bunch of seasons.

Steve Mingori was born in Kansas City and grew up in nearby Pittsburg where he was a pitching star at Rockhurst High. After graduating in ’62 he went to Pittsburg State University – then Kansas State College – where he continued to pitch through ’65 when he was signed by the Reds. He went 4-4 that summer with a 3.88 ERA while splitting time between a couple A teams. In ’66 at the same level he went 8-12 in the rotation despite a 2.50 ERA and over a strikeout an inning. From then on it was pretty much all relief as he went 6-5 with a 2.67 ERA in Double A and a 3-1 with a 2.57 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 57 innings. In ’69 he got a rookie card but his numbers turned south around some military time – he also served in ’67 and ’68 – as he went 2-3 with a 4.11 ERA and five saves. Following the season he was traded to Cleveland for Jay Ward.

With the Tribe in ’70 Mingori pitched at every level from Double A to Cleveland, enjoying pretty good success at each one. In Double A he was 6-0 with just eight walks in 63 innings and a 0.83 ERA. In Triple A his ERA rose a bunch but he put up a K an inning. He then debuted up top that August and put up some nice numbers, including a save. In ’71 Steve was having a bang-up season when he went down in August from a freak accident: he was returning to the dugout when an errant throw from an infielder plastered him in the head. His ERA was pretty much the lowest in the league though he didn’t qualify for the title. He had four saves that season and then added ten in ’72 despite his higher ERA. After the off-putting start to his ’73 season he went to Kansas City.

Mingori’s timing in coming to the Royals was pretty much perfect as he got there in conjunction with the team’s significant improvement. The first couple full seasons in ‘74 and ’75 he specialized in set-up work, putting up a couple saves each year. In both seasons his ERA was well under 3.00. He then moved into closer work in ’76 and had his biggest year, going 5-5 with ten saves and a 2.32 ERA. He got his first post-season work that autumn against the Yankees which would also be the case the next two years. In ’77 he put up four saves and in ’78 seven along with more very good ERA numbers. In ’79 the playoff streak by KC ended as did Steve’s effective relief work as one horrible outing against NY pushed his ERA through the roof and limited his use. His ERA bloated to 5.79 that year and after it he was released. That ended his pitching career and Steve finished with a record of 18-33 with a 3.03 ERA and 42 saves. In the post-season he went 0-0 with a save and a 4.32 ERA in seven games.

After he retired Mingori took a gig in the KC area selling office supplies. That lasted through ’85 when he got back into baseball by coaching in the Toronto system for various franchises. That he did through the mid-Nineties when he then got tired of traveling and opened his own pitching school back in KC. During that time he did some promo work for the Royals and played lots of golf until ’92 when he had to get a neck operation to fix some issues that resulted from his years as a pitcher. By ’04 he was pretty much recovered and he returned to private coaching which he did until he passed away in 2008. He was 64.

Steve has a pretty good card back. He was the Ban Johnson MVP in ’63, which surprised me a bit because I hadn’t known it was a college league. It was while pitching summer ball that he developed his screwball. The cartoon is also interesting because he graduated Pittsburg in ’67 so he must have gone there or elsewhere for an advanced degree. And check out that birthdate. Technically when this card came out Steve was only seven years old.

These two for sure never saw each other during the season. I am hesitant to re-use a guy so quickly but here goes:

1. Mingori and Ed Kirkpatrick ’73 Royals;

2. Kirkpatrick and Duffy Dyer ’75 to ’77 Pirates.eHHeHYeHJh

#536 - Duffy Dyer

Duffy Dyer was generally a happy guy, at least on most of his cards. Here he looks less than enamored, possibly because there appear to be a couple of dark-shrouded people coming his way. ’73 wasn’t too hot of a year for Duffy. He’d had the biggest season of his career in ’72 when an injury to Jerry Grote gave Duffy the starting gig behind the plate and he had his biggest offensive season. Grote got hurt again in May, breaking his wrist, and again Duffy stepped in. But a short time later he got plunked in the wrist also and though he didn’t miss any time he did miss his ’72 stats in a big way as his average hovered around .100 the early part of the season. Eventually the Mets went after Jerry May from Kansas City – who would have problems of his own – and then brought up Ron Hodges, who was hitting under .200 in A ball. Duffy would get his average up – if “up” is the appropriate word – to .185 by season’s end but by the time Grote came back full-time Duffy was pretty much done and the poor guy got zero post-season work. I guess he had no shortage of reasons for looking so serious.

Duffy Dyer was born in Ohio and relocated to Arizona as a kid. There he helped take his high school baseball team to a state championship and was all-area as a quarterback. Back then he was principally an outfielder and after graduating in ’63 he went to Arizona State on a baseball scholarship. In his sophomore season of ’65 he hit .338 on a team with Rick Monday and Sal Bando that won the CLS. He was drafted by the Braves but instead returned to ASU for his junior year. That season he switched to catcher, hit .326, and was second team All-American. That time after being drafted as a first rounder by the Mets he signed. He didn’t exactly start off with a bang that summer, hitting .174 in Double A before moving down to A ball where he bounced to .246. In ’67 he stuck in Double A even though he still hit below .200. But he was pretty good with the pitchers and in ’68 he moved up to Triple A and was an all-star with his 16 homers though he only hit .230. He got his first look in NY that September.

In ’69 Dyer made the Mets as the third-string guy behind Grote and JC Martin. He had a great debut that year, belting a three-run homer in a pinch at bat on opening day. The rest of the season he shuttled between NY and Triple A Tidewater – where he hit .313 with 26 RBI’s in 112 at bats - and got into the Series against Baltimore. In ’70 the Mets traded Martin to the Cubs and Duffy became the number two guy behind the plate. Each year he got a little more plate time which was maxed out in ’72 when he also picked off more than half the guys who tried to steal on him. In ’74 he got less time behind the plate but rebounded a bit offensively, batting .211 and putting up more walks than K’s his only season in NY. After that year he went to Pittsburgh for Gene Clines.

For his first couple seasons with the Pirates, Dyer again did his back-up thing, this time behind Manny Sanguillen. His offense was a bit better as he became more discriminating at the plate. Prior to the ’77 season Sanguillen was traded to Oakland and that year Duffy and Ed Ott – who had to have the two shortest names sharing a position – took turns behind the plate. That year competed with ’72 for his best as he put up less RBI’s – 19 – but compensated with a higher average of .241, was perfect with six steals, and way outdid himself in OBA with a .370. In ’78 Ott won the starting job with his better bat and after hitting .211 that season Duffy went to Montreal as a free agent. He hit .243 in ’79 but on not too many at bats as he worked behind Gary Carter. In ’80 he moved on to Detroit for Jerry Manuel where he hit .185 behind Lance Parrish before retiring a couple games into the ’81 season. Duffy finished with a .221 average on 30 homers and got on base at a .500 clip in the post-season (two appearances).

Dyer took a couple years off before he returned to baseball, kicking things off as a Cubs coach in ’83. He then moved to the Minnesota system as an A ball manager for two seasons, winning a title in ’85. The next three seasons he managed in the Milwaukee chain, twice winning titles, before coming up to coach from ’89 to ’95. He then coached for Oakland (’96-’98) before returning to the minors to manage, first for Baltimore (’99-2000), and then for the independent Bridgeport Bluefish (’01-’02). He then returned to the Mets as an advance scout (’03 to ’04) before returning to manage in the Detroit system (’05 to ’06). Since 2007 he has been the minor league catching coordinator for the Padres. His managing record is 697-656.

Duffy had an excellent fielding season in ’72, his only season as a de facto starter. He fielded at a .992 clip and led the NL in double plays and runners picked off. In ’77, when he split time as the starter, he led the NL in fielding with a .996. That hit in September was a big deal as it sent the game into extra innings and was a big win for the Mets. The game featured the “ball off the wall play” that nailed Richie Zisk at home before the Mets won the game in the bottom of the 13^th. It was Duffy’s final at bat for the season. He also has a SABR page that gives a pretty funny origin story for his nickname.

These two actually played together at Pittsburgh in ’77 but Tolan only got a few plate appearances that year so let’s make the hook-up more solid:

1. Dyer and Ed Kirkpatrick ’75 to ’77 Pirates;

2. Kirkpatrick and Hal McRae ’73 Royals;

3. McRae and Bobby Tolan ’70 to ’72 Reds.