#398 - Duke Sims

This card has always mystified me a bit. There are quite a few cards in this and other sets – in fact one will be coming up shortly – in which Topps has to airbrush players into uniforms of teams they played for the year before because photos weren’t available in the new team uniforms. Usually that happened when a trade occurred after the Topps photographers took the shots. But Duke Sims here gets a card in a Yankee uniform at the Stadium even when he only played for NY literally the final week of the ’73 season. This is Duke’s last card even though he put in a full season in ’74. Fittingly it is taken at Yankee Stadium since – continuing the “last” theme – Duke here hit the final home run there before the Stadium was shut down for two years to be rebuilt/renovated. He came to NY off waivers from Detroit where he spent most of the season backing up Bill Freehan and, judging by the pitching staff, was back to full-time usage of his catchers mitt (more on that below). Duke has a couple videos on YouTube and in one of them he admits to being a big drinker while he played. Maybe the sun is in his eyes here but this shot looks like it was taken just after he downed a couple. Plus his hat looks oddly tiny. But it’s pretty late as I type this so maybe all that is just me.

Duke Sims was born in Utah and grew up playing the big three sports in Idaho where he was all-state in each in high school. He was signed to Cleveland after briefly attending the University of Idaho in ’59 and did a pretty good number on D pitchers the next two summers, then had his best season in B ball in ’61 when he hit .304 with 21 homers and 88 RBI’s. He continued to hit pretty well the next two summers in A and Double A ball, also doing a nice job defensively behind the plate, although he had a trouble with passed balls. In ’64 he moved to Triple A where his average was light but he only put up two errors. Then in ’65 after hitting over .300 he moved up to Cleveland. He would spend a bit of time in Triple A in ’66 but was pretty much up for good.

The ’65 Indians were a pretty good team and already had a young defensively-skilled catcher in Joe Azcue behind whom Sims would initially play. His first year he didn’t hit too well but he gunned down nearly half attempted base stealers and had come up with ace Sam McDowell so his playing time was assured. After boosting his average in ’66 a bunch he and Azcue spent the next two seasons platooning behind the plate with Joe the better defender and Duke the power guy. He also had some trouble catching knucklers – remember the passed balls – and he took to wearing a first baseman’s mitt whenever he had to catch those guys. In ’69 Azcue went to Boston and Duke got the starting nod over Ken Suarez and rookie Ray Fosse. He also the past couple seasons began putting in time at first and the outfield so the Tribe could keep his bat in the line-up. Then in ’70 things got reversed as Fosse took over the starting role and became an All-Star while Duke, playing everywhere that year, put up his best offensive numbers up top. But Cleveland’s vaunted late Sixties pitching had either been traded away or run out of gas and when the Dodgers came calling for a power hitter, Duke was sent over for pitchers Ray Lamb and Alan Foster.

The ’71 Dodgers, despite being absurdly low on power, were pretty well stocked at Sims’ chief positions of catcher, first base, and outfield. They had just acquired Dick Allen and were pretty flush with young outfielders so if Duke was going to play anywhere, it would be behind the plate. There he vied for starting time with three other guys and did pretty well offensively but because of restricted at bats never really got rolling. In ’72 incumbent Tom Haller got sent to Detroit and Bill Sudaikis to the Mets but Chris Cannizzaro got most of the starts, and with young kids Joe Ferguson and Steve Yeager coming up, and with him toting a sub-.200 average, Duke was placed on waivers. Ironically he was picked up by Detroit to rejoin Haller. Duke was the hard-nosed type of guy manager Billy Martin loved and so when he joined the Tigers in early August he pretty much leapfrogged Haller into the line-up, raised his average over 100 points, and put up a .432 OBA. Those numbers got him lots of playoff time against Oakland and he was the guy behind the plate when Bert Campaneris launched his bat at pitcher Lerrin LaGrow. Then in ’73 when his offense settled down a bunch and after Billy left town, Duke again hit the waiver wire and landed in NY to hit his big homer. Early in the ’74 season he was traded to Texas – where he rejoined Martin – for pitcher Larry Gura and spent his last season backing up defensive whiz rookie Jim Sundberg. Duke finished with a .239 average, 100 homers, and 310 RBI’s, with a .340 OBA. He hit .214 with two doubles and a triple in his four post-season games.

Sims relocated for a bit to the east coast after playing where he did work in financial planning and insurance for a while until he was lured back to baseball in ’86. That year he managed a couple levels in the White Sox system, replacing and then being overseen by old pal Tom Haller. But that only lasted a year – he was pretty tough on the players apparently – and he returned to business, mostly as a sales guy for various industries or as an entrepreneur. He once tried to do a Ralph Branca/ Bobby Thomson type of co-autograph deal with Benji Molina who hit the last homer in Yankee Stadium before its demolition but those two really didn’t have the star power. Since ’92 he has been living and working in Vegas where he has specialized in various web-based marketing gigs and is chairman of the Young Readers Council. He has a pretty decent presence on the web.

Duke definitely has one of the shortest names in the set and is a pretty rare breed in that he was a left-handed catcher. Those two bits of info are related as he played the outfield in two of those playoff games.

There are a couple music items to get caught up on, and they both regard the charts. On July 7, 1973 the new Number One in the US pretty much kept things in the Beatles family as Billy Preston’s “Will It Go Round In Circles” took over for a two-week run. Billy was an keyboardist for a couple of the group’s later albums. In ’74 on July 6 the Hues Corporation’s “Rock The Boat” took over the top spot in the States, thus sealing the deal on the decline in music that year.

Duke and George almost never crossed paths so let’s use a former MVP:

1. Sims and Zoilo Versalles ’69 Indians;

2. Versalles and George Stone '71 Braves.

2. Versalles and George Stone ’71 Braves.

Boy, did that  guy fall hard after his big ’65.

#397 - George Stone

The action cards keep coming – they’ll end pretty soon – with a slightly off-centered George Stone unloading one from the mound at Shea. It is sort of tough to overstate the impact George had on his new team in ’73. Pretty much a throw-in in the trade that brought Felix Millan over from the Braves, he began the season with low expectations as a middle reliever. Then in May he threw six shutout innings of relief – in a 19-inning game! – and Yogi began to ease him into the rotation. George had always had a tender arm so he could only throw every five or six days from that position. But later in the year as NY was doing the big playoff push he won eight straight and would wind up the season as one of only two starters with a winning record. On top of that he hit .271 during the season as well. And he kept going in the post-season as he gave up only one run in ten innings. It would be a career year for him and the success would be too short-lived. But for one season he was one of the Mets’ brightest lights.

George Stone grew up in Ruston, Louisiana and after high school would attend Louisiana Tech where he played both basketball and baseball for two years. After his sophomore season he was drafted by the Braves in ’66 and immediately put up excellent numbers as a pro, going 8-2 with a 2.25 ERA that summer in A ball. Back then primarily a flame thrower, he would average a strikeout an inning. He then split ’67 between Double A, Triple A, and the military, going 8-5 with a 2.68 ERA. In ’68 the routine was pretty much the same except that he got called up to Atlanta mid-season, leaving behind a minor league record of 19-9 with a 2.53 ERA and only a runner an inning.

Stone got some early season time up top in ’67 but his for real rookie year was ’68, a good year to be a pitcher. Throwing more starts than relief he had a nice year and continued his promising career when he kicked off the ’69 season by going 9-2. Even though he cooled off in the second half and moved part of that time to the pen, where he had three saves, he still posted his career high in wins and got some playoff action. Then his next few seasons were sort of ho-hum as he battled some injuries and general ineffectiveness and after the ’70 season, declining innings as he spent more time in the pen. ’72 was pretty much a disaster as his ERA shot up a couple runs and his control was undone by a shoulder injury. During the season he hit Rusty Staub with a pitch – some say intentionally – that broke Rusty’s wrist, killed that guy’s season, and made George very unpopular in NY. So of course after it that was where he went with Millan for Gary Gentry and Danny Frisella.

After his big ’73 Stone kicked off ’74 in the rotation and looked good his first couple starts but something was amiss as his walk total was steadily beating his strikeout one. His shoulder hurt and after a couple times on the DL it turned out it was his rotator cuff which back then meant serious trouble. He went on the shelf for good in August and didn’t return until June of ’75 but the comeback didn’t last and George became another pitcher laid low by rotator cuff problems. Right before spring training of ’76 he was shipped to Texas for Bill Hands but he knew he was done and so retired before he threw for the Rangers. George finished with a record of 60-57, with a 3.89 ERA, 24 complete games, and five saves. In the post-season he got zero decisions but put up a 1.69 ERA in eleven innings. He hit .212 with 39 RBI’s in 339 at bats during the regular season as well.

After playing Stone returned to Louisiana and got involved in educating kids. He’d been returning to Louisiana Tech in off-seasons and finished up there in ’70 with an education degree. So he became a teacher and a guidance councilor at area schools and also coached baseball through at least ’99. He continues to reside in that neck of the woods.

Look at that - I missed posting George's card on his birthday by a day. There is part of George's early '69 run. I guess he was a streaky guy. As noted above, basketball was a bit more than a hobby.

George and Tommy missed each other in NY by a bunch of years but hook up through a former ROY:

1. Stone and Earl Williams ’71 to ’72 Braves;

2. Williams and Tommy Davis ’73 to ’74 Orioles.

As promised, it is time to do the re-cap of where the set stands 60% into things so here we go:

Post-seasons: things get expanded by a year and each one from 1957 to 1990 with the exception still of 1960 is represented by at least one player. ’73 leads the way not surprisingly with 59 players.

Awards: things are still moving slowly here as we are up to 20 MVP’s, 14 Cy Young winners, 21 Rookie of the Year winners (that is actually a pretty big jump), and 19 Comeback Players of the Year. The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year is stuck at seven, we have 17 Manager of the Year winners (again with a bunch of multiple winners), and remain at ten Firemen of the Year.

Milestones: we only added one rookie card in the last 66 to move that total to 29. Hall of Famers also moves up only one to 32. There are now 40 official or unofficial traded cards, 25 cards representing the final ones in a player’s career, and 38 cards of players who have since deceased.

Rookie teams: the ’62 team continues to be shut out. Here are the rest of the totals:

’59-3; ’60-2; ’61-3; ’63-2; ’64-3 (I goofed last time) ’65-3; ’66-5;

’67-4; ’68-6; ’69-5; ’70-5; ’71-6; ’72-7; ’73-9

Pretty good growth on the newer teams. We only need one guy to complete the ’73 set.

Random: action shots get a big bump to 91. There are 124 guys in home uniforms and 221 in away ones. Parenthetical names, a good indicator of Latin guys, is up to 27. Ugly cards remain at five, though some have come close, and guys who served in Viet Nam is stuck at four. The Washington Nat’l cards are at 14 but there will be only one more of those.

#396 - Tommy Davis

Tommy Davis brings us back to the AL with a beautiful follow-through in Baltimore. Tommy deserved an action shot in this set after all he put up with the last couple seasons. After refusing to lambast Jim Bouton for his “Ball Four” book, Tommy was basically blacklisted by the owners and was released by the Cubs following the ’70 season, when the book came out. He then signed as a free agent back with the A’s but because nobody claimed him off waivers had to start fresh and saw his ’70 salary of around $70,000 cut in half. Then, after putting up excellent numbers in half a season split between first and the outfield, he introduced wunderkind Vida Blue to an effective agent. Blue did not sign for the following season, Tommy was blamed, and the same thing happened again: he got cut, nobody would take a flier, and he again saw his salary reduced, this time by a third, when he finally did sign with someone, ironically the Cubs. But Chicago barely used him in ’72 and neither did Baltimore after they picked him up in a trade for Elrod Hendricks. Tommy finished the season on the bench in Triple A and nobody would take him still off the waiver wire. The O’s were ready to release him when – voila! – the DH rule passed and Mr. Davis had a job up top again. All he did was hit .307 in the new position with his highest RBI total since his big ’62 season. Lots of regrets by the colluding baseball powers after that one. Karma’s a bitch.

Tommy Davis grew up in the tough Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn where he played baseball – primarily catcher – and hoops with future NBA Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens. Tommy could jack the ball back then and his hometown Dodgers eventually won a hard-fought battle with the Yankees to sign him out of high school in ’56. He had very little trouble on the field his first two seasons in D ball, hitting .325 and .356 respectively with a bunch of RBI’s. In ’58 he won over a hostile Texas crowd in Double A by hitting .305 before getting some time in Triple A Montreal, his hero Jackie Robinson’s last stop before joining Brooklyn. By then he was exclusively an outfielder and after a .345 at the higher level in ’59 he was ready for The Show.

The 1960 LA team Davis joined was a mix of older holdovers from Brooklyn and a bunch of new kids who were primarily outfielders – Frank Howard, Willie Davis, and Ron Fairly to name a few. Tommy would settle into that group, eventually become the team’s primary center fielder, and put together good enough numbers to finish fifth in NL ROY voting – Howard won – and earn a spot on the Topps Rookie team. In ’61 his offensive numbers got a bit better but Tommy was distracted a bunch because Walt Alston wanted to take advantage of his athleticism and turn him into a third baseman. That experiment didn’t work too well: Tommy could cover ground but he never mastered the throw to first and had lots of throwing errors when even poor Gil Hodges couldn’t reach the missiles that went over his head. What did work, though, was Tommy’s hitting as in ’62 he put up a monster season, winning the NL batting title with a .346 and knocking in 153 runs, more than anyone else would or did from 1949 to 1998. All that without ‘roids and not even too many homers as the Dodgers that year were an aggressive running club. Tommy came in third in MVP voting behind his teammate Maury Wills and his 100 steals and Willie Mays, who was on a pennant winner after beating LA in a three-game playoff. In ’63 Tommy won another hitting title as his RBI totals came down to earth and that year he got his first taste of “legit” post-season action as his Dodgers beat old nemesis NY in the Series. In ’64 the top of the Dodger order stopped hitting and Tommy got less selective pitches to hit and his average dove 50 points as LA fell from title contention. They roared all the way back in ’65 though, but without Tommy as he broke his ankle taking an awkward step at first and missed pretty much the entire season. It would be a slow comeback in ’66 as he led LA in hitting but couldn’t really turn on that heel any more so his power was pretty much gone. He would return to the post-season but the loss to Baltimore would be his last time as a Dodger player. After the season he was traded to the Mets for Jim Hickman and Ron Hunt.

In NY Davis put up a pretty good season, leading the team offensively and putting up his last double-digit homer season. His RBI totals would certainly have been among his best if anyone could get on base ahead of him. But NY wanted a speedster out there with its other young outfielders and after the season Tommy and a couple other guys went to the White Sox for former ROY Tommie Agee and infielder Al Weis. Chicago was a tough place to hit and ’68 was a tough year to hit anywhere but Tommy put up pretty good numbers and when he was left unprotected that winter was snagged by the new Seattle Pilots in the expansion draft.

Davis would room with Jim Bouton during some of the ’69 season and so would get a lot of mention in “Ball Four.” He comes across as a classy fair-minded guy who didn’t leverage his star status into bad behavior. He also wasn’t afraid to quietly call guys out. So even though he was the leading hitter on the team he was traded to the Astros that August for Sandy Valdespino and Danny Walton, a few weeks after Bouton was. Then in ’70, before the mess occurred, he would spend time with three teams: Houston, Oakland, and the Cubs. He hit pretty well at all three stops. Then the O’s eventually got smart and after his fine ’73 Tommy put up a nearly equal ’74 - .289 with ’84 RBI’s – and then hit .283 in ’75. But by then he was running out of gas and with Lee May putting in more time at DH, he was released. He tried to hook up with the Yankees and then did so with California before finishing out the year and his career with Kansas City. Tommy had a .294 average with 153 homers, 2,121 hits, and 1,052 RBI’s. In the post-season he hit .313 in 20 games.

Davis stayed in baseball after playing, returning to LA and doing some minor league and spring training coaching for the Dodgers and for the ’81 season as the hitting coach for the Mariners. He then returned to LA where he had a less formal relationship with the Dodgers, doing lots of community work and some sales stuff. He also sold insurance and ran hitting clinics. He is now mostly retired though he does do some promotional work for LA and himself, through a small company.

No room for star bullets so we just get the cartoon. Tommy’s dad’s name was Herman also so Tommy adopted his middle name at an early age.

Two action shots of two guys who played together:

1. Davis and Doug Rader ’69 to ’70 Astros.

Tommy's card gets us through 60% of the set. I'll do a re-cap on the next post.

#395 - Doug Rader

The AL run gets interrupted again but the action cards don’t as Doug Rader waits for a pitch at Candlestick. If I am correct about the location then there is a good shot that the catcher in the photo is Dave Rader who was not related to Doug. ’73 was one of Doug’s better seasons, his 21 homers and 89 RBI’s both making his top three seasonal totals. Plus for the only time in nine seasons he kept his strikeout total below 100. Add in his fourth straight Gold Glove season and it’s small wonder he got a “5” card.

Doug Rader played everything while growing up in Illinois and continued basketball and baseball his two years at Illinois Wesleyan University in ’64 and ’65. He also played semi-pro hockey the same time under a couple assumed names. And did a little boxing. When he was signed by the Astros in ’65 to a $25,000 bonus part of the stipulation was that he give up the hockey. Up until his pro career a shortstop, Doug switched to third base his first year because Sonny Jackson was ahead of him. He hit .209 that summer, almost lost his life over the winter while playing ball in Nicaragua, and moved in ’66 to Double A where he hit .290 with 16 homers and 74 RBI’s. After starting the season in Triple A in ’67 and hitting .293 with escalated power, he made his debut for Houston that July.

Rader hit .333 the rest of the ’67 season up top where he garnered some starting time at first base with four other guys. Bob Aspromonte was the regular guy at third then so Doug settled in sort of slowly. In a tough ’68 he hit .267 and started just over half the games at third. After that season Aspromonte went to Atlanta and Doug got the third base gig solo and really didn’t disappoint. Outside of ’71, when nagging injuries limited his time a bit, he averaged 20 homers and 86 RBI’s while he was the club’s regular guy and won Gold Gloves every season from ’70 to ’74. That last season his numbers were pretty much on par with his '73 ones. Then in ’75 Doug’s offense departed and he would lose some starting time to Enos Cabell, who came over from Baltimore in the Lee May trade. Cabell would take over the position the next year after Doug was traded to San Diego for pitchers Larry Hardy and Joe McIntosh. He got the starting gig there after the Padres gave up on Dave Roberts and improved his average by 30 points but with still diminished power. After a pretty good start to the ’77 season he was sold that June to the new Blue Jays where he upped his homer totals but his other stats came in. He would be released during ’78 spring training and that ended his time as a player. Doug hit .251 with 155 homers and 722 RBI’s. He ranks in the top 50 third baseman in all-time assists and in the top 100 in putouts and fielding average.

After a year off from baseball Rader returned in ’79 as a Padres coach. He then moved to manage their Triple A Hawaii club from ’80 to ’82, going a combined 219-201 at that level. He then moved to Texas where he managed the Rangers from ’83 through two-thirds of the ’85 season when he was replaced by Bobby Valentine. Then it was back home to Chicago where he coached the White Sox from ’86 to ’87 and managed a couple games. In ’88 he moved to the Angels system as a scout and was then promoted to manage the big club the following year which he did through ’91. He then was the Oakland hitting coach in ’92, helping to turn around a slumping Mark McGwire, and moved on to the same position for Florida from ’93 to ’94. He then did another go-round as a coach for the White Sox from ’96 to ’97 before he resigned. He accused team owner Eddie Einhorn of betting on games which probably killed his ability to get hired anywhere as a coach again. But Doug didn’t seem to care as he has been pretty much happily retired in Florida since then. As a major league manager he went 388-417 lifetime.

Doug pretty much pulls off the defensive triple crown in ‘70 and does a neat job in his next full season as well. He has one of the best all-time nicknames.

These two guys were foes in the NL West for a bunch of years but the best way to get them together is through the AL:

1. Rader and Pete Vuckovich ’77 Blue Jays;

2. Vuckovich and Jorge Orta ’76 White Sox.

3. Orta and Ken Henderson ’73 to ’75 White Sox.

#394 - Ken Henderson

The AL action shots return via the card of Ken Henderson. Like Billy Champion of a few cards ago Ken is smack in the midst of his first AL season after a bunch of years in the NL. He looks to be without pain in this photo so it was probably taken before the knee injury that caused him to lose over half a season. Ken came over from the Giants to provide his excellent defense and timely hitting in center between corner guys Pat Kelly and Carlos May. And it was working, too, as Kelly hit over .400 the first month and Ken was rattling off at a .311 clip by late May to have the ChiSox in first place for most of the season at that point. But then Ken got injured and .500 ball ensued and when Dick Allen went down the season was toast. Sort of a tough way to kick off time in a new league. It is also tough to pinpoint from this shot where it is taken. A lot of the other Chicago away action shots are taken in Oakland so that is my bet here. As for the blurry guy behind him? He looks pretty thick in the shoulders and chest so my gut says Allen.

Ken Henderson was born in Iowa and at some point did a big move to the Southwest because by the time he was in high school he was also in San Diego. There he was a halfback in football as well as the MVP of his hoop team his senior year of ’64 and all-county as an outfielder. He was signed that year by San Francisco and moved fast, that first summer splitting time between Rookie, A , and Triple A ball, even though he hit a combined .191. The next season he was up in San Francisco where he pretty much rode the pines as outfield insurance for Willie Mays. In ’66 he’d spend nearly the whole season back in Triple A where he hit .272 with 66 RBI’s before he split ’67 between that level and up top. Most of ’68 was in Triple A and the military reserve and in ’69 he would be up for good.

By ’69 even though Willie Mays was slowing down, the notion of having Henderson wait around in the wings for Willie’s retirement became too unproductive and with Ty Cline going to the Expos and Bobby Bonds moving to right, Ken got to finally do some starting and split left field with Dave Marshall. Then in ’70 Marshall went to the Mets so Ken got that job full-time and turned in his best season on that coast. He retained the position the next two seasons as well, reaching the post-season in ’71. Late in ’72 new arrival Gary Matthews made the outfield crowded and Ken and Steve Stone got sent to the White Sox for pitcher Tom Bradley.

When Henderson got healthy in ’74 he turned it on, hitting .292 with 20 homers and 95 RBI’s as the Sox’ main guy in center. Then in ’75 a nagging injury helped bring his stats down pretty hard - .251 with nine homers and 53 RBI’s – and after the season he went to the Braves with Dick Ruthven and Ozzie Osborn – that name keeps turning up – for Ralph Garr and Larvell Blanks. In Atlanta Ken would get one season as a regular right fielder where he improved his stats on fewer at bats. He then moved to Texas in the big Jeff Burroughs trade where he split time in right with other former Brave Dave May. Then came a lot of moves and not too much time on the field. In ’78 he ended up with the Mets in the big three-way trade between NY, the Rangers, and the Pirates. But the season was a bust as he got hurt in the field in his first game and in May went to the Reds for Dale Murray. He would stay in Cincinnati about a year as a late inning defensive guy and pinch-hitter, go to the Cubs during the ’79 season, and finish things up in Chicago in ’80. Ken finished with a .257 average, 122 homers, and 576 RBI’s. He had a .343 OBA and hit .313 with two RBI’s in his four post-season games.

When Henderson finished playing he became a sales manager for AT&T in the Southern California area. After 30 years of that he returned to the Giants in the same capacity in 2010.

There is Ken’s playoff performance in ’71 and his best hitting streak. In an otherwise forgettable ’75 he homered in one game against Baltimore from both sides of the plate. He also had a brother play minor league ball and a cousin, Kerry Dineen, who got into a few games in the majors.

In recent music news, final concerts was the theme. On July 3, 1973 David Bowie retired his Ziggy Stardust persona after a show at the Hammersmith Odeon in the UK. On July 4, 1974 Steely Dan performed what it said would be its last live gig – they would reunite live in ’92 – in Santa Monica.

Ken and Orlando did not play together so let’s see how we do:

1. Henderson and Sam McDowell ’72 Giants;

2. McDowell and Orlando Pena ’67 Indians.  

#393 - Orlando Pena

We’ll get back to the AL and the action shots on the next post. Right now we get Orlando Pena who by the time this card came out may have been back in the AL himself. Orlando moved around a lot and was still going at 40-plus because of his big assortment of off-speed pitches including his favorite, a forkball he threw from three different angles. ’73 was an emblematic year for Orlando. His amazing stats in the minors in ’72 got him promoted to Baltimore to start the season in the majors for the first time in a few years. He did well enough in a few appearances but really got his break when Cards pitcher Scipio Spinks went down with injury. St. Louis bought Orlando from the O’s and it turned out to be a nice purchase as he went 4-4 the rest of the way with six saves for a bullpen that was always looking for help back then. He followed that up in ’74 by going 5-2 with a 2.60 ERA before he was sent in September to the Angels for Rich Hand. It was his best run for one team since his days in Detroit in the mid-Sixties. So that smile he throws us from Candlestick was well-deserved.

Orlando Pena grew up in a coastal town in Cuba where he was a local pitching star through and after high school. He was discovered while playing for one of the state teams by a Reds scout and signed in ’55. Good thing, too, because working at his father’s grocery store as a butcher he’d already scarred his pitching hand a few times. He almost regretted his signing, though, when the plane taxiing ahead of him in Havana for his first trip to the States crashed on takeoff. But he made it out and in his first year of D ball that summer went 21-8 with a 1.96 ERA. After winning 19 in B ball in ’56 he spent all of the next two seasons in Triple A, which was nice because the Reds’ IL franchise was back in Havana. He won a combined 23 games those summers, both with excellent ERA’s, and debuted up top late in the ’58 summer, throwing great ball in his few innings.

Pena stayed up the whole year in ’59 but though he got some starting time couldn’t reproduce his ’58 numbers on a bigger scale and had a disappointing season. He spent most of the ’60 and all the ’61 season back in Triple A, now relocated to Jersey City because of political events back in Cuba. He won a total of 25 games those seasons with pretty good ERA’s and after the latter season went to the Braves through a trade to Toronto of the IL. For Milwaukee he stayed in the minors, again putting up pretty good numbers, and that August was sent to Kansas City. The A’s pulled Orlando up and the rest of the year he got spot starts and put up a winning record with an excellent ERA for a losing team. The next two seasons he spent in the KC rotation and in ’63 tied for the team lead with 12 wins and a better than AL-average ERA but also led the league in losses with 20. After a great start to the ’64 season that featured his new forkball his stats went south and his ERA bloated. In ’65 a terrible start to the season got him placed on waivers from which he was claimed by Detroit. He recovered big that year and gave the team four saves along with his published stats. In ’66 he added another seven saves in possibly his best full season to that point. Then early in the ’67 season he was sold to Cleveland as the Detroit pen got crowded and as in the past, put up very nice numbers – including eight saves – the rest of the way for his new club.

The ’68 Indians had a surprisingly good pitching staff and like in Detroit the prior year, Pena was crowded out and spent that season back in Triple A, where he went 7-6 with a 2.80 ERA, mostly in relief. During the next season he was on the move again, first to the new Seattle Pilots and then the new Kansas City Royals. For the latter team he stuck in the minors, in '69 going 9-3 with three saves but also with an ERA that climbed above 4.00. In ’70 he didn’t pitch anywhere for KC except batting practice until Pittsburgh picked him up. His short stay with the Pirates produced a couple wins and a couple saves before their staff got healthy and he was released again. Then the Orioles got him before the ’71 season and he split a few innings up top with a season spent between Single A and Triple A going 11-5 with a 0.99 ERA and seven saves as a starter at the lower level and a reliever at the higher one. Every one of his four teams that year – he also played winter ball – won a title and he got a share of the Orioles playoff take. Then in ’72 he went all Cy Young on everybody as he went 22-3 with a 1.25 ERA and seven saves in another year split between those two levels. That got him up top and after his nice St. Louis run he finished ’74 by throwing shutout ball for the Angels. After starting the ’75 season for them in Anaheim he was released and at age 41, finally done. He went 56-77 with a 3.71 ERA, 21 complete games, and 40 saves up top and 148-91 with a 2.80 ERA in the minors. He also won enough games in Cuba to get into its Hall of Fame.

After he finished playing Pena became a scout for the Tigers which is still his professional activity. Not too surprisingly he specializes in Cuban and Latin American ballplayers.

Only room for one star bullet on the card back and both it and the cartoon were touched upon above. He does revive the parenthetical name for the first time in a bunch of cards.

 Here’s an easy one since these two played together:

 1. Pena and Dick Green ’63 to ’65 A’s.

#392 - Dick Green

Dick Green keeps us in the AL and brings back the action shot. Here he turns the pivot as Ben Oglivie of Boston slides in a tad late. By the time this card came out Dick had retired – again – and then un-retired because new Oakland manager Al Dark talked him into playing again. Good thing, too, because Dick’s glove did some Series magic against the Dodgers. But back in ’73 things were both good and bad for Dick. Pretty much healed from his ’72 back injury that cost him almost the whole season, he was again the regular second baseman. At least until he was benched early in the season. And not all the time even when he wasn’t. ’73 was the year Charlie O turned second into Bizzaro World when on the road he had a pinch hitter hit for Dick his first at bat, before he hit the field. Then, depending on the situation, he’d get pinched for on his next at bat. That went on for a little bit, frustrating Dick and manager Dick Williams, and kept Green’s at bats pretty low. Add that to a thriving moving business back in Rapid City and no wonder he wanted to retire. But there were some good moments also. After the benching and once in the regular line-up and allowed to hit, Dick pulled his average up to one of his best for a full season. Plus he had a big grand slam against the Angels during the playoff run. And then another Series championship. Tough call I guess.

Dick Green was born in Iowa and by the time he hit high school relocated to South Dakota, where he was a star in the big three sports. After some summer ball following his senior year he was signed by Kansas City and went to D ball where he didn’t hit too well but led league shortstops in fielding. I have read from at least one source that he played for the Yankees in the minors but I have found no evidence of that (maybe winter ball?). In ’61 he picked up his offense nicely when he moved to B ball and third base and hit .273 with 64 RBI’s. He then had a nice run in Double A in '62 but missed a bunch of the season for military duty. Then in ’63 after a big spring he went down to Triple A to work on a new position – second base – since Ed Charles was becoming established up top at third. After a decent season power-wise – 15 homers and 65 RBI’s – and a pretty good job in the fielding transition he came up in September for good.

In ’63 KC had an infield that could hit but not much in the way of pitching or outfielders. Green put in more time at shortstop than second in his short stay that Fall. In ’64 incumbent second baseman Jerry Lumpe was traded to Detroit and Dick got the starting job and hit much better than expected. In ’65 he got a new DP partner in Bert Campaneris and did another nice job in the field though his strikeouts ratcheted up and his average went south by 30 points. He had hurt his leg that season which hampered his stroke although he did peak career-wise with 15 homers. After his average revived a bit in ’66 and he led the team in RBI’s, ’67 would get weird. Dick put in as much time at third base as at second as between military duty, injuries, and the transition from Charles to Sal Bando at third base the infield was sort of a mess most of the season. That, plus an average that tanked to below .200 had him out of sorts. His high point that season was a couple three-run homers against Detroit that August. Then in ’68 while he pulled his average up he basically split starting time at second with John Donaldson and Ted Kubiak. But expansion helped as Donaldson went to Seattle, Dick re-claimed second, and he put together his best offensive season in '69. He was being recognized for his defensive prowess and the team was rapidly improving. Oakland would continue doing so in ’70 but Dick wouldn’t as he more than failed to post a good follow-up season and crashed and burned at the plate with a year even worse than his ’67. After that season he retired for the first time but Dick Williams coaxed him back to Oakland; his ’71 was much better; and his boys made the playoffs for the first time in many years. Then came the back injury from which he returned just in time for the post-season. After retirement number two he came back in ’74, missed six weeks with a broken heel, returned to the Series, and set a couple fielding records for DP’s in a game – three – and in a five-game Series – six. By then a new kid named Phil Garner was ready to take over at second and Dick retired, this time for good. He put up a .240 average and hit .155 in 36 post-season games. Defensively he resides in the top 100 for putouts, double plays, and fielding percentage at second base.

After playing Green returned to South Dakota and the moving business full-time. He did that for over 20 years and then sold his interest to his partner in ’97. He continues to reside there.

We get the defensive props for Dick in the star bullets. I do not believe he ever turned the horse hobby into a professional gig but in that part of the country I sure hope they had long coats.

June is over so it’s time to finish up music news for that month. On June 29, 1973 the first rendition of Deep Purple officially came to an end as vocalist Ian Gillan and guitarist Roger Glover split the band. On the 30^th we get two new Number Ones. In the US George Harrison’s “Give Me Love” replaces former band-mate Paul McCartney’s “Band on the Run.” In the UK Slade’s new chart topper is “Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me.” Their songs all sounded pretty much the same to me. In ’74 the charts also showed two new Number Ones on the 29^th. “Sundown” by mellow Canadian guy Gordon Lightfoot took over the top spot in the States. In the UK it was “She” by Charles Axnavour, another song I never heard of until researching this blog. Think of something along the lines of the elder Julio Iglesias.

A guy mentioned above helps in the hook-up:

1. Green and Ted Kubiak ’67 to ’69 and ’72 to ’74 A’s;

2. Kubiak and Dave May ’70 to ’71 Brewers;

3. May and Billy Champion ’73 to ’76 Brewers.