Questonable All Stars Pt. 3: Gerry Moses

The All Star selection process is such a subjective procedure that sometimes deserving players get left off. Then there are times when players who do not deserve to be All Stars are named to the team.

GERRY MOSES
I promised yesterday that I would do something on this player. When I first discovered that he was an All Star in 1970, I was pretty surprised. I have done quite a bit of research, and I still cannot explain it.

Gerry Moses played in 92 games for the Red Sox in 1970. His final slash line was .263/.313/.384/.697. He hit 18 doubles, 1 triple, and 6 home runs. He drove in 35 runs and walked 21 times compared to 45 strikeouts. So, the final statistics are not all that impressive.

So, what about his first half stats? His slash line was .278/.316/.394/.710. He had three home runs, 23 RBIs 14 doubles, and his only triple. So, it is true that the greater amount of his production was in the first half.

This was Moses's only All Star appearance, and the only time he played a majority of the season. Moses did not play in the game, even after Pete Rose ran over catcher Ray Fosse.

But, let's look at the other American League catchers that year,except the Tigers' Bill Freehan and the Indians' Ray Fosse as they were All Stars, and their slash lines:
BAL Elrod Hendricks .242/.317/.382/.699
CAL Joe Azcue .242/.292/.302/.594
CHW Ed Herrman .283/.356/.505/.861
KCR Ed Kirkpatrick .229/.319/.406/.725
MIL Phil Roof .227/.306/.377/.683
MIN George Mitterwald .222/.291/.388/679
NYY Thurman Munson .302/.386/.415/.801
OAK Frank Fernandez .214/.327/.413/.740
WAS Paul Casanova .229/.251/.354/.605

Pretty weak year for catchers, but Munson, Herrman, Kirkpatrick, and Fernandez were each much more deserving candidates for the All Star game that year.

Search for BoSox Pt. 4: Topps Million Card Giveaway

Topps Million Card Giveaway is a promotion that has been going for on for this year in which the company inserts promo cards with a code to redeem for an original Topps card. I have not been buying too many packs this year, so I only had two of these redemption cards. Several months ago I redeemed them and these were the cards that I won:

As you can see, nothing terribly interesting.

Rod Gaspar was a Mets outfielder who played 118 games in 1969 at all three outfield positions. He was not a terribly good hitter and was mostly just a backup option. He never played close to as often again. I had never heard of Gaspar before.

Pete Rose Jr. is famous for being Pete Rose's son. He had 16 at bats in the Major Leagues with the Reds and was never heard from again. Despite this, he still managed to get into some legal trouble for steroid use.

Well, I was not terribly happy with these pickups and did not do much with them. I left the website alone for a long time.

Last week though, I decided to look closer at the site and I realized that I could trade my cards for something else. So, I went through the process and identified several cards I would have liked and offered trades. Most of them were fairly preposterous, and were rejected right away.

I turned down a trade offer for a 1988 Topps George Brett and I ended up trading the Gaspar for this:
Gerry Moses was a Red Sox catcher who played in the All Star Game in 1970. Expect a post about him, as this was definitely a questionable choice. Still, trading a Mets card of a player I have never heard of for a vintage Red Sox card is pretty good for me.

I ended up trading the Rose for this:
I honestly did not think I would get anything for this one, and just offered it up for virtually anything I could. Ripley only pitched in 31 games for the Red Sox in two years, going 5-6 with a 5.36 ERA, 60 strikeouts in 137.2 innings with one save. Not terribly impressive. But again, getting it for a Pete Rose Jr. card from 1998 made me pretty happy.

In hindsight, I was pretty lucky to get anything before 1987, when card production got pretty out of control. I was very lucky to trade the Rose for anything at all. I did have the cards shipped to me, so I could include them in my collection. I am looking forward to getting some more of these redemptions. I have some cards I would really like to try for.