Today
I present to you a 1978 “not so missing” card for former infielder Tom
Heintzelman, who appeared in only two games for the San Francisco Giants
during the 1977 season, but you all know that’s good enough for me to
create a card:
Heintzelman spent all of 1975 and 1976 in the Minors after coming up
with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1973 and playing parts of 1973 and 1974.
Over those two games in 1977, he went 0-2 at the plate while not getting
any time defensively out in the field, though I did post his position
as “2B” instead of pinch-hitter.
Regardless, in 1978 he’d play what turned out to be the last games of
his MLB career when he appeared in 27 games for the Giants, batting .229
with eight hits in 35 at-bats, with a double and a couple homers thrown
in.
He’d spend all of 1979 in the Minors, but would retire soon after,
finishing up his Big League tenure with a career .243 average, with 34
hits over 140 at-bats in 90 games between 1973 and 1978.
I
was originally going to create a “not so missing” 1975 card for former
St. Louis Cardinal Tom Heintzelman, until I realized I already did one a
while back.
So not to waste an airbrushing job on the image I already had set up, I
decided to use it for a 1974 edition, even though he was on a
multi-player rookie card in the set.
So for no other reason than laziness to work on another image of another player, consider this a “dedicated rookie”:
After a brief cup-of-coffee in 1973 that saw him hit .310 over 29
at-bats, he would be back in 1974 with the St. Louis Cardinals,
appearing in 38 games, batting .230 with 17 hits over 74 at-bats.
He also had 10 runs scored and nine walks in that brief period of play,
but would find himself spending the next few seasons in the Minor
Leagues, putting up some nice numbers.
In 1977 he’d be back, albeit for only two games with the San Francisco
Giants where he went 0-for-2 at the plate as a pinch-hitter before
playing the last 27 games of his career the following season, batting
.229 with eight hits in 35 at-bats, generally as a pinch-hitter.
All told he played four brief seasons, batting .243 with 34 hits in 140
at-bats spread out over 90 games with the Cardinals and Giants.
Here’s
a 1975 card for a guy who had one card as a Major League player, a spot
on the multi-player rookie cards of the 1974 set, Tom Heintzelman, who
would put in a brief four year career, but could be argued to have
missed out on two cards by Topps:
After a brief cup-of-coffee in 1973 (hence the rookie card the following
year), he would make it back to the Big Leagues in 1974 with the St.
Louis Cardinals, appearing in 38 games, batting .230 with 17 hits over
74 at-bats.
He also had 10 runs scored and nine walks in that brief period of play,
but would find himself spending the next few seasons in the Minor
Leagues, putting up some nice numbers.
In 1977 he’d be back, albeit for only two games with the San Francisco
Giants where he went 0-for-2 at the plate as a pinch-hitter before
playing the last 27 games of his career the following season, batting
.229 with eight hits in 35 at-bats, generally as a pinch-hitter.
All told he played four brief seasons, batting .243 with 34 hits in 140
at-bats spread out over 90 games with the Cardinals and Giants.
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