#645 - Ken Boswell

In one of the set’s final action shots we get Ken Boswell somewhere in the infield at Shea. This would have been pretty rare moment for Ken in ’73: of his 110 at bats during the year about half of them were in the pinch and his playing time was seriously squeezed by the acquisition of everyday second baseman Felix Millan before the beginning of the season. That acquisition was made necessary, in part, due to Ken’s fragility as he’d missed parts of three seasons due to injury. So just about all Ken’s games in the field in ’73 were at third base, and those after Jim Fregosi was traded away. Like many of his teammates his offensive contributions were uneven throughout most of the season until crunch time; the last two months of the season he hit .389 with a .522 OBA as a pinch hitter. He would then carry that hot streak into the post-season with a record-setting performance.

Ken Boswell grew up in Austin, Texas, where in high school he was a point guard and middle infielder. There was a considerable amount of interest in him by MLB teams his senior year after he led his HS team to go deep in a national tournament but he opted to go to nearby Sam Houston College on a baseball scholarship at his parents’ insistence. But Ken wasn’t much of a student and after some renewed interest from the Mets during his first year he decided he’d had enough of college, did a deep dive on his grades, and became eligible for the initial ’65 draft, in which he was taken in the fourth round. He then had a pretty fortuitous start to his career in A ball – see cartoon – and hit .285 with a bit of power though his defensive performance at second wasn’t too hot. He continued hitting well after moving up to Double A in ’66 with a .299 average and .374 OBA and improved things a bit defensively which earned him a mid-season call-up to Triple A where he split time between second and third while hitting .255. In ’67 he pulled his Army hitch missing all of spring training and most of the season. He hit .249 when he returned in Triple A and then got his call-up in September to NY for whom his first homer would be the only Mets one in LA that year.

Boswell was up for good after his debut but had a rough start his first season. He injured some ribs just before spring training and so missed most of his games. But he was pretty much ready when his rookie season began and got things rolling at a decent enough clip to win a split spot at second base with Dave Nelson on the Topps Rookie Team. That honor was received even though he missed a considerable part of the summer with a broken finger. During that time manager Gil Hodges began employing a platoon system for most of his infielders and Ken, a lefty hitter, would see most of the action since he hit against righties. So in ’69 he would begin a run getting the lion’s share of work at second while providing some pretty good offense. He had probably his best season in that category in ’69 as he split time with veteran Al Weiss and rookie Wayne Garrett at second. He then had an excellent playoff against Atlanta but then only got one start in the Series since Baltimore threw mostly lefties at the Mets. In ’70 his average fell a bit but Ken surprised just about everyone by reeling off a record streak of 85 straight games at second without an error, only recording two all year. Now that the handle of being defensively-challenged had been removed, he retained his spot through ’71 and into ’72 although that last season he was hindered by a season-long injury that contributed to a big hitting slump – he didn’t break .200 until mid-September – and a bit of a fallout in his defense. That performance was a big part of the rationale behind the trade that brought Felix Millan to the team the next year. Now a reserve, Ken split field time in ’74 between third and second, where he got some starts while Millan was injured. But the irregular work took its toll on his hitting as he punched in with a .216 average his final year in NY. After the season he was traded to Houston for outfielder Bob Gallagher.

Back close to his home base, Boswell would preserve his role he had his last couple seasons in NY, as a reserve guy at second and third. In ’75 he revived his average a bit to .242 and his OBA a lot more to .350 in a transitional year for the Houston infield. In ’76 Enos Cabell took over third base and Rob Andrews second and most of Ken’s time was at the former position, which meant less field time. So more than half his plate time was as a pinch hitter and he did well in that role, hitting .318 with a .387 OBA while setting a team record with 20 pinch hits. He would round things out with the Astros in ’77 at second and in the pinch, finishing his career by firmly shaking off the initial “good hit no field” tag by recording only one error his final four years at second base. Ken also finished with a .248 average with 31 homers and 244 RBI’s. In the post-season he was a bit of a monster, hitting .421 with two homers and five RBI’s in his eight games.

After playing Boswell returned full-time to the Austin area where he initially sold trucks for the Cliff Peck dealership there. He then turned to specializing in antique cars which he did for many years before retiring to his ranch, which he’d also built up and ran as a working one for many years.

These are some pretty good highlights and I like that Topps puts in the recent one of his Series work in ’73. Per the narrative on those cards way back he got those hits in three at bats for a perfect average.

As a contrast to the former hook-up this one’s pretty easy:

1. Boswell and Wayne Granger ’75 Astros.

#630 - Tommie Agee

Back to the final cards, and in this case the plural works two ways. For the record of the last eight non-team cards in this set, six have been the final ones issued during those players’ careers. And Tommie Agee gets to go out with a double, just like Felipe Alou did a bunch of posts back. These aren’t great cards – Tommie looks pretty unhappy as a Cardinal and that look up on his Traded card could be years old. But he did have some great ones. In ’71 he slides into second as Joe Morgan and (I think) Dennis Menke try to get a ball that appears trapped in Tommie’s underarm while the umpire – in a uniform out of 1920 – looks like he’s about to signal an out, which would make no sense. I think that one gets topped in ’73 when Tommie is making a catch in center with Rusty Staub – our last post subject – jogging over from right and (again, I believe) Ken Boswell doing a crossover in back of another ump in a photo in which all three guys – a record? – had to be air-brushed because Tommie went to Houston before that season. He’d been having a rough time since about mid-’71 when extensive knee pain took away lots of his power and a year later his speed. And though he spent less than half his career in a Mets uniform, it is odd to see him out of it. His last year really was his last year – no more stats after the ones on this card – and after the trade mentioned above sort of fell flat. Despite hitting well in a couple early starts in left field for Houston, the dereliction of his knees contributed to most of his time being spent in reserve work where it was difficult to maintain a consistent average and the strikeouts- Tommie always had a problem with those – were a bit high for the decreased power production. By mid-August he was the team’s fifth outfielder and was soon after traded to St. Louis for infielder Dave Campbell. With the Cards Tommie got some starts in center – he was acquired because regular guys Jose Cruz and Luis Melendez were hurt and stopped hitting, repectively – but the average continued to taper. After the season the Dodgers got super busy in early December with trades. Their long-time starter in center, Willie Davis, was sent to Montreal for big-inning reliever Mike Marshall and Tommie was acquired in this trade to fill the gap. But the next day his former teammate Jimmy Wynn was picked up by LA for pitcher Claude Osteen. Jimmy would have a monster season in helping LA to the Series while Tommie wouldn’t get out of spring training. So he returned to NY, just not as a baseball player.

Tommie Agee grew up in and around Mobile, Alabama, where in high school he was a star in the big three sports plus track. In football while he was a three-year starter his team lost only one game. He was an end while future Mets teammate Cleon Jones was a halfback. In baseball he was an outfielder/pitcher and his senior year of ’60 he hit .390. He then went to Grambling on a baseball scholarship where he added first base to the above positions and hit .533 his one season before being signed by Cleveland for a big bonus. In D ball the rest of the summer he hit .261 with 15 homers and 40 RBI’s in under half a season. Tommie almost always hit from the top of the line-up and was super fast. In ’62 he moved up to B ball where he put up a .258/7/55 line with ten triples and 25 stolen bases before a couple games in Triple A and then his first look in Cleveland. In ’63 he moved to Double A where he experienced his first lost time from his knee, had a line of .274/5/36 in just under 300 at bats, stole 19, and recorded his best OBA of .354. He also returned to Cleveland at the end of the season for look number two. Then in ’64 it was off to Triple A Portland where he became a slugger with his .272/20/62 line with 35 steals but 144 K’s. After his third late crack at the Cleveland outfield he, young pitcher Tommy John, and John Romano went to the White Sox as part of a three-team deal in which Cam Carreon went to Cleveland (from Chicago); Mike Hershberger, Jim Landis, and Fred Talbot went to KC (from Chicago); and Rocky Colavito returned to Cleveland (from KC).

Initially, Chicago smelled a lot like Cleveland for Agee. He began the season in Triple A, where his .226/8/33 line was a significant discount to his prior season and his September call-up worked about as well as his previous ones did. But in ’66 Tommie had a real good camp and in the wake of Danny Cater’s trade to KC, incumbent center fielder Ken Berry moved to Cater’s spot in left opening up center for Tommie, who made the most of his opportunity. Still a rookie, he led the Sox in runs (98), hits, doubles, triples, homers, RBI’s, average, and stolen bases (44). He made the All-Star team, won a Gold Glove, and finally was named AL Rookie of the Year. ’67 would be a mixed year though. While Tommie hit OK during the season’s first half and again was an All-Star, he had a nasty slump in the second half which was pretty lousy timing since the Sox went to the wire on the pennant. After the season he was on the move again, this time to the Mets with infielder Al Weiss for Tommy Davis, Jack Fisher, and a couple minor leaguers.

While Agee’s first year in a new town was better than the last time he tried that trick, it wasn’t by much. Acquired to finally fill a defensive hole in center that had been there since pretty much the Mets themselves had, and to add some pop to the top of the line-up, Tommie did pretty well in the former department but pretty badly in the latter. Off to a pretty good start at the plate he ran into an early wall in that monster 24-inning game against Houston in which he went 0 for 10 to begin a season-long slump that didn’t allow him to break .200 until the last couple weeks. He went from being the everyday center fielder to missing starts and his RBI total was pretty horrendous as he came in with north of 100 strikeouts. But ’69 was a whole new year and Tommie put up his best stats since his ROY season. While he was still toting a high K total – 137 that year – he delivered in the role for which he was acquired while scoring 97 runs. Then came his headline-worthy post-season in which he hit .357 with two homers against Atlanta and then had those two circus catches against Baltimore that saved a game in the Series. As another reward Tommie was named the AL Comeback Player of the Year. ’70 was better for Tommie personally as he improved in runs (107), hits, doubles, triples, stolen bases (31 vs. 12), and average and won his second Gold Glove. By the end of the year, though, his knees were causing him some serious pain and in ’71 Tommie missed a combined six weeks to injury. He kept his average up there and stole 28 bases but his power subsided quite a bit. In ’72 he missed time to both injury and the return of Willie Mays as that year the average and the stolen base total (8) fell prey to his knees. Following the season he was sent to Houston for Rich Chiles and Buddy Harris. After the ’73 season he was done, finishing with the stats on the back of this card and 167 stolen bases. In the post-season he hit .250 with three homers, five RBI’s, and three steals in his eight games.

Agee had while still a Met purchased an interest in The Outfield Lounge, a bar pretty close to Shea Stadium in Queens. After he was done playing he pretty much took it over as a full-time pursuit. He was also heavily involved in local PR events for the Mets and other NYC youth programs. He then became associated with a company called Stewart Title Insurance with whom he was working while attending a meeting in NYC in 2001. It was there he was stricken with a heart attack that would prove fatal. Tommie was only 58. A year later he was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame. He has a SABR bio.

Tommie gets a big number and a big star bullet on his card back. Those catches robbed Andy Etchebarren and Paul Blair (who just recently passed away) of multi-base hits that would have likely driven in five runs. When he was traded to the Sox it was part of an arranged deal. The Tribe wanted Rocky Colavito back and he was in the hands of the A’s. Chicago wanted catcher John Romano because he hit with some power although his defense was very suspect. Cleveland told Chicago they could get Romano if they picked up Colavito which they were able to do principally because he’d had a big ’64 and wanted a raise and KC owner Charlie O Finley didn’t want to pay. So Cleveland got Rocky, Chicago got Romano, and the two throw-ins to the deal from the Cleveland side were Tommie – whose stats are all above – and a guy who won 286 more games.

Tommie had a one-day run as LA’s newest center fielder. Ah well.

By mid-August of ’73 most of the big names had already testified before the Senate Committee, which was still pursuing some of the tapes from the White House:

8/15/73 – President Nixon delivers a televised address for the first time in three months. In it he indicated it was time to stop using Watergate as a diversion and/or an obstacle to getting real work done, notably dealing with inflation and Viet Nam. He opined that “it (was) clear that both the hearings themselves and some of the commentaries on them have become increasingly absorbed in an effort to implicate the President personally in the illegal activities that took place” in another clear indication of his belief of myriad conspiracies against him. He reminded people that he already accepted responsibility for abuses that occurred during his administration but then also reminded everyone that he was innocent of all activities related to the scandal. He reiterated that he would not turn in any tapes on the basis of national security. The presentation didn’t go terribly well; the next day a poll revealed that 31% of the populace were in favor of the President’s job performance, a 20-year low in that poll.

As that ’73 card of Tommie’s illustrated, this is an easy hook-up:

1. Agee and Rusty Staub ’72 Mets.

#624 - Bob Miller

There is a lot to say about this card. First of all it is the third card in a row that represents the subject's final Topps card as a player. Bob Miller had at this point had a pretty long run that began in the Fifties and, especially recently, had covered a whole bunch of teams. Secondly, this is a damn ugly card, which we have happily been without for a long time. Nothing against Mr. Miller, who in younger years was a good looking guy, but he is all of 33 years old at the oldest (see below) in this photo and he looks 20 years older. Plus this must be about the nastiest air-brush job in the set, with Bob’s Pirates uniform being compromised into a Mets one. The neck line is horrific and the hat looks like a pile of atomic waste. Third, the newest this card is is from ’72 and it may even be much earlier because the background is very Forbes Field-ish and that park closed in ’70. So it’s probably a spring training shot. Lastly, and best-ly (I know that’s not even a hyphenated word but you get the drift) it has Roberto Clemente in the background, which is awfully nice and pulls the card back to respectability. Don Leppert appears to be there also over Bob’s right shoulder, but I’m no good with the rest of those guys. ’73 was an all too-typical year for Bob in the Seventies: lots of traveling conjoined with some pretty good pitching. He actually went through nearly all of spring training with Pittsburgh, only to get released right at the end of it. Immediately picked up by the Padres he got off to a pretty good start in relief until some messy outings in May pushed up his ERA. Unfortunately, too, in not one of the San Diego games in which he pitched did the team record a win. So after 18 games he was placed on waivers from which he was again snatched pretty quickly, this time by Detroit. Bob won two of his first three games with the Tigers, threw generally good ball, and added a save through late September. He was then sold to NY for a very short stretch drive, especially for him since he only threw one inning. So Topps really didn’t get much of an opportunity to not airbrush Bob. But it would be nice if they did a better job.

Bob Miller grew up in St. Louis where at Beaumont High School he went 22-1 during his career and 12-0 as a senior. He also led his team to the American Legion national championship and in ’57 was signed as a bonus baby by St. Louis out of high school. Like most players signed under that umbrella Bob rarely played his first year and after the rule associated with those kinds of signings was changed in ’58 he went to the minors. After beginning the year in Triple A with a bit of a fat ERA he moved to Double A where he went 8-11 with a 3.54 ERA in the rotation. The next year he pretty much matched those numbers in Triple A – 8-12 with a 3.50 ERA – before he returned to St. Louis that August, winning his first game in his first start. He threw well the rest of the way but then had an injury-filled ’60 during which he missed most of the middle part of the season and did some Double A rehab time. In ’61 he moved to a reserve role and saw a spike in his ERA – but everybody did that year – and recorded his first three saves. After that season he was one of the early round picks by the new Mets in the expansion draft.

Miller spent most of the ’62 season in the NY rotation but probably wished he didn’t. He lost his first 12 games and didn’t put up his first win of the season until late September. Mercifully he was traded after the season to LA for Larry Burright and Tim Harkness, two infielders. Bob’s timing was pretty good and his first year he worked as a swing guy for the Series winners, getting a save in his relief work. After being shut out of any post-season work he was pretty much strictly a reliever the next few seasons. In ’64 he led the NL with his 74 appearances and recorded nine saves. He hit that save total again in ’65 and then put up five in ’66. Both those years he threw shutout ball in the Series. In ’67 the Dodgers did a fast fade and Bob went right with them as both his record and his ERA deteriorated and he was shut out in the saves department. In ’68 he went to Minnesota in a big trade with Johnny Roseboro and Ron Perranoski for Mudcat Grant and Zoilo Versalles. With the Twins Bob basically did set-up work for Perranoski and over the next two years garnered five saves for himself. In ’69 he added some spot starts which bumped up his innings and returned to the post-season. Then with the beginning of the Seventies came the real onset of his travels. Three years during that decade he played for three teams, beginning in ’70 when prior to the start of the season he was involved in another big trade, going to Cleveland with Dean Chance, Graig Nettles, and Ted Uhlaender for Luis Tiant and Stan Williams. It wasn’t a great year for Bob: as a swing guy for The Tribe, a starter for the White Sox (he went there in June for Buddy Bradford), and a reliever for the Cubs (a sale in September), his work was below par and his ERA escalated quite a bit. But in ’71 after a lousy start for the Cubbies he went to San Diego after being released in May and did some excellent work in the pen, recording seven saves with his miniscule ERA. He continued that after an August trade to Pittsburgh for Ed Acosta and Johnny Jeter. After posting three saves for the Pirates he again got some post-season work, winning another ring. In ’72 he stayed put for a change, adding another three saves, before he did the three team thing again in ’73. In ’74 he finished his MLB time with pen work for the Mets, going 2-2 with a 3.58 ERA and a couple saves in 58 games. Bob finished with a record of 69-81 with a 3.37 ERA, seven complete games, and 51 saves. In his post-season work he was 0-2 with a 3.07 ERA in nine games.

In ’75 Miller returned to the Padres as a player/coach for the team’s Triple A Hawaii franchise. He went 0-1 with three saves in his 15 games and the following year got a straight-up manager gig, going 81-54 for the team’s Double A franchise. In ’77 he was named pitching coach of the new Toronto Blue Jays – so he got a card that year – and retained that role through the ’79 season. After a year off in ’80 he joined the Giants as a minor league pitching instructor from ’81 to ’84 and then returned to The Show with an ’85 stint in San Francisco. After the whole staff was canned following a disappointing season Bob became a scout for the club. He was still doing that when he was killed in a car accident outside San Diego in August of ’93. He was 54.

Bob has zero room for star bullets, mostly because of his travels in the Seventies. Sixteen different managers, huh? Dare I name them? Why not:

Fred Hutchinson (’57 Cards);                                Don Gutteridge (’70 White Sox);

Solly Hemus (’59 -’61 Cards);                               Leo Durocher (’70 –’71 Cubs);

Johnny Keane (’61 Cards);                                    Preston Gomez (’71 Padres);

Casey Stengel (’62 Mets);                                     Danny Murtaugh (’71 Pirates);

Walt Alston (’63 -’67 Dodgers);                            Bill Virdon (’72 Pirates);

Cal Ermer (’68 Twins);                                          Don Zimmer (’73 Padres);

Billy Martin (’69 Twins and ’73 Tigers);               Joe Schultz (’73 Tigers);

Al Dark (’70 Indians);                                           Yogi Berra (’73 –’74 Mets).

Bob also famously roomed with another Bob Miller on the ’62 Mets which was memorialized by a Topps card.

Bob played with everybody apparently except this guy:

1. Miller and Lindy McDaniel ’57 and ’59 to ’61 Cardinals;

2. McDaniel and Celerino Sanchez ’72 to ’73 Yankees.

#561 - Ed Kranepool

From action shot to action shot, here we get Ed Kranepool looking like he just speared a liner and is looking to double a runner off second. Ed is playing in front of a packed house. It is inviting to call this a post-season game given the crowd but at Shea Ed only played left field when he was in the field at all. ’73 would set the tone of Ed’s career the next few seasons. Continuing to platoon at first – mostly with John Milner – he also got a bunch of starts in left field for the first time, primarily due to an injury to regular starter Cleon Jones. His RBI numbers were better than the prior year but most of his other offensive stats fell. He only went 2 for 17 as a pinch hitter that year but he would get considerably better in that role down the road.

Ed Kranepool was not yet born when his dad died in WW II. A local Little League coach took him under his wing and Ed grew up playing on a bunch of local all-star and all-area teams. At James Monroe High School in The Bronx he was a big hoops star – about 24 ppg for his career – and hit nine homers his senior year in leading his team to the NYC championships. His total of 21 for his career broke a school record set by Hank Greenberg. That year was ’62 which also happened to be the initial season for the Mets. They were looking for a local athlete to draw fans and Ed was their boy. After an aggressive recruitment they signed him right after graduation and sent him to Triple A Syracuse where he hit .229 with no power his first few games. He was moved down to A ball - .278 in seven games – and finally D ball, where he remembered his stroke and hit .351 with 18 RBI’s in 77 at bats. That September, at 17, he made his debut for NY and in his second game he recorded his first hit, a double. He shared a rookie card in ’63 with Tony Oliva and Max Alvis and began the year on the NY roster, hitting .300 through April when he played primarily first base. He was then moved to right field and though he got a bunch of starts there, his offense went south so that by early July he was under .200 and sent to Triple A Buffalo. There he hit .310 with 33 RBI’s in 53 games before he returned to the Mets where he added a few points to his numbers. He then began ’64 at Buffalo after being hurt in spring training – he hit .352 in twenty games - but was up by late May and most of that time was the starting first baseman. From then on it was – mostly – all majors.

In ’65 Ed was given the starting nod at first and he came out of the gate strong, his average above .400 in early May. That start got him selected to his only All-Star game and he was still around .300 at game time. His average faded the rest of the way and his homer total didn’t move from the prior year despite 100 more at bats. By then it was decided Ed probably wasn’t the next Mickey Mantle and in ’66 he began to be platooned at first. Because Ed was the lefty side of the duo he got the most starting time at first, but his at bats would go on a downward trend. In ’66 he split time with Dick Stuart and Jim Hickman and hit 16 homers, his best for a season. In ’67 it was he, Ron Swoboda, and Bob Johnson and Ed put up his best average to date with a .269. In ’68 Gil Hodges was named Mets manager and though he generally got along with just about all his players, there was some tension between Ed and him. That year Ed’s starts fell below 100 for the first time as he shared time with Greg Goossen, Art Shamsky, and JC Martin. His numbers tanked that year but a good spring in ’69 had him pretty much solo at first – Cleon Jones got a few starts there – until a mid-season acquisition of Donn Clendenon had them split time there the rest of the way. Ed’s average stayed pretty low but his power numbers were his best to date when drawn out to a full season. He’d had a big hit in an important series against the Cubs and got all the starts in the playoff sweep of Atlanta since the Braves threw all righties. But against the Orioles in the Series he only got into one game as Clendenon went on his offensive tear against the O’s lefty starters.

In 1970 Kranepool was named team player rep and also held out in spring training. He got his raise but either because of that, his rep status (never a good career move), or that with him, Art Shamsky, and Mike Jorgenssen, the Mets had three lefty first basemen, Ed got barely any at bats through late June and most of those were in the pinch. He was sent to Triple A where he had a .310/7/45 season in only 174 at bats before being recalled and hit over .300 the rest of the way as a pinch hitter. Clendenon had a monster offensive year in ’70 but by ’71 both he and Shamsky were slowing down considerably and so Ed was back as the de facto starter at first despite the adding of rookie John Milner to the roster. Ed had probably his best offensive year as his average bounced a bunch and his power numbers were up there with his best. In ’72 the Mets acquired Willie Mays and Ed split time at first with him and Cleon Jones, another outfielder whose knees needed a rest. In ’73 Milner got most of the starts at first and in ’74 as Ed’s at bats continued to decline, he began his new added role as a pinch hitter deluxe. He went 17 for 35 including one run where he had five straight pinch hits. Then in ’75 despite the addition of two more first baseman in Joe Torre and Dave Kingman, Ed’s starts there increased a bunch as both Kingman and Milner concentrated on the outfield. His .323/4/43 with 16 doubles came in 325 at bats and was propelled in part by another excellent pinch-hitting season in which he hit .400 in that role. In ’76 Torre’s role contracted considerably as he was readied to step into a managerial role and Ed ramped his at bats to north of 400 as he started at both first and in left field. That year he hit .292 with ten homers and 49 RBI’s and hit .364 in the pinch. In ’77 his time at first was roughly halved as he also did time in right and left, but though his at bats declined he kept his stats up with a .281/10/40 season with 17 doubles in 281 at bats, led by a .414 pinch hitting average. That season the Mets were awful, a status they would retain throughout the rest of Ed’s career. By ’78 he was almost exclusively a pinch hitter. That year he hit only .210 in his 81 at bats (.280 in the pinch). He followed that with a ’79 in which he hit .232 but only .184 in his pinch-hitting role. That was it for Ed as he retired after nearly two decades with NY. He finished with a .261 average with 118 homers and 614 RBI’s and just about every career offensive record for the team when he was done. He hit .238 with a homer and four RBI’s in nine post-season games.

Kranepool was a busy guy in the off-season. He got a stockbroker license and began working in that capacity when he was 20. He did that for roughly the same amount of time that he ran a restaurant with Ron Swoboda called “the Dugout” on Long Island. He was also an active speaker during those months. When he retired he moved to a company called Les Jay which was big in display advertising. A year after he retired he put together a group to try to buy his former team but lost out to the Doubleday’s. He then was a marketing rep for Pfizer for a bunch of years before he quit in the early Nineties. He had runs in different businesses on Long Island and at the time his SABR bio was written in 2008 was part of a group that handled credit card accounts for businesses. In 2011 he was again part of a group – this time with Martin Luther King III – that wanted to buy a piece of the Mets when Fred Wilpon had to do the distressed sale.

This is a pretty wild card back for a guy who was not yet 30. Ed would continue to be the only remaining original Met through ’79. He was also inducted to the team’s hall of fame earlier this century.

Ed gets hooked up to his ’69 Series opponent through the NL of course:

1. Kranepool and Rusty Staub ’72 to ’75 Mets;

2. Staub and Mike Cuellar ’65 to ’68 Astros.

#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.

#510 - Wayne Garrett

Shea looks busy in this photo. Wayne Garrett sets a pose behind the batting cages while a coach – Yogi Berra? – is checking out whoever is occupying the cage. There is also a guy with what looks like crazy long hair immediately behind Wayne watching the cage action. I have no idea who that could be since Ted Simmons was still with St. Louis. ’73 was a big season for Wayne. Though by this point in his career he’d been with NY for five years, for four of them the Mets were always looking for a third baseman. Wayne platooned with Ed Charles his rookie year. Then the Mets got Joe Foy in ’70 and he bombed. They they got Bob Aspromonte in ’71 and he was just too old. Then they got Jim Fregosi in ’72 and he was a mess. So in ’73 they finally let Fregosi go and opted to use the guy they had all along, and guess what? Wayne had a pretty good season. He led the team in OBA, was second in homers, and third in RBI’s while only missing a couple weeks, which was unusually durable for that team. Defensively he was second for double plays at third and fourth in assists in the NL. He was super hot down that big September stretch that took the Mets over the hump. And he was the middle guy in the “ball off the wall” play which nailed Richie Zisk at the plate in an extra-inning game and was pivotal in helping NY leapfrog the Pirates to get to first place. He could have hit better in the post-season but so could have lots of guys. All in all it was a memorable year for Wayne, maybe not as big a deal as his rookie one, but he sure showed management they didn’t have to give up Amos Otis or Nolan Ryan. And those two guys maybe could have helped NY to a ’73 Series win.

Wayne Garrett was a Florida kid and was drafted by the Braves out of Sarasota High in ’65. There he was predominantly a shortstop, a position he continued to specialize in his first few pro seasons. His first summer he hit .269 in Rookie ball but in A ball in ’66 he slumped to .200. He upped his average in a ’67 split between two teams at that level to .241 and played a few games at second. In ’68 he moved up to Double A, did a bunch of work at third, and hit .239. After the season the Mets made him a Rule 5 draft pick for $25,000.

Garrett had to stay on the ’69 NY roster all season in order to not be returned to Atlanta. That turned out fine for both parties. Incumbent third baseman Ed Charles was getting up there and while Ken Boswell could play third in a pinch, he was needed at second base. So manager Gil Hodges asked Wayne if he could fill in at the hot corner and five minutes later he was. While his average was nothing special his defense was handy as was his ability to move around the diamond as he also started a bunch of games at second. He had a nice post-season, hitting .385 against Atlanta in the playoffs and then getting a couple walks in his three appearances against Baltimore in which his playing time was restricted because Charles started. Ed “retired” after the ’69 season and Wayne was gung ho to step in but instead NY made genius move number one by sending Amos Otis to Kansas City for Joe Foy. Foy, rumored to be a problem child, didn’t have a terrible season. But Otis had a better one and so did Wayne, who hit twelve homers, and got his BB/K ratio back to where it should have been in his part-time role split between second and third. ’71 was a hot mess. First he had to do his military tour the bulk of which was five months with the National Guard that began in the winter and made him miss spring training and most of the first half of the season. In the meantime NY acquired Bob Aspromonte from Atlanta to fill the third base spot and Wayne just couldn’t get it going when he returned. The next year produced genius trade two when NY sent Nolan Ryan to California for Jim Fregosi. Fregosi had been an All-Star shortstop but he’d basically ruined his foot in ’71 and was damaged goods when he got to NY. Meanwhile Wayne injured both his shoulder and a hamstring during spring training and missed the first six weeks of the season. When he returned his numbers pretty much rivaled Fregosi’s and by the end of the season he was the starting guy.

In ’74 Garrett was – finally – named the opening day starter at third base. He promptly went into a tailspin at the plate and was still hitting below .200 in early June. Part of that was due to reinjuring his shoulder during spring training. He finished with a .224 average that year and was considered one of the main reasons the club had a pretty terrible year. Prior to the ’75 season NY acquired Joe Torre from the Cards to play third and while a bunch of Joe’s time was actually spent at first, Wayne’s starts halved from ’74. Still, he hit much better, raising his average to .266 and putting up 34 RBI’s and 49 runs in 274 at bats. By ’76 Torre was strictly a first base guy and Wayne split time at third with rookie Roy Staiger. He was still getting on base at a pretty good clip but his average was back to its ’74 level when he was traded in July to Montreal with Del Unser for Pepe Mangual and Jim Dwyer. With the Expos Wayne split time at second base with Pete Mackanin and added about 20 points to his average. In ’77 he returned to third to back up Larry Parrish and had a decent offensive year, hitting .270 with a .385 OBA. In ’78 his average slipped 100 points in the same role and mid-season he was sold to St. Louis where he hit .333 the rest of the year. By then Wayne’s shoulder and legs were hurting so much he opted to go play in Japan where he would get more playing time and more money. While there for the ’79 and ’80 seasons he hit .241 with an OBA of .327. He then retired with a lifetime average of .239 with a .350 OBA, 61 homers, and 340 RBI’s. In the post-season he hit .179 in 17 games.

Garrett returned to Florida after his career ended. There he ran a courier business, managed a golf course, and most recently has been a salesman for his brother’s irrigation supply company.

This is a good card back. Wayne, like his two baseball-playing brothers, used his middle name as his preferred one. I guess On Base Average was such a novel concept back then it required quotation marks. Topps sure does him justice with that last star bullet. Wayne also struck out eleven times, which back then was a Series record. Finally, this cartoon is another appropriate one for Kelsey.

These two almost faced each other in the ’73 post-season:

1. Garrett and Stan Bahnsen ’77 to ’78 Expos;

2. Bahnsen and Jesse Jefferson ’75 White Sox.

#415 - Gary Gentry

So when the Angels were looking to trade Jim Fregosi to the Mets for one of NY’s starting pitchers, this is the guy they initially wanted. Apparently Bobby Winkles, the Arizona State coach, was a consultant of sorts to California a couple years before he came on board as manager and thought his old ace would be the best fit for the team. But the Mets shot that deal down and instead shipped an inconsistent pitcher named Nolan Ryan west for Fregosi, thereby rendering one of the worst all-time deals even more one-sided. Nothing against Gary here, shown in his new home in Atlanta, but post that trade he would put up an MLB total of 12 wins while Ryan would add 295 to his total. The immediate repercussions were just as bad. In ’72 Ryan won 19 in his new home in Anaheim with the first of his three successive 300-plus strikeout seasons while still in NY Gary put up his first losing record anywhere and his highest ERA. Then, to add insult to the injury of a trade he wasn’t even part of, the trade in which he did partake was pretty much as bad as he and Danny Frisella went to the Braves for Felix Millan and George Stone, both of whom would be implemental in bringing the ’73 Mets within a game of the Series title. While Gary pitched well enough when he did pitch, it wasn’t too often as searing pain in his right arm led to surgery during the season for bone chips removal from his elbow. Poor guy. But he always has that ’69 season in his corner.

Gary Gentry grew up in Phoenix where he was primarily a position player in high school. He was also a guard in hoops and an end in football. After finishing high school in ’64 he went to Phoenix Junior College where he began pitching and in his first year took his team to the JUCO Series, which he won with a 15-strikeout game. While at Phoenix he was drafted three times by, successively, Houston (June ’65), Baltimore (January ’66), and San Francisco (June ’66). But his dad wouldn’t let him sign with any of them and so after the ’66 season he graduated and went to Arizona State where in ’67 he was 17-1 with a 1.14 ERA and a college record 229 strikeouts. Again he led his team to its series championship as he won the pivotal CWS game with a 15-inning performance and again with 15 K’s. That June the Mets drafted him and this time he signed for a pretty significant bonus. Finishing the year in Double A he only went 4-4 but put up a 1.59 ERA with nearly a strikeout an inning. Then in ’68 he moved up to Triple A where his fastball, curve, and improving slider took him to 12-8 with a 2.91 ERA. In spring training of ’69 he became the third hot prospect to reach the top in three years after Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman the past two seasons.

Gentry began ’69 with two victories in his first two starts and ultimately had a nice year for the Series champs. His strikeout totals weren’t what they were in college but he was a very self-determined thrower and had excellent poise for a rookie (though many would later attribute that poise to hot-headedness since he could have a nasty temper). He won the division-clincher in September and after a lame start in the playoffs, nabbed the start at the first Series game in Shea Stadium ever. Gary went over six innings for the win in the game Tommie Agee made his two great catches. He also laced a double over Paul Blair’s head to knock in two runs. In ’70 the elbow problems started and Gary won his last game with over a month left to the season. He later claimed that the Mets not taking his elbow injury seriously enough was what later ruined his arm. In ’71 he bounced a bit to put up a season almost identical to his rookie year. Then much of ’72 he was in pain which he pitched through but that contributed to his decline in numbers. After his initial season in Atlanta things only got worse. He didn’t respond terribly well to the ’73 surgery and in ’74 only got into three games – with a 1.35 ERA – before he was shelved for the season and had another operation on his elbow. Then in ’75 he went 1-1 with a 4.95 ERA in seven games before he was released. He hooked up back with the Mets later in the season but in a Double A game snapped a tendon in his arm in his first appearance and that sealed the deal on his career. He finished up top with a 46-49 record with 25 complete games, eight shutouts, two saves, and a 3.56 ERA. In the post-season he went 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA in his two games and hit .333.

Gentry returned to Arizona after his playing career ended and immersed himself in local real estate. He now manages subsidized housing for seniors in Scottsdale. He has been inducted to the halls of fame at both his colleges.

Most of the star bullets were covered above as was the cartoon. Ernie Banks broke up the first game with two outs in the eighth inning. Roberto Clemente broke up the second game in the sixth inning. I guess if you are going to lose two potential no-no’s it might as well be to Hall of Famers.

We skip a card to hook up two guys with big ears:

1. Gentry and – what the hell – Nolan Ryan ’69 to ’71 Mets;

2. Ryan and Joe Lahoud ’74 to ’76 Angels;

3. Lahoud and Don Money ’73 Brewers.

#380 - Bud Harrelson

1973 was certainly not a yawner for old Bud here. He went on the DL twice: once when turning a double play and he got bowled over by the Reds’ Bill Plummer resulting in a broken wrist; and once when tagging out Pittsburgh’s Rennie Stennett in a rundown whose collision resulted in a broken sternum. He missed a combined two months although he did make it back just in time to be part of the big September comeback. Then in the NLCS against Cincinnati he and Pete Rose got into a big brawl which endeared Bud even more to us little guys since he was giving away about 40 pounds in that one. After the Reds upset the Mets nearly took Oakland in the Series. Lots of ups and downs for Bud that year. But he was probably destined for drama: Bud was born June 6, 1944 – his post gets published on his birthday, a first for this blog – otherwise known as D-Day.

Bud Harrelson was born and raised in California and picked up his “Bud” handle as a young kid. In high school he played all the big three sports, earning local honors in each, and the big plan was that he’d get drafted by the local Giants. When that didn’t happen he went to San Francisco State on a hoops scholarship. He also played ball a year and was then signed by the Mets in ’63 for a $10,000 bonus. In A ball the rest of that summer he had a tough time, both at the plate and at shortstop. The first wasn’t too surprising but the latter one was and he returned to that level the next year where he added 10 points to his average and cut down his running error total to raise his fielding average from .886 to .943. In ’65 he jumped to Triple A where he also remained the bulk of ’66. Both seasons he improved in fielding and both years he got a bit of action in NY.

In ’67 spring training Bud made the cut and was announced as starting shortstop by the Mets. He put up a pretty good first year – technically he wasn’t a rookie – for a shortstop at the plate though he had a few too may errors in the field. He would aright the second stat in ’68 but suffered a big downtick in his average in part due to a bum knee that required off-season surgery. That surgery led to some downtime in ’69 but like ’73 it was worth it to Bud for the post-season work. After the Mets won it all he returned in ’70 to what was probably his best season as he made the All-Star team, was not injured, and turned in a super defensive performance. In ’71 he continued that run, winning his Gold Glove, and starting the All-Star game. In ’72 his average tanked and he missed a bunch of time due to a bad back. Then after the big ’73 finish it was more of the same for ’74 and beyond: lots of time on the DL. That year he nearly came to blows with Cleon Jones in spring training and then missed 60 days due to a broken hand suffered while diving back to first. He did, though, put up his best OBA with a .366. He then missed almost all of ’75 when his knee problems returned in spades.  When he returned in ’76 he put in his most time and had his best season in a long time: .234 with a .351 OBA in 359 at bats. In ’77 everything went south as he hit only .178 in another season marred by injuries. After it he was sent to the Phillies for a guy named Fred Andrews. There Bud backed up Larry Bowa a couple seasons though he missed any playoff action. In ’80 he finished things up in Texas where he moved as a free agent with a pretty good season: .272 with a .373 OBA alternating time with Pepe Frias. Bud finished up top with a .236 average and a .327 OBA. In the post-season he hit .200 with six RBI’s in 20 games. He ranks in the top 100 shortstops in lifetime fielding average.

Harrelson didn’t take too long to get back in baseball. In ’82 he was a Mets coach. In ’83 he did a season of broadcasting work. He then managed in the Mets chain from ’84 to mid-’85 (he went 66-44) before returning to NY as a coach to replace Bobby Valentine who left to manage the Rangers. Bud stayed in that position through the ’86 Series championship and into ’90 when he was named manager to replace Davey Johnson. He went 149-129 before the pulled-apart team collapsed at the end of the ’91 season and he was replaced by Mike Cubbage. In ’92 he helped found and co-owned the Wilmington Blue Rocks, a Class A team in the Royals chain. He and another owner then founded the Atlantic League in ’98 as well as their own franchise in that league, the Long Island Ducks. Bud also coached the team a bit, managed it in 2000 (82-58), and was even activated for a game. He continues his association with the team as an owner and administrator.

There’s Bud’s full name which could not be pronounced by his brother when they were kids, hence the nickname. For a short time Bud and his main double play partner, Ken Boswell, each held the record for consecutive error-less games. I think that Topps sets the “star” hurdle a bit low as Bud only hit .250 with two runs scored during the Series although his OBA was .379. I would have given that designation to Rusty Staub.

Time to recap some music news and it is all from ’73. On June 1 the vocalist/drummer from the group Soft Machine (think Yes but with a jazzier feel) – Robert Wyatt – fell from an open window at a party in the UK and was paralyzed from the waist down. He has since done a bunch of solo and corroborative work. On June 2 Paul McCartney’s “My Love” took over the Number One spot in the States and would keep it for four weeks. And on June 5 Gram Parsons performed what would be his last live set in Philadelphia.

Back to the double hook-ups. I have a feeling Martin the manager would have appreciated Harrelson as a player:

1. Harrelson and Mickey Lolich ’76 Mets;

2. Lolich was managed by Billy Martin on the ’71 to ’73 Tigers.

For Billy as a player we get:

1. Harrelson and Phil Linz ’67 to ’68 Mets;

2. Linz and Elston Howard ’62 to ’65 Yankees;

3. Howard and Billy Martin ’55 to ’57 Yankees.

Phil Linz was a Yankees backup infielder in the early to mid-Sixties who also played for the Phillies and ended things with the Mets in ’68. Howard, of course, was an All-Star and MVP catcher for the Yankees and Red Sox.  

#356 - Jerry Koosman

Jerry Koosman is another Met who had a roller-coaster ride of a season in '73. Jerry began the year by going 5-0 with a 1.79 ERA and was a big reason the Mets were able to play .500 ball with zero hitting. Then came a horrible 3-14 run that lasted through mid-August and the team in sixth place, nine games back. But from then on Jerry went on a 6-1 tear that included almost 32 straight shutout innings. Judging by his expression here, this photo was probably snapped at Shea during the bad middle streak. Maybe if he pitched from the mound instead of just off the on-deck circle he'd have done better. From wherever he pitched he would go on to have a pretty good post-season and in the end nearly win the whole thing.

Jerry Koosman was a farm boy from Minnesota who took a long road to the majors. A pitcher since a young kid he was playing semi-pro ball while still in high school. He then briefly attended the University of Minnesota but left when he realized the school didn't have a baseball team and transferred to a school in North Dakota called the State School of Science. At both schools he worked toward a degree in engineering. Then before the season began he was drafted into the Army in '62 and was stuck on a stateside base the next two years. When he got a chance to play on an Army team he was spotted by a Mets scout and signed with them in late '64. He had a big fastball and his first season in '65, split between A and Double A, he fanned over a batter an inning but otherwise went 5-11 with a high ERA. Prior to the '66 season he was taught a slider which he picked up fast and back in A ball that year he went 12-7 with a 1.38 ERA and again over a strikeout an inning. In '67 he moved back up to Double A, went 11-10 with a 2.43 ERA, and got in a couple games in NY with less than impressive results.

Koosman kicked off the '68 season by getting a Topps rookie card on which he was pictured with Nolan Ryan. I have not checked but I have to believe that the pair's 544 career wins are the most represented on a rookie card ever. The card would be a good omen for Jerry as his 19 wins and 2.08 ERA got him a spot on the All-Star roster and named TSN Rookie Pitcher of the Year. The next season was pretty much just as good and was punctuated by an excellent Series in which he won both starts. In '70 he missed a few starts after getting whacked in the face with a line drive but still had a nice record and in '71 a back muscle tear put him on the DL for a while also. In the '72 season the loss of manager Gil Hodges hit Jerry hard and he needed to spend some time in the pen to get his rhythm back. Then after his up-and-down '73 he won 15 for a pretty poor team and 14 the next year, both seasons posting very good ERAs. Then in '76 he had maybe his best season, going 21-10 with 200 strikeouts and a 2.69 ERA, finishing second in NL Cy Young voting to San Diego's Randy Jones. But then things hit the skids. Fast, the Mets got horrible, and though Jerry would post a pretty good ERA the next two years his combined record over that time was 11-35. After the '78 season he went to the Twins for Greg Fields and Jesse Orosco. He was the last player traded away from the '69 Series team (Ed Kranepool would retire the following year).

Back home in Minnesota Kranepool experienced a revival, going 20-13 with a 3.38 ERA in '79. He won 16 in '80 and then between some back pain and down time from the strike was off to a 3-9 start in '81 when he was traded to the White Sox that August for Randy Johnson - no, not THAT one - and a couple minor leaguers. He then went only 1-4 the rest of that year but did pull his ERA down nearly a run. In '82 and '83 he went 11-7 both seasons for Chicago before he was traded prior to the '84 season for fellow old guy - and '69 playoff opponent - Ron Reed. Jerry went 14-15 with a 3.25 ERA for Philly his first year and then 6-4 his second after which he was released. At 42 he was done and he finished with a 220-209 record, a 3.36 ERA, 140 complete games, 33 shutouts, over 2,500 strikeouts, and 17 saves. In the post-season he was 4-0 with a 3.79 ERA in seven games. He has a great bio on the SABR site.

Shortly after Koosman retired he founded an organization called America's Best that was intended to represent young baseball players but was never given authorization by MLB, which was to be the group's selling point. When that failed he became more active at an engineering company in which he bought a stake while playing, Mesa Technologies. Eventually he bought out a bunch of other investors and moved the company to Wisconsin. He has remained affiliated with the firm ever since and worked there through 2008, except for parts of 1991 and '92 when he did some pitching coach work for the Mets organization. In 2009 shortly after appearing at Citi Field for a '69 reunion he served six months for tax evasion after he got caught up in the big anti-tax movement that also nailed actor Wesley Snipes.


Jerry gets some props for his Series work in his star bullets. Regarding the cartoon, his catcher in service ball was a Queens native whose dad was head usher at Shea. The dad had a good relationship with Mets management and turned them on to Jerry. When a scout went down to see him they offered him $4,000 on the spot. Jerry shot the guy down after his friends told him to hold out for more money. The Mets ended up signing him for about $1,900. That experience should have kept him away from the advice of those anti-tax guys.

This one uses an ex-Pirate to help:

1. Koosman and Gene Clines '75 Mets;
2. Clines and Jeff Burroughs '76 Rangers;
3. Burroughs and Dave Nelson '71 to '75 Senators/Rangers.

#311 - Jerry Grote

In another great action shot Jerry Grote appears to have just hit one off his bat handle in a game at Shea against the Reds that may or may not have been a playoff game. Jerry was one of the Mets' walking wounded in '73. In May he went down with a fractured wrist that kept him out of the lineup for three months. He then had a tough time coming back - his average was still under .200 by early August - but hit nearly .300 from there on as NY won the division after a nice comeback. To demonstrate how snake-bitten these guys were earlier in the season, when Grote went down the Mets bought Jerry May from KC. In May's first game he sprained his wrist and a week later he was out of the majors for good..

Jerry Grote was born and raised in Texas where he was a high school track star and pitched, caught, and played third in baseball. In '61 he went to Trinity University where he played a season of baseball in which he hit .413 with five homers and 19 RBI's. He was signed that summer of '62 by the Colt .45's and got things kicked off the next spring in Double A San Antonio. He did quite well, hitting .268 with 14 homers and 62 RBI's and caught full-time, picking up a bunch of tips from his back-up Clint Courtney, a former Braves catcher. In '64 he graduated to Houston where he shared time behind the plate with John Bateman. While Jerry was by far the superior defender, Bateman was a bit better offensively and in '65 when Ron Brand came up, Jerry was sent to Triple A Oklahoma City. There he hit much better and when the season was over he was sent to the Mets for Tom Parsons.

Grote went from one crappy team to another and in '66 he was named NY's starting catcher, improving his average 50 points over his '64 one. In '67 he fell back below .200 but he picked off half the guys that tried to steal on him and did a great job helping develop new phenom Tom Seaver. In '68 new manager Gil Hodges worked with Jerry on his hitting and Grote got his first All-Star nod as a result. In '69 he hit lifetime highs in homers and RBI's for the Series winners while significantly cutting down on his K's (for the rest of his career his K totals pretty much matched his walk ones). In '70 and '71 he led the NL catchers in putouts but his percentage of runners picked off dropped substantially, however, and in '72 new manager Yogi Berra named Duffy Dyer the starting catcher. It was revealed later in the season that Jerry had bone chips in his throwing elbow and after the season he had them removed. After his up-and-down '73 he returned to his starting gig in '74 and was hitting .288 mid-season to make his second All-Star team. In '75 he upped his average to a lifetime high of .295 and in '76 he served his last season as the Mets starting guy behind the plate.

In '77 the Mets traded Tom Seaver to Cincinnati. It had already been an unusual season for Grote as John Stearns took over the starting catcher job and Jerry had almost as many starts at third base as he did behind the plate. Shortly after Seaver left, Jerry was sent to the Dodgers for a couple minor leaguers. With LA he was the third guy behind Steve Yeager and Johnny Oates. In that role his at bats would be extremely limited but he did return to the post-season the next two seasons. After the '78 season he basically retired to be with his family in Texas. But late in '80 he got divorced and at 38 he signed with the Royals for the '81 season. While Jerry would again be pretty far down on the depth chart, he did put up one last memorable feat when that July he had seven RBI's in a game. Despite that and hitting over .300 in his limited role he was released in late summer and re-signed with LA. After a couple games with them he was done. Jerry hit .252 with 39 homers and 404 RBI's for his career. In the post-season he hit .222 in 26 games. Defensively he is in the top 30 all-time for putouts at catcher (all those NY strikeouts) and in the top 70 for fielding percentage.

After playing Grote briefly returned to baseball in '85 when he managed a couple teams in the Detroit system, even playing a game behind the plate. Most of the time he hung out in Texas.


Unsurprisingly Jerry's star bullets focus on his defense. The cartoon adds a lot of color to what he did after playing. The ranch he bought was a working one outside San Antonio and that is just what he did - worked the ranch. He also got involved in a bunch of local San Antonio businesses, including managing a real estate firm and a couple restaurants. San Antonio is still his home base.

These guys played together on LA but barely so I am going through their battery-mate:

1. Grote and Duffy Dyer '69 to '74 Mets;
2. Dyer and Terry Forster '77 Pirates.

#269 - Bob Johnson

Bob Johnson stands in Candlestick which is appropriate since he pitched what was probably the best game of his career against the Giants. That game was Game Three of the 1971 NL Championships in which Bob started at the last minute due to an injury to Nelson Briles. Bob would pitch five-hit ball with seven strikeouts in eight innings and only give up one unearned run to give Pittsburgh the series lead while beating Juan Marichal. There are a couple of Pirate players in the background on the regular shot. The low butt of the guy leaning on the wall leads me to believe it's Manny Sanguillen but I have no shot on the other guy. Bob looks pretty serious in this photo. And also old. He'd have been about 30 when it was taken but I could easily add ten years to that based on this shot. We'll get into a potential reason for that below. These two cards would be the final ones in Bob's career.

Bob Johnson came out of Illinois and pitched for two years at Bradley University there before being signed by the Mets in 1964. He went 10-9 that year in A ball splitting time between the rotation and the pen. In '65 he improved to 10-2 as a starter at Single and Double A. He spent the bulk of '66 at Double A before getting in some games at the next level. Bob threw some serious heat and he was averaging nearly a strikeout an inning at this point in his career. In '67 he was off to a great start back in Double A - 3-1 with a 1.02 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 53 innings - when he was in a motorcycle accident that nearly wrecked his left leg. After missing the rest of that season he also missed all of '68 for military duty. When he returned in '69 he again put up excellent numbers at Double A Memphis - 13-4 with a 1.48 ERA that took him through Triple A and into a couple games for the Series winners up top. After the season he was traded to the Royals with Amos Otis for Joe Foy.

The Royals were a pretty exciting young club that had a pretty good expansion season but in '70 they took a step back, losing 97 games. As a result, Johnson only went 8-13 despite an ERA of 3.07 and 206 strikeouts in 214 innings. It was an excellent rookie season, and he finished second to Bert Blyleven for TSN rookie pitcher of the year. Following the season he was traded to the Pirates with Jackie Hernandez for Fred Patek, Jerry May, and Bruce Dal Canton. For Pittsburgh in '71 he would get 27 starts but disappointed with a 9-10 record and only 101 strikeouts in 174 innings. After his show in the playoffs he would not pitch terribly well in the Series. But he got a ring and in '72 when moved to the pen as the long guy and spot starter he recorded a nice season, adding three saves to his four wins and 2.96 ERA. In '73 he continued his good work, adding four saves, although his ERA moved up a bit.

When Johnson went to Cleveland in this trade he was moved into the rotation and early in the season he was 3-4 with an ERA around 4.00. They weren't spectacular numbers but his behavior was significantly worse. Bob, who'd had a severe drinking problem since his trade to Pittsburgh, got into some ugly altercations with various people while saucing it up and he was placed on waivers by the Indians before the end of June. Texas claimed him and put him in Triple A where he posted pretty good numbers in the rotation (5-3 with a 3.24 ERA). But he injured his arm late in the season and was cut during '75 spring training. Over the next two years he would be signed and dropped by both the Yankees and the Royals as he went a combined 4-8 for them in Triple A. In '77 he signed with the Braves but threw poorly for them in a few games up top and was done. Bob finished with a 28-34 record with a 3.48 ERA, 18 complete games, two shutouts, and twelve saves. He went 1-1 in five post-season games with a 3.32 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 19 innings. He cleaned himself up in '75 and since '77 has owned a construction company in Oregon. He has also coached American Legion ball. He has a detailed bio by the SABR guys linked to here.

Bob's Traded card is yet another one in an unrecognizable place. He looks much happier here but not much younger.

These star bullets invite commentary. The first one is impressive because Bob led in those two categories despite only playing about half a season at that level. He is one of very few guys to get over 200 strikeouts in his rookie season. And the third bullet is just wrong - he was the starter in that game.


The Traded card back recycles some info from the regular card. The best part about this card is the name of the guy for whom Bob was traded. Burnel Flowers would have been a great name on a card or being rolled out by stadium announcers. For a little background, Burnel was a speedy outfielder from Alabama whose best season was probably his '74 for the Pirates in Triple A: .275 with seven homers, 40 RBIs, 70 runs, and 29 stolen bases. He never made it to the majors.

In 1973 a new song hit number one on both sides of the pond. Stateside "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight and the Pips took over from "Angie", a slight downtick but a pretty good song. But in the UK "Daydreamer" by David Cassidy of The Partridge Family finally displaced that "Eye Level" song. Cassidy was so huge in the UK that year that his songs were banned from the "Top of the Pops" show there after there was a riot at one of his shows. In '74 on the 26th "Then Came You" by Dionne Warwick and the Spinners took over in the States and "Everything I Own" by Ken Boothe in the UK. I used to think Dionne was a classy lady until she started doing cable ads for those clairvoyant phone lines a few years ago. But The Spinners were pretty cool. The Ken Boothe song is actually pretty good - it's a reggae version of the hit by Bread from '72. A day earlier in '74 the singer Nick Drake died of an overdose in England.

Nothing like a Hall of Famer to bring people together:

1. Johnson and Gaylord Perry '74 Indians;
2. Perry and Tom Grieve '75 to '77 Rangers.