#330 Buddy Bell - Texas Rangers

Buddy Bell is looking very red, white, and blue on his 11th Topps card.  I thought maybe the green blob near his hands was a defect on my card but they all seem to have it.
Bell's image in the cameo pic reminds me of one of the maintenance guys at work.

 

Player:  Buddy Bell was a 16th round pick of the Cleveland Indians in the 1969 draft.  Buddy played three years in the minors and never returned after he made the Indians big league squad as a 20 year old in 1972.  The Indians had another young thirdsacker in Graig Nettles and the Tribe used Bell in the outfield with just six games at third.  Although he batted just .255 he showed good contact ability striking out just 29 times in 505 trips to the plate.  In November Cleveland traded Nettles away to the Yankees which opened the door for Bell.

Bell was the Indians everyday thirdbaseman for the next seven seasons and while he didn't do a lot of damage at the plate, he proved himself as an excellent glove man at the hot corner.  He batted between .262 and .292 his remaining years in Cleveland with double digit HR's three times.  After the 1978 season Bell was traded to the Rangers for Toby Harrah.  At the time it was considered a trade of a defensive player in Bell for Harrah who was an on base machine and making the transition from SS to 3B.  In reality it was not that much separating their offensive games as Bell's adjusted OPS was 103 vs Harrah's 113. 

Once in a Ranger uniform, Bell's hitting improved as he hit .299 with 18 HR and 101 RBI while playing in all 162 games. He really found his groove and despite some injuries enjoyed his best years in the Lonestar state.  With Brooks Robinson now in retirement Bell was recognized as the AL's best defensive thirdbasemen winning Gold Gloves six year straight seasons from '79-'84.  He added a Silver Slugger award in '84 and received MVP votes in five seasons with a high finish of 10th in '79.  Over that same stretch he posted a 123 OPS+ averaging 14 HR with .300+ batting average twice.

When Bell slumped in '85 the Rangers allowed rookie Steve Buechele to take over at third and traded Bell to the Reds.  Bell struggled all year and batted just .229/.309/.350.  He was now in his mid-thirties but proved he wasn't washed up with back to back productive seasons clubbing a career best 20 HR in '86 and following up with 17 in '87 posting OPS+ of 119 and 107 respectively.

Bell battled injuries in '88 and was scuffling with just 10 hits in 63 at bats when he was traded to the Astros in June.  In Houston he posted a .253/.301/.353 line in 74 games and was released after the season.  He signed on with the Rangers but played sparingly as a DH and spare corner infielder before retiring in June. 

Flipside: Buddy was born in Pittsburgh in 1951 during his dad Gus' was in his second year in the majors with the Pirates.

Oddball:  While he was with the Indians, Bell once switched spots with thridbase umpire Ron Luciano during a spring training game.  According to theclevelandindianfan.com:
In a Spring training game in 1973, Ron Luciano was the third base ump for a game involving Bell and the Indians.  Buddy Bell was having a terrible day in the field, and Luciano was letting him have it- telling him to keep his glove down, to bend over more, and so on. Bell told him that if he made one more mistake, he was going to ump and Luciano was going to play third base. Sure enough, a ground ball scooted through Bell’s legs. Bell handed Luciano his glove, and they exchanged hats. Completing the role reversal, Bell began to taunt Luciano, who suddenly began fearing for his life as he stared in at the hitter. Nobody hit a ball at him- but with a man on first, a batter hit a ball to right field. The base runner rounded second and steamed toward third. Toward Luciano. The right fielder came up throwing and the nervous Luciano screamed at Frank Duffy to cut off the throw. Duffy, laughing, waved his glove at the ball and it zipped through to third base. Luciano caught the ball, later admitting it was in self defense. Bell called the runner safe, and the overweight Luciano righted himself before throwing to second to try to cut down the trailing runner. Luciano’s throw sailed high, and Jack Brohamer lunged to catch it while backing up the play. He flipped the ball to Duffy, who tagged the runner- who was now standing on second base. The call at second was “OUT!”, and when the runner began to object, he was reminded whom it was that had thrown the ball from third. So he put his head down, spat, and ran back to his dugout!

Oddball 2:  Bell's last three games as a player were Sammy Sosa's first three in the majors with the Rangers.

History:  Thirdbasemen seem to be under rated among their peers throughout baseball history and David Gus "Buddy" Bell is no exception.  He finished his career with 2,514 hits, a 109 OPS+, and is 25th all-time with 23 dWAR.
Bell's managerial career has been less successful with just one winning season in nine seasons split among some sketchy Tigers, Rockies, and Royals teams.  He currently works in the front office for the Chicago White Sox as Vice President of player development. 
Bell has lent his support to various epilepsy charities a disease he was diagnosed with after an episode when he was 22.  He kept his condition from the public during his playing days not disclosing his battle until he was managing.  Fortunately medicine has kept him seizure free for over 20 years.
The Bell family has left quite a stamp on baseball history with his dad Gus playing from 1950 to '64 and his sons David playing from '95-'06 and Mike playing in 2000.  From 1950 to 2006 there was a family member playing in 45 of the 57 seasons.

#299 George Wright - Texas Rangers

This is the second rookie card in a row.  Although George Wright had a slightly longer career than Floyd Chiffer, you can pick up both cards up for pennies.  The Wright I remember rocked the jheri-curl.  Nice mesh hat dude.

Player:  George Wright was the Rangers 4th round pick in 1977 and they converted him from a right handed batter to a switch hitter in the minor leagues.  He made the '82 Texas team as their starting centerfielder.  He played a shallow position but had the range to back it up, handling over three chances per nine innings.  Although he was rated as having an average arm his positioning helped him gun down 14 base runners.  The Rangers placed him in the leadoff spot based on his speed but he was ill-suited for the slot as he batted .264 with a .305 on base percentage.  Despite his swiftness he had just three steals in ten attempts.

 

Wright played all 162 games for the Rangers in '83.  He started the year batting in the number eight spot in the lineup and gradually moved up until he was batting fifth by mid-year. Before it was over he was in the three slot and finished the year with a .276/.321/.424 stat line with 18 home runs.

 

The future looked bright for the young outfielder in 1984 but he got off to a poor start and lost his starting job to Gary Ward.  He improved in the second half but hit just .243 with nine homers in 405 plate appearances.  He regained his starting job to start the '85 campaign but Wright was monumentally bad.  The Rangers gave him every chance to get his bat straightened out but he hit .190/.241/.242 in 363 at bats.  His negative 3.9 WAR represents one of the worst seasons ever.

 

The Rangers brought Wright back in '86 as a fourth outfielder but a defensive gaffe in left on June 16 would expedite the end of his tenure with the Rangers. Texas sold his contract to Montreal where he finished the year with a .202 average in 245 trips to the plate.  He played professional baseball for 11 more seasons for the White Sox, Royals, and Giants organizations, and also played in Mexico and Japan, but never appeared in the majors again.

 

Flipside:  These highlights are nice but they do not mention his walk-off RBI single on May16th.

Oddball:  Wright earned 4.3 WAR in his first two years then somehow "earned" -7.2 WAR over the next three years.

History:  Wright had a decent start to his career but it soon went to crap.  His similarity scores through age 24 list Bernie Williams as comparable but then he played more like the subject of "Weekend at Bernie's".  Wright might not have been destined for stardom but his decline was severe and shocking to Rangers fans.
Wright didn't last long on the MLB scene but he carved out a niche south of the border, playing many years in Mexico before retiring at age 38 in 1997.

#272 Frank Tanana - Texas Rangers

This card displays southpaw Frank Tanana at about the midpoint of his long career as this is the 10th of his 20 Topps cards.  The inset pic looks very similar to the action photo and at first glance it appears that Topps used a shot from a few frames earlier.  Upon closer review Tanana is wearing the Rangers powder blue jersey in the inset and home whites in the action picture.

Player: Like recent post Dennis Eckersley, Frank Tanana's career can be neatly divided into two distinct parts.  Tanana wasn't converted to a bullpen specialist, but rather had to significantly alter his pitching style when he injured his high powered arm in 1977.  Before we divide his career between flamethrower and junkballer status, let's back up to his rookie year of 1973 with the Angels.  After a year and a half of seasoning in the minors, Tanana was called up to California where he made four starts.  The 20 year-old did well with a shutout among two complete games while striking out 22 in 26 innings.

 

The former first round pick paired with Angels ace Nolan Ryan to give the Halos a fearsome duo that was the envy of the American League.  Tanana could bring the heat close to 100 mph and in 35 starts in '74 he posted a 3.11 ERA in 269 frames.  The next two years he K'd over 260 batters, posted ERA's of 2.63 and 2.44, and finished in the top five in Cy Young voting both years. 

 

Tanana was dominating AL batters in '77 when he first started having trouble with his golden arm.  His ERA was below two for the first half of the year and he was soaking up the innings like a sponge thrown into a bathtub.  In one stretch he went the distance in 14 straight games.  By the second week of September a sore triceps put him on the shelf.  His stat line for the year showed a 2.54 ERA and seven shutouts, both best in the AL.

 

Tanana rebounded and had a solid year in '78 despite losing a lot of zip on his previously potent fastball.  With his strikeout rate cut nearly in half he got by with good control and changing speeds.  He had eight wins before May was over and in total won 18 games with a 3.65 ERA.  Shoulder tendinitis caused a rocky first half to the '79 and eventually caused him to sit out for 11 weeks during the '79 season.  He came back in September, rejoined the rotation, lowered his ERA under four, and helped the Angels win the AL West.  Tanana went five innings in a no-decision start against the Orioles in the ALCS.

 

With his fastball long gone, Tanana adapted but was never the same.  He was merely average in 1980 winning 11 with a 4.15 ERA.  He was traded to the Red Sox in the Joe Rudi trade after the season.  The lefty didn't pitch terribly (97 ERA+) for Boston but little offensive support led to him winning just four of his 23 starts in the strike shortened season. 

 

Tanana signed with the Rangers as a free-agent prior to the '82 season but another season of low run support combined with a mediocre 4.15 ERA factored into an AL high 18 losses.  Tanana found himself in the bullpen as the '83 season commenced but after allowing just four runs in 23 innings he was back into the rotation by June.   Although his fastball was a tame 80 mph, he was an effective starter for the Rangers the next year and a half as he kept his ERA under 3.30 while he continued to throw various curveballs about 70% of the time. 

 

When Tanana started off the '85 season by allowing 53 runs in his first 13 starts he was traded to the Tigers for a minor leaguer.  I remember thinking Tanana was pushing 40 when the Tigers acquired him, and although his style was similar to a present day Jamie Moyer, Tanana was only 31 years old.  Now back in his hometown, he pitched better for the Tigers as his 3.34 ERA indicates.

 

Tanana's ERA would hover around four the next three years and he was at his best late in the '87 season.  As the Tigers overtook the Blue Jays in the last week of the season, Tanana was riding a hot streak having allowed just one run in his last 15 innings.  He was given the starting nod in game 162 with the Tigers clutching a one game lead.  Tanana delivered a six-hit shutout to seal the AL East crown.  His usual fine control evaded him in the postseason as he walked four and plunked three Twins as he lost Game 4. 

 

Tanana sandwiched a rotten '90 season with two decent years (3.58, 5.31, 3.77 ERAs).  He won 13 games in '92 marking the seventh time in his eight years in Detroit that he won double digits.  It would be his last year in Motown though as he left for the Mets as a free agent.  He ate a lot of innings but wasn't anything spectacular in New York.  A September trade to the crosstown Yankees put him in the thick of another divisional chase.  Despite three quality starts, he was 0-2 in pinstripes bringing his record for the year to 7-17.  His ERA+ of 93 showed he wasn't nearly as bad as his win-loss mark indicated but at age 40 the lefthander decided to retire. 

 

Flipside: Tanana' whiffed just 87 in 194 frames in '82.  His  K-rate of 4.0/9 innings would proved to be a career low.  As he refined his curveball and evolved as a junkballer his rate returned to a more respectable 4.5 - 6.0 for the rest of his career.

Oddball: In a 4-2 win over the Rangers on 6/21/75 Tanana had 17 K's through 8 innings but failed to fan a batter in the ninth inning.

Tanana was an AL pitcher for all but one year in his career and reached base just 11 times in his time with the Mets.  Yet Tanana has taught at least two NFL quarterbacks how to slide safely.  Tanana instructed his neighbor Jim Zorn how to slide early in his NFL career.  Later when Zorn was mentoring Charlie Batch, Tanana showed him how to end a scramble safely.

History:  Tanana tends to get overlooked as many discredit the latter part of his career.  He had an incredible peak posting 22.3  WAR over the '75-'77 seasons and was still a decent back of the rotation starter after his arm maladies, ending his career with a total of 52.6 WAR.  He put up some impressive career stats including 240 wins, 616 games started (18th all-time), 2,773 strikeouts (21st all-time). 
Tanana never won a World Series but will always be remembered for helping the Tigers win the AL East in '87. 

#224 Mickey Rivers - Texas Rangers

This card is Mickey Rivers' 12th Topps base card and one of my favorites in the set.  I like both the cameo and action photo of Rivers.  The main picture shows him breaking out of the box, but if you weren't conditioned to looking at baseball cards you might think he was making an awkward landing after jumping off a ladder. 
The inset picture captures Mickey with a slight smile, almost like he's looking around the corner to see if anyone is heading his way. 
Topps nails it with the red and blue borders.

Player: Mickey Rivers  was originally a Brave draft pick, but his major league career was spent with three other franchises.  He was traded to the Angels in '69 after the completion of his first year in pro ball.  Rivers had a brief 17 game look in 1970 batting .320.  The next three years Rivers had mixed results in the big leagues showing glimpses of brilliance but also going into long slumps.  He split time between AAA and the parent club from '71-'73 and batted .265, .214, and .349 as he figured things out late in '73.

Rivers won the starting job in center and led the AL in triples in 1974 despite missing the last 37 games.  For the year he posted a .285/.341/.393 line and stole 30 bases.  Healthy for a career best 155 games in '75 Rivers batted .284, repeated as the AL triples leader with 13, and swiped 70 bases.   After the season the Angels traded Rivers with Ed Figueroa to the Yankees for Bobby Bonds.

In New York, Rivers helped the Yankees reach the World Series the next three seasons, winning it all in '77 and '78.  Rivers hit .308 in 124 career postseason plate appearances  and became a popular star.  During the regular season, Rivers hit .312 in '76, .326 in '77, and .265 in '78.  Although still very fast, injuries kept Rivers from running as often as his steal totals went from 43, 22, to 25.  Not really a home run hitter, Rivers topped double digits twice in his career with 12 in '77 and 11 in '78. 

Halfway through the '79 season, the Yankees traded Rivers to the Rangers in a multi-player deal.  He hit .293 for the year but had clearly lost a couple of steps as he stole just 10 bases in 19 attempts.  In 1980, Rivers proved he could still hit as he batted .333 and had 210 hits, good for third in the AL. 

Rivers hit .286 in '81 and was coming off an injury ridden season which saw him play just 19 games when this card came out.  The Rangers platooned Rivers at DH in '83 and '84 and although he hit for a decent average (.285, .300 BA), his decreased speed and lack of patience (.309, .320 OBP) meant he was no longer a viable option at the top of the lineup.  After he was released during spring training in 1985 he retired with a lifetime .295 batting average. 

Flipside:  Rivers 70 stolen bases in 1975 were the most by an AL player since 1915.

 

Oddball: Did you know Rivers has his own fan based website?  Mickey was always good for an off the wall or head scratching quote and the best of them are found at this link.

 

History:  Rivers flourished hitting the ball the opposite way and using his speed to get on base helping him to 1,660 career hits. Rivers had a nice peak that coincided with the Yankees championships in '76 and '77 over which he had 11.2 WAR.  He finished 3rd in AL MVP in '76 voting and made his only All-Star game that same year.