#119 -- Marty Perez

Marty Perez

I think I was pretty impressionable as a young baseball fan. If I ever heard something good about a player, that's what they were forever. That explains why I still can't believe Mike Rogodzinski, Tom Heintzelman or Stan Papi didn't make it big. Anyway, I must have heard something good about Marty Perez somewhere along the line because I grew up thinking he was a mid-level shortstop. He wasn't a Dave Concepcion or Bud Harrelson, but I always thought he was on a par with guys like Chris Speier or Tim Foli.

Imagine my shock when I grew up a little more and ran across his stats in the Baseball Encyclopedia. Marty was a full-time shortstop from 1971-1977 for the Braves, mostly, spending 1976 with the Giants and 1977 with the A's. But he hit .240 with no power, didn't steal bases, didn't walk a lot, and was an average to below average shortstop. But somehow he was a big league starter for most of 7 seasons. Of course, so was Mike Tyson. This just goes to show how the position of shortstop has undergone a transformation in the last 40 years. His career OPS+ was 70, hitting a high of 81. Since I don't like to use the word "suck" when I teach Sunday School, I'd have to say as a hitter, Marty verily stinketh.

He did hit lefty starters fairly well, as long as they weren't Hall of Famers. He hit over .340 against guys like Geoff Zahn, Doug Rau, Dave Roberts, Jerry Koosman and Jon Matlack. Good righthanders overpowered him. He was 0-for-John Montefusco and hit under .150 against Fergie Jenkins, Don Wilson and hard-throwing Tom Phoebus.

Not much else to say about Marty except that I'll forever link him with his double play partner, Felix Millan.

1972 Feature

Now, after all that about Marty, I'm going to write something much more complimentary. He played a big part in our June 17, 1972 Game of the Day. The Expos were in Atlanta to play the Braves and Ernie McAnally took a 2-0 lead into the 9th for the Expos. Ernie got Mike Lum to ground out and struck out Rod Gilbreath (making his big league debut). However, Marty worked a 2-out walk. Lum Harris sent Jim Breazeale (winner of the 2008 Cardboard Junkie Baseball Card Tournament) up to pinch-hit for Phil Niekro. He hits it out. Game goes to the 10th.

In the 10th, Ralph Garr singles to lead off against McAnally. After a passed ball on Terry Humphrey, McAnally wisely walks Hank Aaron. Mike Marshall comes in to relieve and Rico Carty singles in the winning run. All because Marty Perez worked a 2-0ut walk in the 9th. Way to go, Marty!

While this was going on, a security guard found some tape over a door lock. He took it off, but noticed it was back a few hours later and called the police. He had no idea how much that one phone call would change politics and journalism. That tape was in the Watergate Office Complex in Washington, DC, where future NBA Commissioner and 1972 Democratic National Committee Chairman Lawrence O'Brien had an office. Arrested that night were 5 men who worked for the Commitee to Re-Elect the President.

I remember the aftermath well, but nobody really remembers the break-in. President Nixon swept to one of the largest electoral and popular vote margins of all time. That's what's ironic. They didn't have to try to get the Democrats' secrets because they didn't stand a chance anyway. The 1972 election was decided the day Senator Ted Kennedy dropped Mary Jo Kopechne in the Chappaquiddick pond in 1969.

Instead of letting a special prosecutor deal with this, President Nixon decided to cover it up. The same paranoia that led his operatives to break in and look for secrets led him to try to cover it up. I guess he must have been gone the week they taught in Sunday School that your sins will find you out.

I liked President Nixon. I may have only been 8 in 1972, but I was a big Nixon guy. I got a poster in 1973 in the school book order and hung it in my room. It was still hanging in my room 10 years later when we were trying to sell our house (that was a good point for the folks that ended up buying it). However, for all the forward thinking in the Nixon/Kissinger foreign policy, he missed it big. Because of this, people mistrust politicians now, because he looked in the camera and said, "I am not a crook."

What's also ironic is that in 1968, Nixon was elected largely on a "law and order" platform that resonated with middle America, especially after the Democrat's convention in Chicago where anarchy broke out on national TV.

It would be nice if America could remember June 17, 1972 for Jim Breazeale's dramatic pinch-homer, but, unfortunately, this date will be inextricably linked with Nixon and company.

#115 -- Jim Fregosi

Jim Fregosi

Jim's gone through a lot of different phases of his career. He was one of the first California Angel wonderboys. Starting in 1972 his career went south and he became more of a utility guy and wandered around the league. Then he was a manager for several years. Now he's more of the wise old sage.

However, this makes two guys in a row who're not known for their All-Star years or other accomplishments. Instead, they're known for a single failure in their career. In Fregosi's case, it wasn't even his fault. The Mets chose to give up Nolan Ryan to pick up Fregosi to be their third baseman. In fact, as I mentioned in Gary Gentry's post, the Angels would have been fine with either Ryan or Gentry, but I think the Mets were reluctant to part with Gentry because he was more of a World Series hero. However, in some respects, this Ryan-for-Fregosi trade would have been the equivalent of the Braves trading Edgar Renteria a couple of years ago to the Orioles for Daniel Cabrera. You've got a good-hitting veteran shortstop for a talented, hard-throwing, yet erratic pitcher. Ryan could just have well turned out like Daniel Cabrera has (so far).

The Angels brought up Fregosi as a fresh-faced 19 year old in their expansion year of 1961. By August 1962 he was their starting shortstop. He was a 6-time All-Star through 1970 and was hitting for some pop. It was unusual for a shortstop to be hitting 15-20 homers a year in the 60's, but Jim was good for that. In 1971 he tailed off, largely because of a tumor that was found on his foot. He was traded to the Mets and struggled with a broken thumb in 1972. By mid-1973, the Mets had all they could take and they sold Fregosi to the Rangers. While it was kind of an insult to be sold, it might have been more of an insult to Fregosi to have been traded for any of the sack of you know what the Rangers had (Jeff Burroughs excluded).

He settled in as a backup with the Rangers into 1977 and then finished his career in Pittsburgh in 1978. He never really recaptured what he had with the Angels in the 60's, but he finished his playing career on his own terms. He retired in May to take the job managing Nolan Ryan and the Angels. He led the Angels to their first playoff appearance in 1979. He also managed the White Sox, Phillies and Blue Jays. Most remember him with the Phillies in the 1993 World Series, probably wondering why he had to put Mitch Williams out there.

1972 Feature

I've learned that when I put these dates into Google, I can get a lot of stuff. In addition to posting the Game of the Day from Major League Baseball, I can be posting highlights from transcripts of the White House tapes (tune in on card #119 for something on that), the concert tour of Led Zeppelin and Elvis Presley, and there's even a website that shows wrestling results for Superstar Billy Graham (the man who inspired Hulk Hogan's biceps and Jesse Ventura's wardrobe). However, I'm letting you off the hook (unless I see something interesting with the King or the Superstar).

The MLB Extra Innings package would have been worth having on June 13, 1972. The Angels overcame 5 errors to beat the Indians 3-2 in 11 innings. Wilbur Wood of the White Sox and Pete Broberg of the Rangers each threw 3-hit shutouts. The Braves had another come from behind victory over the Mets, 6-5 in 10 innings, tying the game with 3 in the 8th.

My Game of the Day will be in Fenway, where the Red Sox drew all of 12,000 fans against the Royals on a Tuesday night. You can't get into Fenway now unless you know someone that knows someone that knows someone (which is how my wife and I got to see a game in May 2006). Marty Pattin had the Royals shut down and, after getting help from Bill Lee to escape a jam in the 8th, the Red Sox were leading 2-0. In the top of the 9th, rookie Rick Miller is a defensive replacement for Yaz in left field, suggesting the Sox were about to salt one away.

However, Freddie Patek got a 2-run double off Lee and Amos Otis followed with a 2-run single off Bobby Bolin to give the Royals a 4-2 lead. The Royals could have tried to add to that, but Otis was made the 3rd out at 3rd base, trying to go from 1st to 3rd on a single to left by pitcher Bruce Dal Canton. Richie Scheinblum was coming up next and he was a .300 hitter.

In the 9th a Freddie Patek error and a Carlton Fisk double put the tying runners in scoring position. But Tom Burgmeier came in and got pinch-hitter Phil Gagliano and Tommy Harper out to end the game. Pretty tight finish. The Royals and Red Sox were both 5 games under .500 and floundering, but the Red Sox would get things going later on.

# 104 -- Toby Harrah

Toby Harrah

Toby Harrah. Dick Nen. Robb Nen. I know there are more ballplayers with palindromes for last names, but Harrah would have to be the longest. He had a long career. I didn't realize he broke in as a 20-year old in 1969. He pinch ran in 7 games and pinch hit in 1. Amazing year in 1969: starts the season in A ball ends the season in the big leagues playing for Ted Williams.

Even though he was an All-Star 4 times, I never thought of him among the best shortstops in the league at the time. However, he would have fit today's game very well. He was a solid, but not exceptional fielder. He had pop in his bat, hitting over 20 homers 5 times and had 5 years drawing over 90 walks. However, the typical shortstop in the 70's had good range in the field and if he did anything at the plate, it was hit for average and steal bases. That wasn't Toby's game. He hit over .270 only 3 times, but could steal bases.

Toby took the shortstop job in 1971 and didn't look back. He was the Ranger All-Star representative in 1972, but that was kind of like saying someone "runs fast for a catcher." Toby is staring off into space on the card, not because he's wondering how it would be to share a locker room with Bobby Murcer, Rod Carew, Carl Yastrzemski, Reggie Jackson, et. al. (he didn't play in the All-Star Game because of injury. Bobby Grich played the whole game because Earl Weaver was the manager, although Campaneris and Patek appeared to be available), but because he's wearing a Washington Senators cap that's not allowed in the 1972 set. I personally don't care much for this card because it just doesn't do anything.

Toby's career had a few oddities:

1. June 25, 1976. Played doubleheader at shortstop with no fielding chances. (He went 6-8, 2 HR, 8 RBI and 2 BB's offensively.)

2. September 17, 1977. Played 17 innings at 3rd without an assist (he had 1 putout, catching a throw from SS Bert Campaneris and tagging Rod Carew, who was trying to advance from 2nd to 3rd on a grounder to short, which we're taught not to try to do).

3. August 27, 1977. Along with Bump Wills, hit back-to-back jacks in Yankee Stadium. Big deal you say? Would you be impressed with the oddity if I told you they were both inside-the-parkers?

The question on the back of the card about circling the bases held too much intrigue for me to let pass. They didn't time guys hitting inside the park homers in the 20's. Apparently between games of doubleheaders (for all of you under the age of 38, a "doubleheader" is something where baseball teams used to schedule 2 games in 1 day, usually on Sunday, but also sometimes during the week, especially if there had been a rainout) they would hold contests. One of these was to have an around the bases race. Evar Swanson was an outfielder for the Reds and White Sox who'd also played in the NFL and ran track in college. Apparently he set the "record" in a September doubleheader at 13.3 seconds. Later, during his final year in 1934, he was timed at 14.8 seconds. I guess he slowed enough that he was out of the league. During that doubleheader, Al Simmons of the A's hit a fungo (throw it up and hit it) 428' and Hal Trosky threw a ball 376 feet. These contests alone make me wish they had doubleheaders now.

1972 Feature

Sorry, ladies, this is for all the guys out there. This was the cover of Life Magazine on June 2, 1972. I have to post it:

A couple of months later the movie "Kansas City Bomber" was released. I didn't see it at the theater when I was 8, but I remember seeing it several times on TV in later years. Can you imagine why Raquel Welch in a roller derby movie would stay ingrained in my pre-pubescent mind? I don't remember much of the plot, but I remember thinking "She's pretty," or something like that. She was certainly more interesting than George McGovern (I liked Nixon).

#101 -- Astros Rookies (Greif, Richard, Busse)

Bill Greif

J.R. Richard

Ray Busse

None of these 3 guys provided any production for the Astros in 1972. Therefore, we should just consider this an example of Topps getting it wrong for its Rookie Prospects. The Astros went with a very set lineup of vets in 1972 and didn't have room for any rookies to break in. The Astros lineup was so set in 1972 it's a little difficult to play Strat-O-Matic because they just didn't have very many at bats to bench players. If somebody gets injured, the only infield replacements you've got are Bobby Fenwick and Jimmy Stewart.

Back to the Rookies on this card. I misspell Bill Greif's name all the time. I give myself a lot of "grief" over that. I guess perhaps I'll use that to learn to spell it properly. Bill's most known as a losing pitcher with the Padres. The Astros got more out of Bill in 1972 than anyone else on this card, as he and Derrel Thomas were the big parts of a trade to the Padres for Dave Roberts (the lefty pitcher). Bill proceded to go 5-16, 10-17 and 9-19 before the Padres decided to turn him into a reliever. Bill didn't do much better as a reliever. His 1977 card has achieved some fame as he never played with the Expos, despite what Topps made us believe.

J.R. Richard is the centerpiece of this card. I loved J. R. Richard in the late 70's and into 1980. He was big and fierce and looked it in the Astro rainbow uniforms. He threw hard and for several years didn't really know where it was going. In 1971 he pitched at Oklahoma City and averaged 10.5 K/9IP. Unfortunately, he also walked 105, which was almost 5.5/9IP. He wasn't a regular in the big leagues until 1975. His career really was only from 1975-1980 and in those 6 years he went 96-65 with 1339 strikeouts. That's in 5 1/2 years.

I remember 1980 very well. I was rooting for the Astros because of a good pitching staff, Bill Virdon was the manager (he lives in the same area I do), the cool uniforms, and the Cardinals were still kind of sucking. The Astros had picked up Nolan Ryan, so they had 2 guys who'd been striking out 300/year and a 20-game winning knuckleballer to sandwich between the two. J.R. got off to a great start and looked like a Cy Young for sure until he started complaining of a dead arm. Nobody believed him until he collapsed with a stroke in July. I remember a "Sporting News" cover with him and "Who Shot JR's Arm?" on the cover. He tried to come back through the minors, but he couldn't do it. He ended up losing a lot of money to an oil scheme and a couple of divorces and was living under a bridge in the mid-90's. He's got things back together now, thanks in large part to friends in baseball and his faith. One of my favorite autographed cards is a 1977 J.R. Richard. I don't know if it's real or not, but it's good enough for me.

I'd like to know what would happen if J.R. hadn't had a stroke end his career at age 30. If he had another 5 1/2 years like the preceeding 5 1/2 years, he'd be looking at roughly 200 wins, 3000 strikeouts and a Cy Young or 2. I think the Astros would have pushed by the Phils in the 1980 NLCS (the best LCS in history) if he was there, so he might have even had a World Series ring. I don't think he would have retired voluntarily at age 36, so he might have hung around to rack up stats like a lot of guys do, but for the prime 10-11 years, he'd have a great start on Cooperstown numbers. What a shame.

I actually knew who Ray Busse was without having to look him up. That's because the Cardinal announcers in the 1970's made every young player out to be the next great Cardinal Hall of Famer. Therefore, I have memories of guys like Ray Busse, Tom Heintzelman, Hector Cruz, Skip Jutze, Stan Papi, and so on. What I remember about Ray was, "at 6'4", he's a little tall to be a good shortstop." I think it was Mike Shannon who said that. A guy named Ripken came along about 10 years later..... However, Busse wasn't going to be the great 6'4" shortstop. He had a career batting average of .148 over 155 at bats. (The record for lowest career batting average by a non-pitcher with 155 at bats or more is Dick Smith's .134.) Ray did hit 2 homers in his 70 Cardinal at bats. They came off Rich Reuschel and Sam McDowell, who were a couple of pretty good pitchers. Perhaps Mike Shannon's comment about 6'4" shortstops had some basis in reality: Ray had a lifetime fielding percentage of .898 in his 23 games for the Cardinals in 1973. That's really bad. What's even worse is that the Cards trotted him out there as their starting shortstop 20 times in 1973, a year they finished only 1 1/2 games out of first. Man, if only Mike Tyson had been available more.

1972 Feature

On this date (May 31) in 1972, there were 10 games played in the big leagues and 8 of them were 1-run games. That would have been an exciting night on Baseball Tonight if such a thing existed then. The Angels came back with 1 in the 8th and 1 in the 9th to beat the White Sox (2nd major league win for Lloyd Allen, who's coming up next). Detroit beat the Indians 5-4 in 10, but not before the Indians tied the game in the 9th when Jim Northrup dropped a fly ball that would have been a sac fly. Dodgers beat the Giants 5-4 in 10 on a Manny Mota triple (he was then caught stealing home). In the pitching duel of the day, Bob Gibson and the Cardinals beat Ferguson Jenkins and the Cubs 1-0.

Also on May 31, 1972, Red Sox fans everywhere rejoiced (at least those who had been in 2004 and then got in Dr. Brown's DeLorean) as Dave Roberts was born. This is for all of Chowd Nation.

#75 -- Bert Campaneris

Bert Campaneris

Campy was one of the first of the A's from the glory days of the 70's to come along, just after Dick Green and a few weeks before Dave Duncan and Blue Moon Odom came up. As I mentioned earlier, Campy is Jose Cardenal's cousin. He made a splash right off the bat for the woeful A's.

I remember Campy hitting leadoff and being a speed demon on the bases. Through the early 70's, he was the sparkplug for the team and a All-Star. He was the starting shortstop for the 1973 game in KC that I got to attend as a 9 year old. When he was announced as the leadoff hitter, the AL fans booed him and every other Oakland A that was announced. I didn't understand and my dad had to tell me that the KC fans were still bitter at the A's moving out of KC.

This card features Campy in a bunting pose. There's a lot of green around, with the border, the uniform, the hat, the wall, the grass and the rest of the players in the background. I wish I'd timed this to come out on March 17.

On September 8, 1965, Campy got to play all 9 positions in a game. He got into some plays. In the 2nd he was involved in a rundown. In the 4th, he caught cousin Jose's flyball to left. In the 5th he caught Paul Schaal's fly to center. In the 6th he botched Jim Fregosi's fly to right, allowing a runner to score from 1st. In the 7th, he caught a popup at first, but didn't have to handle a throw on a ground ball. He pitched the 8th, getting Cardenal to pop up as the first man he faced. He walked the next 2 and then a run scored on a base hit. He then struck out Bobby Knoop and a runner was thrown out trying to steal. He caught the 9th and Ed Kirkpatrick stole 2nd on him. Later, however, Kirkpatrick was thrown out trying to advance to home (I couldn't tell if it was a wild pitch, passed ball, etc.) The game went extra and Campy went out.

Campy went at 160 pounds, so I don't think he was on steroids in 1970 when he had his "Brady Anderson" season hitting 22 homers, when his next highest total was 8. He didn't draw a lot of walks. If he played now, he'd be seen as an average shortstop with a below average OPS+. However, he was a top star that was universally well-liked (except for Lerrin LaGrow and Billy Martin).

Campy did learn his lesson about throwing that bat in the 1972 playoffs. He was hit twice in the 1973 Series and once in the 1974 Series without incident.

I liked watching Campy. I still don't know why those people were booing him at the All-Star Game.

#59 -- Fred Stanley

Fred Stanley









This is not a good airbrush job on Fred's hat. The coloring just isn't right. The only thing I'll give the artist credit for is they made the hat on the guy in the background match the Indians' dark hats of the time. The rock in the back tells me this is an Arizona spring training site, which both the Indians (Tucson) and the Brewers (Tempe) had at the time. I'm going to say Fred's got a Milwaukee Brewer hat on because the Indians acquired him in late March 1971, so he would have spent most of 1971 in Brewers' camp. This raises an interesting question: could the guy in the background have truly an Indian in a Spring Training game between the Tribe and the Crew?



Fred was not the best "Frederick Stanley" that ever played. However, I've got to play a trick to make that statement. The best was Frederick Stanley McGriff. However, Chicken had a long and interesting career. He was a Pilot (so he goes on that checklist). In 1972 he was sent from the Indians after only 6 games to the Padres for the rest of the year. The Yankees picked him up for the 1973 season and he stayed with them through the 1980 season. He then finished up with a couple of years in Oakland.

Fred was never a regular. He got his most playing time in 1975, but only got into 117 games and had 252 at bats. In 1976 he started 87 games at short, the most games started in his career. He didn't have any real production, but the Yankees made the playoffs anyway (their appearance in the World Series was tainted by Chris Chambliss' failure to touch home plate in Game 5 of the ALCS). The next year they picked up Bucky Dent and Fred was back to the bench.

Fred only hit 10 homers, but 2 of them were grand slams (1973 off Kevin Kobel, 1978 off Mike Torrez). Fred was one of the worst "sluggers" of modern times. In 1976 he had 260 at bats and 5 extra base hits. He had a lifetime batting average of .216, slugged .263 and a career OPS of .564. That's not very good.

"Chicken" is now the director of player development for the Giants. He had a lot of years to sit on teh bench and continue working his butt off to be ready. Guys like Fred may not have been the kind of ballplayer that you'd build a team around, but every team that wins has a guy like Fred that's versatile and ready to step in and get the job done.

#53 & 54 -- Bud Harrelson & "In Action"

Bud Harrelson








Derrel Harrelson (good thing somebody that cared about him slapped "Bud" on him...Derrel's a good name, but that rhyming might not have worked out so well) was born on June 6, 1944. That was a hell of a day to be born.





Imagine that. You're having your 10th birthday party, a pretty big deal, and all anyone is talking about is the 10th anniversary of the Normandy Invasion. I suppose we now know why he was named Derrel, but he just as well could have been David, Donald or Daniel, when your birthday is also D-Day.


Bud always had spunk and fight in him. He went all of 5'11" and 160, but he didn't back down from anybody. Just ask Pete Rose. Bud couldn't hit his way out of a wet paper bag, but he could play the field well enough to stay in the lineup. In fact, about the only thing that could keep him out of the lineup was National Guard duty. Yes, there was actually a time when ballplayers missed time for summer Guard camp. During the season, even. And Bud missed time in 1969 when he won a World Series ring. But then again, wouldn't you expect this from a guy born on D-Day?


The "action" card here is great. It's not got much to do with Bud, though, although he's nicely slapped a ball out there. I think that's an Atlanta Braves' catcher, which would make it either Earl Williams or Hal King. I'm going to narrow this down to Earl Williams on Saturday, July 3, 1971. I'll pick that over May 22, just because the crowd is more shirtsleeves. I don't know if you can make it out, but there's a gal with some bug-eyed sunglasses in the front row on the left side of the dugout looking down to get a bite of something. Just behind her there's a long-haired hippie with a tan Gilligan hat on. (You may have to click on the card and then zoom in to see them.) Looks like an episode of Life on Mars. If only No Nuts Norris were sitting back there.....