"Puff"'s Younger Brother

The last entry to this blog featured Graig Nettles, who enjoyed a long career in the majors. His brother's career wasn't quite as long or successful:

Card #358 -- Jim Nettles, Minnesota Twins

Though Nettles is shown as a Twin here, he didn't play for them at all in 1973. Instead, he spent the season in the minors. After the season, he was traded to Detroit. After that, he was all over the place, from the majors to Japan to Mexico and back.

After spending 1970-'72 in Minnesota, he never strung together two straight seasons with any club. He came up with Detroit in '74 and failed to make the team in Cleveland during Spring Training the next year. He didn't get back in the big leagues again until 1979, when he played 11 games for the Royals. Finally, there was one game with Oakland in '81 when he came in as a defensive replacement in the ninth but didn't get to the plate.

After retiring as a player, Nettles managed in the minor leagues from 1983-'96. At one of those stops (A-level Madison in 1986), he even came up to the plate for one last time. He failed to get a hit and went back to the dugout.

"Puff"

"When I was a kid, I wanted play baseball and join the circus. With the Yankees, I've been able to do both."

Card #498 -- Graig Nettles, New York Yankees

Graig Nettles was a big cog in the Yankees' late 1970s dynasty. 1973 was his first season with the club, which means he arrived just in time for the beginning of the Steinbrenner Era. Nettles got a great deal of mileage from his time with the Yankees, not only for his on-field performance at the "keystone" position but for his off-kilter quotes in the locker room like the one quoted above.

That said, there's a major problem with the photo above. It's an obvious airbrush job, one that is badly done. The helmet and stirrup socks may match, but they're not the same blue color the Yanks use on their uniforms. But more than that, the interlocking "NY" logo only appears on the team's white, pinstriped home uniforms, not the road grays. Given the fact that Topps was based in the same city as the Yankees were, one would think that little mistake would have been caught.

Though not Hall of Fame-caliber, Nettles was one of the best third basemen of his era. With Cleveland, he set the all-time major league single-season record for assists at the position in 1971. He still holds second place all-time in that stat (behind Brooks Robinson). Though a right-handed thrower, he batted from the left side and was a long-ball threat with Yankee Stadium's short right field fence. He led the American league in home runs in 1976...with 32, one of the lowest league-leading totals of the "live ball" era. Most importantly, he was a big help to the teams that won four pennants and two World Series between 1976 and '81. Though he was known for colorful comments in the locker room -- many of which were sharply-worded barbs at his team's owner -- when he and Peter Golenbock wrote a book titles Balls that chronicled the failed '83 season, he was quickly traded away.

Despite his banishment to San Diego, he responded by helping the Padres get to the World Series for the first time ever. He spent three years in the city of his boyhood before finishing up with a season in Atlanta and one more in Montreal. When he finally retired, he was 43 years old. Despite the increased number of long balls since his retirement, Nettles still owns the American League record for most homers by a third baseman.

Swiped!

Here's the player who scored the final run in the history of the Washington Senators before the franchise moved to Texas:

Card #111 -- Dave Nelson, Texas Rangers

This picture has been roundly criticized, since having two opposing players more prominent than the person named on the card is not usually a good thing. However, it helps determine when the play took place.

First of all, the picture was obviously taken in 1972 (since there were no Rangers in '71) at Oakland. Dave Hamilton is pitching. There were three players who wore uniform number 11 in 1972. However, Dwain Anderson and Marty Martinez can be ruled out since the second baseman lacks sufficient melanin in his skin to be either of those players. That leaves Ted Kubiak, who actually began the season as a teammate of Nelson in Texas. Kubiak played against the Rangers at home six times in 1972.

That brings us to July 30, 1972. It was the second game of a doubleheader between the two teams and only 10 days after Kubiak was traded (which explains why he was looking down...he was probably asking Nelson how he was doing without being obvious about it). Nelson led off and went 3-for-5 in the game, and this picture was taken during one of two hits. In both cases, he managed to steal second base afterward. In the first, he lined a single to center and then stole second before scoring on a Ted Ford double. In the seventh, Nelson lined a single to left, scoring the go-ahead run. He then stole second, and scored on an Elliott Maddox triple. That hit by Maddox ended Hamilton's night. The Rangers ended up winning both ends of the doubleheader.

Either way, Dave Nelson has just stolen second and is safe. In all, he stole 51 bases in 1972, good enough for second place in the American League. He was also caught stealing 17 times that year, which was the most in the league. In 1973, he played in his only All-Star game. Although the card shows him as a third baseman, he switched to second base that season.

A Man Called "Boomer"

Something really isn't right about this card:

Card #263 -- George Scott, Milwaukee Brewers

This has been mentioned in a number of blogs already, but I'll bring it up again. The players look superimposed against a background shot. The colors don't match, the stands don't look like they're angled correctly on the field and the fans don't appear to be looking at the action on the card. Bert Campaneris is sliding back to first on a pickoff attempt, while the crowd is looking toward third?

It's a case of having everything else on the card distract from the action shot.

1972 was George Scott's first year with Milwaukee after six seasons with the Red Sox. He was a fine first baseman, collecting eight Gold Gloves during his 14-season career. While with the Brewers, he manged to lead the league in RBIs and tie for the Home Run mark with Reggie Jackson in 1975. He also began wearing a necklace -- shown on later cards -- that he often said was made out of the teeth of second basemen. Later in his career, he wore a batting helmet in the field after having objects thrown at him during a road game.

He also nicknamed his glove "Black Beauty."

George Scott was one of a kind. Today, by the way, is his 67th birthday.

Fenway Proud

A great way to endear yourself to the Fenway faithful is to stay with the Red Sox for your entire career. It may not seem like a common occurrence now, but the truth is, it's never been that way. For every Yaz, Teddy Ballgame (let's forget he managed elsewhere) and Jim Rice, there are plenty of guys like Boggs and Clemens, who went over to the Dark Side to get their Rings. Even Dewey Evans and Freddy Lynn went elsewhere before they were done. And Carlton Fisk, though I suspect BoSox fans don't fault him for moving over to those "other" Sox after the treatment he got from Management.

Then there's this guy:

Card #365 -- Rico Petrocelli, Boston Red Sox

Rico Petrocelli played 1,553 major league games between 1963 and 1976. Every one of those was in a Red Sox uniform. During the "Impossible Dream" '67 World Series, he crushed two important home runs for the team. When Luis Aparicio came to the Sox in 1971, Petrocelli moved over to third even though he'd been among the league's best shortstops. In 1975, hit hit .308 in another World Series. To the fans, he was special.

And I'm a Yankee fan saying this.

Despite my own team affiliation, I'm a fan of baseball. Guys like Rico Petrocelli...and Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, Ted Williams, and Carl Yastrzemski, they're a part of the game's rich history. Even guys whose careers were changed by tragedy (like Harry Agganis and Tony Conigliaro) have their stories. But guys who play their hearts out in front of the home fans will always be welcome at their ballparks, and the fans at Fenway were damned lucky to have such players on the field. They knew that, too.

But those players were just as lucky to have those fans.

The Padres' First Star Player

This man had a career day in 1972, the same year this picture was taken:

Card #340 -- Nate Colbert, San Diego Padres

On August 1, he hit five home runs in a doubleheader, tying a major league record. He also managed to drive in 13 runs. That broke a mark set by Stan Musial in 1954 (when he became the other player who hit 5 home runs in a twinbill). In an interesting bit of synergy, Colbert -- a St. Louis native -- was supposedly in the stands to watch Musial play those games.

Though he came up with Houston in 1966 and again in '68, Colbert became known when he joined the Padres for their inaugural season. Playing in San Diego through 1974, he was often the one bright spot in a lineup so bad that one day team owner Ray Kroc apologized to the fans over the public address system for their ineptitude. From 1968-1976, Colbert played on nine consecutive last-place teams.

Though back problems forced him to retire at age 30 in 1976 and the fact that he played for three different teams in his last two seasons, he is still the Padres' all-time home run leader.

The (N.L. East) Champs

As the scoreboard above them says, here are the 1972 Pittsburgh Pirates:

Card #26 -- Pittsburgh Pirates Team Card

They were the N.L. East division leaders that year, after winning the '71 World Series. While such a picture would make their fans quite happy -- as opposed to now where the Pirate faithful would be happy with a season without 100 losses -- this card has a grim reminder of a very large loss. Sitting in the front row, the third player from the right is Roberto Clemente. It's one of two cards in the first series that remind fans about the fragile nature of our very existence.

Other notable players in the photo are Willie Stargell (center of the back row), wild man Dock Ellis ( also in the back row) and Bill Mazeroski (seated in the front row), who was playing his final season and appears in the '73 set on a card with manager Bill Virdon.

The loss of a leader like Clemente was sure to affect the Pirates, but they did their best to make him proud. The final team record in '73 showed a 80-82 finish, but the division race was a wild ride that season. While beginning the season in first place, they slipped to last place in June and were 11 games back before rallying to take the lead again in the second half. However, the New York Mets were able to catch them on September 20th and hold the lead. As amazing as the Pirates were in handling their adversity, the Mets did what was thought to be impossible.