The NL East was so bad in 1973, even the 91 loss Phillies were still in contention as September rolled around. How can I make such a statement? Well the Mets, who eventually won the division were in dead last place behind the Phils at that point. I throw out another bizarre stat regarding ace Steve Carlton who went 13-20, 3.90. Lefty won 27 games the previous season. If he had won 27 games in '73 the Phils would have won 85 games and took the division by 3 games. Let that sink in for a while before you read on.
OK, now that you've let that sink in lets first congratulate the Phils for getting 12 more wins over the previous disastrous season (1972). That's a huge leap forward for a team that was trying to infuse a lot of young talent all at once at the major league level. The average age was just 26.6. Rookie Mike Schmidt showed glimpses of brilliance at third, but hit just .196. Philly fans thought he was a bust. What in the heck do they know anyway ? Greg Luzinski (22) played in 161 games and hit .285 and came up one HR short of 30. Former Yankee underachiever Bill Robinson finally put it all together at the age of 30 and hit .288 with 25 long balls. 25 year old Bob Boone firmly established himself behind the plate defensively and chipped in with 10 homers and a .261 average. Things were really starting to turnaround in South Philly. Record wise Carlton took a big step back, but lefty had a huge amount of pressure to carry this team + he threw well over 300 innings the year before and close to 300 this season. Wayne Twitchell (13-9, 2.50) was a pleasant surprise as the team's #2 starter. Ken Brett (13-9, 3.44) chipped in 211 innings as the #3 guy. After that the rotation was very soft. Vet Jim Lonborg won way more games (13-16, 4.88) than his ERA suggest and rookie Dick Ruthven (6-9, 4.21) was learning on the job. The pen was sub par despite some deceiving stats. Lefty Mac Scarce (1-8, 2.42, 12sv) blew a lot of save opportunities and let in a lot of inherited runs, which is why his personal ERA was fine. The rest of the pen was pure kerosene on the fire. Forget the last place finish here, this team was building the right way which would pay dividends in just a few short years.
To finish off the card set I added 21 new cards.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Essian was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies at age 18 but only amassed 24 at-bats over three seasons. In 1975, he was traded to the Braves for Dick Allen and Johnny Oates, then in May was sent to the White Sox to complete a trade the Braves made for Allen. In 1978, he was traded to the Athletics, where his playing time diminished. After brief stints in Cleveland and Seattle, Essian retired in 1985 after being cut in spring training by the A's.
Over the years Grabarkewitz has become some sort of sports cult figure. Maybe it's the name? Maybe it's the bonafide breakout All-Star season that he had in 1970 with Dodgers (.289-17-84) and his crash back down to earth immediately afterward? In any case after hitting just .163 in 129 AB's for the Halos he was traded to Philly in August. When he responded with a .288-2-7 statline in 66 AB's Philly fans were either shocked or thought he righted his ship and was back on course. That didn't happen. After hitting .133 the following season he bounced to Chicago, then to Oakland and then out of baseball.
A rookie panel card is just not good enough for this future All-Star catcher. Boone's '73 season would earn him the 3rd spot in the NL ROY balloting. He would go on to become a key fixture behind the dish for the Phils as the team rose from the ashes into a championship team over the next 8 seasons. Booney would spend 19 seasons catching on the major league level before moving into managing at the age of 42. He won 7 GG's and was a 4x All-Star. He was just a great catcher, who made pitchers better and runners think twice. The fact that he had a .254 career BA was a bonus.
After 7 years as a starter with the Twins Tovar joined the Phillies with the hopes that he would keep 3B warm until that Schmidt kid got hot. Tovar was a master at playing anywhere on the diamond, so he was easily deployed in any outfield or infield spot. A huge weapon to have as a manager, especially since he regularly hit just a shade under .300. In must 97 games during the '73 season he hit only .268 (below his lifetime avg) with just 1 home run. At season's end the Phils sold his contract to Texas where he rebounded nicely. Tovar would hang around the game until the '76 season where he finished up with the pennant winning Yankees. Rather than tool around the minors or call it quits he headed to the Mexican League for 3 more solid seasons.
Robinson was drafted by the Phillies in the 11th round of the 1970 amateur draft. He played 3 seasons in the Minor Leagues before making his Major League debut as a pinch runner at Veterans Stadium on September 9, 1972. A career .219 hitter, Robinson started regularly only once, playing 145 games for the 1974 Atlanta Braves. For the '73 Phils he hit just .226 in 146 AB's and was sent to the Braves in the offseason. He bounced around for a while as a seldom used utility player then wound up his career hitting .240 for the Hawaiian Islanders in 1978.
In Ozark's first season at the helm the Phightin's improved their record by 12 games. Under his care the young Phillies stud players matured and blossomed. The team improved steadily and in his 4th season won over 100 games and the first of 3 consecutive NL East Titles. Unfortunately for Ozark the team could not "win the big one" and never made the World Series. He was fired midway through the '79 season as the team was under .500 due to injuries. His replacement, Dallas Green, won it all the following year. Nicknamed, "Mr. Malaprop" for his bizarre, but hysterical quotes, Ozark kept the fans and press entertained off the field as well as on the field. Some examples were: "Mike Anderson (OF'er) limitations were limitless" or when after a big loss, "Even Napoleon had his Watergate". At times his math skills failed him. After being eliminated by the Pirates (7 up with 6 to go) he said, "We're not out of it yet...If we win all our games & they lose all of theirs we're still alive".
I'm sure Philly fans have little to no memory of Dave Wallace, who in just 4 games in '73 gave up 9 earned runs for a 22.09 ERA. His 9.00 ERA in 3 innings the following season was not the kind of approval that gets you a 3rd chance. Wallace bounced around the minors for the next 4 season before getting a 6 game audition in Toronto (1978). He would return to the minors for a few more years before embarking on a career as a pitching coach. Since I couldn't find any good color shots of him in his short tenure in Philly I took a B&W photo and attempted to colorize it. If you find a better one, send it my way and I will update!
Unser, who remarkably finished 2nd in the 1968 AL ROY voting after hitting .230 with one homer arrived in Philly in an off season trade with Cleveland (he played there in '72). As the starting centerfielder he hit .289 with 11 homers. He hit .264 the following season, but when Gary Maddox arrived his days in South Philly were over. Smartly the Philly brass packaged him in a huge deal with the Mets that netted closer Tug McGraw. Unser performed well in NY, then woulnd up in Montreal and then back in Philly just in time to win the 1980 Championship. He spent his final 4 seasons as a 4th/5th outfielder and pinch hitter on some great Phillie teams.
The #1 overall pick in the 1973 draft, out of Fresno St., found himself thrust right into the major leagues without ever having to apprentice in the minors. Despite that handicap Ruthven did quite well on the major league level going 6-9, 4.21 in 25 starts. Always a high ERA guy, Ruthven won a lot of big games in his two stints in Philly including a 17-10, 3.55 year when the Phils won it all in 1980.
On August 10th the Phils claimed Culver off of Waivers from the Dodgers. In 14 games he was 3-1, 4.82. The following season his ERA ballooned to 6.65, so he was sent down to AAA Toledo for two seasons and never returned. A brief trip to Japan didn't help his career much. He had some scattered minor league action here and there as a player coach. After retiring as a player, Culver spent 30 years as a minor league manager, pitching coordinator and pitching coach in the Dodgers and Phillies organizations. His last season in professional baseball was as a roving pitching coach for the Dodgers in 2010. On his last day as an active coach, the Bakersfield Blaze minor league team honored him with a "George Culver Retirement Night" on August 23, 2010
After winning the 1967 AL Cy Young Award Lonborg was never the same pitcher. By the time the 31 year old arrived in Philly he wasn't an elite pitcher any more. His 13-16, 4.88 record in '73 backs up this statement. Still he was able to rebound and give the Phils some nice seasons in support of Carlton/Ruthven and company. Sadly he hung it up in '79 and missed the '80 Championship season. In 7 years with the Phils he compiled a 75-60, 3.98 record and pitched in 2 NLCS's. After leaving the game he went to Tufts and got his degree in dentistry. Dr. James Lonborg practiced as a dentist from 1983-2017, before retiring after 35 years in practice.
This was the final season in a 15 year career for 38 year old Jose Pagán. After spending 7 seasons in San Fran and 8 in Pittsburgh Pagán had one more year in him. His job was to be sort of a utility player / coach and he did it well. He did it so well that his old team the Pirates immediately offered him a coaching postion on their staff at the conclusion of the season. Pagán was a Pittsburgh Pirates coach for five seasons (1974–1978). He managed the Triple-A Ogden A's in the Pacific Coast League for two seasons (1979–1980) and teams in the Puerto Rican Winter League for several seasons, and lived in Puerto Rico before moving his family to Florida in 1999.
George's big brother spent one rock solid season in Philly (13-9, 3.44) before being traded to the Pirates in the off season for 2B Dave Cash. Brett played for 10 franchises in his 15 MLB seasons. He was a solid lefty, who got to play his final 2 seasons with his HOF brother. No one should be shocked that he was a career .262 hitter. It's in the DNA, ya' know. He hit 4 of his 10 career homers for Philly in '73 and knocked in 16 runs in 80AB's. Tragically he passed away in 2003 at the young age of 55.
Christenson made his major-league debut on April 13, 1973, and beat the New York Mets 7–1, pitching a complete game. At the time, he was the youngest player in the Major Leagues at 19. He would bounce back and forth from the majors to the minor leagues until 1975, when the Phillies called him up to stay. Christenson went 11–6 that season and would become a key cog on the Phillies' teams that would win three straight National League Eastern Division titles from 1976 to 1978. He would have his best seasons those three years, going 13–8 with a 3.68 earned run average in 1976. His best season was 1977, when he went 19–6 with a 4.06 ERA, winning 15 of his last 16 decisions. He slipped to 13–14 in 1978, despite posting a career-best ERA of 3.24, and started Game 1 of the 1978 National League Championship Series.
Then, injuries would begin to plague Christenson's career. He began the 1979 season on the disabled list with elbow problems and missed the first month. Then, in June of that season, he broke his collarbone during a charity bicycle ride and missed several weeks. He ended up with a 5–10 record that season. In 1980, he started 3–0, but went on the disabled list again and had elbow surgery. He recovered to finish the season 5–1 and start Game 4 of the 1980 World Series, but was knocked in the first inning.
Then, injuries would begin to plague Christenson's career. He began the 1979 season on the disabled list with elbow problems and missed the first month. Then, in June of that season, he broke his collarbone during a charity bicycle ride and missed several weeks. He ended up with a 5–10 record that season. In 1980, he started 3–0, but went on the disabled list again and had elbow surgery. He recovered to finish the season 5–1 and start Game 4 of the 1980 World Series, but was knocked in the first inning.
After spending seven full seasons in minor league baseball in the club's farm system, Cox debuted with the Phils on April 23, 1973, appeared in one game, and was shuttled back to the minor leagues. He split the 1974–75 seasons between Philadelphia and the minors. At the end of the 1975 season, Cox was traded to the Minnesota Twins for Sergio Ferrer. He then spent the entire 1976 campaign back in Triple-A for the Twins, then was purchased by the Seattle Mariners. Finally, Cox made the majors for five full seasons, playing for the Mariners (1977), Chicago Cubs (1978), the Mariners again (in 1979 and 1980) and Texas Rangers (1981). He returned to the Cubs briefly in May 1982 but spent most of that season as a coach in the minors. He played in 382 career major league games in his career with 182 hits in 825 at bats (a .221 batting average). He hit 12 home runs and had 85 RBIs.
Rog' played in just 66 games as a corner outfielder for the '73 Phils. He spent most of '74 in the minors with a brief 17 game audition in '74 and '75. After hitting just .212 in AA in '76 both he and the Phils figured out that the end of the road was reached.
Rescued from the dreaded Topps Rookie Panel Card that he shared with Ron Cey and Dave Hilton, Michael Jack Schmidt receives his first solo card in his HOF career. Don't thing for one second that he was an overnight sensation. In 132 games he hit just .196 with 18 homer runs, while striking out 1/3 of the time. Schmitty heard it from the fans at the Vet. Thankfully the patient Danny Ozark stayed the course with the young slugger and the rest as they say, "is history".
As a rookie Wallace chipped in from the pen with a 1-1, 3.78 record in 33+ innings of work. A mid season trade the following year landed him in the Bronx where he went 6-0, 2.41. That would be the highlight of his career as he bounced to STL then TEX then to the minors, then out of baseball at the age of 28. Fittingly with a name like Mike Wallace, he now works on the Washington Nationals broadcasts as an in studio analyst.
This 16th round draft pick impressed the parent club by posting a 0-0, 2.33 record in 23 games during the '73 season. He impressed them so much that he spent most of the season in AAA Toledo & AA Reading the following year. He would spend 3 more seasons bouncing between AA and AAA with the Expos and Yankees chains before being released at the age of 30. With such limited time in the biggs there weren't many photos to choose from to create a card for him. The Rookie Panel card that Topps issued in '74 used a photo that was too small to stretch, so I took a B&W yearbook photo and colorized it then superimposed it on a background shot of "the Vet".
Twitchell was an All-Star in 1973 for the last place Phillies when he had a 2.50 ERA, good for 3rd in the league. In the All-Star game, he pitched one scoreless inning. Twitchell was also noted for giving up the home run that got Hank Aaron into 2nd place all-time (649). In 7 seasons in South Philly he compiled a 33-43, 3.57 record. Midway through the '77 season he was dealt to Montreal where he spent a season and a half before being cut and picked up by the lowly Mets. After the Mets released him he was signed by Seattle, but only appeared in 4 games for them before hanging it up.
Montañez arrived in Philly by accident in 1969 when Curt Flood refused to report and the blockbuster trade was about to collapse. St. Louis inserted Montañez into the trade to complete it. After finishing 2nd in the 1971 ROY voting he had somewhat of a sophomore jinx hitting just .247 with 17 less homers. '73 was sort of a bounceback year for him as he moved from centerfield to 1st base, which he hoped to anchor for the Phils for the next decade. That would not happen as he was dealt to the Giants on May 4, 1975 for Gary Maddox. That deal was a huge steal for Philly as they added the best defensive centerfielder in the game for a guy who was about to embark into journeyman status. Montañez tooled around the big leagues for 14 seasons and was labeled an underachiever and sometime a "hot dog". Things came full circle when he returned to Philly for 18 games in 1982 before retiring.
No comments:
Post a Comment