A man of debuts…broke in with the Mets as a 1965 September
call up as a hard throwing righthander….Wins pitching debut in 6-3 victory over the Cardinals…then second game ever shut
out and struck out 13 Milwaukee Braves in a ten innings….Pitched three more
years with the Mets interspersing starting and relieving roles…best season was
1968 where as mostly a starter he had a 9-10 record with 2.77 ERA ….Despite
this was selected 5th in expansion draft by San Diego…then started
the first official game ever for the Padres on April 8th 1969…In it Selma
pitches a gem over the Astros for the fledgling team at San Diego Stadium…his
line was 5 hits, one run and struck out 12….his Padres time was short lived, he
only pitched three more games before being shipped off to the Cubs…While with
the Chicago northsiders he became for leading cheers from the Wrigley field
bullpen…Cubs rewarded the team loyalty by trading him to the Phillies…With the
Phillies, Selma obtains a sense of permanence, becoming Philly’s mainstay bullpen
man in 1970 with 73 appearences and 22 saves…toiled for the sub-par Phils for
three more years battling injuries and reduced effectiveness….finished last mlb
season in 1974 as a Angel and Brewer…nickname was “Mortimer” after the Edgar
Bergen’s ventriloquist dummy ….Passed away in 2001.
Note: This entry concludes my pre-written entries. I started this project a couple years ago and it has pretty much ended with Mr Selma (I'd used his first name but it just wouldn't sound right). I am continuing but the pace of 2-3 blogs week since I started in August may be slower. Bear with me. DJH
I remember 1970 as a year of promise for the Phillies. They fortified their bullpen by acquiring Dick Selma and Joe Hoerner, and upgraded their catching by acquiring Tim McCarver.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't enough though, as they continued to flounder until 1975.
In 1970, Selma and Hoerner hold up their part of the deal. The weakness of the Phillies that year was offense, 11th in the league, a big drop off after Deron Johnson. Few team were as daring about getting young talent as the Phillies, but many players just didn't pan out like Joe Lis, Roger Freed, or Mike Anderson or took long to develop like Oscar Gamble or Denny Doyle. It wasn't until Schmidt, Luzinski, and Boone developed plus shrewd trades that prompted the Phillies winning ways.
ReplyDelete