Sunday, May 21, 2017
#332 Buck Martinez
A KC
original...career extended to 17 seasons exceeding his 1969 expansionist
teammates of Lou Pinella and Tom Burgmeier by two years and all the rest by a
wide margin ...incredible longevity given he only shared catching duties at
best and was a less than stellar hitter with a .225 BA....a testimony to the
value of the Catcher position...not an expansion pick however rather traded to
Royals by Astros....was #2 backstop for KC as a 20 year old rookie....Had
trouble getting back to big club for entire campaigns until 1974 (8 hits in 55
at bats 1970-71, bypassed altogether relegated to minors 1972)....Took his
reserve value to Milwaukee for three years, then Toronto for another
six....played the outfield one game, DH for two, and pitched once....All other
work in the field was as backstop.
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I didn't realize that he started in the Astros chain. And about his longevity of the original Royals.
ReplyDeleteStrange to see a card of Buck without his mustache.
I might be mistaken but didn't he lose part of a season due to being in the Reserves? That may explain not being in the majors for a period after 1969.
Yes he did lose a lot of time. Especially in 1970, may be just got weekend to play.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, Martinez started in the Phillies chain (those first 3 seasons listed on his card were Phillies' outposts.)
ReplyDeleteSo I was curious when Douglas said he was acquired from the Astros. I found that the Astros selected him from the Phillies in the Rule 5 draft, then 2 weeks later traded him to the Royals. (THAT'S a good way to circumvent having to keep a rule-fiver on your roster once you realize you can't use him - trade him to someone else!)
Thanks Jim I wonder if the Astros caught wind of his military commitment and made him trade bait, Rule 5 may have had more "outs" then especially with expansion. I did take out the expansion draft link, just a force of habit.
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