Big John....In Cleveland was known as Moose....played with zeal and desire....a happy warrior..... Started in the bigs starting 1970 based on an excellent spring training campaign.....Slated to compete with the legendary Thurmond Munson to backstop vacancy never truly addressed since the departure of Elston Howard ....but Munson's ironman presence as the iconic backstop left Ellis searching for another position....In his career Ellis never really settled in any one position on any team....often split catcher, 1st base, and later the designated hitter titles... After being acquired by the Tribe for 1973, put together a solid body of work at the plate establishing the pattern of the more he played the better his yield.....injuries set him back starting in 1975 onward as Ellis moved on to Texas.....lost for most of 1976 putting his sparkling .412 start to naught....wasn’t able to reach 300 at bats until 1979 when he was mostly a DH....was able to hang on a part time basis until 1981, his last season....In the mid-1970s, Ellis joined the Spalding Sporting Goods Advisory Staff and .....In 1987 he founded the Connecticut Sports Foundation Against Cancer....passed away April 7, 2022
No comments:
Post a Comment