#663 Fran Healy

Better than average hitting back up catcher…was part of 1969 expansion and the ascendency of both the Royals and Yankees in the mid 70’s….drafted out of Cleveland by the Royals Fran got in a cup of coffee in 1969…Collected 4 hits to hit .400…Kept in the minors for 1970, was obtained by Giants in a swap of minor leaguers…Stayed with the big club for two years…After a poor showing in 1972 was sent back to the Royals for Greg “Moon” Minton*…got more playing time and responded with a .250 average…for the 1974 season established himself as the regular backstop and obtained career numbers…next year lost playing time to Buck Martinez …a poor start prompted a swap to the Yanks for Larry Gura*…used sparingly behind the great Thurmond Munson…was on the World Series roster in 1976 and 77 but did not play….got a ring in the latter year…1 AB in 1978 and then released….*nothing against Fran but both trades were steals for the other team.

 

#664 Bobby Knoop

 A mainstay of  2^nd baseman typical of the 1960’s era; good field, limited hitting…spent most and best years of his career with the Angels…highlights include three consecutive gold gloves, an All Star Game appearance...broke in with the 1964 team immediately taking over as a regular at 2^nd… hit poorly with a .218 average but fielding skills made him an asset…sophomore year hitting improved to a career best .269…1966 Knoop stepped up his offensive numbers, hitting 17 home runs, leading the team in RBI’s and the league in triples…played two more full years with the halos…in his five seasons with California, led the league in double plays four times…a poor start in 1969, prompted a trade to White Sox for Sandy Alomar (a steal for the Angels)…although he continued to be a regular, hitting woes continued for 1 ½ more seasons…a trade to KC in 1972 relegated Bobby to substitute status…collected 258 AB over two seasons with the Royals with .217 BA… Career numbers, 56 HRs, 331 RBIs, and .236 BA…currently listed as employed in the small army that is the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim coaching staff.  

#665 Chris Short

The once great mainstay of the Phillies staff during the 1960’s…somewhat flaky and quirky…but this can be overlooked as he won 20, 19, 18, and 17 games in separate seasons in city of Brotherly Love…two time all star....interspersed however were campaigns shortened by injury or double digit losses…saw it all with the Phils, starting in lowly years of 1960 and 61 to their ascendency peaking at the pinnacle 92-60 mark of in the heartbreaking year of 1964…that year Short and fellow ace Jim Bunning were over stretched with starting assignments in the last 12 games…Phils lost out on the World Series birth which wouldn’t occur until 16 years later…After missing nearly the whole of 1969, Chris was never the same winning 16 and losing 30 in 1970 and 71…Phillies fortunes went south as well with four consecutive losing seasons…The 1972 card represented the end of the line…Used sparingly in 1972 (23 innings 1-1 record), Chris later surfaced with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1973…won three games and lost five and released thereafter…died in 1991 after a brain aneurism.

 

#666 Hector Torres

Just like Ray Newman, identified Cub who did not play anymore with them…at this time a journeyman infielder who mostly rode the bench when not sent to the minors…Could not hit major league pitching to justify a regular gig…Come to think of it couldn’t manage minor league pitching either as evidenced by .225 career mark…Big opportunity came with Houston in 1968 as the Astro had to switch-a-ro positions because of a season ending injury to Joe Morgan …played in 128 games, got 441 at bats, but hit a unsubstantial .223… never had another chance for that much playing time… spent next two seasons shuttling between the Stro’s bench and AAA Oklahoma City…acquired by the Cubs for 1971…stayed with the Cubbies all season but was utilized even less, making 58 at bats, 7 less than when he was with the Astros in 1970…1972:  Surfaced with the Expos in the Hal Breeden deal…insignificant production as evidenced by a .155 BA…1973: back to Houston and an .091 mark (hard to believe BA almost dropped by one half from his Expo time…Mercy rule was declared for 1974 and Hector played the San Diego “we’ll resurrect anyone’s career” system…Had 7 Hrs, 47 RBIs, .259 for AAA Hawaii representing his best pro hitting figures in 9 years…Took the momentum to big club in 1975 and responded with his best MLB season, continuing to hit .259 as the Padres finally escaped the NL West basement…couldn’t repeat his modest feat in 1976 as Hector hit under .200…Included in various trades and surfaced with the expansion  Blue Jays in 1977…results were fair but Jays suffered greatly from expansion’s birthing pains…spent a brief AAA stint in 1978 before giving up playing…has managed and coached in minor since then...Finished with .216 MLB career average.

#667 Ray Newman

Short lived time in the majors…3-3 record over 63 innings with Cubs and Brewers…played above expectations for a marginal journeyman with a 2.97 ERA…Started in Detroit organization prior to the 1964 season…transfer to the Cubs chain for 1965…Slowly worked his way up the organization…Typical of players at the time, Ray had a two year absence presumably a stint in the military in 1967 and 68…Returned to playing in 1969 with San Antonio…Gained more effectiveness in 1970 jumping from Texas league to AAA Tacoma…Fast start in 1971 prompted a call to Wrigleyville…had a 3.52 ERA with 2 saves…best game was 5 innings of no hit ball against Expos…Went to Milwaukee for 1972 but spent majority of season in Evansville…1973 followed up with a 2-1 record, his last in the majors…traded to Detroit but stayed in Evansville for the next two seasons.

 

#668 Rangers Team Card

An unusual circumstance…only team card that actually moved to another city…so on closer viewing the uniform says Senators…The name was old but the franchise was new playing only 12 season in DC as an 1961 AL expansion team…The establishment of the team was in response to the original Senator's franchise’s move to Minnesota…Baseball feared antitrust action from the US legislature…Must of been quite the identity crisis....the Senators were the lesser team compared to its expansion brother the LA Angels…First year lost 100 games and was last in attendance…Senators’ woes continue with three more seasons of 100+ losses…1965 team escapes the 100 loss mark but remain near the bottom of the standings…futility continues until 1969 when the achives a 86-76 mark, the only winning season in the nation’s capital…with the Oriole’s dominance the strong still only resulted in 4^th place and 23 games out of first…a significant decline occurred in 1970 with 92 losses + last place finish…more losses in 1971 as owner Bob Short made the move to the greener pastures of Texas…Total Senator record 740-1032….Texas since then has made two world series but has loss both…THE RECORDS:  HITTING almost all marks list has been eclipsed many times over…Chuck Hinton triples mark is now second best all time…Frank Howard’s 48 HR is now third..PITCHING:  one record still remains but it is not a good one…Denny McClain still holds the losses mark with 22...Interesting note:  Baseball reference recognizes  Darrell Knowles’ 1969 record of 9-3 as the best win pct, Topps does not, showing Dick Bosman’s 14-5 mark which is 9^th best…Franchise W-L record in Texas and Washington are decidedly both under .500.

 

#669 Willie Crawford

A debate; underrated outfielder or a disappointment…maybe some both however still played 14 years with a couple solid but unspectacular seasons…great speed but didn’t steal a lot of bases and struggled to gain regular status…1964: broke in with the Dodger at an incredibly young age; 18 years and one month…for the next four year alternated cups of coffee while climbing up the Dodger chain…Despite appearing in only 52 regular season games most as a defensive outfielder, Willie was on the 1965 WS series roster…got a hit in two at bats…Started to stay with the regular club in next three years…results were OK but nothing special…First move towards a toward regular work was 1971 were he hit .281…after a return to the mediocre in1972 he was able to hit .295 for 1973 and 74 and gathering 14 and 11 Hrs respectively….Dodger abandoned the can’t miss project and the traded to Cardinals for 1976 …responded by career best .304 in 120 games…despite the good numbers, acquired by Houston where he did not meet expectations…traded to the horrific, post free agency Oakland A’s mid season…was not able to hit his weight…granted free agency and tried to latch on with LA for 1978 but could not make the spring training cut…Died in 2004 in Los Angeles.

  

#670 Ken Holtzman

Winningest Jewish pitcher of all time beating Sandy Koufax by nine games…Like Sandy also was known for multiple no hitters (2 in Ken’s case)…selected by the Cubs in the first 1965 draft…had a quick ascendency to majors debuting that same year…Became a regular starter for 1966…had a losing 11-16 record but his win pct, was better than the club’s record…next year was unbeatable with a 9-0 record in 12 starts, missing most of the mid season…comes into own in 1969-70 victorious in 17 games each season even more impressive that many starts were only on weekends…1971 was a huge let down, triumphant in only 9 games but gets second no hitter…Trade to Oakland results in his golden age resulting in  77 wins over 4 seasons…won 21 games in 1973...got  3 world series rings in that time span…Did well in post season....In 1976 he involved in two blockbuster swaps, A’s to Orioles, Orioles to Yankees…Demoted to 4^th-5^th starter in NY and did not appear in the post season…used sparingly from then on..Returns to Cubs for 1978-79 going 6-12 to finish MLB career…Has coached in Israel...Ferris Buehler look-a-like.

 

#671 Don Clendenon

Renascence man…So well known as the 1969 WS hero and MVP but he was much more…almost Forrest Gumpian…born in Atlanta to well educated middle class family…Father had two PhDs but died when he was a baby…Stepfather was Negro League veteran so he had expert coaching and exposure to all legendary players of the day…went to Morehouse College where he had a big brother connection to Dr. Martin Luther King…worked his way through the Pirates chain breaking in mid way 1962…became known as a home run hitter but never established huge numbers… had an off field incident in Houston in 1965 which laid the groundwork for future events…however he maintained a strong .291 batting average for his first five years as fixture in the Bucs line up…had off years in 1967 and 68 with BA dropping by almost 40 points…left out for the expansion draft and selected by Montreal for 1969…then things start to happen…Montreal enticed by prospect of Rusty Staub, trade Don to the Astros…Don, based on past and present refuses the assignment and stays with Montreal…with relatively slow start, Don is traded to Mets…platoons 1^st base with Ed Kranepool…misses the NLCS playoff but came back with vengeance in the WS hitting 3 crucial home runs and taking MVP honors…Took over as a regular next year when Kranepool faltered badly…1970:  last good season with 22 hrs, 97 RBIs…1971:  Lost playing time with most offensive numbers cut in half…dealt to St. Louis for 1972 as part of a veteran’s movement, poor start doomed fate and was cut mid season…After baseball became a lawyer…died in 2005.

 

*Special note:  I did not skip #672 Archie Reynolds.  He's there but does not show on the links in other sites (Dave Marshall still shows up).  Not sure how to correct.  If anyone wants to see it here is the link

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8763856598750589911#editor/target=post;postID=9085502898800035905;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=postname

Poor Archie, one final indignity of an 0-8 career.

 

#672 Archie Reynolds

Big League side burns, but that’s about it…Eight career decisions, eight career losses, no wins…a predecessor to Terry Felton's all time 0-16 career record… started career as a Cubbie…five year player, only in big clubs for  very short spurts losing at least one game in every one of his seasons…last major league player with the name Archie…had good seasons in the AAA minor leagues but did not translate to major league success…was member of the 1970 Hawaiian Islander team which is considered one of the best AAA squads ever…followed up with 13-7 season in Salt Lake City, an Angel farm club at the time…Last big league club was Milwaukee in 1972…spent most of year in AAA Evansville…returned to the Triplets for the next season but loss effectiveness did him in…hung up spikes in 1974 in a short comeback with Hawaii.