DAHOF Top 100 -- #68 Bake McBride

On June 15th, 1977 the Phillies sent Tom Underwood, Dane Iorg, and Rick Bosetti to the St. Louis Cardinals for a minor leaguer named Steve Waterbury and Bake McBride. Waterbury never played a game for the Phillies, but Bake McBride immediately challenged Garry Maddox for the best afro on the club and became an solid player on a club already stacked with impact players.

With the Cardinals, he won the 1974 NL Rookie of the Year awa rdand made the 1976 All Star team. Following the 1976 he had knee surgery and was struggling in the first half of 1977. It couldn't have helped he played the majority of his games on the green concrete that called astroturf. Bake had never hit less than .300 in his first 5 major league seasons, at the time of the trade he was hitting a career low .262.

Even though the Phils also had some of the worst astroturf in history, the trade seemed to invigorate McBride. He hit .339 and stole 27 bases for the rest of the season while providing a significant contribution to the Phillies second straight NL East flag. McBride remained as the Phils regular right fielder for the next four seasons, helping the 1980 team deliver the franchise's first World Series championship.

My most vivid memory of Bake McBride comes from the Game 1 of the 1980 World Series. The Royals jumped to an early 4 run lead before the Phils came roaring back in the bottom of the third inning. In that inning, Bake McBride hit a 3 run homer to give the Phils a lead they never relinquished. It was the first World Series win since Game 1 of the 1915 Fall Classic.