Familiar Faces / Strange Places: Blockbuster

Adrian Gonzalez and James Loney in their strange new uniforms

Somewhere... Charlie O. Finley is shaking his head slowly and calling Bowie Kuhn the "village idiot".

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: 2012 Trade Deadline

Shane Victorino & Hunter Pence in their new threads.

As expected, Tuesday's non-waiver trade deadline delivered a flurry of moves for the Phillies. I can't say I am overjoyed about Victorino & Pence going to other National League teams, but I certainly understand why Ruben Amaro had to make those moves. The economics and flexibility these two trades bring to the club is important as they re-tool for next season. 

Nate Schierholtz started his Phils career the right way with a difference making home run against the Nationals last night.

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: Ichiro / Yankees

Yeserday, Ichiro joined a large fraternity of formerly great players wearing a New York Yankees uniform late in their career hoping to obtain that elsusive World Series ring. From a baseball perspective, I can't say that this move doesn't make sense for the Mariners, Yankees or even Ichiro himself. But it just sucks to see this guy wearing that uniform.

2012 Topps template here

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: Jimmy Wynn 1977 Brewers

I've always been a Jimmy Wynn fan. There is no doubt he would have gotten a lot more love and attention if he had played the majority of his games anywhere else but Houston. Of the 291 home runs the man hit... 97 of them where in the cavernous Astrodome.

After spending 1976 and hitting only .208 in Atlanta, he signed with the New York Yankees. The deal was done the day after they signed Reggie Jackson, and went off without much fanfare. The plan for the 1977 Yankees was to put Wynn at designated hitter. He smacked a home run in his Yankee debut, but that turned out to be his final career home run. After falling into a terrible slump (including an 0 for 32 stretch) he lost his job and his stay in the Bronx lasted just 30 games before getting released.

A few days later he signed as a free agent with Milwaukee and finished out the season and his career as a Brewer.

There have been attempts by others to create this 1977 Jimmy Wynn Brewers card, but without a good image... the best photo-chopping in the world doesn't work for me. I have been searching for months for a decent image of the Toy Cannon in a Brewers uniform with no luck, until I ran into this rare gem on eBay.

Foster goes deep... for the last time

Of course, as soon as I finally make a photochopped George Foster / 1886 White Sox post... I discover an actual image. This image is currently available from the Tribune archive on eBay recording Foster's only home run during his short time with the Sox at the end of the 1986 season... and it looks like he is using his trademark bad-ass black bat.

I don't feel that bad, because the above image is not that clear and not something I would attempt to colorize and use on one of my cards. The 348th (and final) home run of  Foster's career came on August 15th, 1986 at Comiskey Park, in the 4th inning, off Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Bill Wegman. It only was Foster's second at bat in his first game with the Sox, after unceremoniously being released by the Mets a week earlier. Sadly, it was the only real highlight of his short time in Chicago. He would have another 52 plate appearances over the remaining 15 games and collect only 10 more hits before calling it a career and riding off into the sunset.

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: George Foster / White Sox

It's been a while since I have done a FF/SP post. Now that I have a strong collection of templates to work from, I am going to change up the format for these going forward.

Because I was a sophomore in college, I am going to blame the fact that I have no actual recollection of George Foster's 15 nondescript games with the 1986 Chicago White Sox on the volume of beer I was drinking at the time. Maybe subconsciously I was medicating myself for the painful playoff run of the '86 Mets. Don't even get me started...

It wasn't until I saw the 2009 "Cards That Never Were" post from my friend Steve at White Sox Cards did I even realize that Foster ended his career in Chicago.

Since that time, I have been on the prowl for a decent image of George sporting the White Sox colors. Sadly, other than the image that Steve used in his card I have not found anything. Two years later, I have basically lost hope and decided to take things into my own hands... and transform by hand (and the magic of photoshop) a George Foster on the Mets image into a Sox uniform.

1982 Topps Dick Allen - Rangers

Throwing everyone a curve ball today, using the 1982 design and a rare image from the spring of 1982 DA was a hitting instructor for the Texas Rangers

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: Luis Tiant / Pirates

Yesterday was Luis Tiant's birthday. If you have not seen the recent documentary called The Lost Son of Havana, I would strongly recommend you do it. It is a very compelling story about the man they call "El Tiante".

Luis Tiant is the only child of Luis Tiant, Sr. and Isabel Vega. From 1926 through 1948, the senior Tiant was a great left-handed pitcher for the Negro League's New York Cubans during the summer and the Cuban professional league's Cienfuegos in the winter.

He made his big league debut as a Cleveland Indian in July of 1964. He won 21 games for the Indians in 1968, leading the American League with in ERA. His 1.60 ERA was the lowest in the American League since Walter Johnson's 1.49 mark during the dead-ball era in 1919. The next season he lost 20 games while fighting through injuries and was traded to the Twins.

He won his first six games with the 1970 Twins, and then broke his scapula, ending his season and what many believed his career. The Twins cut him during spring training of 1971. The Braves signed him to a minor league contract to play with their Triple-A team in Richmond, where he pitched well enough to catch the eye of the Boston Red Sox, who grabbed him in May. Despite struggling through the rest of 1971 with a 1-7 record and 4.88 ERA things were looking up for Luis.

In 1972 Tiant regained his old form with a 15-6 record and led the league with a 1.91 ERA. He would win 20 games in 1973 and 22 in 1974. However it was in 1975 he became one of the greatest and most beloved pitchers in Red Sox history.

Though hampered by back problems in 1975, he won 18 games for the AL Champions. He excelled in the postseason, beating the three time defending World Champion Oakland A's in a three-hit complete game. He followed that up when he opened the World Series shutting out the Reds 6-0. It was a special night because his father and mother were in the stands time watching him pitch in the US for the first time -- having been allowed to visit from Cuba under a special visa.

Tiant also won Game 4 (throwing 163 pitches in his second complete game of the series) and had a no-decision in the memorable Game 6, which ended with Carlton Fisk’s dramatic game-winning walk-off home run in the 12th inning.

Tiant went 21-12 in 1976, 12-8 in 1977, and 13-8 in 1978. At the end of the 1978 season, Tiant signed as a free agent with the Yankees where he compiled a 21-17 record over two seasons (1979-80)

After the 1980 season, the Yankees released him. He signed with Pittsburgh in 1981, but spent most of the season in Portland where he excelled for the Beavers (13-7, 3.82) including a no-hitter. He got called up, but struggled with the Pirates and was released at the end of the season. He finished up his major league career with six games for the 1982 Angels, with his final win coming against the Red Sox on August 17.

In the end, Tiant won more games in the major leagues than any other Cuban-born pitcher in the 20th Century, having 35 more than Dolf Luque and 44 more than Mike Cuellar. He was third among all Latin American natives, trailing Dennis Martinez (245) and Juan Marichal (243).

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: Bucky Dent / Royals

Drafted twice (but never signed) by the St. Louis Cardinals, the White Sox drafted Bucky Dent in the first round (6th overall) out of Miami-Dade Junior College in the 1970 draft. After three years in the minors he was called up to Chicago midway through the 1973 season. His first career hit was an infield single off Fred Scherman at Tiger Stadium on June 13th, 1973 (his teammate Dick Allen went 3 for 3 that day).

In 1974 he replaced Eddie Leon as the starting shortstop for the White Sox and played well enough to finish second in AL Rookie of the Year voting behind Mike Hargrove. In 1975 his star continued to rise as he was selected for the All-Star Game. in 1976 his batting average had declined and pending free agency -- the Sox traded him to the New York Yankees for Oscar Gamble, LaMarr Hoyt, and Bob Polinsky prior to the start of the 1977 campaign.

He won World Series ring as the shortstop for the 1977 Bronx Zoo Yankees. The next season, on October 2, 1978 Bucky Dent entrenched himself into baseball history and earned the wrath of Red Sox fans forever. During the one-game AL East playoff in Boston, he hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning off Mike Torrez (his teammate from the '77 Yankees). The Yankees took the lead with his improbable HR (it was only his 5th of the season and 23rd of his career) and went on to win the game 5-4. He went on to win the 1978 World Series Most Valuable Player, hitting .417 with 7 RBI in a six-game win over Dodgers.

As a living Yankee legend, Dent was elected as the starting shortstop on the 1980 and 1981 All-Star teams. In 1982, in the midst of a hitting slump (he was batting .169) he was traded to the Rangers for Lee Mazzilli. He spent the remainder of 1982 and the 1983 season in Texas, where he led AL shortstops in fielding percentage.

The Rangers released him before the start of 1984 season. In June, he signed a minor league deal with the Yankees but he was released a month later. He signed with the Kansas City Royals in August and 11 games and 3 singles later, his big league career was over. His last hit (September 9th, 1984) was an RBI single off of the Mariners Mark Langston.

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: Boog Powell / Dodgers

Continuing my Boog Powell theme... Following an unproductive 1976 season in Cleveland, it looked the end of the road for the 35 year old former Baltimore All-Star. He was released by the Indians near the end of spring training in 1977.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and new manager Tommy Lasorda were preparing to battle and finally take down the Bid Red Machine in the NL West. On April 5th, two days before opening day they signed Powell (Yes, Opening Day used to be in April). With Steve Garvey entrenched at first base, Lasorda was counting on some left handed power and veteran leadership off the bench.

The Dodgers cruised, but Boog's contribution wasn't pretty. He appeared in 50 games before being released on August 30th. Garvey basically never took a day off and all but one of Boog's appearances was as a pinch hitter. His final at bat, facing the Pirates and future Hall of Famer Rich Gossage, Boog grounded out to second base in the 10th inning of an eventual 2-1 Dodgers win. When it was all said and done, he collected 10 singles in 41 official at bats. He was credited with 5 RBIs. Not one extra base hit. He was not on the roster when the Dodgers clinched the NL West three weeks later (September 20th), when they beat the Phillies in the NLCS, nor when they finally lost to Reggie Jackson and the Yankees in the World Series.

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: Willie Mays / Mets

I just finished reading the James Hirsch book about Willie Mays. If you like baseball biographies, I would highly recommend it.

One of the more interesting chapters of the book was the circumstances around his late career trade to the Mets and his return to New York.

It is quite ironic how it all played out: Even though he was the highest paid player in the league, Mays was always in financial trouble. At the time, the Giants franchise was losing money and Giants owner Horace Stoneham could not guarantee the expensive and aging Mays any income after he retired. Mets Manager Yogi Berra's had no interest in having Willie on the team and it was the sentimental Mets owner that forced him onto Yogi's roster and offered Mays a position as a coach when he retired.

This story is even more ironic given the current financial struggles of the present day New York Mets franchise and the apparent stable financial foundation of the current San Francisco Giants organization.

On May 14, 1972, in his Mets debut, Mays put New York ahead to stay with a fifth-inning home run against the Giants. Mays played a season and a half in a Mets uniform as the oldest position player in the league before retiring following the 1973 World Series.

One of many great and random facts about Willie Mays: He is the only Major League player in history to have hit a home run in every inning from the 1st through the 16th.

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: Frank Robinson / Indians

On October 15, 1972, Jackie Robinson attended a World Series game that included a commemoration for the twenty-fifth anniversary of breaking the color line.

In his televised speech, Robinson again pushed baseball to employ blacks in more capacities: "I'd like to live to see a black manager, I'd like to live to see the day when there's a black man coaching at third base." When Robinson stepped onto the field, it was his second appearance at a Major League Baseball game since ending a self-imposed boycott of baseball which he had begun in protest of the sport's poor record in hiring minorities for managerial and front-office positions.

Nine days later, on October 24, 1972, Jackie Robinson died of a heart attack at his home in Stamford, Connecticut.

The first black baseball manager, Frank Robinson, was hired three years later by the Cleveland Indians.

Familiar Faces / Strange Places & On This Day: Bob Watson / Red Sox

September 15th, 1979. After hitting a single in the second, a double in the fourth, and tripling in the eighth, Red Sox first Baseman Bob Watson completes a natural cycle with a home run the in the ninth inning of the Red Sox 10-2 victory over the Orioles in Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. The win holds the Orioles magic number for the AL East crown at "1". He also becomes the first modern major leaguer to hit for the cycle in both leagues having already accomplishing the feat with Houston in 1977.

Watson was originally a catcher in minors, but he was converted to a first baseman / outfielder by the time he made it to the majors in 1966. He spent most of his career as a solid and dependable contributor in Houston making it to two All Star games (1972 & 1975). A big strong player, there is no disputing the fact his power numbers were negatively impacted by playing in the Astrodome. Of the 184 career home runs he did collect, 117 of them came on the road.

One May 4th, 1975 Watson became the answer to an interesting (yet flawed) baseball trivia question. He was credited with scoring the 1,000,000th run in major league history. In the second inning, Watson walked, stole second base and scored Milt May's 3-run homer at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. It was known that the 999,999th run had already scored, with sponsored updates being provided by and to every ballpark. Despite the lack of in-game urgency, Watson ran at full speed, reaching home plate approximately four seconds before Dave Concepción, who had just homered in Cincinnati and was also racing around the bases. For his effort, Watson who won $10,000 and one million Tootsie Rolls provided by the event's sponsor. It has later been determined that inaccurate records prevent us from really knowing who scored the "one millionth" run.

After 14 seasons in Houston, he was traded to the Boston Red Sox in June 1979 for what turned out to be two unknown players (Pete Ladd and Bobby Sprowl) and cash. He played in 84 games as a member of the Red Sox before leaving as a Free Agent at the end of the 1979 season.

He signed with the New York Yankees before the 1980 season and played on two Yankee playoff teams (1980 and 1981) before being traded to the Braves seven games into the 1982 season. He ended up helping the surprising 1982 Western Division Champion Braves, managed by Joe Torre. He spent the next two seasons in Atlanta, mostly as a pinch hitter, and retired after the 1984 season.

He was named as the General Manager of the Houston Astros at the end of the 1993 season becoming the first black man MLB history to hold that role. He later became the GM for the New York Yankees and teamed up with Joe Torre to deliver the 1996 World Series championship. He has worked in the MLB front office since 1997, were he has been in charge of discipline, rules and on-field operations. In 1997 he has been lampooned by the Boston media for his efforts to make sure manager Terry Francona wears the proper uniform.

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: Ted Williams / Senators

Yesterday was Ted Williams birthday. There are only a handful of players in baseball history that can compare to "Teddy Ballgame".

He played the vast majority his entire 21-year big league career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox. Of the 2152 games he played during his career (1984 games in left and 169 in right), only once did he play a non-outfield position. On August 24th, 1940 he pitched the final two innings of 12-1 loss to the Tigers.

His best year as a player was 1941, when he hit .406 with 37 HR, 120 RBI, and 135 runs scored. It is the last time a big league player hit .400 and Ted Williams did not win the MVP award that year, losing to Joe DiMaggio and his 56 game hitting streak.

Twice during his career (World War II and Korea) he left baseball in service to the country as a Marine Corps pilot. He lost almost five peak years out of the heart of a great baseball career, significantly limiting what his career totals could have been. In the end, Williams was a 19-time all star, two-time American League MVP winner, he led the league in batting six times, and won the Triple Crown twice. He finished with a career batting average of .344, with 521 home runs (at the time ranked #3). His career batting average is the highest of any player who played his entire career in the live-ball era following 1920. He was a first ballot inductee into the Hall of Fame in 1966.

After he retired, Ted Williams was quoted as saying "You couldn't pay me enough to manage". Rumor has it he twice turned down offers to manage the Boston Red Sox. However, a few weeks before 1969 spring training was scheduled to start the lowly Washington Senators announced the hiring of Ted Williams as their latest manager. Many thought the move as a desperate attempt by the Senators to gain local attention away from the Redskins hiring Vince Lombardi. Whatever the motivation, it certainly increased local curiosity and was a breath of fresh air for the morbid franchise.

Often called the "greatest hitter who ever lived" Williams' fanatic approach to hitting helped improve the Senators offense considerably. The power was supplied by slugger Frank Howard's 48 home runs and the team batting average jumped from .224 in 1968 to .251 in 1969. His leadership inspired the second iteration of the Senators to the only winning season during its 10-year stay in Washington. For this remarkable turnaround, Williams was voted American League Manager of the Year. This is the only baseball award that Ted Williams had ever won and his rival Joe DiMaggio had not.

He spent the next three seasons (two in Washington and one in Texas) trying to capitalize on that first year success, but the ball-clubs did not respond. In 1972, after losing 100 games and recording the worst record in baseball the Rangers (their inaugural season in Texas) let him go at the end of the season.

When he announced his departure he said "I am going fishing."

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: Willie McCovey / Athletics

This particular FF/SP card has been on my "to do" list for some time. Unfortunately there just wasn't any color images of McCovey in an A's uniform readily available. Luckily I found a couple of nice black and white images and colorized this one.

Willie McCovey originally signed with the New York Giants in 1955. He never got to play in New York because his Giants left Manhattan for San Francisco before he made it to the majors.

Nicknamed "Strech" because of his outstanding defensive abilities at first base, McCovey made a historic debut on July 30th, 1959 against the Phillies and future Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts. He went 4-4 with two triples, he instantly became a fan favorite in San Francisco en route to winning the 1959 Rookie of the Year Award. Imagine that, he played his first major league game on July 30th and ended up winning the Rookie of the Year award?

Fast forward 15 seasons, six all star games, and one MVP award later -- McCovey's Hall of Fame career was starting to wind down. Following the 1973 season, the financially challenged Giants dealt McCovey to the expansion San Diego Padres for a pitching prospect named Mike Caldwell. At the time, McCovey was still a productive player and he immediately became the first recognizable star in the Padres short history. McCovey played most of three seasons in San Diego and hit 52 of his career 521 home runs and two of his NL record 18 grand slams while wearing the brown and gold. Creating a Willie FF/SP card with a Padres uniform would be redundant and I could never hope to match the incredible airbrushing expertise by Topps (cough, cough, cough).

Near the end of the 1976 season the Padres returned Stretch to the Bay Area, selling him to the hated cross-town Oakland Athletics. That strange marriage would not last long as he would only play in 11 games for the A's and was released at the end of the season.

Looking for work for the first time since 1955, McCovey was invited by new Giants ownership to make the team at spring training camp in 1977. He responded with a 28-homer, 86-RBI comeback at the age of 39. He played the final three and half seasons back home in San Francisco and hit his 500th home run in 1978. His final home run (# 521) came on May 3rd, 1980 - it tied him with Ted Williams at #10 on the all time list. He also joined Williams on the list of big leaguers (Ricky Henderson and Omar Vizquel were added later) who had homered in four different decades. He played his last game two months later and retired to make way for a new Giants phenom named Rich Murray during the All Star break of the 1980 season.

In 1986 Willie McCovey became the 16th player elected to Hall of Fame in his 1st year of eligibility.

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: Mark Fidrych / Red Sox

Yesterday would have been Mark Fidrych's 57th birthday. For those of you too young to remember "The Bird" -- he was one of the brightest and fastest burning stars in Major League history.

Invited to spring training in 1976 as a non-roster invitee, Mark made his debut on April 20th in Oakland. He faced one batter (Don Baylor) in the bottom of the ninth and gave up the game winning walk off single. Within a month Fidrych was the talk of baseball and led the major leagues with a 2.34 ERA, won the AL Rookie of the Year award, and finished with a 19-9 record. He was nicknamed "The Bird" as a minor leaguer because of his resemblance to the "Big Bird" character of the 1970s TV show Sesame Street.

He had a larger than life personality and his quirky antics on the field made him an immediate fan favorite. He would get down on his hands and knees to "manicure the mound", talk to himself, talk to the ball, aim the ball like a dart, strut around the mound after every out, and throw back balls that "had hits in them," insisting they be removed from the game. Mark Fidrych also was known for shaking everyone's hands after a game. Attendance at Tigers games soared when Fidrych pitched. In his 18 appearances, home attendance equaled almost half of the entire season's 81 home games. When they were on the road, teams started asking Detroit to change its pitching rotation so Fidrych could pitch in their ballparks.

He was the starting pitcher for the 1976 All Star game and finished second in the Cy Young voting (behind Jim Palmer). But his big league success was short lived. He injured his knee during spring training of 1977. After returning he felt his arm and shoulder shoulder "go dead". Nobody recognized it as a torn rotator cuff, and his big league career was a distant memory when it was finally properly diagnosed in 1985.

He continued to pitch through the injury and played well enough to be selected for the 1977 All Star game, but he declined to attend because of the injury. He made just three appearances in 1978, winning two games, but the magic was gone. He made nine starts in his final season (1980) before the Tigers released him in October in 1981.

He signed with the Boston Red Sox in February of 1982 and spent parts of two seasons pitching for their AAA team in Pawtucket, but he never got the call back the majors. His final season (1983) he finished with a 2-5 record with a 9.68 ERA.

Mark Fidrych died in April of 2009 while he was working on his 10-wheeled dump truck in his driveway. He was 54 at the time of his death. On June 19, 2009, his daughter Jessica honored her father at Comerica Park by throwing out the ceremonial first pitch after she "manicured the mound".

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: John Kruk / White Sox

Continuing with this weekend's John Kruk theme.

John Kruk was drafted out of his native West Virginia in the 3rd round of the 1981 draft by the San Diego Padres. He played five seasons in the Padres minor league system before making his big league debut as a ninth inning pinch runner for Steve Garvey on opening day 1986 against the Dodgers. He was promptly thrown out by Mike Scioscia trying to steal second.

In 1987, playing for Padres manager Larry Bowa he hit .313 with 20 home runs and 91 RBI, and stole 18 bases. On April 13, 1987, Marvell Wynne, Tony Gwynn, and Kruk became the first players in MLB history to open a game with three consecutive home runs.

After struggling at the start of the 1989 season, he was traded to the Phillies on June 2nd -- less than a week after Mike Schmidt's mid-season retirement. Kruk quickly became an solid contributor in Philadelphia, making the NL All Star team in 1991, 1992, and 1993. His '93 all star appearance included a memorable and humorous strike out against Randy Johnson.

The 1993 Phillies shocked the baseball world as they rolled through the season spending all but one day in first place in the NL East. Kruk played a big role on that team, on the field with his .905 OPS and in the fun loving clubhouse. The '93 Phils beat the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS, but lost in heart-breaking fashion to the Toronto Blue Jays on Joe Carter's memorable walk off home run in Game 6 off of Mitch Williams.

During spring training in 1994, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer discovered after an errant pickoff throw from teammate Mitch Williams hit him in the groin and broke his protective cup. After only got two at bats in spring training before the diagnosis, he was activated for the Phillies 1994 home opener, and dramatically delivered three hits after he received a radiation treatment.

In his book "I Ain't an Athlete, Lady..." Kruk has this to say about his friend and teammate Mitch Williams:

In my book, he's a hero. I never thought I'd say it, but now I couldn't be happier that Mitch made that throw. What can you say when the best thing that ever happened to you is getting hit in the nuts?

From now on, when I think about Mitch Williams, I won't think about those blown saves in the World Series. Turns out he was responsible for the biggest save of my life.

Following the 1994 strike cancelled season Kruk realized he needed to become a designated hitter to continue his career and signed with the Chicago White Sox. He played well but never really found his groove in Chicago. On July 30, 1995 Kruk singled in the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles and took himself out of the game (after the end of the inning). He left Camden Yards and never played baseball again. He finished his 10-year career with exactly a .300 batting average and exactly 100 home runs.

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: Al Oliver / Phillies

The Phillies are wearing 1984 throwback uniforms tonight against the Padres. In recognition of this team (which finished a perfectly matched 81-81) -- I present to you one of it's little remembered players: Al "Scoop" Oliver.

On September 14th, 1968 Al Oliver received some of the best and worst news anyone can get... he was called up to the major leagues on the same day his father died.

In 1969, which would count as his official rookie season Oliver batted .285 for the Pirates with 17 home runs and drove in 70 runs. This was good enough to place him second behind the Dodgers' Ted Sizemore in the 1969 National League Rookie of the Year voting.

Oliver was one of great hitters of my generation. He played in the majors for 18 years and made seven all star teams. He is primarily remembered as a Pittsburgh Pirate. Early in his career was mentored by Hall of Famers Willie Stargell and the great Roberto Clemente.

As a key contributor of the famous "Pittsburgh Lumber Company" he helped the Pirates make the post season in five out of six years. He was the regular center-fielder for the 1971 World Champions. On September 1st, 1971 he was part of what is believed to be the first "all black" starting lineup in major league history.

Traded in December of 1977 in a very complex four team trade between the Pirates, Rangers, Mets, and Braves. Some of the players involved in this trade were Willie Montanez, Tom Grieve, Jon Milner, Jon Matlack and (2011 Hall of Fame inductee) Bert Blyleven. When all the dust was settled, Al was a member of the Texas Rangers. It was in Arlington he started the memorable tradition of wearing the uniform number "0" (which he continued for the rest of his career) and quickly became the best pure hitter in the history of the franchise. On August 17, 1980 with the Rangers playing in Tiger Stadium, he established an American League record with 21 total bases in a doubleheader (four home runs, a double and a triple). I find it ludicrous the Rangers have inducted Rusty Greer and John Wetteland (who also spent four seasons with the team) into the franchise "Hall of Fame" but have somehow forgotten about Al Oliver.

On March 31, 1982 (at the end of spring training) after he became the Rangers' all-time leading hitter (.319) and he had reached the club's top ten in virtually every offensive category he was traded to the suddenly dangerous Montreal Expos. Al Oliver marked his return to the National League by winning the '82 batting title. That season he also led the NL in hits (204), doubles (43), extra bases (67), and total bases (317), and tied with Dale Murphy for the RBI lead with 109. The next season (1983) he was elected, for the first time in his career, as starter for the NL All Star team.

Continuing his unexplained nomadic ways, he began the 1984 season in San Francisco as a Giant. However, In August, the now 37 year old Al Oliver was traded to the Phillies. At the time the Phillies were in 3rd place only 6 games behind the front running Cubs. The move was an interesting turn for a club that had shed the aging wheeze kids trio Pete Rose/Joe Morgan/Tony Perez before the season. Now it appeared they were looking to boost their roster with some veteran leadership hoping for a post-season birth. It never happened, the Phils limped to the finish line as they went 2-12 in their final 14 games and ended up 15.5 games behind the division winning Cubs. For his part, Oliver collected 29 hits in only 28 games in Philadelphia. He was traded to the Dodgers during the off season.

Starting the 1985 season in LA, in July Al Oliver was once again traded to a contending club, the Toronto Blue Jays. With the Jays played well and delivered two game-winning hits in the first four games of the 1985 American League Championship Series against the Royals. However, in the first ALCS with the new seven game format, Kansas City rallied to win the last three games and go to the World Series. Game Seven of this ALCS ended early for the hot Al Oliver when he was removed for right handed pinch hitter Cliff Johnson in the fifth inning. Johnson struck out ending a Blue Jays rally and Al Oliver's great career. No team offered him a contract for the 1986 season.

Al Oliver finished his big league career with an impressive 2,743 hits and a lifetime .303 batting average. During his Hall of Fame induction speech, former Expos teammate and friend Andre Dawson had this to say:

"Al, as a lifetime .300 hitter after 18 seasons, I feel is deserving of induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. There is no question in my mind had he not been forced out of the game by collusion, had he been given an all out honest attempt to achieve 3,000 hits, he would have done it. He was pushed out of the game when he was still a .300 hitter. I feel he deserves a place in baseball today."

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: Andre Dawson / Marlins

Today is Andre Dawson's birthday, I am posting this today in honor of "The Hawk".

Andre Dawson made his major league debut for the Montreal Expos on September 11th, 1976 in Pittsburgh. He appeared in 24 games that season. In 1977 he became a regular for the Expos and was awarded the National League Rookie of the Year.

He spent 11 knee wrecking seasons on the astroturf in Montreal, making it to three All Star games and winning six gold gloves. He finished second in the MVP voting in 1981 (behind Mike Schmidt) and 1983 (behind Dale Murphy).

After the 1986 season in Montreal he became a free agent and planned on joining a team whose home field had natural grass. However, due to collusion on the part of the Major League Baseball owners, he was unable to attract any offers. Dawson campaigned for the Cubs, but GM Dallas Green stated he wanted to go with Brian Dayett instead. Not to be deterred Dawson and his agent showed up at 1987 Cubs spring training with a signed blank contract. Green initially mocked the stunt, but they reached an agreement on a salary of $500,000, with a $250,000 in incentives if he made the All-Star team, started in the All-Star Game, and won the NL MVP. That season, he did all three. He became the first player to ever win an MVP award while playing for a last place team.

Andre became the heart and soul of the Cubs, and to this day remains as one of the most popular players in Cubs history. When the Chicago Cubs announced the date of the teams first ever night game at Wrigley Field, they choose August 8, 1988 (8/8/88) to honor their superstar wearing #8.

After the 1992 season, Dawson signed with the Boston Red Sox and stayed for 2 seasons. He hit his 400th career HR in Boston off of Cleveland Indians Jose Mesa on April 15th, 1993. Andre played his last two years with the Florida Marlins, where he played sparingly and retired after the 1996 season. His final game was a pinch hitting appearance in the Houston Astrodome.

Dawson finished his career with 2,774 hits, 438 home runs, 314 stolen bases, and 1,591 RBI. He is one of only three members of the 400 HR-300 SB club, along with Barry Bonds and Willie Mays. In 1997, The Expos retired Dawson's #10 (the number had been previously retired for Rusty Staub). In 2010 the Washington Nationals placed Dawson in its "Ring of Honor" at Nationals Park.

Andre Dawson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010, his ninth year of eligibility, rising from an initial vote total of 45.3% in 2002 to 77.9% in 2010. The Hall of Fame rejected his request to go into the Hall as a Cub, and his plaque has him in a Montreal Expos cap. He currently works in the Florida Marlins organization with fellow hall-of-famer Tony Perez.

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: Bert Campaneris / Yankees

It has been a long time since I have posted one of these.

Campy was one of the key contributors as the starting shortstop for the Oakland Athletics' dynasty teams of 1971 to 1975. As a member of those A's teams he won three straight World Championships and made six career All-Star appearances. He holds the A's franchise records for career games played (1795), hits (1882) and at bats (7180). He led the American League in stolen bases six times from 1965 to 1972 and retired with the seventh most steals in history (649).

His big league debut with Kansas City on July 23, 1964 was a memorable one as Campaneris belted two home runs, the first coming on the first pitch thrown to him by Jim Kaat. He is one of four players in major league history to hit two homers in his first game.

On September 8, 1965 as part of a special promotion featuring the popular young player, Campaneris became the first player to play every position in a major league game.

The 1972 post-season provided one of the most long lasting memories of Bert Campaneris. In Game 2 of the ALCS against the Detroit Tigers, Campaneris already had three hits, two steals and two runs when in the 7th inning he faced pitcher Lerrin LaGrow. After a pitch hit him in the ankle, got angry and Campaneris threw his bat at LaGrow. The benches cleared, with Detroit manager Billy Martin going after Campaneris; both Campaneris and LaGrow were ejected. He was fined and suspended for the rest of the ALCS, as well as the first seven games of the next season, but was permitted to play in the World Series win over the Cincinnati Reds (which the A's won).

After the 1976 season, Campy took advantage of the launch of free-agency and signed with the Texas Rangers. In May 1979 he was traded to the California Angels. He spent 1982 in the Mexican League, before returning to the majors for a last hurrah in 1983 with Billy Martin's New York Yankees. In New York, he batted a career-high .322 in 60 games at second and third base before retiring.