COACH CARD: 1970 DUKE SNIDER

Good day all! Found this cool image of Hall of Famer Duke Snider during his San Diego Padres coaching days and figured it'd make for a nice card, so here it is:

 

After a Hall of Fame career between 1947 and 1964, mainly slugging his way into the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers record books, Snider took on a successful role as a play-by-play analyst and some coaching for both the San Diego Padres and Montreal Expos beginning in 1969 straight through to the late-80’s.
This included some coaching time with the Padres during their inaugural season of 1969, when San Diego and Montreal were given franchises in Major League ball.

Snider was an absolute beast of a hitter through the 1950's with the Dodgers, driving in over 100 runs six times, 30+ homers six times including five straight seasons of 40 or more, five years of scoring over 100 runs and seven seasons of .300 hitting or better.

By the time he retired after the 1964 season he hit 407 homers, with 1333 RBIs and a .295 average, with 2116 hits and 1259 runs scored over 18 seasons as a player.

REVISITING AN OLD BLOG POST FROM JANUARY, 2016: 1973 WARREN SPAHN COACH CARD

On the blog today, we revisit as post from over six years ago, my 1973 coach card for one of the greatest to ever take a Major League mound, Warren Spahn, who was lending his expertise to the Indians by the early-70's:

 

Here's my original write-up way back when:

"Allow me to indulge myself and present to you all a fantasy card I wish existed: a 1973 Warren Spahn “coach” card, even though they didn’t exist in that set.

I came across this GREAT photo of Spahn when he was coaching for the Tribe and immediately knew I had to whip up a dedicated card for him, since he IS on the Indians Ken Aspromonte manager card.
I’ve always been a huge Spahn fan, so any chance to create cards for him is something I’ll jump at!
I mean, all the guy did was win 363 games, pitch 63 shutouts and post 13 20-win seasons, among other things!
And remember he didn’t win his first game until he was 25 years of age, as he served in the military from 1943 to 1945.
Just an incredible talent!
Look for some other “fantasy cards” of mine in the near future, like Mickey Mantle and Sandy Koufax...

COACH CARD- 1977 VADA PINSON

Up on the blog today, you know I'll take any excuse to create a card for one of the great under-appreciated players of his era, Vada Pinson, who was one of the coaches on the inaugural Seattle Mariners team of 1977:

 

Pinson signed with the Brewers as a Free Agent in January of 1976 after a year with the Kansas City Royals.

Sadly, the Brewers released Pinson right as the season started on April 4th, deying us an extra season of the man trying to chase 3000 hits.

Well, what would a man of his stature do with all that free time?

Take his knowledge of the game and put it to good use as a coach!

I’ve always loved his career, and wonder had he not played the bulk of his Big League time in the shadows of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente and Frank Robinson, would he have made it all the way to the Hall of Fame.
Four-times he’d collect over 200 hits, seven times over 20-home runs, nine times over 20-stolen bases, and the man only made two All-Star teams!
Just an awesome career that saw him finish with over 2700 hits, 250 homers and 300 stolen bases, while also collecting over 480 doubles and 120 triples.

Sadly, he passed away far too soon after suffering a stroke at the age of 57 in 1995.

COACH CARD- 1978 RED SCHOENDIENST

For the fun of it, today’s blog post has a 1978 coach card for the great Red Schoendienst, TRUE baseball lifer and Hall of Famer:

Now, it may be tough to see him in a uniform other than the St. Louis Cardinals, but Red did indeed offer his expertise to the Oakland A’s  in 1977 and 1978.
What really needs to be said about the man!?
Schoendienst first put together a 19-year Hall of Fame career between 1945 and 1963, winning a championship with the Cards as well as the Milwaukee Braves in 1957, before coaching and then managing St. Louis from 1965 to 1976, winning yet another championship in 1967, with a spot managing gig in 1980 and then 1990 all while coaching the team in between, including the 1982 season, giving him a FIFTH championship in his illustrious career.
He put in 2216 games as a player, then went on to manage 1999 games, winning 1041 of them for a .522 winning percentage, while coaching at LEAST another couple thousand games on top of that!
A baseball treasure!
Rest in Peace Red: 1923-2018

 

COACH CARD- 1978 ROCKY COLAVITO

Here’s a fun card to add to the blog, a 1978 coach card for fellow New York City native Rocky Colavito, who was lending his expertise to the Cleveland Indians after a wonderful Major League playing career:

Colavito ended his playing days back in 1968 before immediately going into coaching, putting in a great MLB “lifer” career that began way back in 1955 when the 21-year-old debuted with the Indians.
Between 1956 and 1966 there were few Major League batters who hit homers as frequently as he, hitting 358 home runs playing for the Indians, Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Athletics.
He topped 40+ homers three times, with a career-best 45 in 1961 while also leading the American League in 1959 with 42 blasts.
By the time he retired, he hit 374 homers with 1159 RBIs over 1841 games in 14-years, finishing Top-5 in MVP voting three times and making the All-Star team six times.
Took me a long time to find an adequate image of him during his coaching days to use on a card. So glad I finally did!

 

 

COACH CARD- 1977 HARVEY HADDIX

Time to have my 1977 coach card on the blog for former pitcher Harvey Haddix, who was lending his experience to the Cleveland Indians in the latter part of the 1970s:

Love this era-perfect photo I came across for this card creation!
Of course we all remember Haddix for pitching one of the greatest games ever, his 12 innings of perfect ball against the Milwaukee Braves in 1959.
But let’s not forget that the man won 20 games as a rookie in 1953, and arguably should have taken home the League’s Rookie of the Year Award, since he went 20-6, while leading the N.L. with six shutouts while striking out 163 batters.
It did give him his first All-Star nod while finishing second in rookie voting, while also garnering some Most Valuable Player votes as well.
He would go on to pitch for 14 years in the Big Leagues, making three All-Star teams while also taking home three Gold Gloves.
By the time he retired after the 1965 season, he finished with a career 136-113 record, with a 3.63 ERA over 453 games, 286 of those starts, with 20 shutouts and 20 saves, and 1575 strikeouts.
Not too shabby!

1976 COACH CARD- STAN WILLIAMS

Up on the blog today we have a 1976 coach card for former pitcher Stan Williams, who was lending his experience to the Boston Red Sox in the mid-70’s after a nice 14-year MLB career:

Originally a starter for the Los Angeles Dodgers between 1958 and 1962, Williams even made the All-Star team in 1960 and gave the team a solid arm paired up with the likes of Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax.
By the time the 1970 season was opening up, his career was in flux, but he found his groove as a reliever that season, going 10-1 with a brilliant 1.99 earned run average over 68 appearances and 113.1 innings of work.
At the age of 33, you’d think he was starting a second phase of his career, but sadly he’d only be in the Majors another two seasons, pitching for the Twins, St. Louis Cardinals and finally the Boston Red Sox in 1972, making only three appearances and getting lit up to a 6.23 ERA.
After taking 1973 off, he did pitch in the Minors for Boston in 1974, and performed very well, going 2-0 with a minuscule 0.47 ERA over five appearances and 19 innings pitched before moving on to coaching.
As for his playing days, he finished up with a 109-94 record over 14 seasons, with a nice 3.48 ERA and 1305 strikeouts in 482 appearances and 1764.1 innings, throwing 11 shutouts while collecting 42 saves along the way.

COACH CARD- 1973 PETE REISER

I love creating coach cards for the many famous former ballplayers who went on to lend their expertise to the “next generation”, and today I add former batting champ “Pistol Pete” Reiser into the mix with a 1973 edition:

Reiser was some thirty years removed from the time when he was full of nothing but extraordinary promise with the Brooklyn Dodgers, taking home a batting championship in 1941 at the age of 22 while also leading the league in runs, doubles, triples slugging and total bases.
That season got him a second place finish in the National League MVP race, with teammate Dolph Camilli taking home top honors and another teammate, pitcher Whit Wyatt finishing third.
Reiser arguably had the better season, but we all know how award voting leaves us wondering how decisions are made.
Nevertheless, Reiser was on his way to super-stardom until injuries, World War II, and his own recklessness on the field dramatically cut short his career.
After his amazing 1941 season he came back to have another great year in 1942, hitting .310  while leading the league with 20 stolen bases, making his second straight All-Star team.
The war had him serving military time from 1943-1945, and his first season back in 1946 was another solid year when he again topped the league with 34 stolen bases while hitting .277.
However he was already prone to making all-out attempts in the outfield that led him to serious injuries, having him taken off the field on a stretcher eleven times because of crashing into the outfield wall.
On one occasion he was temporarily paralyzed, on another he lost consciousness, and on yet another he fractured his skull.
Leo Durocher, who was Reiser's first major league manager and brought him onto his coaching staff with the Chicago Cubs, reflected many years later that in terms of talent, skill and potential, there was only one other player comparable to Reiser: Willie Mays.
He also said, "Pete had more power than Willie—left-handed and right-handed both. He had everything but luck."
With all of that he did manage to stick around the Majors until 1952, settling for a ten-year career that was full of such promise in the beginning but ended up with partial seasons playing for the Dodgers, Boston Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians the last five years of his career.
By the time he retired in 1952 at the age of only 33, he finished with a career .295 average, with three All-Star nods and three top-10 MVP finishes.

1974 COACH CARD- JOHN ROSEBORO

Thought it’d be fun to create a 1974 coach card for former All-Star catcher John Roseboro since I found this image recently. So here goes:

Before I get into his bio, please let me explain why it will be so short. With all the stuff going on regarding the Coronavirus, and all the terrifying news blasting us 24/7 lately, I’m really trying my hardest to stay motivated to keep this blog and Twitter feed going, much to my dismay.
Anyway, without getting into the intense anxiety enveloping me with it all, seems the only way I can keep it going is with creating the cards, and just posting them up. The bio’s will suffer a bit.
My apologies, but here we go.

After Roseboro’s very nice 14-year MLB career as an All-Star catcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins and Washington Senators, he went on to coaching, with a stint for the California Angels in the mid-70’s.
One of the games better defensive backstops in the 1960’s, he took home two Gold Gloves while making the All-Star team four-times.
As a member of the Dodgers, Roseboro was a 3-time World Champion (1959, 1963 and 1965), getting to catch Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Don Sutton during the Dodger hey days of the decade.
Check out Roseboro’s career statistics here:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rosebjo01.shtml

1970 COACH CARD- SAL "THE BARBER" MAGLIE

Here was a fun card to create, a 1970 coach card for Sal “The Barber” Maglie, who was acting as pitching coach for the one-year Seattle Pilots organization in 1969:

Maglie came to the Pilots to lend his expertise after a few seasons with the Boston Red Sox, where he was credited by 1967 Cy Young winner Jim Lonborg of helping him have his magic season by teaching him about pitching inside, for which Maglie was notorious for when he was an active pitcher.
Funny enough, if you’ve ever read Jim Bouton’s book “Ball Four”, you’ll remember that Maglie was NOT shed in a good light for his Seattle coaching tenure, labeled as “indifferent” and a walking contradiction in his handling of pitchers.
I’ve always found Maglie’s playing career  so incredibly interesting, as he made his MLB debut in 1945 at the age of 28, then was banned from playing until 1950 for his jump to the fledgling Mexican League.
When he came back to the Big Leagues in 1950, all he did was go 18-4 for the New York Giants, leading the National League with a 2.71 earned run average, five shutouts, and a winning percentage of .818 over 47 appearances, with only 17 of those starts.
The following season he easily would have been the N.L.’s Cy Young winner had there been such an award yet after going 23-6 with a 2.93 ERA and three shutouts along with four saves, helping the Giants make it all the way to the World Series where they’d lose to the New York Yankees juggernaut.
So basically, except for those five wins in 1945 before he got banned, Maglie’s entire career was accomplished after he turned 30, as he wound up with a record of 119-62, with a 3.15 ERA, 25 shutouts and 14 saves by the time he retired in 1958 at the age of 41.
Imagine him pitching through his 20’s in the 1940’s, we could possibly be looking at a 250+ win pitcher had he come up earlier or had not been banned for the league jumping.

1970 COACH CARD- FRANK CROSETTI

Been a long time since I created a coach card, and today I am happy to add a 1970 card for long-time baseball lifer Frank Crosetti, “The Crow”, who had himself quite a career with the New York Yankees before lending his wisdom with the Seattle Pilots for their sole season of 1969:

Crosetti spent 37 years with the Yankees as a player and then coach, but wanted to be closer to his family in Northern California, so he took the coaching gig for Seattle before working with the Minnesota Twins in 1970 & 1971.
Crosetti was a part of 17 World Champion Yankee teams between 1932 and 1962, and 23 American League Champion squads up to 1964.
As a player he was a two-time All-Star who scored 100+ runs  four times, with a high of 137 for the juggernaut 1936 team when he had his finest year, hitting .288 with 182 hits, 35 doubles, 15 homers and 78 RBIs.
It wasn’t until a  young new shortstop named Phil Rizzuto came along that he’d lose his starting position, though he did fill in as regular shortstop when Rizzuto was in the military during World War II.
He hung up the cleats after the 1948 season and went right to coaching, never having an interest in managing as he turned down numerous offers over his coaching career.
Crosetti lived a wonderful long life, until the age of 91 before passing away from complications from a fall in 2002.
A true baseball institution.

1975 COACH CARD- DUKE SNIDER

I found another great image of Hall of Famer Duke Snider during his brief tenure as a Montreal Expos coach, so I wanted to create a 1975 edition to add to my 1974 version that I created a few years ago, so here goes:

After a Hall of Fame career between 1947 and 1964, mainly slugging his way into the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers record books, Snider took on a successful role as a play-by-play analyst for both the San Diego Padres and Montreal Expos beginning in 1969 straight through to the late-80’s.
In between, during the 1974 and 1975 seasons, he was the Expos hitting coach, so why not create a coach card for the legend?
I may even go and create a 1976 edition as well in the near future if I can snag another image from the period.

COACH CARD- 1976 DON MCMAHON

Time to go ahead and give one of my favorite under-appreciated pitchers Don McMahon, fellow Brooklynite, a coach card, this one a 1976 example:

McMahon moved on to coaching while still an active player with the San Francisco Giants in the early-70s before retiring as an active player for good after the 1974 season at the age of 44.
A couple of years later he was sharing his wisdom with the Minnesota Twins pitching staff, sharing what he himself picked up as a Big League pitcher for 18 seasons between 1957 and 1974.
Considering that McMahon was already 27 years of age when he debuted in 1957 with the Milwaukee Braves, it’s amazing he even threw for 18 years.
By the time he retired, he appeared in 874 games, and except for two starts for the Houston Colt .45’s in 1963, all others were out of the bullpen, establishing himself as a relief specialist on his way to 152 saves and 505 games finished, with a very nice 2.96 earned run average playing for seven organizations.
A product of the famous Erasmus High School in Flatbush Brooklyn, he’d finish his career with a record of 98-68 while also winning two championships, 1957 with the Braves and 1968 while with the Detroit Tigers.

1973 COACH CARD- JOHNNY PODRES

Here’s a new “coach” card to add to the collection, this one of former Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Johnny Podres, who was lending his experience to the San Diego Padres staff in the early 1970’s, so I created a 1973 edition:

Podres last pitched in the Big Leagues during the Padres’ initial season of 1969, going 5-6 over 17 appearances, then stuck around to coach.
Those early Padres seasons were tough ones, in this case a 58-95 finish for the team led by Don Zimmer after Preston Gomez was let go of his managerial duties just eleven games into the campaign of 1972.
For Podres, he’d go on to coach for some 23 seasons between 1973 and 1996 with the Padres, Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies.
Of course, all will remember him for his World Series performance in 1955 as the Dodgers finally topped their rivals, the New York Yankees, as he went 2-0 in the series with two complete games, including a 2-0 masterpiece in Game 7 to clinch the championship, making him an instant hero in the borough of Brooklyn.
Over his 15-year playing career, Podres finished with a record of 148-116 over 440 appearances, tossing 24 shutouts and being a part of three championship teams: 1955, 1959 and 1963.

BY SPECIAL REQUEST: 1970 SPARKY ANDERSON COACH CARD

Here’s a card that I always wanted to create, but it wasn’t until I had a special request for it, with the image used sent to me, that I finally put it together for today’s blog post, a 1970 Sparky Anderson “Coach=Card” with the San Diego Padres:

Anderson, who was about to go on to an incredible 26 run as a Hall of Fame manager with the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers, first lent his skills as a coach with the new San Diego franchise in 1969 after some years as a Minor League manager throughout the 1960’s.
But after the Reds offered him the job to replace former manager Dave Bristol to head the upstart Cincinnati team, he jumped at the chance, and began what was to be an incredible run through the 1970’s that saw him appear in four World Series, winning two in a row in 1975/1976, with the team gaining the nickname “Big Red Machine”, loaded with all-stars like Johnny Bench, Pete Rose and Tony Perez.
After nine years with Cincy, he then moved over to guide the Detroit Tigers, where he’d be over the next 17 years, bringing home a championship in 1984 while winning 1331 games in the Motor City.
All told, the man would post 2194 Major League wins as a manager in 26 years, with five pennants, three championships and seven first-place finishes.
Great baseball lifer and story-teller. Miss him.

COACH CARD-1973 LEW BURDETTE

Been a little while since I created a “Coach Card”, so today I post up a 1973 Lew Burdette, as he was helping out old teammate and Atlanta Braves manager Eddie Mathews:

Burdette of course will always be known as the hero of the 1957 World Series when he pitched the (then) Milwaukee Braves to a surprising championship win over the favored New York Yankees, winning three games, all complete games, two of them shutouts.
He put in 18 seasons in the Big Leagues, winning 203 games while posting and earned run average of 3.66 along with 33 shutouts and 32 saves over 626 appearances.
Between 1956 and 1961 he averaged just under 20 wins a season for the Braves, with a high of 21 in 1959 which led the National League, as well as his four shutouts and 39 starts.
Great playing career for a baseball lifer, who’d retire after a couple of seasons with the California Angels in 1967 as an arm out of the bullpen at the age of 40.

FANTASY COACH CARD- 1972 NELLIE FOX

It’s been a while since I whipped up a coach card, so today I’ll post a 1972 card for Hall of Famer and former AL MVP Nellie Fox, who was lending his expertise to the Texas Rangers after their relocation from Washington in the early-70’s:

Fox put together a brilliant Major League career, first as a Hall of Fame second baseman mainly for the Chicago White Sox, then as a coach later on, a true baseball life before sadly passing away at the young age of 47 in 1975.
He led the AL in hits four times in the 1950’s, and of course would lead the Chicago White Sox to the 1959 World Series, taking home the league’s MVP Award for his efforts.
By the time he retired as a player after two years with the Houston Astros in 1964-65, he finished with 2663 hits and a .288 batting average, with twelve all-star nods and three Gold Gloves.
Defensively, it’s incredible to see he led the American League in putouts every single season between 1952 and 1961, while leading the league’s second basemen in fielding percentage six times, double-plays five times and assists six times.
In 1997, the Veteran’s Committee selected Fox for the Hall of Fame, joining former teammates Luis Aparicio and Early Wynn from that 1959 pennant winning team.

FANTASY COACH CARD- 1974 JIMMIE REESE

Been a little while since I added to my running “coach card” thread, so today I’ll post a 1974 card for baseball lifer Jimmie Reese.
If there was ever a definitive figure for the term “lifer”, Reese was it:

Beginning his professional playing career in the Pacific Coast League way back in 1924 with the Oakland Oaks, he would make it up to the Major leagues in 1930, suiting up for the New York Yankees as a back-up second baseman for Hall of Famer Tony Lazzeri, famously being Babe Ruth’s roommate, or as he liked to put it, “Babe Ruth’s suitcase’s roommate”.
After two years with the club, Reese was sent to the St. Louis Cardinals where he’d play in 1932 before returning to the PCL where he remained an active player through the 1938 season.
After World War II, where he served in the Army in 1942 & 1943, he began his incredibly long career as a scout and coach, a tenure that would take him all the way to 1994, the last 22 years of which were served as coach for the California Angels.
70 years as a professional baseball figure, and often referred to as the “nicest man in baseball”.
Just amazing to think of all he saw or was a part of.
An incredible life.

1976 COACH CARD- JOHNNY PESKY

Time to give a Major League icon, Boston Red Sox long-time player and coach (and even manager) a 1976 coach card:

This was a man who put in about 73 years in the Major Leagues in one position or another: player, coach, manager, instructor. You name it, the man did it.
Incredible baseball life that started with him as a teammate of Jimmie Foxx, all the way through the Red Sox two World Series wins of 2004 and 2007.
As a kid I was always amazed by his 200+ seasons to start his career, with THREE years in between lost to the war!
He also scored 100+ runs each of the first six seasons of his career!
A career .307 hitter, he retired as a player after the 1954 season before moving on to coaching, and sticking around until his death in 2012.
Just amazing.

SPECIAL REQUEST: A COACH CARD FOR JIM GILLIAM

Recently on Twitter someone asked me to create a coach card for longtime Dodgers player and coach Jim “Junior” Gilliam. Well here it is: a 1974 edition celebrating the Major League career of the man:

Gilliam started his MLB career in 1953 when he was named the National League rookie of the year, batting .278 with 168 hits, 100 walks, 125 runs scored and a league-leading 17 triples while taking over second base for the eventual league champs. As a matter of fact he would top 100-runs scored his first four seasons in the big leagues, while always making contact, striking out a mere 416 times over 7119 at-bats.
It was pretty much the same for him throughout his 14-year career, all with the Dodger organization as he consistently hovered around those rookie numbers while playing second and third through the 1950’s and 1960’s, giving the team a dependable lead-off hitter who would produce year in and year out.
In 1964 he took his talents to another level when he became a player-coach for the team, becoming a full-time coach in 1967 after retiring as an active player, a position he would have until his untimely death at the age of 49, just days before his 50th birthday in 1978.
A respected member of the Dodgers family, his number “19” was retired by the organization days after his death, just prior to Game 1 of the World Series, in honor of his 28-year tenure as both Major and Minor League player and coach.