It’s Leap Day today, and the sporadic nature of this day means that births and deaths on February 29th are a statistical anomaly. And sure enough, none of the 600+ players that are in my 1970s collection are on deck for being discussed today. This leaves me with a small window to catch up with the players I missed during my travels earlier this month. It will be good to start March with a clean slate, so here goes (and things will need to be extremely abbreviated to pull this off, too).
Since my custom is to present deceased players first, I acquired a card of Jackie Brown after the date of his death on January 8th had already passed. He was called up to the majors at the end of his ninth season in professional baseball, which seems like a much longer trial period than clubs would use in the modern game.
The Indians had already traded him away after the 1976 season ended, so this 1977 Topps card should have presented him in the red, white, and blue of the Montreal Expos. But Cleveland’s full-body orange uni is probably more interesting to look at. 1977 was also Brown’s last season in the major leagues. He retired after a season in the minors in 1978, and passed away in 2017 at the age of 73 in his hometown of Holdenville, Oklahoma. And while John Mellencamp did not write a song about this Jackie Brown, I’ll never be able to look at this card without hearing the song in my head, anyway.
Since the remaining 28 players are all living, I’m going to go through them year by year, from the oldest to youngest. And the commentary about them will be sparse, to say the least.
Manny Mota had his 86th birthday on February 18th. And in case you’re curious, Pedro Borbon died in 2012, at the age of 65.
February 18th was also the 85th birthday of Dal Maxvill, who won two World Series rings with the Cardinals in the 1960s, two more with the Oakland A’s in the 1970s, and also served as GM of the Cardinals for a number of seasons in the 1980s.
February 20th was the 83rd birthday of Clyde Wright who won 100 games in the majors, including 22 during his All-Star 1970 season.
February 23 was the 83rd birthday of Ron Hunt, who set a 20th Century record in 1971 by getting hit by a pitch 50 times.
February 16th was the 81st birthday of Bobby Darwin, who led the American League in Strikeouts for three consecutive seasons from 1972 through 1974.
On February 19th, Gail Hopkins celebrated his 81st birthday. He was an ODH (Original Designated Hitter) with the Royals in 1973, and ended his career the following season with the LA Dodgers.
February 21 was the 81st birthday of Jack Billingham, who came to the Cincinnati Reds in the Joe Morgan trade in 1971, and then won two World Series rings pitching for the Big Red Machine.
February 17th was the 80th birthday of Dick Bosman, who threw a no-hitter in 1974 (the year this Topps card was released) but cost himself a perfect game by making a throwing error to first base in the fourth inning of said game.
February 28 was the 78th birthday of Marty Perez, who played for five different teams during his 10 seasons in the majors. And that angry-looking image on his 1972 Braves uniform would never fly in the big leagues today.
February 16th was the 77th birthday of Terry Crowley, who won two World Series rings (one with Baltimore and another with the Big Red Machine in 1975) and played with the Baltimore Orioles for most of his 15 seasons in the majors.
February 10 was the 76th birthday of Jim Barr, who was drafted six times out of high school or college before he signed with the Giants in 1971. He won 90 of his 101 games in a Giants uniform over a 12-year career.
February 15th was the 76th birthday of Ron Cey, who played alongside Bill Russell, Dave Lopes, and Steve Garvey in the Dodgers’ infield for an astonishing nine seasons from 1973 to 1981. “The Penguin” also played for the Chicago Cubs and Oakland A’s in his 17-year career, which saw him make the All-Star team six times and win a World Series title in 1981.
February 22 was the 76th birthday of Tom Griffin, who threw 10 shutouts and also hit 10 home runs over his 14-year career in the majors.
February 11 was the 75th birthday of Ben Oglivie, a three-time All-Star who led the American League with 41 home runs in 1980.
February 12th was the 75th birthday of Ray Corbin, who won 36 games (and lost 38) in a five-year major league career, all with the Minnesota Twins.
February 12th was also the 75th birthday of Lenny Randle, who played for 12 seasons in the majors, half with the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers, and half with four other teams.
February 18th was the 75th birthday of Jerry Morales, who made the All-Star team for the only time with the Chicago Cubs in 1977 (and is also one of my baseball droids).
February 18th was the 75th birthday of John Mayberry, who was a two-time All-Star for the Royals in the 1970s, and a Free Agent bust for the Blue Jays and Yankees in the 1980s.
February 15th was the 74th birthday of Rick Auerbach, who was traded from the Mets (who he never played for in the majors) to the Rangers (who he also never played for) for the aforementioned Lenny Randle in 1977. He played for 11 seasons as a major leaguer.
February 12th was the 73rd birthday of Don Stanhouse, who was an All-Star for the Orioles in 1979 and then signed a disastrous free agent contract with the Dodgers before the following season.
February 16th was the 73rd birthday of Glenn Abbott, who won a World Series ring with the Oakland A’s in 1974 and was also on the first Seattle Mariners team in 1977.
February 17th was the 73rd birthday of Dave Roberts, who was the first overall pick in the 1972 draft and then went straight to the majors, and was also an original member of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1977.
February 28th was the 73rd birthday of Jim Wohlford, who was quoted in 1974, around the same time that this 1974 Topps card appeared, as saying “Ninety percent of this game is half mental.”
February 14 was not only the day that Don Gullett passed away, it was also the 72nd birthday of his teammate from the Big Red Machine, Will McEnany. He won two World Series rings during his six-year career in the majors.
February 16th was the 72nd birthday of Barry Foote, who was once so highly-regarded by the Expos that they moved Gary Carter to the outfield so that Foote could be their catcher. He was traded to the Cubs in 1979, making him another of my baseball droids.
February 16th was the 72nd birthday of Jerry Hairston, who is the son of a big league player, the brother of another big league player, and the father of two major league players. MLB could rightly be termed as the family business for him.
February 18th was the 72nd birthday of Marc Hill, who was known as “Booter” and played for the Giants, White Sox, Mariners and Cardinals in a 14-year career in the majors.
February 17th was the 71st birthday of Jim Umbarger, who pitched for five seasons in the majors and boomeranged from the Rangers to the A’s, and back to the Rangers again, during the 1977 season. This 1979 card of his is misleading, because he was sent down to the minors before that season and never again pitched in the major leagues.
That’s quite enough for now. Onward to March…