You can then buy these creations in an authentic wax pack for about thirteen bucks.
Alright. If we're all caught up, let's dive right into the second half of this pack.
Today's half was supposed to deal with more recent subjects; however, I did forget one guy from the early days of baseball. It was quite the slight on my part, as this man accomplished something quite great:
Mr. Bradley here was the first man in National League history to twirl a no-hitter. Unfortunately, he was not in Chicago at that time; he was pitching for the St Louis Brown Stockings against the Hartford Dark Blues.
As you can judge by those team names, this was an awfully long time ago - July 15, 1876 in fact. he also lead the NL in ERA that first season.
However, not only was he the first no-hit pitcher, he was also the first Rick Ankiel.
In fact, it was his only season in Chicago that precipitated his move from the mound. In 1877, he lost effectiveness and posted an 18-23 record for the defending champs and he was unceremoniously dumped.
While he still dabbled in pitching, he moved to third base and played through the 1886 season as a respectable batsmen.
While that's all well and good, it's time to press fast-forward and jump several decades into the future:
That guy on the left was supposed to be a "super freak" on the mound, but unfortunately it just wasn't meant to be.
He only pitched in three MLB games during the 1967 season, totaling 4.2 innings and giving up 7 earned runs, but he will forever hold a place in Cubs history: he was the first player selected by the Cubs in the first ever Amateur Draft in 1965.
Taken 6th overall, he began the long-time Cubs tradition of first-round draft busting. Thanks Rick!
Meanwhile, McMath was also a early round draft pick - but from the class of '67. It didn't take him long to reach the majors, but it also didn't take him long to wash out of them either.
His September call up in 1968 saw him bat .143 in 14 at-bats and he was never able to regain the favor of the club.
Do the McMath - he never got another taste of the MLB.
Ah, the College of Coaches. Owner P.K. Wrigley instituted a rotating collective of coaches to occupy the manager's seat and every other coaching position throughout the organization in the early-60's in order to shake things up.
This "visionary" thinking did nothing but cause confusion and chaos throughout every link of the chain.
Vedie Himsl lead off the rotation in 1961 and led the club to a 10-21 record. What a roaring start.
At any rate, with this card, I now have a card for every Cubs manager through 1925!
Clint here was a rule V draft of the Cubs in 1972 and his entire big-league career consisted of just one game, two innings at that. In those 2 innings, Clint gave up 2 runs - never to get a 2nd chance nor earn a 2nd appearance.
Meanwhile, Johnny is a member of one of the greatest baseball families of all-time. The Hairston clan includes father Sam, brother Jerry, and nephews Jerry Jr. & Scott. All spent some time on a Chicago roster - be it Cubs or White Sox.
Johnny was a September call-up for the Cubs in their fateful 1969 season. But, since Mgr. Leo Durocher was busy riding his regulars into the ground, he only got into 3 games. Those ended up being his only games in his big league career.
We'll wrap up today's portion of the pack with Steve Davis here, who looks like he's just sustained a battle wound.
Steve was a 14th round draft pick by the Cubs in 1976 who only got action 3 games in September of 1979. In his 3 at-bats, he didn't get a hit, but he did earn an RBI, so the stint wasn't a total loss for him.
But, the Cubs moved on after that season and after a couple of years in the minors for Toronto, he called in quits without seeing the majors again.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alright - we're almost done with this series.
Tomorrow I'll show you the special sub-set I created within this Rookies App wax pack.
It's a "high flying" set that's really earned it's wings.
Don't worry - those terrible puns will soon make sense.
No comments:
Post a Comment