Today’s card of the day is card #15 of Tony Perez, shown here with the Montreal Expos. Tony looks like he is on the verge of tears in this picture. Perhaps this is because after 16 years, 7 All Star Appearances and 4 National League Pennants with the Cincinnati Reds, the Reds traded him to the Montreal Expos. The Reds picked up an iffy starter (Woodie Fryman) and a decent middle reliever (Dale Murray), but they ended an era of greatness by shipping Perez away, especially to the Montreal Expos. The Spos fielded a decent team in ’77, Tony Perez played first and hit 19 homers and another HOFer, Gary Carter was the catcher and team leader in homers with 31. They also had Ellis Valentine (25 HR), Andre Dawson (19 HR), Larry Parrish (11 HR) and Del Unser (12 HR). It wasn’t a bad team, they finished below .500 and in 5th place in the NL, but it wasn’t because of a lack of offense. In 1977, his first year in Montreal, he batted .283, hit 19 homers and also drove in 91 runs. It was the 11th straight season that Perez drove in 90 or more runs, his best year coming in 1970 when he brought 129 runners home. This is a pretty awful picture for such a great player… I don’t like seeing anyone without a hat on a baseball card, but seeing Perez at 35 years of age, wearing a uniform other than the Reds makes me want to cry to. Fortunately for Tony his sentence in Montreal wasn’t too long. In 1980 he would be a free agent and sign on with the Boston Red Sox and have career resurgence at age 38 playing on a team with 4 future Hall of Fame sluggers and leading that team in homeruns, RBI and hits. 
Perez would continue on and play for the Phillies, and lead them to an NL pennant in '83, and then returned to the Reds again before retiring after the 1986 season at age 44 on the team that he began his career with. His career lasted a remarkable 23 seasons and over that career he belted 379 homeruns (60th All Time) and drove in 1,652 runs (27th All Time). He never led the league in any one offensive category, he was never an MVP award winner (except for the ’67 ALL STAR game), but he was a fantastic fielding first baseman, a team leader, a winner and one of the classiest people to play the game. 
He was also one of the most feared hitters of the 70s. He averaged 23 homeruns and 90 runs batted in for the decade. He was also intentionally walked 150 times (including twice his final season), which is good for 42nd in baseball history. This is particularly impressive because Perez always played on strong offensive ball clubs with a lot of depth in the lineup. The “Big Doggy” hit a grand slam in 1985 (at age 43) becoming the oldest player to accomplish that feat, the 1986 Topps card #205 documented that. His 3 years in Montreal were just a part of his storied career. It’s over now Tony, you’re in the Hall of Fame (Class of 2000) and you don’t have to play for the Expos again, wipe away your tears… Now, it is time for the…The Nitty Gritty
Name/Number: Tony Perez, number 24.
Position: First base
Age-Now and Then: 67, he was 35.
Team’s 1977 Record: 75-87, 5th in NL West
Topps Rookie Card: 1965 Topps, card #581, with Kevin Collins and Dave Ricketts.Number of Topps Base Cards: 23, last card was 1986 Topps #85 (with Eric Davis) - I always considered this a changing of the guard card.
Playball! Foul out.1977 Stats Line: .283/19/91
Awards in 1977: Neither the Expos nor the Reds made the Playoffs in ’77.
Distinguishing Feature: Sad face.
Similar Modern Player: Carlos Pena.
What I said about this card then: Why so sad Tony?What I think about this card now: Seriously, you are one of the best players in baseball history, quit your crying and put on a hat!
Back of the card memorable moment: There’s no room with his stats… He had 296 career homers at the start of the ’78 season.Back of the card “fun fact”: Again, no room. He was born on 5-14-42 in Camaguey, Cuba.
The condition: Near mint.
Grooviness factor: It’s difficult to simultaneously cry and be groovy, but the baby-blue uniform with the red, white and blue M is pretty groovy…
Wow! Factor: Sparky Anderson called Perez the “heart and soul of the Big Red Machine”; I can’t believe that they would trade him. Is nothing sacred?
What’s weird about this card: Well first off there is no crying in baseball; second, seeing Perez in an Expos uniform is pure weird.
Career Accolades: Won two World Series with the Reds. 7-time All Star. Hall of Fame in 2000.
Best Season: In 1970 Perez batted .317 with 40 homers and 129 RBI, scoring 107 runs, posting a .589 slugging % and winning the NL Pennant.Nitty Gritty Fun Facts: Tony Perez won the Pacific Coast League MVP in 1964 while playing for the San Diego Padres. He batted .309 with 34 homers and 107 RBIs and earned a promotion to the Reds.
Where are they now?: Perez is currently a special assistant to the general manager of the Florida Marlins.
Well, after a long hiatus, the Nitty Gritty Train is moving right along again. Tony Perez is one of my all time favorite players, but this is one ugly card. On deck is card #16 of Yankees outfielder Roy White. 31 years LATER!
After the Sox LaGrow spent ’79 with the Dodgers and had a pretty good year (5-1, 3/41 ERA) and then signed with the Phillies in 1980. After going 0-2 in 25 appearances the Phillies cut him in July and that ended his 10 year career. He finished with a 34-55 record, a 4.11 ERA in 309 games-he completed 19 of those games and saved 54 of them (250th All Time). LaGrow runs a very successful real estate based business in his home state of Arizona and has had no association with baseball since his retirement in 1980. Now, let’s get into…
Topps Rookie Card: 1971 Topps, Card #39, with Gene Lamont.
Back of the card memorable moment: Was Tigers top right-handed reliever of 1973 campaign.
LaGrow and Campaneris were both suspended from the remainder of the ALCS, Campaneris was replaced by Del Maxvill and the A’s went on to beat the Tigers in 5 games. Campaneris returned for the World Series, but his hot bat was cooled and he batted only .179, but he did win his 1st of 3 World Series rings. LaGrow would never return to the postseason, but he did remain a Tiger and became a starter for them in ’74 and ’75. I for one think it would have been interesting to see BC and LL go at it one on one. LaGrow was 6'5" and weighed about 220 giving him 75 pounds and 7 inches on the smaller shortstop. Campaneris may have been a lot smaller, but he was pissed and I think I would have put my money on Bert. I played in a charity softball game with BC about 10 years ago when he was around 60 years old. He played all 7 innings at shortstop and played the game like it was the World Series, they guy was INTENSE!
The Nitty Gritty
He served as the Angels closer for 3 years and saved 23 games over that period and then left California to sign a free agent contract with the Baltimore Orioles where he joined their pen in ’85. He enjoyed one of the best years of his career; he had a 10-6 record with 14 saves in 88 innings of work. The following year he would become the Orioles full-time closer and would go to the All Star game. 
He finished the season with 34 saves (2nd in AL) in 66 games. After the 1988 season he moved to the NL and made stops with the Mets and the Dodgers before retiring at age 35 after the 1990 season. Over his 13 year career Aase had a 66-60 record with a 3.80 ERA and 82 saves (161st All Time) in over 1,100 innings of work. Now it’s time for…
Topps Rookie Card: 1976 Topps, Card #597
What I think about this card now: It’s perfect. Not much funny to say, this is just good photography…
Back of the card “fun fact”: Don won his first 3 decisions for the Sox in 1977.
Career Accolades: All Star in ’86, earned save in the game. 161st All Time career in Saves. Was Orioles single season saves leader till Greg Olson saved 36 in 1990.
Best Season: 1978- Was 11-8 with 6 complete games.
Todays card of the day is Rick Manning, card #11. Manning, who as far as I know is of no relation to the football playing Mannings, 
was the Cleveland Indians star centerfielder. Manning came to pro ball in 1972 when he was drafted by the Indians in the 1st round, the 2nd pick overall, as a 17-year-old infielder. He signed immediately and began his career with the Class A Reno Silver Sox of the California League. He proved to be a horrible professional shortstop making 17 errors in his first 13 games. He made the switch to centerfield and the rest is history. He was in the big leagues by age 20 and had 12 assists from the outfield that year. He also batted .285 with 19 steals for the Indians as a rookie. He did not receive a single vote for ROY despite decent numbers, partly because of two other American League outfielders named Fred Lynn and Jim Rice. With Cleveland he was managed by a Hall of Fame outfielder named Frank Robinson. In a June of 1976 Baseball Digest article Robinson sang these praises of Manning: “He’s the most exciting ballplayer the Indians have had in many years, I think his potential is unlimited.” 
1976 was probably his best year, the 21-year old centerfielder batted .292 with 6 homers, 43 RBI and 16 steals. He also won his first (and only) Gold Glove Award that year. From what I have heard from old time fans, had there been a Sportscenter in '76, Manning would have been the highlight reel... Back then it seemed like he would only get better, but he didn’t. He continued to play superb defense, but his bat never came around. He set a career high with 8 homers in ’82 and 52 RBI in 1980. He never batted higher than his .292 mark from ’76. in 1979 he did steal 30 bases. I think that Frank Robinson thought that he would become a player similar to Carl Crawford, but he ended up being more of a Coco Crisp. Even that comparison is a stretch-Crisp did hit .300, hit 15 homers and won a ring. Manning didn’t do any of these things. Exactly 11 years (to the day) after the Indians had drafted Manning, they sent him to Milwaukee on June 6, 1983, 
along with 
Number of Topps Base Cards: 13
Back of the card memorable moment: Won his first Gold Glove in 1976, was one of the youngest to do so.
The younger Niekro, Joe, would finish second in Cy Young voting that year behind reliever Bruce Sutter. This 1980 Topps card, #205, is one of my favorites because it shows the two brothers dominating their league in wins. I always found it astonishing that Phil Niekro was able to top the NL in both wins and losses in the same season, but when you pitch as much as Phil did, it’s possible. In 1979 he set personal career highs in starts (44), complete games (23) and innings with a whopping 342 and by the way, he was 40 years old! This kind of stuff was par for the course for this knuckleballer who would be dominant, steady, reliable and tireless over 3 separate decades. 
In 24 big league seasons he averaged 31 starts and 11 complete games each year and he pitched till he was 48 years old and more often than not was pitching for inferior teams. With everything he would accomplish over his long career, he never made it to the World Series and only saw the postseason twice, in ’69 and ’82. The fans did appreciate Niekro’s loyalty though; his number 35 is retired by the team. 
Sadly, Braves management wasn’t as loyal to him. After a total of 26 seasons with the Braves organization, beginning in the minors, through Milwaukee and onto Atlanta, he was released after the 1983 season. At 44 years of age Niekro would go 11-10 with a 3.08 ERA en route to a second place finish under Joe Torre. The prior season Niekro was 17-4 and the Braves won the west before losing to St. Louis in the ALCS.
At 46 the Yankees finished just two games behind the Toronto Blue Jays, but Ron Guidry had replaced Niekro as ace. He still managed a 16-12 record and he wasn’t done pitching either. He continued to hang on and made stops playing in Cleveland and Toronto before finishing his career where it began, on a last place Braves team. Niekro made one final start for the Braves in 1987 at 48 years old. He lasted just 3 innings and gave up 5 runs and finally decided to call it quits in the game of baseball. When I first got this card Niekro looked like an old man to me, he was much older than my Dad and he just didn’t look like a baseball player and I initially thought he was a coach. At this point he had pitched for 14 years and owned 178 career wins, but I had no idea that he had only just begun. He accomplished more after 40 than most pitchers do in their entire careers. He would become a running joke with my friends and me, about how long he would pitch and if the Braves would put a rocking chair in the dugout for him. Satchel Paige pitched far longer, but he did have the bullpen rocker and Niekro was the closest to Satchel that my generation would see. 
He did play for 10 years after this card was printed and he would win 140 more games. When he notched career win number 300 on October 6, 1985 (and I can remember watching on TV) he did so in a Yankees uniform against the Blue Jays and he hit that milestone in style. At 46 years old he went the distance and shut out the Jays to become not only the oldest player to throw a shutout, but the first member of the 300-win-club to join in that fashion. It would be the 45th shutout (29th All Time) of his career and barring his no-hitter in 1973, it was probably his most memorable. In his 24 seasons in the majors he never did make it to the World Series or win ROY or Cy Young or an MVP, but he did manage to lead the league in every single pitching category (good and bad) at one point or another in his storied career. He was a 5-time All Star and also won 5 Gold Gloves, but it almost stands out more that he had 19 seasons where he wasn’t an All Star. He was a nightmare to hit and Bobby Murcer spoke the greatest quote to describe his stuff when he said “Trying to hit him is like trying to eat Jell-O with chopsticks.” 
That said, it was his reliability and longevity that made him an Immortal. His success was as great as his futility, but for 24 seasons, he was always there to start a ballgame (30-plus times) each year. Now, onto….
Number of Topps Base Cards: 25
Distinguishing Feature: His trench coat.
Back of the card “fun fact”: I’ll have to make one up; his nickname is “Knucksie” for reasons unknown, at 38 years young he isn’t thinking about retiring…
After a 13 homer year in 1981, the 31 year old DeCinces was sent to the Angels for Dan Ford to make room in the infield for Cal Ripken Jr. DeCinces went on to have a career year in California winning his lone Silver Slugger Award and making the playoffs, but he missed out on the World Series in 1983 with the Orioles. Now onto…
Number of Topps Base Cards: 15
Back of the card memorable moment: Doug belted a 3-run homer against the Red Sox on September 18, 1977.
Grooviness factor: The giant stache matches his uniform and he seems to be scooping up his team’s name.
Had two 3-homer games within a week during August 1982. He hit double digit homers for 13 straight years. His teams made the playoffs in ’79, ’82 and 1986.
Number of Topps Base Cards: 7
Back of the card memorable moment: Came off the bench on 09/07/1976 to deliver a pinch hit, sacrifice bunt to move the eventual winning run over.
Whereas Pete Rose made me think that if I hustled, I could be a good player, Reggie seemed almost like a super hero. In 21-seasons in the big leagues he was an All Star 14 times, the American League MVP in 1973 and the World Series MVP in 1973 and 1977. He also paced the league in homers 4 times and hit 563 over his career, which is 13th All Time. He earned the nickname “Mr. October” with the Yankees, but he excelled in the Series everywhere he played. In five World Series contests he owned a .357 batting average with 10 homers and 24 RBI. His World Series batting average is nearly 100 percentage points higher than his career BA of .262. He won all 5 World Series that he played in and all were within the decade of the 70’s, meaning he won half of the Series of that decade. As a kid I got a sports calendar every year for Christmas, it included baseball, football, basketball and hockey players. Regardless of the year, Reggie was always the photo in October, which makes it fitting that his card is profiled before this month is up. This is pretty obvious, but after his career was done, his final stop was in Cooperstown, New York. He was elected in the Hall in his first year of eligibility in 1993 receiving 94% of the votes. Although I wasn’t a huge Reggie fan growing up, I did admire and respect him. Like I said, he just seemed larger than life and because of that, I never really collected him. I just didn’t think I was worthy to collect such an amazing, super hero like player, that doesn’t mean that dealers didn’t have to wipe the drool off of this 1969 Topps card every card show that I went to. I can remember having 4 dollars in my pocket and going up and “saying, hey, how much would you take for the Reggie rookie? Oh, okay, I’ll have to think about it…” Good times. I really love this hobby of ours! Next up, regular cards, woo hoo! One more time begging, PLEASE add this to your blog rolls if you are reading it! Happy Collecting and set building to all!
