The Nitty Gritty Card of the Early Evening...

Today’s second Nitty Gritty Card of the Day comes from the 1979 Topps set. It is card #226 of Cleveland Indians catcher Ron Pruitt. I was a bit unsure about going with such a new card, but even though I had many cards of catchers from the 1960s, you can’t tell they are catchers from the hatless headshots on the front of the card. I went into the closet and dusted off the 1979 Topps binder in search of a catcher in full gear. I will admit that my ’79 set is far from complete-I think I still need at least 100 cards to finish it off, but I searched the entire binder and this is the only card I have from 1979 showing someone with a face mask on. In the case of this card, that is all that it shows… It does have a Nitty Gritty look to it though and it does stand to remind everyone to vote on the poll for greatest catcher ever. Ron Pruitt isn’t on the list. Although he is the guy I have seen wearing a mask in the 1979 set he only started 3 ballgames behind the plate that year. Over his 9 year career he was the starting catcher 48 times for a total of 4 different teams. He spent 6 seasons in Cleveland and had his best year in games (78), RBI (32) and average (.288) in 1977. His best homerun total came in ’78 with 6 of them for the Indians. This will not be the final card posted here today. It might be the last guy in a mask, but not the last card. 31 years LATER!

The Nitty Gritty on the Legendary Larry Doby!

Today’s Nitty Gritty Card of the Day (evening edition) is from the 1958 Topps set and features one of my favorite players of all time, it is card number 424 of Cleveland Indians outfielder Larry Doby. This is another one of the great vintage cards that came my way from Chris of the Project 1962 blog. I keep on promising to post the whole lot of cards that he sent, but I continue to post them one at a time over here. Sooner or later they will all get posted. There is a poll up on the Collective Troll encouraging readers to vote for the next player that I collect. Larry Doby is one of my favorites of all time; he was a fantastic player who basically had 2 separate All Star careers in 2 separate leagues. He is historically significant and was truly one of the best ever. He would be a no-brainer to collect, but there is one problem… I want to collect one of EVERY SINGLE CARD EVER made of the player that I collect. Doby has a lot of pricey cards. I don’t mind paying for his late 40s and early 50s classic vintage cards, but cards like this one here which is listed on eBay with a BIN price of $499.00 make me nervous. I know that just because they are asking it doesn't mean that is what its worth, but I am pretty sure I can't find this card for 5 bucks. Just saying. On a good day I might pay 100 bucks for a vintage card of a player that I love. I have paid 200 bucks for a vintage rookie of a player that I really liked that was in a set I was trying to finish. I don’t plan on doing that ever again, but I still wouldn’t pay more than 30 bucks for a current card, no matter how great the player is or how rare the card is. It’s a good looking card of a great player, but it’s practically a mortgage payment. Can’t do it. The other guys that y’all seem to be leaning towards like Oscar Gamble and Roy Face would be much more logical options. That said I will collect whomever the Troll readers choose. If y’all pick Doby, I will gladly scour the countryside for bargains on each and every one of his cards and I will be proud to own them. The reason why I say he was a man with two careers is that during the 1940s he was an All Star second baseman for the Newark Eagles from 1942 until he joined the Cleveland Indians in 1947. In between those teams he lost a couple of years serving in World War II. With the Eagles, he played alongside a number of future Hall of Fame players including Willie Wells, Ray Dandridge, Monte Irvin and Leon Day. The Eagles won the Negro World Series in 1946 and the following season Doby broke the color barrier in the American League when he joined the Indians in July. As a rookie his play was limited and he only made it into 29 games, mainly as a pinch hitter. The following season however, he took over as the Indians starting centerfielder and he batted .301 to help lead the Indians to the World Series. In the Series he batted .318 with a homerun and 2 RBI and the Indians defeated the Braves to win the World Championship. In 1949 he was named to his first All Star team in the major leagues. It would begin a streak for him of 7 consecutive All Star appearances, highlighted in 1950 when he started the game in centerfield and played the entire game and reached base twice with a double and a run scored. He owns a .300 career All Star batting average in the majors. In 1954 he entered the game as a pinch hitter and hit a homerun in his only at-bat. During the regular season in ’54 he had another great year at the plate. He batted .272 and slugged 32 homers and drove in 126 runs. He paced the AL in the latter 2 categories. He also led the Indians to a second American League pennant. Larry Doby had a subpar Series and the Tribe fell to the Giants who were led by his former teammate and friend Monte Irvin. 1955 his run production fell off a bit and it was the last time he was named to the All Star team, but he did not play. After the ’55 season he was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Chico Carrasquel and Jim Busby. With the Sox he topped the 100 RBI plateau for the 5th time and the 100 walk mark for the 4th time. His time in Chicago was short-lived and he would be traded to the Baltimore Orioles in a 7-player deal after the 1957 season. He never played a single inning for the Orioles and was traded back to the Indians right before the first pitch of the ’58 season when this card was produced. The back of the card mentions that Doby was a 4-sport athlete in high school and that he led the AL in homers twice with 32 homers each time. It also calls him one of the most consistent RBI men in the game. He would drive in 45 runs for the Indians in 1958, but he played in only 89 games that year. They traded him again, this time to the Detroit Tigers prior to the ’59 season in exchange for Tito Francona. He would only play in 19 games in Detroit before they sold him back to the White Sox. 1959 would be Doby’s final season. Injuries had slowed him down and he retired from the Major Leagues at age 35. He would return to the game to begin a third career playing in Japan in the 1960s. His final career numbers included 253 homers and 970 RBI over 1533 games and 13 seasons. He owns a career batting of .283 and a .490 slugging percentage. He led the AL in homers twice and also paced the league in runs scored, runs batted in, slugging and on-base percentage. His major league career was cut short by injuries and it started late due to segregation and that didn’t allow Doby to post the career numbers that many of his peers in the Hall of Fame did, but even with only 10 full seasons of production, he was among the league’s best during those 10 seasons. He was in the top ten in slugging percentage, walks, total bases, times on base and at-bats/homeruns 8 times. He was in the top ten in homers and RBI 7 times and was among the top ten in runs scored 6 times. Baseball Reference dot com shows his 162 game average including a .283 batting average with 107 walks, 103 runs scored, 160 hits, 26 doubles, 5 triples and 27 homeruns in addition to 103 runs batted in and an OPS of .876. After retiring as a player Doby was a coach with both the Cleveland Indians and the Montreal Expos. He also briefly managed the Chicago White Sox for 87 games in 1978. He received the ultimate honor for a baseball player when the Veterans Committee elected him to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998. He was inducted along with turn of the century infielder George Davis, fellow negro league star Bullet Joe Rogan, executive Lee MacPhail and 300 game winner Don Sutton. Doby was able to attend the ceremony and accept the honor. He passed away 5 years after being immortalized. He will forever be ingrained into the rich history of baseball and will live forever in the hearts and memories of fans. Thanks so much to Chris of Project 1962 for this great card and all of the fond memories that came along with it. For the current cards that came from Project 1962, click HERE. For the rest of the vintage he sent, stay tuned! To the dear readers who stuck it out and read this entire post, I thank you! It happens so often that I begin to post about a single card and drift off into their life story. I just love this game and this hobby and it’s legends soo much! 52 years, LATER!

Card #11, Rick Manning...

I was doing my daily blog roll reading and I noticed that the Cardboard Junkie had posted a link to this here blog. I was immediately overcome with guilt because I haven’t posted here in six days and I figured I better get on it. 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 Rick Waits in exchange for Ernie Camacho, Jamie Easterly and Gorman Thomas. Manning would play for 5 seasons with the Brewers, never batting above .254 for them. I have read that somehow he was credited with developing the Cheese Head that Green Bay Packers fans still wear, so I guess it wasn’t a total bust. He retired after the 1987 season at 32 years old. Over his 13 year career he had 1349 hits and a .257 batting average. He is currently a broadcaster for the Cleveland Indians and has been for the past 18 years. Now, time for…
The Nitty Gritty
Name/Number: Rick Manning, Number 28
Position: Centerfield
Age-Now and Then: 22 then, 55 now
Team’s 1977 Record: 71-90, 5th Place American League East
Topps Rookie Card: 1976, card #275 Number of Topps Base Cards: 13
Playball! STRIKEOUT
1977 Stats Line: .227/5/18
Awards in 1977: None
Distinguishing Feature: His eager stare and bushy mullet.
Similar Modern Player: Scott Podsednik
What I said about this card then: Nothing.
What I think about this card now: Still nothing. My indifference on this card is the reason I put off posting it for 6 days…
Back of the card memorable moment: Won his first Gold Glove in 1976, was one of the youngest to do so.
Back of the card “fun fact”: Has established himself as one of the top centerfielders in the game.
The condition: NR MT-Slight ding in upper left corner.
Grooviness factor: The side burns, mullet and the maroon pumas are pretty groovy…
Wow! Factor: The Indians kept this guy and traded Eck?
Whats weird about this card: The direction he is facing.
Career Accolades: 13 year playing career, had 168 steals.
Best Season: 1976, hit .292 and won Gold Glove.
Nitty Gritty Fun Facts: Banged Dennis Eckersley’s wife, allegedly.
Where are they now?: Broadcasting games for the Cleveland Indians, has been doing it for 18 years now.
That’s it. I found it very tough to come up with anything about this card, hope I have better luck with card #12 of Don Aase. 31 years, LATER!