The Nitty Gritty Card of the Day

Today's Nitty Gritty Card of the Day is card #1 from 1972 Topps showing the World Champions of 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates. 38 years later the Series starts today. In 1971 Game 1 was a match of Aces, too. For the Pirates it was Dock Ellis (19-9) versus Dave McNally for the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles bats knocked out Ellis quickly as he was pulled after just 2-1/3 innings giving up 4 earned runs on 2 homers. McNally was superb and went 9 innings allowing 3 unearned runs and striking out 9 for the win. Dock Ellis did not return for the Bucs while McNally took the loss in Game 5 and returned the next game to pitch the final frame in Baltimore's 3-2 extra inning victory to earn the win. The Pirates would go on to beat the favored Orioles in 7 games behind Series MVP Roberto Clemente who batted .414 with a pair of timely homers and 4 RBI. 4 runs batted in doesn't jump out at you as amazing, but consider that the Pirates scored only 23 runs over 7 games and it becomes a bit more impressive as he drove in nearly 20% of their runs. It would be Clemente's final World Series. I love this game, I love this hobby, I love it's stories. I can't wait for the first pitch of the 2010 World Series! If you like the Pirates and their cards - I recently received a package with literally 100s of Pirates cards from the 60s, 70s and beyond from Cam at the Reds and More blog. Stick around as I will eventually get these up. The Pirates will ALWAYS be my team in the National League no matter what. Even if they are OLD memories, at least us Pirates fans have the memories of greatness. 38 years LATER.

The Nitty Gritty Card of the Day

Today’s Nitty Gritty Card of the Day comes from 1965 Topps Baseball and features Baltimore Orioles reliever Harvey Haddix. At 39 years old, 1965 was Haddix’ final season in baseball and he spent it in the bullpen in Baltimore with Don Larsen, Dick Hall, Stu Miller and a 19 year old named Jim Palmer. Haddix had been a successful starter for a decade before moving to the pen and in ’65 he was coming off a remarkable season. He was 5-5 with a 2.31 ERA and 10 saves. He appeared in 49 games for 89 innings striking out 90 against 23 walks.

The Orioles were Harvey Haddix’ 6th and final team. His career spanned 14 seasons and started off with the Cardinals in 1952 pitching in 7 games. He returned to St. Louis in 1953 as a 27 year old starter and still held onto to his rookie status. He had one of his best seasons on the mound of his storied career that year. He appeared in his 1st of 3 straight All Star Games and finished second to Dodgers second baseman Junior Gilliam in the Rookie of the Year voting. Had the Cy Young Award existed in ’53, he would have received many votes for that a

ward as well. As a rookie Haddix posted a 20-9 record with a 3.06 ERA. He completed 19 games, including a league leading 6 shutouts.

After his success in St. Louis Haddix was traded twice before ending up on the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1959. It was with the Bucs that Haddix pitched one of the most famous games in MLB history. On May 26, 1959 Haddix pitched 12 PERFECT innings against the Braves before yielding a hit and losing the game in the 13th inning. He holds the MLB record for retiring 36 consecutive batters in a single. A record that likely will never be approached.

He took the loss in that famous game, but the next year he was on the mound for the win (in relief) for another famous game. The Pirates walk-off World Series win against the Yankees in the 1960 World Series. The Pirates won the Series and Haddix’ owned a 2-0 mark against the Yankees in the Series. That would be his only ring as a player, but Haddix would earn another with the Pirates in 1979 as their pitching coach.

Over his 14 year playing career Harvey Haddix was a 3-time All Star, a World Series Champ, a 3 time Gold Glove award winner and drove in 64 runs as a hitter. A great hitting pitcher and all around athlete. Haddix was known as one of the top fielding pitchers of his era. His career mark is 136-113 with a 3.63 ERA. He pitched 99 complete games and 20 shutouts and struck out 1575 against only 601 walks.

He was nicknamed Kitten early in his career as he resembled a young Harry “the Cat” Breechen.

Pitching in 2 of the most memorable games of all time and a 14 year career as a starter and then reliever, a World Champ and an unbreakable record all combine to make Harvey Haddix as Nitty Gritty as they come. This blog is proud to sponsor his Baseball Reference page.
I love this hobby! 45 years later.

The Nitty Gritty Card of the Day

Today's Nitty Gritty Card of the Day is card #25 from the 1965 Topps baseball set featuring Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Al McBean. McBean was at the peak of his career when this card came out. In 1964 he was 8-3 with a 1.90 ERA and 22 saves. He was named the Sporting News National League Relief Pitcher of the Year, an Honor that was awarded from 1960-2004. The year prior he was 13-3 in relief and pitched a streak of 22 straight scorless innings. 1963 was his first season in the bullpen-in '62 he was a part of the Pirates rotation and posted a 15-10 mark as a starter. McBean was born in the Virgin Islands and one of the first big league players from there. In fact, 50 years after his debut he is still the ONLY big league pitcher to hail from the Virgin Islands and is one of only 11 players from the Islands to make it to the Majors. At 5'11" and 165 pounds he looked more like an infielder than a pitcher and although he never played the position as a professional in the US, he was quite a shortstop and fielded that position during batting practice to the delight of everyone looking on. I love this game, I love it's history and I love all the stories behind every character to play the game and appear on a card in the hobby I love. 45 years LATER!

The Nitty Gritty Card of the Day!

Today's Nitty Gritty Card of the Day comes from 1965 Topps. It is card # 69 of the 1955 Rookie of the Year Bill Virdon. Virdon is one of the great career baseball guys out there. I have met him many times around Pirate City where he still coaches the young outfielders in the organization. Virdon spent 11 years as a player with the Bucs and led the NL in triples and won a Gold Glove in centerfield with them in 1962, in 1960 he was a part of the World Championship team. 1965 was his final full year as a player. He came back to the Bucs as a coach and manager and also managed the Yankees, Astros and Expos. He was named the Manager of the Year twice and also won 2 divisional titles as a skipper. I love this game, I love this hobby! 45 years LATER!

The Nitty Gritty Battle of Old Versus New!

I still haven’t been able to rip any 2010 Heritage, which is strange for me because it is my favorite and most anticipated release of the year every year. A few cards have trickled into me from kind readers and I finally got one that I had a match for 1961. Welcome to the Nitty Gritty Old vs. New Cards of the Day! Topps did a pretty darn good of replicating this one. The design is identical front and back. The main difference is (duh) the subject. Danny Murtaugh looks like a stern leader, like someone you would follow into war because he told you to. He looks like a man you don’t want to cross. He died before I was born and I am still scared of the man… This little photo from 50 years ago captures Murtaugh how he was-a leader. He wasn’t buddies with his players, but he knew how to handle them and he won games. He laid down the expectations and you either followed or you played for someone else. His players listened because he knew what he was doing. The dude won over 1,000 games-1,115 to be exact. That was against only 950 losses, good for a .540 winning percentage. He led the Pirates to 2 Worlds Championships and in the 15 seasons he spent at the helm in Pittsburgh the Bucs won more than 90 games 5 times. His teams had stars-he managed Clemente, Stargell and Mazeroski, but the teams weren’t filled with stars. He got the most out of all of his players and made good decisions and had high expectations of his players. I was downright pissed off when he was denied to the Hall of Fame again last year. I make cases for a lot of players to be considered, but Murtaugh is a Hall of Fame manager, case closed. He wasn’t too shabby as a player either. He was a little, tough and gritty infielder. He was a slap hitter with no power and a little bit of speed. He led the NL in steals as a rookie in 1941 with 19. That isn’t exactly a Rickey Henderson total, but it was a dead ball and dead base path era. It was particularly impressive because he paced the league while only playing in 83 games that year. He spent the early part of the season with the Houston Buffaloes of the Texas League. The Buffaloes were a Cardinals affiliate and the Cards were the organization he originally signed with in 1937, but in June of ’41 the Philadelphia Phillies purchased his contract and brought him up to the big leagues. He spent his first 4 seasons in Philadelphia, spent a year with the Boston Braves and was in Pittsburgh for his final 4 years. His best year offensively came with the Pirates in 1948.He batted .290 and drove in 71 runs for the Bucs while only hitting one homerun. He also stole 10 bases and had 21 doubles and 5 triples. He scored 56 times and most of those runs were scored ahead of Ralph Kiner homeruns. He and shortstop Stan Rojek were among the best double play combos in baseball and Murtaugh learned the art of baseball from his manager Billy Meyer. Murtaugh watched second base in Pittsburgh for 4 seasons before Bill Mazeroski took the job over. Before I switch gears to John Russell I will state once more that Danny Murtaugh belongs in the Hall of Fame.
Now Mr. Russell. Whereas Danny Murtaugh looks like he could have been your high school principal, Russell looks like your happy go lucky homeroom teacher. His look doesn’t demand or command respect. He looks respectable, but not intimidating. A nice guy that you don’t mind following… With the level of talent that currently lives in Pittsburgh I don’t think that Murtaugh’s approach would work anyway. I like the Pirates and I like John Russell as their skipper. His Bucs burst out of the gate this season and took all of baseball by surprise; I really hope he can keep it up. I am not expecting them to be contenders, but I would be THRILLED with a .500 finish. It could happen. Since this is Old VS. New I suppose I should declare a winner. That would be Danny Murtaugh. That isn't a knock against John Russell, I like the dude. He isn't in a great position. He is a company man though. I don't think that Danny Murtaugh would have stood for what the Pirates execs have done to the team over the last decade. Plus, vintage ALWAYS wins. Thanks for reading, 50 years LATER.

The Nitty Card of the Early Morn...

Notice I didn't say Nitty Gritty... This card is just Nitty. It isn't vintage and almost doesn't belong on this blog. It is still the card of the early morning because this is catcher's week and I am working far more than I am sleeping. I have been on a search for cards of catcher's wearing masks since I was re-introduced to this post that the Night Owl did in April of 2009 on the subject of cards of catchers wearing masks. Check it out HERE. It took a little bit of searching, but it turns out my flash drive had one card he hadn't listed. This card comes from 1996 Fleer Ultra, card #533 of my favorite All Star, surfboarding, base stealing, Californian catcher. The front of the card shows the mask on his helmet, but the back shows the mask in use. Sweet. That is all, must get back to work. Please vote on the poll while you are here. 14 years LATER.

The World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates!

Before the Tampa Bay Devil Rays arrived on the scene I was a Pirates fan. I am speaking of the Pittsburgh Pirates-back in the 70s when I got my first Pirates cap you didn’t have to specify. Now if you tell someone you are a Pirates fan they think you are talking about Seton Hall. I still do love the Bucs. I get mad at the team, but I still have a special place for them. I root for them because somebody has to. It hasn’t done any good though… Still as any good baseball fan, I remember my team’s worst moments. I will never forget the game I saw on October 14, 1992. I wasn’t at the game; I was at my friend Bryzan’s house watching it on TV. It was game 7 of the NLCS and Doug Drabek started for the Bucs. He also started and lost game 1 and game 4, but not because he pitched poorly. Anyway, he got the call for game 7 and outdueled John Smoltz. Going into the 9th the Pirates has the lead and looked like they were on their way to their first World Series since 1979, but then Francisco Cabrera came up to pinch hit for Jeff Rearden. Cabrera, the backup catcher who only had 10 at-bats that whole year. Cabrera who was the last guy on the bench for Bobby Cox. Cabrera who should have been an easy out. Cabrera who hit the game winning 2 RBI walk-off single. Freaking Francisco Cabrera. I repeat, Freaking Francisco Cabrera. You ruined a once proud franchise Mr. Cabrera. He delivered the game winning hit, gave Drabek his 3rd loss of the NLCS and effectively ended his time in Pittsburgh. The Pirates 3-time MVP left fielder Barry Bonds left for San Francisco. Andy Van Slyke and Tim Wakefield both left the following year. Jay Bell and Kevin Young stayed for a little while longer, but had nothing around them. Anyway, this was an awful long introduction for tonight’s Nitty Gritty Card of the Day. It is from the 1972 Topps set, card #1. It celebrates the Pirates being World Champions in 1971. They won it all again in 1979-that was the first time that “my team” won it all and I was too young to realize how special it really was. I don't remember much about the '79 season, but the '92 playoffs remain clear in my memory. In 1992 they came close, but couldn’t get past Francisco Cabrera and the Braves. After that, the team was dismantled and hasn’t been rebuilt since. I keep on bringing up 1992 for a reason. That was the last year that the Bucs had a winning season. Yep, last season made 17 straight losing seasons. I think that is a record. I don’t see it changing any time soon either. It isn’t the same team that Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Bill Mazeroski spent their entire Hall of Fame careers with. Sure, they have had some decent players pass through over years. I have become a fan of Al Martin, Jason Kendall, Tony Womack, Aramis Ramirez, Freddy Sanchez, Xavier Nady, Nyjer Morgan, Brian Giles and Jason Bay. They all brought hope, but they were all just passing through on their way to bigger and better things. None of them were there long enough to build a team around either. Nowadays I get excited about Andrew McCutchen, Garrett Jones, Aki Iwamura and Lastings Milledge. If they do live up to their potential, they won’t be in the ‘Burgh for long. So enjoy the card of the day and remember a time, 30 seasons ago, when the Pittsburgh Pirates were Kings and no one laughed when you said their name. LATER!

The Nitty Gritty Goes Face to Face...

I am probably putting the cart ahead of the horse with this post… Generally I post new cards and where I got them on the Troll page before they become Nitty Gritty Cards of the Day, but I am in a rule breaking mood tonight. Yesterday I posted the first half of the Blogger Kindness package I received from Chris of the Project 1962 blog. I showed only the current, modern cards he sent and I promised to post up all the vintage goodies next. Well, I still haven’t finished scanning all of them and I have been busy posting because my mailbox has been staying busy. Of course I will dedicate a proper post sometime in the near future, but right now I am going to focus on two of the cards that Chris included in that super awesome package. They are both of Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Elroy Face. One is from 1961, card #370 and the other is from the 1960 set, card #20. Roy Face has been among my favorite pitchers of all time for as long as I can remember. As he retired in 1968 I never had the chance to actually see him pitch, but I learned his name early on because my first baseball encyclopedia was an edition from the late 70s. According to that book he was the National Leagues leader in games with 846 and also in saves with 193. He was also the leader in relief wins with 96 and most innings pitched in relief (1,211). Those things made me take notice. His name was Elroy and I had never known of anyone with that name outside of the Jetzons. He also threw a forkball which was super cool and he had a great nickname, The Baron. My Uncle Harry was a professor at Lehigh University when I was a kid and he always sent me Pirates stuff as Christmas gifts, so even before I lived in Pirate City, I was following the team and its records. Other things that blew me away as a kid statistically were that he pitched in 9 straight games, he won 22 games in a row and of course his record in 1959 was astounding to me then and still is. He posted an 18-1 record for the Pirates. The next year he won 10 more games in relief, appeared in 68 games and helped the Pirates win the National League Pennant for the first time in 33 seasons. He set a record by saving 3 games in the World Series. The record has been tied since, but has yet to be broken 50 years later. They weren’t one pitch saves either, those 3 appearances covered 10 innings of World Series work. Face worked hard for his saves. He held the National League record for saves (193) until 1986 when future Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter surpassed him. To achieve his 193 saves Face pitched 1314 innings. Trevor Hoffman is the present leader in saves with 591 and he just passed the 1000 inning mark last season. Bruce Sutter, who is in the Hall of Fame with his 300 saves, worked 300 less innings than Face did. He also won 28 fewer games than Face. Roy Face led the National League in saves 3 times and spent nearly 2 decades as the career leader in that category, but the role of closer has changed greatly of late and he has fallen to 41st All Time in that category and will likely continue to fall. He has remained in the top 20 in games finished (574) and ranks 33rd in games played with 848. He remained on the Hall of Fame ballot for 15 years, but never received more than 18% of the vote and was removed from the ballot in 1990. He has more wins and a higher winning percentage than several pitchers in Cooperstown and can make a solid case for enshrinement, but he is in the hands of the Veteran’s Committee. It has been a few years since I have seen Mr. Face, the bullpen at Pirate City is named in honor of him and I have the pleasure of meeting him and sitting down for a lengthy chat. He loves the game that I love and I was thrilled to be able to speak with him about it. I recently received another very special card of Roy Face from another Blogger Kindness package and I am strongly considering adding him as my next player collection. His accolades speak for themselves; he was the BEST reliever of the 60s. As far as me collecting him, that is a decision for the Blog-O-Sphere to make over the next week. If you would like to cast your vote, there is a poll up on the Collective Troll with 23 players to choose from, including Roy Face. There is a post explaining why I decided to leave it up my readers rather than myself that you can read HERE. Face’s career stats can be viewed HERE. A six-time All Star, Face retired after the 1969 season with a career mark of 104 wins against 95 losses and a 3.48 ERA. He had 193 saves and also pitched 5 complete games. He also revolutionized the game and the role of a bullpen pitcher. Thanks so much for these great cards and everything that you sent my way! Check out Chris’ blog, Project 1962. It is about (you guessed it) the 1962 Topps set, the Chicago Cubs and baseball and life in general, check it out! For those of you who read this and my other blog, the Collective Troll, you know that there is a reader appreciation contest which goes live one week from tonight (3-23) and has prizes which include certified autographs from Hall of Famers Al Kaline and Brooks Robinson. There will be a contest here as well. It won’t offer prizes to that same extent, but there will be a prize offered. This contest will go up as soon as 30 people add the Nitty Gritty to their blogrolls, so get on it! Thanks for reading about one of the finest relief pitchers, EVER… 50 years, LATER!

Long John Jones-More Photos From Pirate City

Long plus Long equals really long? I couldn’t resist this photo of Pirates hitting coach Don Long and Altoona Curve hitting coach Ryan Long. Being named Long goes a long way if you are looking for a job as a hitting coach in the Pirates system. On a related note we have brothers from different mothers Brandon Jones and Garrett Jones. Both Jones’ came from the Braves organization where Jones was the name to have… The photo would have been more effective if the other "ex-Brave" who isn't named Jones was cropped out. troll out.