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!
It is a Sport Magazine 1960 Rookie Star Card and shows Navarro as a member of the San Francisco Giants. Of course Navarro never pitched an inning for the Giants, but he did spend 6 years in the big leagues with 3 different teams. He also had an awesome nickname and is part of a MLB legacy. There is something great about a pitcher called Whiplash. 
I also love father and son legacies and Whiplash is the proud papa of Jaimie Navarro. The younger Navarro didn't have a cool nickname, but he did win 116 games in the Majors and topped 15 victories 3 times including a 17-11 mark for the Brew Crew in '92. Thanks for reading, I love this game, I love it's history and I love this hobby! 50 years LATER!
Topps didn't remove or airbrush the B for Boston off of his hat, but on the side picture there is something crudely close to an A drawn on to his hat. Daley played just one year in Kansas City and batted .263 while platooning with Harry Chiti. After the 1960 season he was selected by Washington in the expansion draft. He played for the new Senators in 1961, backing up Gene Green, but he hit below the Mendoza Line and spent 1962 in AAA. All totalled his career lasted from 1955 till 1961 spending his first 5 years in Boston. He batted .239 with 18 homers and 120 RBI over his career. 
There is just one more day to vote on this blog for the best catcher of all time. The vote for top shortstop is held 
Now these 2 cards came out within 4 years of each other and they have the same team name, but they are 2 totally different teams. The Senators that Throneberry played for in 1960 left Washington for Minnesota the next year and became the Twins. By 1965 they went from American League doormats to American League Champions while Blasingame and the new Senators finished 8th in the AL. Those Sens existed for 11 seasons before packing it in and heading for Texas. Basically, the Nitty Gritty supports both lovable losing teams from our Nation’s Capital. These Senators are a team that I hold a special place for… When my father was a child and his father, my Grandfather (Pop-Pop) worked at the Pentagon they attended many Senators games. My Pop-Pop actually liked the Sens. He was a fan of the underdog. Most politicians attended Sens games because they were right there, but hated the losers from DC. Okay, getting back on track… Faye Throneberry, the older brother of Marvelous Marv, spent most of his 8 year big league career on the bench, but in 1959 he was Washington’s starting right fielder. The 
Beyond the big 5 in their lineup there was a big drop off at the plate and the team had a collective batting average of just .237. Couple that with a team ERA over 4 and you understand why they only won 63 games. Throneberry played in 117 games for them and set career highs in nearly every category. His previous high in games was 98 in his rookie season with the Red Sox. He played in 85 games the next year and just 24 games in 1961, his final season in the big leagues. Over his 8 year career 
