Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Geezers


It’s pretty damn hard to believe, but only two of these guys are managers.  And one of them was only a few years away from being a player himself. 

How come I never see any guys like this out on the basketball court or football field?  Why are old geezers like these particular to baseball?

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Okay, here’s one of our managers.  Would you believe, though, this picture was taken only a couple of years after Hank traded the playing field for the dugout though?  He was 41

Hank Bauer was a pretty decent ballplayer (three-time All Star) and manager (World Series champ with Baltimore in 66).  His main claim to fame, though, is as a World Series star for the Yankees in the 50s, getting in over seven series and generally tearing things up.

Check out this post, where I make fun of that nose.


In this post, Roy Face looks old.  In another post in this blog, Roy looked ugly.  Maybe there are some cards out there somewhere where he looks both.  I dunno.

In that ugly post, I shared some of Roy’s stats.  Here’s a little Roy Face trivia:

•    His full name was Elroy Leon
•    His nickname was “Baron”
•    He threw a forkball
•    Upon retirement, he became a carpenter

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No, no, the crew cut takes years off, Lew.  It looks great.  Really!

Lew (AKA “Lou”) Burdette was a darn good pitcher.   Overall, he finished 203-144, with a 1.24 WHIP.  He won 20 twice, led the NL in ERA, was a three-time All Star, and was the World Series MVP in 1957.

By the way, Lew’s  real first name was Selva, and he was born in Nitro, WV.

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God, I love this guy.  He’s already appeared three times in this blog (Cap Backwards 1, Cap Backwards 2, and Love Children).  I really should have given him his own post.

Looking at those older posts, I see I went over everything but Smoky’s stats.  So, without further ado: 18 years, 1691 games, 126 homers, 673 RBIs, .295 average.  He was also a six-time All Star.


“Get off my lawn, kid!”

Everyone knows about Don Larsen’s perfect game in the ’56 World Series.  What a lot of people don’t know is that, outside of that one game, he was a pretty mediocre pitcher.

In fact, Larsen once had one of the worst seasons for a pitcher ever, finishing 3-21 for the lowly ’54 St. Louis Browns.  Overall, he finished under .500, with a WHIP over 1.40.  Comparable pitchers include Dan Spillner, Jakie May, and Al Benton.  




And then there's this guy.

I swear, it's like Mick Jagger with a crew cut. That's the Mick Jagger of today, by the way (and not the Mick Jagger of 1965, when this card came out).


* - author has this card
 

2 comments:

  1. 1965 Keane should have an old-off with 1965 Birdie Tebbetts.

    Other guys who were never young were Bob Skinner and, as noted on this blog, Bob Niemann.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I see just a trace of Paul Lynde in Don Larsen!

    ReplyDelete