Happy Biff Pocoroba Day!

1976 was the first year I started collecting baseball cards, and the above Topps card of the Braves' immortally-named Biff Pocoroba seemed to pop up in just about every pack I bought that summer. Not that I particularly minded it; I thought (and still do) that Atlanta's part-time catcher — he split the backstop duties that season with vets Vic Correll and Earl Williams — had one of the coolest baseball names I ever heard. And he looked so focused, so "pro" in his perfect catcher's squat, I didn't mind at all that the card photo appeared to have been taken on some nameless junior high school ballfield. If anything, it made him seem more relateable; during the short-lived period when I wanted to be a catcher, I fantasized not about nailing a runner at second like Johnny Bench, but being able to do a perfect squat like Biff Pocoroba.

Though often injured and not possessed of exceptional talent — his best season by a long shot was 1977, when he hit .290 with 24 doubles, 8 homers, 44 RBI and a .394 OBP in 113 games, though he also allowed a whopping 103 stolen bases — Biff managed to hang around for parts of 10 big-league seasons with the Braves, who finally released him a few games into the 1984 campaign. He didn't need a ticket to get into to the 1978 All-Star Game in San Diego, though NL skipper Tommy Lasorda basically just added him to the roster because he needed someone who could handle Phil Niekro's knuckler. Still, Biff acquitted himself well enough in the MId-Summer Classic, catching the entire 9th inning as Bruce Sutter and "Knucksie" finished off Jason Thompson, Fred Lynn and Darrell Porter in order to clinch the National League's 7-3 victory.

And, well, that was pretty much it for Biff, as injuries relegated him to backup status and/or the Disabled List for the rest of his major league ride. But that doesn't mean we can't celebrate his career — to say nothing of the totemic value of his name for baseball fans of a certain age — on this day, Biff Pocoroba's 58th birthday. Observe it by chanting his name, doing something decently but unspectacularly, or by squatting in the junior high school ballfield of your choice.

Comments

[Chris Stufflestreet]

Nothing says "South" or 1970s quite like the single-wide trailer in the background of that picture.

Well, that and the Braves' uniform at the time.

[France's Carlson]

Biff Pocoroba was my baseball hero of and for all time. I literally chronicled his entire '77 season...every home run...every double and triple...every runner thrown out at second or tagged out at home. He was the bomb. I have a hilarious story I could tell you about meeting him 15 years later when he owned and operated an Italian restaurant in suburban Atlanta...but it's too good a story to relegate to this small space.

[Michael Bowers]

Biff was my Hero as well. I was born in the ATL in 1970. My dad brought my brother and I to Fulton County all the time to see the braves. I got Biff to autograph a ball for me, which I still have as well as every baseball card made from him. I remember he went 5 for 5 with 5 RBI's one game. I cried when he was released. The braves had signed Alex Trevino, who was just crappy. So many Catcher have played for the Braves, many All-Stars, but not as awesome as "Poco"

[jr.]

I know Biff, he is a client I'm helping in the sausage making business. Very serious Gentlmen, but good convo.

[CLAY MARSTON]

THE TRAILER BEHIND BIFF WAS THERE FOR A FEW SPRINGS AND WAS AT TIMES EITHER THE PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OR WAS USED AS EXTRA OFFICE SPACE AS THE OLD STADIUM HAD VERY LIMITED OFFICE SPACE(S) - OUR SEATS FOR THE BRAVES AND EXPOS WERE IMMEDIATELY ACROSS TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF THIS CARD IN FRONT ROW BESIDE BRAVES DUGOUT WHERE MY MOTHER AND I HAD ORIGINALLY 4 SEATS FROM 1966 THEN WENT DOWN TO 2 SEATS FROM 1986 THROUGH 1997 BEING SOME OF THE INITIAL FIRST PEOPLE TO EVER HAVE BRAVES SPRING TRAINING TICKETS AND WERE EVENTUALLY THE LONGEST CONTINUOUS SEASON TICKET HOLDERS OVER THAT 32 YEAR STRETCH FROM THE TIME THE STADIUM OPENED UNTIL THE BRAVES LEFT FOR ORLANDO / WALT DISNEY WORLD AT WHICH THE EXPOS WENT NORTH TO THE NEW ROGER DEAN STADIUM IN JUPITER WHERE THEY JOINED UP WITH THE ST. LOUIS CARDINALS WHO HAD TRAVELED ACROSS FROM THE WEST SIDE OF FLORIDA - FROM 1998 WE AGAIN HAD 4 SEATS FOR BOTH TEAMS BUT THE MAGIC WAS GONE AFTER ONLY A FEW YEARS AND WE NOW DO NOT ATTEND ALL THAT MANY SPRING TRAINING GAMES - BIFF WAS A VERY PLEASANT AND MOST POPULAR FELLOW AND I WOULD WELL IMAGINE HE HAS REMAINED THIS WAY TO THIS VERY DAY - COLONEL77