Big Hair and Plastic Grass

Iron Billy

On this date in 1970, sweet-swingin' Cubs left fielder Billy Williams becomes the first NL player to play in 1000 straight games, as the Cubs lose 9-2 to the Braves at Fulton County Stadium. His "iron man" streak will eventually reach 1,117 games.

Dig Billy's 1970 Topps card, above; taken in 1969, it pictures Billy in his road greys with the MLB 100th Anniversary patch on the sleeve, what looks like a rubber surgical glove on his right hand, and the old Shea Stadium scoreboard in the background. I'm guessing Billy had no idea at the time this pic was snapped that the '69 World Series would be happening here, and not at Wrigley, though he DOES look a bit worried...

Like his fellow Hall of Famer teammates Ernie Banks, Fergie Jenkins and Ron Santo, Billy would never get to play in the World Series — though he did at least make the post-season once towards the end of his career, going 0-for-7 as a DH for the A's in the '75 ALCS against the Red Sox. He deserved better...

Here's a cool little interview clip from May 1968, when Billy broke the NL record for consecutive games with 695...

One For The Rookie

On this date in 1973, KC Royals rookie Steve Busby hurls a 3-0 no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers in his 10th career start. It's the first no-no in Royals history, the first at Tiger Stadium since Virgil Trucks threw one in 1952, and — thanks to the AL's new Designated Hitter rule — the first one thrown by a pitcher who did not bat during the game.

Busby would go on to win 16 games in '73, while losing 15 and posting a 4.23 ERA with 105 walks and 174 Ks in 238.1 innings, good enough for third place in the '73 AL Rookie of the Year balloting. In 1974, he won 22 games and pitched another no-hitter, this time against the Brewers on June 19th. After winning another 18 in 1975, he was beset by ye olde shoulder and knee issues, and won only 11 more games before retiring at the end of 1980.

George "Doc" Medich, with whom Busby shared his 1973 Topps rookie card, had a pretty good '73 himself, going 14-9 with a 2.95 ERA, 74 walks and 145 Ks in 235 innings for the Yankees. In fact, Doc tied Busby in the AL ROY voting, which has to be some kinda oddity — how many times did two guys from the same rookie card actually have good first seasons, let alone good enough to TIE for third in the ROY vote?

Poor Dick Colpaert didn't exactly give Busby and Medich a run for their rookie money; in fact, he never even got a chance. Originally signed by the Orioles as an amateur free agent in 1961, Colpaert had been in the Pirates' organization for a decade at this point, getting his lone cup of coffee with the Bucs in the summer of 1970, when he went 1-0 with a 5.91 ERA in eight relief appearances. Pittsburgh sold him to Kansas City in November '72, and then the Indians plucked him from the Royals a few weeks later in the '72 Rule 5 draft. The Indians had him start the season with the Oklahoma City 89ers, but his 1-2, 5.62 ERA performance in 24 relief appearances didn't exactly inspire anyone in the Cleveland front office to bring him up from Triple-A. He finished the year in Hawaii (a merciful fate, all things considered), losing once and racking up a 9.00 ERA in 9 innings for the Hawaiian Islanders. Colpaert logged 16 more fruitless innings in '74 with the Pawtucket Red Sox, and that was it. He never pitched in the majors again.

Pitch Counts? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Pitch Counts!

Above is a Kellogg's 3-D card of Fergie Jenkins; below is one of Catfish Hunter. Both men were right-handers, both wore moustaches, and both would have chewed your head off if you'd pulled 'em from a game simply because they'd hit the 100-pitch mark. Fergie completed 267 of his starts over 19 seasons, including 30 CGs with the Cubs in 1971 and 29 more with the Rangers in '74; Catfish racked up 181 complete games in his 12-season career, 30 for the 1975 Yankees alone.

But these days, with managers, pitching coaches and GMs all slaves to the pitch count, the complete game is as rare as an album with more than two memorable songs. In this week's edition of "High and Tight," my weekly baseball column for Rolling Stone Online, Tom Morello, Greg Dulli, Alice Cooper, Handsome Dick Manitoba, Steve Earle, Ben Gibbard, Steve and Scott from The Baseball Project and the rest of our esteemed panelists discuss the legitimacy of the pitch count, and the vanishing beauty of the complete game. Check it out, y'all!

Little Joe Has Feelings Too

Thirty-four years ago yesterday, Cincinnati Reds second baseman Joe Morgan bobbled a throw from first baseman Dan Driessen, ending his then-record streak of 91 straight games at second without an error.

While part of me admittedly loves writing "Joe Morgan bobbled a throw," the fact is that I was in awe of him during his playing days; it was only after he misadventured into the broadcast booth that he regularly made me sputter with inchoate rage.

Little Joe was an absolute giant at his position — truly the greatest second baseman of the 70s, if not of all time. I vividly remember watching in the '76 NLCS and World Series, and my father continually pointing out the way he fielded his position, or how he timed pitches with that weird funky chicken pump of his left arm, or how he generally intimidated the fuck out of the opposition at the plate and on the basepaths. He was truly the engine that made the "Big Red Machine" go; even being on the same team as Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez and George Foster, he won both the '75 and '76 NL MVP awards in a landslide.

I recently stumbled upon the awesome pic above, in which Little Joe demonstrates his batting form (and impeccably trimmed sideburns) for Gwen Conley as a guest on "Feelings," a morning TV talk and variety show broadcast on WLWT (channel 5) in Cincinnati. Conley, who initially broke into showbiz as a singer (her 1975 album, The Many Faces of Gwen Conley, fetches a pretty penny these days on Japanese import CD), was one of the first black women to host her own TV show. I haven't been able to find any clips from her show floating around the tubes, but Billy Dee Williams, Redd Foxx, Arthur Ashe, and Johnny Bench all reportedly sat in the same wicker chair that Morgan occupies above. Even local morning television was cooler back in the 70s...

 

Cool Clyde

Funky birthday greetings to David Clyde, the Houston high school phenom who made his first major league start for the Texas Rangers on June 27, 1973 — just three weeks after graduation. Beset by arm trouble, alcohol problems and the pressures of being rushed to "the show" by the Rangers without sufficient seasoning, Clyde pitched his final game in the bigs in August '79, and finished his career with a 18-33 record and a 4.63 ERA. You can see the accumulated strain (and accumulated scruff) on his '79 Indians card above.

Oh Yeah... Happy 420!

 

From Square To Hair

A tip of the Monsanto Toupeé goes out today to Dave Grob, who not only reminded me that today is Reds/Mets infielder Doug Flynn's birthday, but also provided me with this wonderful before-and-after composite pic of Flynn's 'do.

Signed as an amateur free agent out of Lexington, KY by the Cincinnati Reds in 1971, Flynn earned two World Series rings as a role-player on the '75-'76 Big Red Machine squads, but was then shipped to the New York Mets as part of M. Donald Grant's infamous "Midnight Massacre" deal that sent Tom Seaver to the Reds in exchange for Pat Zachry, Dan Norman, Steve Henderson and, of course, Flynn.

As a member of the woeful Mets, Flynn was given ample playing time, and quickly earned the starting gig at second base. If his offensive stats didn't exactly flourish with everyday play (his best season was probably 1979, when he hit .243 with a .265 OBP, 19 doubles, 5 triples, 4 homers and 61 RBI), Doug's white 'fro was free to grow as unchecked as the weeds in Idlewild Park. The Reds, of course, had very specific ideas about personal grooming; the Mets, not so much...

The Reds' front office might have also raised an eyebrow or two at this shirtless, short-shorts-tastic Sports Illustrated pic of Flynn and Mets teammate Joel Youngblood, which makes it looks like the two gents and their prize pooches are spending the All-Star break together on Fire Island. (Not that there's anything wrong with that...)

In other news, the latest edition of High and Tight, my weekly baseball column for Rolling Stone Online, is now up. This week's topic is the best baseball films of all time, and I naturally went for the 1976 classic, The Bad News Bears. Our esteemed rock n' roll panelists — now including George Thorogood and ALICE FRIGGIN' COOPER!!! — came up with some interesting choices of their own, ranging from Eight Men Out (which I clearly need to give another viewing, though the "Say it ain't so, Joe" newsie bit made me want to hurl my mitt at the screen) to such old-school faves as The Pride of the Yankees, It Happens Every Spring and Fear Strikes Out. Check it out!

When You Say Bud...

On this date in 1970, Bud Harrelson hits a solo homer off Grant Jackson in the first inning of the New York Mets' 6-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at Shea Stadium. (He also hits a triple later in the game, drives in two runs, and scores two more times.) This will be the only home run the All Star shortstop hits all season — and the only time in his 16-season major league career that he'll hit a round-tripper at Shea...

And speaking of Bud, the man himself has a new autobiography out called Turning Two: My Journey to the Top of the World and Back with the New York Mets. It was edited by Rob Kirkpatrick, the same cat whose steady editorial hand guided me in the writing of Big Hair and Plastic Grass; huge Mets fan that Rob is, I know it was a real labor of love for him. So far, I'm only up to 1968 in Bud's book; and while it's a little on the "whitebread" side, he's an affable and self-effacing narrator with more than a few amusing anecdotes up his sleeves, including Tom Seaver's love for tiki drinks. I'm looking forward to digging into the rest of it...

 

The House That Ruth Built Re-Opens

Thirty-six years ago today, after being closed two years for renovations, Yankee Stadium re-opened for business with an 11-4 Yankees victory over the Minnesota Twins. Though the WPIX broadcast of that game doesn't appear to exist any longer, the Opening Day pre-game ceremonies — featuring a wide array of Yankee legends, and emceed by the equally legendary Bob Sheppard — are thankfully still available on YouTube.

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

Aside from the sentimental significance of the Yankees returning home after two years in Shea exile, these clips have considerable historical value, not least because 1976 would turn out to mark the Yankees' return to the post-season for the first time in 12 years; this event, therefore, shows Billy Martin's Bronx Bombers reclaiming their pinstriped past on their way to adding an important new chapter to the franchise's history.

Alas, while Babe Ruth hit the first home run at the original Yankee Stadium, the first homer at new refurbished Yankee Stadium came off the bat of a visiting player, Twins outfielder "Disco" Dan Ford. The first Yankee round-tripper at the re-opened park wouldn't come until two days later, when Thurman Munson cranked a solo shot off of the Twins' Jim Hughes. Like Casey Stengel useta say, you could look it up.

Happy Birthday, Charlie Hustle!

Funky birthday greetings goin' out today to Pete Rose, perennial All Star, all-time hits leader, and the fire that stoked the Big Red Machine. Love him or loathe him, "Charlie Hustle" (or "The Battler," as his t-shirt refers to him) was one of the most iconic players of his era, not to mention one of its toughest competitors. Pretty incredible fashion sense off the field as well, as this pre-season shot of him, Joe Morgan and (I think) Ed Armbrister proves...