#236 Frank Eufemia

Card thoughts:I always got this guy mixed up with Pete Filson. And, I couldn’t pronounce his name. This is Eufemia’s only Topps card, and he's either chewing tobacco or sucking on a Gobstopper.

The player: This will be a short post. This season was Eufemia’s only one in the majors. He debuted on May 21 (pitching 3 1/3 innings and striking out 2) and his career ended October 1 (1 inning, 1 walk, 1 strikeout). In between, he relieved in 37 other games, struck out 30, and saved 2 games.

Eufemia attempted a couple of minor league comebacks, once with Tidewater (Mets) in 1992 and again with New Jersey (Independent) in 1998, but neither of them worked out. He is a gym teacher at a high school in Montvale, NJ.

Rear guard: Eufemia's first save came in a close 1-0 victory over the White Sox. He was lucky to get the save. After starter Mike Smithson walked Carlton Fisk with one out, Eufemia was called on to relieve, where he promptly gave up a single to Ron Kittle, advancing Fisk to second. In what must have been a base running blunder, Fisk was somehow thrown out at third on a single to right by Jerry Hairston. Eufemia then retired Ozzie Guillen with a flyball to right to earn the save.


Don Mincher was a typical mid-level slugger in the 1960s, generally hitting about 20 homers a year, and struggling to hit over .250. He had 7 hits in 44 pinch at bats in 1964. Here's Mincher's card representing that year.

#235 Butch Wynegar

Card thoughts: "Butch" is the nickname they always gave the tough kids in young boys' stories. Or "Spike." We'll see a Spike later in the set.

 The player: Wynegar was one of the best young catchers in the 1970s, coming in second in the Rookie of the Year voting at the age of 20. But his trade to the Yankees in 1982 spiraled his career and mental health downward and he was never the same player again.

Wynegar never played above A-ball before debuted with the Twins April 9, 1976. But that didn’t seem to matter, as he hit 10 homers, drove in 69, and walked more than he struck out, as a rookie. Wynegar was no slouch behind the plate either, as he rated just behind Jim Sundberg as the best defensive catcher in the American League. He also was the youngest player at the time to appear in an all star game where he drew a walk in his only at bat. Topps gave him a rookie cup card for his efforts.

Wynegar’s sophomore campaign was even better, as he made his second straight all star team and upped his RBI total to 79, and improved his stellar defense even more by catching 60 base runners stealing, leading the league. He slumped to a .229 average in 1978, but came back with consistent seasons in 1979 and 1980 where he drove in 57 runs each year and kept his average above .250.

Despite signing a lucrative free agent contract with the Twins before the 1981 season, he was traded to the Yankees in the middle of the 1982 season because his poor .209 average (#122 Pete Filson was one of the players he was exchanged for). At first, Wynegar thrived under the good natured tutelage of Yogi Berra and several other “right hand men-managers” to tyrant-tycoon George Steinbrenner, hitting .293 the rest of the way that season. But he hated New York City, so much so that he only went to Manhattan twice in all of his years playing for the Yankees.

Wynegar was platooned with Rick Cerone initially, but once again became the everyday catcher in 1984 and he hit .267. But with arrival of Billy Martin as manager in 1985, his career and mental stability took a turn for the worse. His .223 average that season was the lowest in his career, and he lost playing time to #157 Ron Hassey. The shy and sensitive Wynegar hated Martin’s brash, macho attitude. He was relieved when Lou Pinella replaced him the next season, but he found the latter was just as bad as the former. Hitting .206 in mid July, Wynegar eventually lost all will to play the game, and quit the team in before a game in Cleveland in the midst of three year contract. There’s a fascinating article in the Reading Eagle (part 1 and part 2) with more detail of what led up to this incident.

Placed on the restricted list, Wynegar didn’t know if he wanted to play baseball again. But the Yankees were able to off-load him to the Angels after the season, where played sparingly behind iron man catcher #62 Bob Boone for two years before calling it quits in 1988.

Wynegar has both managed and acted as a coach in the minors since his retirement. He is the hitting coach for the Yankees AAA squad.

Rear guard: Wynegar's first home run was a solo shot off future hall-of-famer Catfish Hunter.


This date in baseball history: In 1962, two Red Sox players, Gene Conley and Pumpsie Green, in a scene straight out of a prison break movie go missing from the Red Sox team bus. They asked to use the bathroom while the bus was stuck in traffic and then disappeared.  They were missing for three days, and then were spotted trying to board a plane is Israel without passports or luggage.

#234 Doug Corbett

Card thoughts: This would be the last Topps card featuring Corbett with a mustache. He went clean shaven on his 1987 card, and he wasn’t issued one in 1988. All of his cards up until this one showed him with a ‘stache.

The player: Corbett was a sidearm pitcher with a great sinker. The sinker was only consistently effective, however, when he was with the Twins. Once he reached the Angels (a better team), many questioned whether the added pressure got to him. His sinker started to hang, and he started to get creamed.

Before he could make it to the majors, Corbett was with two other organizations, first the Royals and then the Reds. The Twins drafted him in the Rule V draft in 1979. In his first two years, Corbett was one of the best closers in baseball. His rookie season (at the fairly advanced age of 27) in 1980 saw Corbett save 23 games with a 1.93 ERA. He came in third in rookie of the year voting. The next year, Corbett was an all star, and he led the league with 54 appearances. He saved 17 games for a terrible Twins team and featured another fine ERA of 2.57.

Corbett was off to a poor start with the Twins in 1982, but still the Angels coveted him. The Angels liked him so much, they traded minor league slugger Tom Brunansky (who would be a force in the middle of the Twins lineup for years to come) to get him. At the time of the trade, Corbett stated that it was “like going from the outhouse to the penthouse.” Unfortunately, for the first two years with the Halos, Corbett was either terrible (8 saves in 1982 but an awful 5.05 ERA) or mostly pitching in AAA (1983). In 1984, however, Corbett made a comeback of sorts, staying healthy and reducing his ERA to 2.12.

But it was back to his ineffective ways for this season, as his ERA ballooned to 4.89. Corbett had his last good season as a member of the AL West winning 1986 Angels team. Filling in for the injured Donnie Moore mid-season, he saved 10 games, the most since 1983. He won Game 4 of the ALCS by pitching 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, but he was scored upon in his other two appearances, giving up a run in a third of an inning in Game 2, and 3 runs in 2 2/3 of inning in Game 6.

Corbett signed a one-year contact with the Orioles after the season, but the team released him in August after he posted a 7.83 ERA over 23 innings.

In retirement, Corbett coached for a time at his alma mater, the University of Florida.

Rear guard: No surprise that Nolan Ryan threw the fastest ball in Angels history. I wonder if this "Talkin' Baseball" fact will appear for other teams?

This date in baseball history: This is the day of the "Pine Tar Incident", when a George Brett home run to win a game against the Yankees was disallowed due to too much pine tar on his bat in 1983.