#292 Chuck Porter

Card thoughts: The only thought I have about a dull card like this, where Porter apparently is sitting on a golf course somewhere, is why he was issued a card at all. He pitched only 13 innings. Well, that, and the fact that the color bleed makes Porter look like his mascara is running.

The player: Porter spent many years in the minors, and really didn’t get a major league shot until the age of 28.

Originally drafted by the Angels after being named the 1976 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year while at Clemson University, Porter went a combined 20-2 between A and AA ball in 1977, his second minor league season. The rest of his minor league career was fairly pedestrian. After a terrible 5-9 5.72 ERA season at Salt Lake City two years later, Porter was released in spring training and picked up by the Brewers.

After two cups of coffee in 1981 and 1982, Porter once again was the last player cut out of spring training in 1983. But he would come up in May to join the Brewers rotation. As an old rookie, Porter did have some success, sporting a fine strikeout-to-walk ratio, yet giving up 162 hits in 134 innings. The next year Porter started out stronger, carrying a 6-4 record and 3.87 ERA into August. But Porter was injury-prone all year and his season ended prematurely when he blew out a tendon in his elbow. This also meant that Porter would not pitch again until the end of the 1985 season, making the Topps choice of issuing a card even more surprising.

Porter was cut from the major league roster in spring training once again in 1986. After spending that entire season at AAA Vancouver, Porter ended his pro baseball career.

Rear guard: Porter's first major league win came against the Rangers and was a complete game. He struck out 4 and gave up only 2 runs. 

Woah! The third line of "Talkin' Baseball" is why justifying the text is not always a good idea. Lew Krausse had a father with the same name who also played major league baseball. The younger Krausse had a fine rookie season (1966) for the Kansas City A's, but was never more than a sub .500 pitcher after that. In 1970, he went 13-18 for the Brewers, and that was his only shutout he threw. Here's his card from that season.

#291 Tom Lasorda

Card thoughts: Look at that gut! Not surprising that Tommy (not Tom) Lasorda started an Italian food business while he was managing. And look at that. Two hall of famers in a row!

The player/manager: Lasorda is one of those rare managers who was a pitcher. He barely pitched in the majors, going 0-4 in 3 seasons with the Dodgers and A’s. He did spend a considerable amount of time at AAA in the Dodgers system, however (going 110-63 in 11 seasons). Even as a player, he was chubby.

Lasorda started his coaching career with the Dodgers in the minors in the 60s, and was soon promoted to be the third base coach under legendary manager Walt Alston, then in his 20^th year of managing the Dodgers. Lasorda, who was offered several other managerial jobs, turned them all down as he expected to succeed Alston when the latter retired, which he did in 1976.

Lasorda won the pennant in his first two Dodgers seasons (the first time in history that had been done by a first-time manager). In a famous moment in the 1977 series, Lasorda, who was miked, came out to remove pitcher Doug Rau, and ended up swearing a blue streak trying to get him off the mound.  After a couple of years missing the playoffs, he guided the Dodgers to a World Series win in 1981.

A great motivator, Lasorda always seemed to get the best out of his players, and he was especially good with rookies, as he managed nine rookie of the year winners. He tended to field the same lineup every day, but his in-game management was sometimes too focused on small ball.

In another great “blue” audio clip, Lasorda excoriated light-hitting Padre Kurt Bevacqua for accusing him for ordering #56 Tom Niedenfuer to throw at his teammate in 1982.

Lasorda’s Dodgers won the division in 1983 and ’85, but didn’t advance to the World Series again until 1988 when they won it all again, over a heavily favored A’s squad (an indelible vision from that series: Lasorda throwing his hands in the air and running onto the field after Kirk Gibson’s dramatic game ending home run).

He would win the division again in 1995, but never got back to the World Series. Lasorda suffered a heart attack in 1996, and left midway through the season, replaced by his one-time starting shortstop, Bill Russell.

With a .526 career winning percentage and 1,599 wins, Lasorda was selected for the hall of fame in 1997. Long considered one of baseball’s best ambassadors, Lasorda was selected to coach the gold-winning USA baseball team in the 2000 summer games.  His portrait hangs in the national gallery in Washington DC.

Rear guard: Big mystery: Why did I circle #145 Pedro Guerrero? Otherwise, the back of this card is a mess: Gum stains, ink stains, etc. 

As for the players selected for cards, Jay Johnstone, who never even played the field and had only 15 at bats, probably should not been issued a card. Alejandro Pena on the pitching side is in the same boat, having only pitched in 2 games. Disgraced pitcher Steve Howe should have been included instead.

#290 Carlton Fisk

Card thoughts: This has to be a spring training game. Lots of bright whites going on here.

The player: In the 70s, you had three colossal catchers: Johnny Bench, Thurman Munson, and Carlton Fisk. Unlike the first two, Fisk continued his dominance well into the 80s.

Perhaps most famous for his willing of a game winning home run to go fair rather than foul in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, Fisk, nicknamed “Pudge” came up with the Red Sox in 1969. He had to serve some time in the milirary (by the looks of his minor league numbers, from 1970-71), but he was up for good in 1972, where won the Rookie of the Year and his only gold glove. Fisk’s 9 triples his rookie year led the league, the last time a catcher would accomplish that feat.

Fisk looked to be a star in the making. But his longevity was in question after Leron Lee collided with him at home plate in the 52nd game of 1974 season. He tore several ligaments in his knee, and at one point was told he’d never play again. Of course, Fisk ended up catching the most games all time (now passed by Ivan Rodriguez). But the comeback started in 1975, when he hit .331 in 72 games, and followed that up with 2 home runs and 7 RBIs in the World Series.

Interesting note about Fisk’s famous footage of him willing the ball fair: The

camera man was supposed to follow the ball, but distracted by a rat (!) he left the camera on Fisk, thus creating an indelible image. Since then, camera operators are instructed to follow the player rather than the ball.

Fisk only got better after the knee injury. In 1977, he had his best season as a Red Sox when he scored a career high 106 runs, 169 hits, and .315 average. Fisk also hit 26 home runs and 102 runs batted in. He followed that up with another 20 homers and 88 runs batted in in 1978. In his spare time, he promoted dip in this cheesy ad where he chops down trees.

Fisk was at the center of some legendary Red Sox-Yankee brawls, including one where he beat up both Thurman Munson and Gene Michael, and one where he knocked down Lou Pinella after the latter had bowled him over at the plate.

Despite being one of the best catchers in the game, Fisk felt he was underpaid by the Red Sox, and lobbied for more. He became a free agent in 1980 after the Red Sox GM, Heywood Sullivan, sent his contract a day late. Signing with the other Sox (White), Fisk was the face of the franchise until his retirement 13 years later.

Fisk was the starting catcher in the all star game from 1980-1982 and 1985. He helped the White Sox to the ALCS in 1983, when he finished third in MVP voting as he put up .518 slugging percentage. Fisk also hit for the cycle in 1984. But the year shown on this card (at age 37) he had one of his best seasons, swatting his age in homers and driving in 107 runs (despite hitting only .238).

Although age did begin to catch up with him after that season, Fisk continued to put up solid power numbers. He even managed to catch over 100 games in both 1990 and 1991, despite being over 40. After breaking Bob Boone’s games caught record, Fisk got a motorcycle and addressed the hometown crowd. Despite his popularity in Chicago, owner Jerry Reinsdorf apparently really disliked Fisk, and he was released a few days later while on a road trip. He was also thrown out of the White Sox clubhouse later in the season, after he wished his former teammates luck in the playoffs.

As an indicator of his hard nosed, old-school attitude, he once told Deion Sanders after the latter had failed to run out a pop fly, “There is a right way and a wrong way to play this game. You're playing it the wrong way. And the rest of us don't like it. Someday, you're going to get this game shoved right down your throat.”

Elected to the hall of fame on the second ballot in 2000, other honors for Fisk post-retirement include the left field foul pole at Fenway park being renamed the “Fisk Foul Pole” (2005), and life-size statue unveiled later that year outside U.S. Cellular Field later that same year. Perhaps feeling guilty about those Copenhagen ads he cut in the 70s, Fisk has been a long time supporter of the Cancer Support Center.

Unfortunately, Fisk has been in the news lately for a less honorable reason as he was found passed out in a corn field with an empty bottle of vodka in his car. He pled guilty a few days ago to a DUI charge.

Rear guard: Fisk's 1,000th hit came off Rickey Keeton on the Brewers. It was a solo homer in the 2nd inning. He would end up with 2,356 hits over a 25 year career.