#393 Chris Pittaro

Card thoughts: So many Tigers in this set are shivering in the dugout. Quite a contrast to the sunny Florida photos so prevalent in this set. Also, Pittaro’s position should be solely third base.

The player: Sparky Anderson was a great manager, but a terrible evaluator of young talent. He deemed Pittaro the “best rookie he’d seen in 15 years”—but he lasted only 28 games with the Tigers.

The son of a former minor leaguer with the Twins, Pittaro played ball at the University of North Carolina. Drafted in the sixth round, he played second base in the minors, but that was a problem because the Tigers had #20 Lou Whitaker starting there. Anderson liked Pittaro so much, Whitaker was asked to move to third (which he rightly refused).

Instead, Pittaro was the one moving to third, as he was the Opening Day starter there in 1985. It was intended that he would platoon with veteran Tom Brookens. But after two months, he had an OPS of just .621, and he was sent down to AAA, never to return to the Tigers.

A trade with the Twins after the season (for #43 Dave Engle) gave him another opportunity, as he once again broke camp with a major league club. But a .095 average in 11 games sent him right back down to the minors again. After a few more games at the major league level in ’97, and 73 games at AAA in ’88, Pittaro retired.

He has had much more of an impact on baseball in retirement. A former minor league roommate of Billy Beane, he is considered one of the architects of the A’s “Moneyball” system as a scout, and later scouting director.

Rear guard: Pittaro had three hits opening day, and stole a base. His first hit came off Bert Blyleven and was a single.

Schoolboy Rowe was an excellent hitting pitcher. In his 15 year career he hit .263 including 18 home runs. That grand slam was his only home run in 1939. 

#392 John Russell

Card thoughts: This is a classic Topps pose for a hitter. Before the card companies figured out how to take good action shots, you’d find pretty much all hitters posed in this way (when they weren’t fake fielding a ball in foul territory).

The player: John Russell is the unusual player who switched from outfielder/first baseman to catcher later in his career, rather than the other way around.

A first round draft pick of the Phillies in 1982, Russell spent three years honing his craft at AAA Portland before being called up for good in 1985. Although his .218 batting average wasn’t too impressive, he had a decent power stroke. Pressed into service at catcher when #263 Darren Daulton was out for most of 1986, Russell had a surprisingly good season, hitting 13 home runs and driving 60 while slugging .444—great numbers for a catcher, especially one with not much experience at the position. Of course, there was a reason Russell was not used much at catcher. He only caught 24% of would be base stealers; he led the league in passed balls (12); and he was well below average in total fielding runs (-16).

With the return of Daulton in ’87, Russell’s playing time was drastically cut. He batted just .145 as the backup leftfielder, and spent most of that and the next season at AAA Maine. So, like a piece of chattel, he was sold to the Braves at the end of spring training in 1989. Staying in the majors all year, he saw time at six different positions (including pitcher). Despite having a reputation as a poor catcher, he actually ranked in the top ten in caught stealing that season. But with an improvement in defense, came a regression at the plate as his .185 batting average was accompanied with little power (just 4 extra base hits and 9 RBIs in 159 at bats).

Moving to the Rangers in 1990, Russell would spend the rest of his career in the organization. His best season as a backup would occur in that first season (most of the rest, he was the “third catcher” kept in reserve in the minors).  In 1990, he had a .273 average and .682 OPS, the highest in his career.

Russell is better known today as the former manager of the Pirates (during a few of their “lost” seasons). Long a top managerial prospect (he managed at: Elizabethton, Fort Myers, New Britain, and Edmonton), he joined Lloyd McClendon’s staff as the third base coach for the Pirates from 2003-2005. This was a job he wasn’t really good at (he had a habit of waving runners home to their certain doom at the plate), which made it surprising that he was brought back as a manager in 2008. In his second go round with the Pirates, they were still hapless and Russell had a 186-299 record in 2 ½ seasons. His .384 winning percentage was the worst of any manager who managed during the Pirates 20 year losing streak and the worst since Fred Haney’s .353 winning percentage from 1953-1955.

However, Russell landed on his feet, becoming the Orioles third base coach in 2011. But years of catching had ruined Russell’s knees, and he had to switch places with Willie Randolph for the 2012 season, when he became the bench coach. 

Rear guard: Yes, the spitball was legal until Ray Chapman was killed by a spitball in a poorly lit game in 1920 (the spit was often mixed with tobacco juice, darkening the ball). The ban wasn't absolute at first--each team could designate two spitballers who were still allowed to throw the pitch. Finally, just 17 pitchers who used the pitch as their primary out pitch kept the exemption. 

Mitchell pitched until 1932 (with the Giants). He was a terrible pitcher (his career high in wins was 13 at age 40, this at a time pitchers figured in more decisions). The last pitcher in baseball to legally throw the spitter was Jack Quinn in 1933.

#391 Julio Franco

Card thoughts: Julio Franco: ageless wonder. This is the last player from this set to retire . . . and it isn’t even his rookie card.

The player: Franco, who was signed in 1978 by the Phillies, did not retire until 2007 when he was 49.  The man had three careers, essentially. As a young man, he was one of the top hitting shortstops in the game; he spent five separate seasons abroad in his mid to late 30s, in Japan, South Korea, and Mexico; and then, he came back improbably as a 40 year old and spent about a decade as one of the game’s top pinch hitters and bench players.

Franco pretty much flat out hit as soon as he was signed, swatting over .300 ever year he spent in the minors. He was yet another great Phillies prospect in the early eighties who they sent away. Franco was traded to the Indians in 1982 with four other players for Von Hayes (who, to be fair, turned out to be a really good player for the Phillies).

Very quickly, Franco became a really good hitter, with a knack for driving in runs, despite not having much power. His rookie year, he drove in 80 runs, despite slugging just .388 (he came in second in Rookie of the Year voting to Ron Kittle). Franco 
wasn't the prototypical cleanup hitter, however, as he also had great speed, reaching double digits in steals in each of his first nine seasons. The one aspect of his game that was lacking, however, was his play at shortstop where he routinely led the league in errors. Franco was also prone to hitting into double plays, as he used the heaviest allowable bat, which led to a lot of hard hit balls at infielders.

It is hard to pick a standout year for Franco when he was with the Indians, because he was so remarkably consistent.  Between 1984 and 1988 he generally scored around 86 runs; had about 180 hits; drove in about 70 runs; and hit about .299. Despite this, Franco never made an all star team, overshadowed by Tony Fernandez. His big break came when he moved to second for the 1988 season, just before being part of a large trade with the Rangers. The Indians sent him to the Rangers for #328 Pete O’Brien  and youngsters Jerry Browne and Oddibe McDowell.

With the Rangers, Franco made the all star team three straight years (1989-1991), starting at second in the 1989 game. In a better hitters’ park, Franco began to hit for more power, hitting 39 home runs during that three year span. His best season of his career came in 1991, when reached career highs in runs (108), hits (201), steals (36), and batting average (a league leading .341).

However, in 1992 he was injured most of the year, the only significant time he ever spent on the disabled list. The injury ended his career at second. From now on, Franco would either play first or DH. He spent one last season with the Rangers, where he returned to form, hitting 14 home runs and driving in 84, before signing with the White Sox. Mainly used as a designated hitter, Franco’s 20 home runs and 98 runs batted in were both career highs (and this was a strike shortened season).

Franco signed with the Chiba Lotte Japanese League team for the 1995 season, and he earned the fielding award for his play at first, showing that he could still play the field. 1996 found him again back with the Indians, where he started at first and hit .322. But Franco was now 37, and the Indians felt he was too old. Midway through the 1997 season, he was released, and ended the year with Brewers, who also released him.

For most players that would be it. An out of work 38 year old with declining fielding skills, Franco was not in much demand. But he refused to stop playing. From 1998-2001, he was on a worldwide odyssey, playing again in Japan (hitting .290 for Chiba Lotte), in South Korea, and Mexico (.437 for the Mexico City Reds in 2001). The Braves recruited him for the stretch drive that season, and the 43 year old hit .300 off the bench.

But even more amazingly, in each of the next four seasons, Franco appeared in over 100 games, even becoming the starting first baseman in 2002. Later on, he served as a well-used backup for youngsters Robert Fick and Andy LaRoche.

After becoming the oldest position player in major league history in 2004, the Braves finally cut ties with the ageless wonder in 2005, but he was quickly snatched up by the Mets, with who he hit .256 in a season and a half. Franco finally hung it up in the majors in 2007 at age 48. Of course, Franco would play one more season in Mexico at age 49 after his major league career had finished.

Franco retires with a lot of age-related records, including oldest player to hit a grand slam and oldest to hit a home run. He was also the last player eligible to wear a batting helmet with no ear flaps, having been around before that was standard. For his career, he played 25 years, amassed 2,586 hits, and hit .298.

Rear guard: Lou Boudreau was the rare all-around shortstop in his era. He made the hall of fame primarily because of his hitting, yet he led shortops in fielding 8 out of 9 years. He is 19th all time in double plays turned by a shortstop. Ray Mack was his primary double play partner from 1940-1943, not in 1945 (when I assume he was in the war). I believe 1943 is the year Topps is referring to (yet another Talkin' Baseball error!).