Over the years, the major leagues have seen 233 players named Ron, 110 Sammys, and 59 Ernies. But there has been only one Cuno, and based on his performance, one is all we need.
Facundo Anthony Barragan was a part time catcher for the Cubs from 1961 - 1963. His big claim to fame is here on the back of his card from 1963: He is one of 101 players to hit a home run in his first major league at bat.
On September 1, 1961 in front of a Wrigley Field crowd(?) of 5,427, Cuno homered off of Giants pitcher Dick LeMay in the second inning. As he rounded the bases, he might have been thinking to himself, "Hitting in the major leagues is easy!" Well, no its not. He grounded out to short his other two at bats that day.
Unfortunately for Cuno, his career peaked on September 1, 1961. He never hit another major league home run again. He spent all of the 1962 season with the Cubs, getting into 58 games. In 1963 he played in only one game (and appropriately, he struck out) before being sent to the minors in May. He was later traded to the Dodgers, but never played in the big leagues again. His career average was a piddly .202.
Based on his career stats, I thought it would be appropriate to update the back of Cuno's card thusly:
awesome card!!!!
ReplyDeletecachorro vic