196(9) At A Time - Page 54

#473 – Jose Arcia Arcia spent all of 1968 with the Cubs and played in 59 games, but hit only .194 The Cubs left him unprotected and he was taken by the Padres in the expansion draft. He made it into 120 games for the Padres, but still couldn’t do much about his average, hitting only .215.



#474 – Tom Murphy He impressed the Angels brass with a 2.17 ERA in 15 starts in 1968 and earned a permanent spot in the rotation for 1969. Things didn’t go as well in '69 and his ERA ballooned to 4.21 as he posted a 10-16 record.



#475 – Tim McCarver Nothings says “I hate baseball on Fox” more than Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. One guy lives off of daddy’s name and the other is well past his prime. In 1969 McCarver was just past his playing prime. His power number and average both slipped in 1968 and improved little in 1969. After the season he was sent to the Phillies as part of the Curt Flood trade.



#476 – Red Sox Rookies When this card came out he was just “Ken Brett” not “George Brett’s big brother.” He was still a little ways off from establishing himself as a major league pitcher, making only 8 appearances in 1969. Moses had a decent rookie season, hitting .304 in 53 games.



#477 – Jeff James The card has two Cubs connections: the picture taken at Wrigley Field, and the back states that he threw a 8-0 shutout against the Cubs. 1968 was his rookie season and he was 4-4. He would pitch in only 6 games as a September call up in 1969 and then never resurfaced in the majors.



#478 – Don Buford Its nice to see newer pictures in this series instead of airbrushed cards. Buford’s first season with the Orioles was 1968, so this is a recent shot. He hit a career high 15 HRs for the Orioles and was 15th in MVP balloting. He had an unusual stat in 1969, getting caught stealing a league high 18 times (to go along with 18 successful steals – 50% in not a good rate). It was the third time in four seasons he led the league in caught stealing.



#479 – Richie Scheinblum After three seasons of a cup of coffee, Scheinblum finally stuck with the Indians in 1969. He played in 102 games, but hit only .186. In 1970 it was back to the minors for Richie.



#480 – Tom Seaver ….nothing good to say at all about the Mets’ ace.



#481 – Bill Melton I’m not sure why we get a hatless Melton, since he was a product of the Sox farm system. Sox fans tried to convince me he was better than Ron Santo. I laughed at them.



Overall Set Totals (player cards only)
Hall of Famers - 31
Hatless - 108
Airbrush - 90
Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 64