Baseball in the 1960's

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Big Klu Slugs Two in Angel Debut

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to David Rolfes of Las Vegas, NV, who correctly identified George Culver as the Reds pitcher who tossed a no-hitter in 1968. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

NEW TRIVIA CONTEST: By answering the TRIVIA QUESTION CORRECTLY you are automatically entered into a weekly drawing for a Starbucks Gift Card. YOU MUST ENTER VIA THE EMAIL AT THE END OF THIS COLUMN. Don't forget to put your mailing address in with the answer so if you win we can send you the gift card in the mail.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: It came in the 9th inning of the last game of the 1961 season. Who hit the final home run for the Los Angeles Angels?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: George Culver was the Reds pitcher who tossed a no-hitter in 1968.

With a team full of everyone else's castoffs and few rookies, the 1961 Los Angeles Angels made their debut on their way to becoming one of the most successful expansion franchises in baseball history. With an impressive win in their very first game 7-2 over Baltimore, half the line-up would be out of baseball the next season or playing for different teams.

Eli Grba, the former Yankee got the call. His battery-mate was Del Rice who broke in, in 1945 with St. Louis and spent many years with the Braves. The most impressive player on the day along with Grba however, was the aging 36 year old Ted Kluszewski. The big former Reds slugger known for his sleeveless baseball card, homered in his very first Angel at bat with a man on in the first inning to give the Halos a 2-0 lead. He did it again in the third with two men on. Klu would go on to smash 13 more on the year. It was his final season in the big leagues.

Also impressive was Bob Cerv, another former Yankee who gave the Angels their very first back-to-back home runs following Kluszewski in the third. Outfielder Cerv would hit five more all season. The rest of the line-up on the first Angels Opening Day looked like this.

Eddie Yost at third, Ken Aspromonte at second, Fritz Brickell at short with an out field of Albie Pearson and Ken Hunt. Both Lou Johnson and Julio Becquer also played. Yost played his 18th and last season in 1962 with L-A, Aspromonte was waived in July and picked up by Cleveland, Brickell played only 21 games for the Angels and was out of baseball, Pearson became an Angel regular and led the AL in runs scored in 1962. He retired after the 1966 season, Hunt finished his career in 1964 with Washington, Johnson moved across town to the Dodgers and led them to the 1965 World Series where he hit two home runs and Becquer was sold to Philadelphia one month after his Angel debut.

Grba (11-13 in 1961), along with Big Klu, stole the show that opening day. Eli went the distance in pitching a six-hitter allowing the O's four walks while striking out five, in beating ace Milt Pappas. The 7-2 victory on April 11, would be the Angels last until April 28th as the Halos dropped eight in a row after the initial win.

The club would finish a respectable 70-91 in 8th place. However, Bill Rigney's club would storm ahead the following season. They finished 86-76 to finish in third place. Grba started Opening Day in 1962 and pitched well but got a no decision in a 2-1 loss to the White Sox.

The 1961 club was a power club. The top five smacked 118 homers between them with each eclipsing 20 homers. Hunt hit 25 and despite not being in the line-up on opening day Earl Averill hit 21, Steve Bilko hit 20, Lee Thomas had 24 and Leon "Daddy Wags" led the club with 28.

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Tuesday, May 25, 2021

The Other 1968 Reds

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Steve Schubert of Bradenton, FL who correctly identified Steve Barber as the pitcher who gave up Roger Repoz's first home run. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: He pitched for six teams in nine years but in 1968 he tossed a no-hitter for the Reds. Who was he?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Steve Barber gave up the first major league homer ever hit by Roger Repoz.

You can look at the 1968 Cincinnati Reds and realize they were the "Big Red Machine" about to happen. They had not yet acquired Joe Morgan but the rest of the pieces were there. Rose, Bench, Perez, Helms, Cardenas, Lee May, Alex Johnson and Pinson. They were about to become a mini-dynasty despite the fourth place finish of 1968. This column however is about the bench.

(Gary Nolan and Johnny Bench the Youth of 1968)
Rarely if ever does a team possess a bench of guys who either did, or would be feared sluggers in their own right. Just run down the names the likes of Mack Jones, Don Pavletich, Fred Whitfield, Hal McRae, Bob Johnson, and even Woody Woodward deserves a mention. These six players combined for 18 home runs and roughly about a .260 average that season.

Jones his 133 homers in his career including 31 for the 1965 Braves. He was a powerful left-handed bat who in his hey day was a strong defensive player as well. Jones played in 103 games for the Reds in 1968 and belted 10 home runs. Pavletich never batted more than 235 times in a season but hit over .300 once and hovered near it another time. His best was 12 home runs but he could really drive the ball.

Whitfield did most of his damage in the AL with Cleveland. The big first sacker would hit 108 homers in his career and three times better the 20 homer mark in a season. He hit 27 in 1966. McRae's best years were to come. With 191 life time home runs he led the AL in RBI in 1982 with 133 for the Royals. McRae several times was in the running for the league MVP.

Bob Johnson was known as a guy who could get out of bed on Sunday morning and pinch hit a single. Three times over his 11 years in the big leagues he batted over .300 with a .348 mark in 1967. A lifetime .272 hitter he played for eight different teams.

And then there was Woody Woodward. He only gets a mention here because he went almost his entire major league career without hitting a home run. Woodward broke into the big leagues in 1963 with Milwaukee and played regular shortstop for several years but also played a lot of games in those non-starting years. It wasn't until 1970 he got his first and only MLB home run.

Over 2400 times he came to the plate and finally on July 10, 1970 belted the homer off former teammate Ron Reed and the Braves. The Reds had one of the most powerful starting line-ups at the time and in 1968 they had an outstanding bench.

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Roger Repoz; Beware the Month of June

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Mickey Bauchan of Flint, MI, who correctly identified Luke Walker as the pitcher who gave up Orlando Cepeda's final home run while he was playing for Kansas City against Detroit in August 1975. It figures a reader from MI gets the question about a Tigers player giving up the gopher ball. LOL. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Which Oriole's pitcher gave up Roger Repoz first major league home run in 1965?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Luke Walker was the pitcher who gave up Orlando Cepeda's final home run while he was playing for Kansas City against Detroit in August 1975.

He was one of many who were supposed to be the next Mickey Mantle. An inspiring looking player at 6'3" 190 lb., he ended up falling far short, and was just Roger Repoz. The slugging outfielder with the cannon arm, Repoz came up to the Yankees in late 1964 but became a platoon regular in 1965. As Mantle was winding down, Repoz was supposed to be heating up. It never happened.

Repoz batted a lowly .220 with 12 homers that first year in the big leagues in just 218 at bats. In a full season that would have translated to about 25 home runs. Certainly with a .260 average that would have caught the attention of Yankee brass and endeared them to keep him around longer. In 1966 after only 43 AB in 37 games (used mostly as a pinch-hitter) Repoz was dealt to Kansas City. It seems he had fallen so far from the heir apparent wagon the trade was one of journeymen, and Repoz.

(Beware the Month of June, as Repoz was traded three times, three times in June)

In June, Repoz was traded by the New York Yankees with Gil Blanco and Bill Stafford to the Kansas City Athletics for Billy Bryan and Fred Talbot. None of which were up and coming stars but rather guys who were at the end of their careers trying to hang on. Talbot would stick around for a couple of years in a Yankee uniform. The trade didn't help Repoz. He finished the 1966 campaign with 11 HR and .232.

He was batting .241 with a pair of homers in 40 games before the A's gave up on him. He was sent packing to the Angels for Jack Sanford and Jackie Warner. He batted .250 for the Halo's to finish at .247 with seven dingers. Over the next five years he would hit 52 homers and never hit higher than .240 with some dismal years in the middle of that.

When the Angeles gave up on him by sending him to the Orioles in June of 1972 for Jerry Davanon, he was sent to AAA Rochester. He played out the season and then after being traded three times in the middle of June (twice on June 10th) Repoz chose another route. He went to Japan to play ball.

He spent the next five seasons playing for more than one Japanese team and hit 122 home runs over five seasons before retiring at age 36. He did have a dubious distinction. In 1971, Repoz became the first player in MLB history to compile an OPS of greater than .700 while putting up a batting average of under .200 (.199) and playing in a minimum of 100 games.

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