Jim Wynn was also known as the Toy Cannon. This was a rather colorful nickname, and I never knew if he received this because he had a great arm or not. Maybe he had a bad temper, but his nickname might have more appropriately been the Loose Cannon. I wonder who gave him that nickname. Wynn played most of his career with the Astros including his first few when they were known as the Colt .45's. Jim was traded during the off season to the Dodgers and appeared in their '74 World Series loss to the A's. This was as close as he would ever come to a ring. He played for the '77 Yankees, but was realeased during the season. He was traded for the card previous in this set, #42 Claude Osteen. Wynn's Trades card will appear next in this blog.
Wynn had some pop in his bat, hitting 291 homers in his career, but batted for a fairly poor average, only a .250 clip. Each game I did research for to try to pin this photo down had Jim as the 'Stros leadoff hitter. He hit only .220 in 1973.
Cartoon: Look at those musical notes just floating by. That's a sure indication of jazz. Snapping one's fingers is Jazz, too. Hey, this guy's also wearing a long sleeve undershirt, just like Wynn in the photo. Typical Candlestick day game in June or July. Frigid winds and players wearing sleeves.
Ballpark background: Here, Jim hits the ball up in the air at Candlestick Park. I did some research on the '73 game logs between the Astros and Giants to see if I could place this photo to a specific plate appearance, and I couldn't pin anything down on Wynn. He popped up a couple of times, and flied out to left, and flied out to center a number of times. There were also some nondescript accounts such as "Wynn made an out to second" where it doesn't say if he lined out, popped out or grounded out. For all I know, this shot could have been taken on a foul pop that made the stands during an at bat that had a completely different outcome than a pop up. Judging by the angle of the sun, it's a day game rather than a night game that starts in the summer still in daylight. There's a Giants player in the background, and by the look of the angle it's probably the first baseman. Willie McCovey spent some time on the bench against the Astros in '73, and from the logs it looks like this player might be Dave Kingman, as this player is right handed.
You might be right about that being Dave Kingman. The fielder looks to be a fairly big dude, which the 6'6" "King Kong" definitely was.
ReplyDeleteIt's a game in which Wynn has already reached base safely at least once, judging by the dirt on the seat of his pants.
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteGreat observation. I'll have to go back through the game logs and see if there isn't something later on in a game after he reached base.
Sept 8? In the first inning, Wynn walked and was sacrificed to second. In the seventh inning, Wynn popped out to third, which could be this photo. Kingman was playing first at the time. (PS--Tom Bradley relieved in the 8th inning, and may have had his action photo taken at that time)
ReplyDeleteGary,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the observation. I may have checked Sept 8 and noted its possiblity, but would have to go back and check. The Bradley connection might be worth looking at. I haven't checked his card yet.