#52 - Al Oliver (PIT)

Al Oliver.  A name that brings back some terrible memories.  Some are terrible because he was a good player for another team that beat you.  Some are terrible because he was signed by your team and was terrible.  He played 18 years in the majors, a bit over half of them with the Pirates.  I always viewed him as a good player, but not the caliber of a Clemente or Stargell.  Then when my Giants signed him in 1984 after a number of All-Star seasons, a few 100 RBI years and 8 consecutive tours over .300, things looked promising.  But he was a bust.  Even though he batted over .300 for most of his stint with the G-Men, he had so few RBI.  He knocked in only 34 in 360 at bats, and became an automatic boo for the fans.  They offed him to the Phils in August to ease the pain.  It was the beginning of the end of his career.

But that doesn't really taint his career overall.  He won a ring with the great 1971 Pirates team, and was a strong visual impression in the black and gold. He finished his career with an impressive .303.  I remember Al shipping off to Texas and taking his last initial as his uniform number - 0.  He played like anything other than a zero.  I know this paved the way for Odibe McDowell doing it with the Rangers later on in the 80's.  Or at least I think so.

Cartoon: Al is showing off his new Rawlings first baseman's mitt.  Al made numerous pitches to Willie McCovey and Willie Stargell to adopt the same piece of leather, but to no avail. 


Ballpark background: Candlestick Park. 

#27 - George Scott (MIL)

I always like seeing players with the same last name as me.  Knowing my family tree extensively, I am sure there is no relation.  Other notables are Jake Scott, the Miami Dolphin safety from the undefeated team, Fast Freddie Scott from the Detroit Lions past, Luke Scott who played for the Astros a few years ago, and a few assorted NFL linemen.  There's also that Astros dude that used sandpaper on the ball, Mike.  Byron?  A few namesakes include a professional mile runner, professional golfer and a Chicago news anchorman.  George Scott had a decent career of 14 years, was a slugger for a good part of it, and was coming off one of his two best years when this card was released.


Cartoon: Note, George is only ONE of the flashiest fielding first sackers in the bigs.  We all know the cartoonist knows Willie Montanez is simply THE flashiest, he just can't say it.  Not PC, even in 1974 terms.  And George's cartoon is backhanding a ball from behind.  His next move is to cross dribble between his legs twice, then an alley-oop to Michael Jordan at the hoop.  Oh, wait.  Maybe it will be to Wilt the Stilt at the top of the key for a sky hook.  Okay, wrong sport.  After I post this, I'll go onto YouTube to try to find some George Scott flashy action.  I know he was flashy, because his last year he played part of a year with the Royals and his uniform number was 0.  Having a number of 0 in the 70's was flashy, almost by definition.

Ballpark background:  Add one part Brewers road uniforms, one part yellow shirt behind George's right thigh, one part yellow sock just below George's right knee, then we sprinkle a bunch of yellow in the crowd beyond him, top with a sloping dugout roof toward the field, mix well, bake at 475 for 15 minutes, and out pops the Oakland Coliseum.

Situation ID: [Updated 03-20-11]  This action shot of Scott was at the Oakland Coliseum.  It looks as if he is watching a popup.  If this photo was taken in 1973, then it was likely on Saturday, August 18, a day game, when cleanup hitter Scott fouled out to first baseman Deron Johnson leading off the second inning off of pitcher John "Blue Moon" Odom.  The A's took the game 6-3, on their way to their second of three consecutive WS victories.  Here, George has no middle name shown on this card, while his BR page lists Charles as his mid-moniker.

#21 - Bob Gallagher (HOU)

Bob had a short stint in the majors spanning four slightly active years between the Red Sox (1972), Astros (1973-74) and Mets (1975).  It looks like 1974 was his most active year, with 102 games played.  Most of those games were as late inning defensive replacements.  Bob only had 87 at bats in those 102 games.  Bob was traded to the Giants in March of 1976, but by the looks of it, he never set foot on the field with the Giants.

Cartoon:  Bob's grandfather was active in the majors?  He had a 16 year career between the White Sox and Red Sox.  Pretty dang active if you ask me.  And he got a ring with the 1917 Pale Hose.  Although he had a long career, he wasn't a superstar.  In 16 seasons he hit .264 with only 22 homers.  See Shano Collins' career stats here.  He was a 1B-OF, just like his grandson.


Ballpark background:  Bob was definitely hitting rocks against the backside of a stable in Boone Co., Arkansas.  Arkansas isn't far from Houston, if you take the train.  Looks like he had a real bat.  Carved from some ol' hickory tree, no doubt.  I'm going to give this shot of downtown Manhattan the "spring training" label, despite not knowing if this was from spring training.

#18 - Gary Thomasson (SF)

This is one of my favorite cards in the 1974 set.  It's because Gary's pose is so classic first baseman.  And he's left handed which adds to the effect.  He also looks like a real major league first baseman.  He's one of the guys that played first base after Willie McCovey, my favorite all time player, was traded to the Padres.  And I didn't hate him for it.

For a few years in the 70's, the Giants changed their uniforms slightly.  The letters across the chest were changed from black w/ orange trim to orange w/ black trim.  I'm not sure I like them.  Gary was also notable in 1977 when he led off the entire season, in the top of the first on Opening Day in LA, and hit a home run.  The Giants didn't quite turn that into a wire-to-wire season like they did their 2003 Opening Day leadoff homer.  But Gary didn't seem to need that, as he played the following year during the second half of the season with the WS champs Yanks.

Cartoon: I don't recall reading that Gary was a professional musician.  It looks here like he's playing the trumpet with the sound coming out upside down.  I wonder what instrument(s) Gary actually played, and how much did he make.  I'm sure he wasn't a member of Led Zeppelin, so maybe baseball paid more.


Ballpark background: Gary is pictured here at Candlestick Park.  Notice the horrid green of the artificial turf.  Yuck.  There's a player or coach just off his right shoulder.  Above this figure is the left field foul pole.  As the lower deck seats change from orange to a dingy red, the box seats changed into bleacher seats, divided by a chain link fence.  The upper deck curves around the foul pole, but behind the bleacher section, which is about 30 feet itself behind the fence where the scoreboard is located.  The upper deck in left field may be the furthest stands from the field of any ballpark ever.  It was no fun to sit up there.  And those were the end zone seats for football.

#15 - Joe Torre (STL)

Joe Torre held a rather dubious (or should I say sad?) major league record.  As player and manager, Joe participated in more games than anybody else in history without ever being in a World Series.  Until the Yankees beat the O's in the 1996 ALCS.  As manager, Joe cried.  Literally.  He then won four of the next five World Series.  It's actually a bit of a touching story.  As much as I hate things Yankees, Joe Torre is maybe the least offensive thing to ever live in the Bronx Zoo.  I actually developed respect for him over the years.

Joe's picture here looks like he's just accidentally downloaded some chin music to his iPod.  He's bending backward, having just avoided a stint on the DL, and his bat shows no signs of going around to get a strike call from the ump.  A few things to notice here.  Joe has 2000 career hits at the printing of this card.  Joe was a multiple position player for nearly his entire career.  Starting out as a catcher, he later took up first base, being C-1B for years.  Then he switched from 1st to 3rd to be a C-3B, then later to 1B-3B, with most of his games at third.  In '73, Joe flipped to mostly first base for the remainder of his career.

Cartoon:  Joe certainly has MVP numbers in '71.  Like batting .363.  But, his trophy looks more like an urn.  There's a lid with a handle on top.  Wonder what goes inside?  Whatever the design, Joe really loves it, as we can tell by the cartoon.  I wonder if he takes it to bed at night.  I never saw one like it in Little League.

Ballpark background:  Joe is wearing a gray uni, so the Cards are on the road.  I'm not familiar enough with Shea Stadium's dugouts, but this is a dugout, and I can see box seat bars on each side of Joe's waistline.  This gives me inclination to guess Shea Stadium, but I'm not totally sure.  So, I'll label this as "undetermined" and maybe come back to it later in the set in case I find other cards similar enough to convince me one way or another.