Giant Versatility

From Player Profiles at 1960s Baseball …

Bobby Bolin’s 13-season career started in the bullpen, moved to the starting rotation, and veered back to relieving to close out his playing days. He was consistently effective in both roles.

Bolin was signed by the New York Giants in 1956. His rookie season with the San Francisco Giants was 1961, when he appeared in 37 games, all but one in relief. Bolin went 2-2 with a 3.19 ERA and 5 saves in his first big league season.

Among San Francisco Giants pitchers,
Bob Bolin was fourth in wins
during the 1960s (behind Juan Marichal,
Gaylord Perry and Mike McCormick). 

In 1962 Bolin was an important part of the bullpen for the National League champion Giants, a bullpen that included Stu Miller and Don Larsen. Bolin was 7-3 in 41 appearances with a 3.62 ERA, the best among San Francisco relievers. He saved 5 games.

Bolin won 73 games in 9 seasons in San Francisco with a combined ERA of 3.26. His best season with the Giants was 1965, when he went 14-6 with a 2.76 ERA.

An 11-10 record in 1966 included 4 shutouts, the second highest total in the National League. His 1.99 ERA in 1968 was second lowest in the National League (to Bob Gibson's 1.12 earned run average).

In December of 1969 the Giants traded Bolin to the Milwaukee Brewers for Dick Simpson and Steve Whitaker. He was 5-11 in his only season in Milwaukee, and then was acquired by the Boston Red Sox, where he was 10-8 with a 3.28 ERA over 4 seasons. Following the 1973 season, Bolin retired with a career record of 88-75 with a 3.40 ERA.

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Cubs Go to College

From This Week in 1960s Baseball …

(December 21, 1960) The Chicago Cubs set a baseball precedent with the announcement that next season’s manager would be … no one.

The Chicago Cubs entered the 1961 season without 
a field manager … but with a “college of coaches.”

Owner Phil Wrigley declared that rather than leaving the managing duties to a single individual, the Cubs would utilize a rotating “college of coaches” to run the team on the field.

The announcement followed a 1960 season when the Cubs finished 60-94 with Lou Boudreau as field manager. It was the Cubs’ fourteenth straight second-division finish.

According to Wrigley, "Managers are expendable. I believe there should be relief managers just like relief pitchers."

The experiment lasted 2 seasons. The Cubs finished seventh in 1961 (64-90) and ninth in 1962 (59-103). Attendance at Wrigley Field both seasons was down by more than 20 percent compared to 1960.

The college of coaches strategy was abandoned for the 1963 season, when Bob Kennedy was named manager. The team’s record in 1963 improved to 82-80, their first winning season since 1946. That record was still good only for seventh place in the National League.

After 2 dismal seasons without a manager,
the Cubs named Bob Kennedy to that post
for the 1963 season.

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Homer Happy: Frank Thomas

The Power in Polo

From their inaugural season of 1962 until 1975, the New York Mets’ single-season record for home runs belonged to a right-handed hitting outfielder who played for the Mets for only 2 seasons, but was a National League power threat for a decade.

Frank Thomas

Slugger Frank Thomas played both the outfield and first base for 7 different teams in 16 years. Over that long career, he batted .266 with 286 home runs and 962 RBIs.

Thomas signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1947 and made his major league debut in 1951. In 1953, his first full major league season, Thomas batted .255 for the Pirates with 30 home runs and 102 RBIs. He was an All-Star 3 times in his 5 full seasons with Pittsburgh, and had his best season in 1958 with 35 home runs and 109 RBIs.

In 1959, Thomas was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in the deal that brought Smokey Burgess, Harvey Haddix and Don Hoak to the Pirates. Thomas spent one season in Cincinnati (12 home runs, 47 RBIs) and then was traded to the Chicago Cubs. With the Cubs, he hit 21 home runs with 64 RBIs in 1960, and a month into the 1961 season he was traded to the Milwaukee Braves. He had a solid season for the Braves, hitting 25 home runs (plus 2 with the Cubs) in a lineup that was loaded with power. The Braves team of 1961 was the first major league team to hit 4 consecutive home runs in a game. (Thomas hit the fourth, preceded by home runs from Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron, and Joe Adcock.)

After the 1961 season he was traded to the Mets for outfielder Gus Bell. He led that first Mets team with 34 home runs and 94 RBIs. His home run mark was not topped by another Mets hitter until Dave Kingman blasted 36 in 1975.

Frank Thomas led
the expansion New York Mets
with 34 home runs in 1962.
It would be the most home runs
by a Mets batter for more than a decade.

Thomas hit 15 home runs for the Mets in 1963 and was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1964. At this point in his career, the 35-year-old Thomas had become a part-time player and pinch hitter, batting .282 in 2 seasons with the Phillies. He retired in 1966 with 1,671 career hits.

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The Arm that Owned the Yankees

From Player Profiles at 1960s Baseball …

He “owned” the New York Yankees when that franchise was at the pinnacle of major league dominance. 

From 1955 to 1961, no other pitcher beat the Yankees as often or as consistently as Frank Lary.

Frank Lary, the "Yankee Killer"

And in between starts against the Yankees, Frank Lary was also a pretty good right-hander and the ace of the Detroit Tigersstaff going into the 1960s.

Lary was signed by the Tigers off the University of Alabama campus in 1950. He made his debut at the end of the 1954 season, and in 1955 went 14-15 in his rookie campaign with a 3.10 ERA. In 1956, Lary went 21-13, leading the American League in wins, games started (38), and innings pitched (294).

That was the season when Lary’s reputation as a “Yankee Killer” began. In 1956, Lary went 5-1 in 7 starts against the team that would end the season as World Series champs. In 1958 Lary won 16 games for the Tigers and led the league in complete games (19) and innings pitched (260.1). Against the Yankees he was 7-1 in 8 starts with 2 shutouts and a 1.86 ERA. He won 5 out of 6 decisions against the Yankees in 1959 when he went 17-10 for the Tigers. His best season came in 1961 when Lary went 23-9 and 4-2 against the Yankees. He finished third in the 1961 Cy Young balloting behind Warren Spahn and that season’s winner, Whitey Ford.

From 1956-1961, while the New York Yankees
were dominating the American League,
Frank Lary was dominating the Yankees:
25-9 with a 3.14 ERA.

Lary was never the same pitcher after the 1961 season.  From 1956 through 1961, he averaged 17 victories and 261 innings per season. From 1962 through 1965, arm problems limited Lary to a combined record of 11-23 and an average of only 90 innings per season. He stayed with Detroit into the 1964 season, and then bounced between the New York Mets, Milwaukee Braves and Chicago White Sox before retiring after the 1965 season.

In a 12-season career, Lary won 128 games, 28 against the Yankees, and 100 against everyone else.

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McCormick Comes Back

From This Week in 1960s Baseball …

(December 13, 1968) The San Francisco Giants today re-acquired left-handed pitcher Mike McCormick in a trade with the Washington Senators.

Mike McCormick
Returns to the Giants, the team
that signed him a decade earlier,

In exchange for McCormick, the Giants parted with pitcher Bob Priddy and outfielder Cap Peterson.

McCormick was coming off a 1966 season when he was 11-14 for the Senators with a 3.46 ERA. It had been his second season in Washington after being acquired in a trade with the Baltimore Orioles in April, 1965.

McCormick was originally signed by the New York Giants in 1956. He was 15-12 with the Giants in 1960, when he led the National League with a 2.70 earned run average. After going 13-16 in 1961 and 5-5 in 1962, McCormick was traded by the Giants to the Orioles with pitcher Stu Miller and catcher John Orsino for catcher Jimmie Coker and pitchers Jack Fisher and Billy Hoeft. McCormick struggled with arm problems in his 2 seasons with the Orioles, when he posted a combined record of 6-10.

McCormick’s return to San Francisco would be good for the Giants and for his career. He would have his best season in 1967, going 22-10 with a 2.85 ERA and claiming the Cy Young award.

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Left Side Savvy

From Player Profiles at 1960s Baseball …

George Brunet was a journeyman southpaw who finally got his chance to start regularly with the California Angels in the mid-1960s. He was a consistently effective pitcher for struggling Angels teams, and his record as a starter for California reflected his team’s struggles more than his own abilities.

George Brunet

Prior to the 1955 season, Brunet was acquired by the Kansas City Athletics from Seminole in the Sooner State League. He made his major league debut with the A’s in 1956, appearing in only 10 games over the next 2 seasons. He was traded to the Milwaukee Braves in 1960, winning both decisions in only 17 appearances. He pitched in only 22 games for the Braves over 2 seasons, and then was dealt to the Houston Colt .45s, where he was 2-4 with a 4.50 ERA in 17 games, including 11 starts. In 1963 he moved from Houston to the Baltimore Orioles, where he was 0-1 in 16 relief appearances. From 1956 to 1963, playing for 4 different major league teams, Brunet had compiled a record of 4-11 in only 73 appearances.

His break came in 1964 when he was purchased by the Los Angeles Angels and was put into the Angels’ starting rotation, going 2-2 with a 3.61 ERA over the last 6 weeks of the 1964 season. He made 26 starts for the Angels in 1965, going 9-11 with a 2.56 ERA and 3 shutouts. He was 13-13 in 1966 with a 3.31 ERA, pitching 8 complete games with a pair of shutouts.

When Dean Chance was traded to the Minnesota Twins prior to the 1967 season, Brunet took over as the team’s workhorse, pitching 250 innings in 37 starts. His record was 11-19, leading the American League in losses in 1967 despite a respectable 3.31 ERA. He followed in 1968 with a 13-17 record on a 2.86 ERA, with 8 complete games and 5 shutouts.

During the 1969 season, Brunet’s contract was purchased by the Seattle Pilots, and he compiled a combined record of 8-12 with a 4.44 ERA. He split the 1970 season between the Washington Senators and the Pittsburgh Pirates, going 9-7 with a 4.21 ERA. In January of 1971, he was traded with Matty Alou to the St. Louis Cardinals for Nelson Briles and Vic Davalillo. He was released by St. Louis after 7 appearances, and retired.

Brunet finished his 15-year career with a 69-93 record and a 3.62 ERA.

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Orioles Add Batman Named Robbie

From This Week in 1960s Baseball …

(December 9, 1965) The Baltimore Orioles today announced the acquisition of All-Star outfielder Frank Robinson in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds. 

Frank Robinson

In exchange for Robinson, the 1961 National League Most Valuable Player, the Reds received 2 pitchers and an outfielder: starter Milt Pappas, reliever Jack Baldschun and the right-handed hitting Dick Simpson.

The 30-year-old Robinson batted .296 for the Reds in 1965 with 33 home runs and 113 runs batted in. In 10 seasons with Cincinnati, he batted a combined .303 and averaged 32 home runs and 101 RBIs per season. His best season with the Reds came in 1962, when he batted .342 with 39 home runs and 136 RBIs. That season he led the National League in doubles (51), on-base percentage (.421 and slugging average (.624). It marked the third consecutive season when Robinson led the league in slugging.

Pappas was 13-9 for the Orioles in 1965 with a 2.60 ERA. In 34 starts, he pitched 221.1 innings with 9 complete games and 3 shutouts. In 8 full seasons with the Orioles, Pappas averaged 14 wins and more than 200 innings per season. His best season for the Orioles came in 1964, when he was 16-7 with a 2.97 earned run average.

Milt Pappas

The Orioles had acquired Baldschun 3 days earlier in a trade with the Philadelphia Phillies. Baldschun was 5-8 for the Phillies in 1965 with a 3.82 ERA. He posted 6 saves in 65 appearances.

A week earlier, the Orioles had traded first baseman Norm Siebern to the California Angels for Simpson who batted .222 in 8 games with the Angels after hitting .301 with 24 home runs in Triple-A ball.

On paper, the trade looked like a steal for the Reds, who were rebuilding their pitching staff and had unloaded a hitter they believed was on the down-slope of his career. Robinson proved the Reds wrong. He had a career year for the Orioles, winning the Triple Crown and the American League Most Valuable Player award while leading the Orioles to their first World Series championship.

Jack Baldschun

Both Robinson and Pappas had productive careers that extended into the 1970s. But Robinson was the only player in the trade to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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