As requested here are Chance and Osteen's careers.
Bob Chance
First baseman for the Indians finally became a starter in 1966 but lost his job 2 years later when the Tribe dealt for Bob Oliver. Oliver was subsequently moved in 1970 when Cleveland acquired Willie Stargell from Washington. Chance had some modest success as a pinch hitter in 1969 and 1970. He was traded to St Louis with Frank Baker for Julio Gotay. Chance spent most of 1974 in the minors and after spending all of 1975 in AA he retired at the age of 35.
Bob Chance CAREER STATS :
YEAR AVG HR RBI G AB H 2B 3B R SB CS BB K OBP SLG TEAMS
1963 .263 5 14 87 95 25 1 0 15 2 0 9 29 .327 .432 CLE
1964 .281 9 44 127 267 75 14 0 32 0 0 22 87 .336 .434 CLE
1965 .278 6 32 113 187 52 13 0 19 1 0 15 49 .332 .444 CLE
1966 .250 13 67 143 480 120 23 0 42 9 3 40 137 .308 .379 CLE
1967 .254 12 76 156 516 131 26 0 61 4 0 44 132 .313 .374 CLE
1968 .229 9 48 133 362 83 14 0 36 0 0 30 110 .288 .343 CLE
1969 .282 6 27 122 177 50 5 0 19 0 1 23 52 .365 .412 CLE
1970 .327 2 25 117 147 48 9 0 12 1 0 11 36 .373 .429 CLE
1971 .257 6 29 109 171 44 7 0 23 2 2 11 48 .302 .404 CLE
1972 .214 3 19 108 182 39 6 0 16 1 3 13 55 .267 .297 CLE
1973 .273 8 31 66 209 57 6 0 24 0 0 11 67 .309 .416 CLE,SLN
1974 .300 0 1 19 30 9 2 0 2 0 0 0 11 .300 .367 SLN
HOB REAL LIFE
Total AB : 2823 747
Total AVG : .260 .261
Total Hits: 733 195
Total HR : 79 24
Total RBI : 413 112
Total Runs: 301 76
Total SB : 20 3
Claude Osteen
Osteen made a strong impression as a rookie, narrowly missing out on the rookie of the year award which went to Brooklyn slugger Jim Gentile that season. However, 1957 would be the only solid season of Osteen's career. In early September of 1957 Osteen ruptured a disc in his back and was lost for the season. That injury would affect him the rest of his career. He returned in 1958 but was clearly not the same pitcher he was as an 18 year old rookie. The Reds also suffered going from World Series winners in 1957 with Osteen to a 6th place team the following season. With the emergence of Mike Cuellar and Jim O'Toole there was no longer room for Osteen in the Cincinnati rotation and he would spend most of the next decade in the minors with a few call-ups each year.
He was exposed in the 1969 expansion draft and selected by San Diego. He never got much of a chance in San Diego either as injuries again caught up with him. The Padres went with younger arms in their rotation and Osteen was restricted to a few long relief appearances and again spent much of the season in the minors.
He certainly had the potential to duplicate or exceed his real life numbers when you consider what he accomplished in 1957 as an 18 year old. It is just to bad because of injury he never got the chance to reach that potential but it is instances like this that make the game so much fun. Imagine if Osteen did not get hurt and the Reds decided to trade or never give Jim O'Toole his chance. If that happened would the Reds have still been the great dynasty they were in the late 60's-early 70's. Or would they have been even better with a healthy Osteen?
CAREER STATS :
YEAR ERA W L S G CG SHO IP ER BB K TEAMS
1957 4.74 13 6 0 27 10 0 197.2 104 58 106 CIN
1958 7.08 1 3 0 13 2 0 48.1 38 17 23 CIN
1959 7.71 0 1 1 4 0 0 4.2 4 2 2 CIN
1960 0.00 0 0 0 1 0 0 1.0 0 0 1 CIN
1961 12.00 0 0 0 3 0 0 3.0 4 1 4 CIN
1962 11.12 0 0 0 7 0 0 5.2 7 6 2 CIN
1963 0.87 0 0 0 11 0 0 10.1 1 1 5 CIN
1964 1.80 1 0 0 6 0 0 5.0 1 5 3 CIN
1965 1.13 0 0 0 4 0 0 8.0 1 1 0 CIN
1966 4.42 0 1 0 8 0 0 18.1 9 3 5 CIN
1967 0.00 2 0 0 5 0 0 4.0 0 4 1 CIN
1968 2.70 0 0 0 4 0 0 6.2 2 3 2 CIN
1969 6.48 1 3 0 19 0 0 41.2 30 19 19 CIN,SDN
1970 3.52 0 1 0 3 0 0 15.1 6 4 8 SDN
1971 8.10 1 1 0 8 0 0 10.0 9 6 3 SDN
1972 3.60 0 0 0 5 0 0 5.0 2 2 2 SDN
1973 8.38 0 0 0 10 0 0 9.2 9 5 9 SDN
1974 9.00 0 0 0 1 0 0 1.0 1 0 0 SDN
HOB REAL LIFE
Total ERA : 5.19 3.44
Total Wins : 19 196
Total Losses: 16 195
Total Saves : 1 1
Total SHO : 0 40
Total CG : 12 140
Total K's : 195 1612
Total BB's : 137 940
[ December 10, 2001: Message edited by: Tiger Fan ]