View Single Post
Old 09-03-2016, 08:35 PM   #29043
FatJack
All Star Reserve
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 847
Charlie Sands (1947 - 2016)

Charlie Sands, a reserve catcher for the Yankees, Pirates, Angels and A's, passed away on August 22. He was 68.

The stars simply did not align for Charlie Sands to be the player he might have been. But he played in the major leagues, was part of a World Series winning team, and left his mark on the game.

Charlie was selected out of high school by the Orioles in the 21st round in 1965. The following year, he achieved some notoriety by catching all 29 innings of what was then the longest game in professional baseball history. The Yankees took the receiver in that year's Rule V draft, so Charlie spent all of 1967 with NY, gathering splinters and getting just one pinch at bat on the season (and striking out).

Traded to Pittsburgh, Charlie served as the 3rd string catcher on the 1971 world champion Pirates. He got a single at bat in the Series, pinch hitting in game two (and struck out). Charlie spent most of 1972 in the minors, suffering through a number of nagging injuries of the type every catcher experiences. He suffered bruised ribs in a home plate collision, and endured numerous injuries to his thumb, hand and wrist. For the most part, he played through them. His reward? One September pinch at bat (not a hit, but not a strike out).

In 1973, Charlie was traded to Detroit for Chris Zachary as spring training was coming to an end. A few weeks later, he was traded on to the Angels. He had to wait for September, again, to get a look at the major league level, but at least he got into 17 games and managed a .273 average.

1974 should have been Charlie's year. He hit .524 for the Halos in spring action. But Charlie suffered a knee injury (torn ligaments) blocking the plate in the final pre-season game. After missing a month, Charlie returned and was actually getting semi-regular playing time, though he was finding it hard to get into the hitting groove he'd had in the spring. The occasional power was encouraging, if not overwhelming. But then Charlie sustained several injuries to his throwing arm--particularly the elbow and shoulder--and he was back on the shelf for another month or so. He returned in September and hit .273 for the month, primarily as a designated hitter (he did not catch at all in September).

In the Spring of 1975, the Angels released Charlie. He caught on with the A's, who released pinch runner Herb Washington to make room. He pinch hit in three games in early May (one walk, one hit, and one strikeout) before he was dispatched to Tuscon where he would play through 1976 without another trip to the majors. While with Tuscon, though, Charlie did have one more mark to leave on the game (one for which, as a Mets fan, I'm very thankful). His roommate was Skip Lockwood, who had by then failed in the major leagues twice--as an infielder and as a starting pitcher. When the Yankees released Skip in April 1975, his confidence was shot and he figured his career was over. Charlie got Skip to embrace the role of relief pitcher and suddenly Skip's career had new life. When I think of the best Mets closers of all-time, I don't think of John Franco or Armando Benitez (God, no) or Billy Wagner or even Jeurys Familia. I think of Tug McGraw, Jesse Orosco and Skip Lockwood. Just sayin'.

After baseball, Charlie found success in real estate and opened a chain of restaurants called "Charley's" which are scattered throughout Virginia and North Carolina. Its possible that Charlie's career might have turned out differently but for the Rule V draft and injuries. Or he might just have been a quad-A hitter to begin with. But he did put up decent numbers in the minors. His career minor league average was .270, but, in Triple-A (where he spent 6 of his 8 minor league seasons), it was .283. He hit 87 minor league home runs--75 in Triple-A. And he drove in 336 runs in the minors (251 in AAA).

Once upon a time, a good Charlie Sands image was hard to find. Not so anymore. The Topps Vault offers up good images of Charlie with Pittsburgh and California and a couple of OK images with the Yankees (wish the Yankees ones were a bit larger, but at least they're color).

BS 417 - 426 (417 & 418 are NYY)
BW 521 - 522
GH 388
HX 244 - 245
KA 119 - 122

That leaves us only pining for an Oakland A's image, which Merkle was kind enough to give us a few years back (you'll find it here).

The color Yankees image below was posted to Baseball-Birthdays and was originally an offering from eBay seller brealdiamond. I've cropped and brightened it (and desaturated a tad).

The B&W Pirates image was posted by the Baseball Hall of Fame on their Facebook page along with the notice of Charlie's passing.
Attached Images
Image Image 
FatJack is offline   Reply With Quote