Minor League Baseball Players

[PinsonHOF]

Pruitt , a lefthanded hitting outfielder played in the Red Sox organization from 1979- 1982 flashing some power but never rising above Double A Bristol. If anyone can dig up a likeness of this Arkansas ballplayer I would sincerely appreciate it.




https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=pruitt001rus

[Cusick]

Originally Posted by PinsonHOF

Pruitt , a lefthanded hitting outfielder played in the Red Sox organization from 1979- 1982 flashing some power but never rising above Double A Bristol. If anyone can dig up a likeness of this Arkansas ballplayer I would sincerely appreciate it.




https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=pruitt001rus

The first photo shows Lee Pruitt with the Elmira Pioneers. It's from the Elmira Star Gazette of Aug. 10, 1979. The second photo also shows him with Elmira, but holding his team MVP Award. It's from the Star Gazette of Aug. 28, 1979.

[PinsonHOF]

Thank you Cusick

[Amazin69]

When I requested a facegen for Pruitt for the game I was playing, this is the custom card that AESP_Pres used as the basis for the facegen he shared (in the Facegen thread, obviously).



I don't know who first made the custom card or why elements that should obviously be red were colored blue, but it is a lovely image of Pruitt in Elmira gear. (You can direct follow-up questions to the OP, if you choose.)

[Amazin69]

After four seasons in the Reds' chain, Contreras was drafted by the Mets in 1972. He progressed up the Mets' system, having a fine season at AAA Tidewater in 1975 (his first as a pure reliever)

This got him an invitation to Spring Training, Bicentennial Edition.



(Image courtesy of Larry Fritsch Cards on eBay. Plus my standard tweaks.)

Unfortunately, Nardi not only didn't make the Mets, he was released! If you're not good enough to hang with Bob Myrick, I guess they had no use for him.

Luckily he kept going, eventually reaching the majors with the 1980 White Sox and then embarking on his coaching career.

(Why is Nardi wearing Ron Hodges's #42? Or is that an odd-looking 47? Huh.)

[PinsonHOF]

Very cool thank you!! I had not heard of Facegen. I will look it up.

[PinsonHOF]

Here is 9 year minor league veteran Felix Earl "Ike" Pettaway as a 1980 Durham Bull with his team MVP trophy. Easily his best professional season. He pitched from 1976 to 1985 for the Braves, Twins and Yankees organizations.
This photo is from an excellent collection from the cowboy poet Red Shuttleworth. Red also has captured the players of the 1977 Texas City Stars an independent A ball team that lasted one season. Great images.





https://poetredshuttleworth.blogspot...ham-bulls.html

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=pettaw001fel

[Amazin69]

Excellent collection from Red Shuttlesworth, there!

One that should definitely be shared is this shot of the young Snit, in his final season as a player, but with a looooong managerial career about to start (Anderson, SC, 1982).



(many, many) better days ahead, Snit!

[Amazin69]

Speaking of longtime Braves employees, here's their midwest scout of over 30 years back in his playing days. The record book at Eastern Illinois University says that Stu was drafted by the Mets in 1967, but I can't find any record of that in The Baseball Cube's list of Mets draftees, so for all I know, he just showed up in Mets camp that year, but he put in three seasons in the chain (culminating in a nice 9-game cameo with Tidewater in 1969) before the Mets looked at how Stu had Stu-ruggled at the lower stops that year and canned Cann.

Atlanta picked Stu up for a few more futile seasons of minor-league ball, before he switched to scouting and he's been beating the bushes of central Illinois ever since. Notable signings include Marty Clary and Zane Smith.

I don't know it the fact that Al Weis had #6 on lock from 1968 on means that this is from 1967, or if Stu was snapped in minor-league camp and so the duplicate number doesn't mean anything. Courtesy of Larry Fritsch Cards on eBay, once more.

[Amazin69]

OTOH, there's not much reason to spotlight Rudd, the Braves #2 pick in the January secondary draft in 1978; he went to Sacramento City College, but he was no Larry Bowa, never getting above class A.

I just like the picture.

[Amazin69]

I guess we may as well take note of Steve, too…although if your only distinction is being Dave Stieb's big brother, that's really more about Dave (and your parents) than you.

Steve was a catcher, drafted in the 13th round of the 1979 draft from Southern Illinois. (He's a Saluki! Salud!) Here Steve is seen in the middle year of his three year pro career (he was a catcher, as you see.)

Nice texture on the uniform, though.

[PinsonHOF]

There is a sharp image of Whittemore posted earlier in a Red Sox uniform by jwisenberg. A spring training photo I imagine. "Rock" had an excellent season at Pawtucket in '83 with 24 HR 84 RBI's ,278 but never got the call. Here is one of Whittemore in a very cool distinctly minor league Pawtucket jersey where he played in '83 and '84.
Included is his HOF page at David Lipscomb where he led the Bison to NAIA championships in 1977 and '79 and an article of Where Are They Now? from the universities website.




https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=whitte001reg

https://lipscombsports.com/honors/ha...hittemore/58\\

https://lipscombsports.com/news/2012...7171_7171.aspx