Minor League Baseball Players

[Cusick]

Joel Gibson could not have spent all of 1965 on the White Sox DL. The following newspaper clipping is from the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern of May 12, 1965. It shows having been optioned to Indianapolis earlier that week. His Baseball-Reference.com record indicates that he pitched in 18 games for Indianapolis and Lynchburg in 1965. The year when he was on the DL for the Phillies must have been 1963, as that was the year when he had no pitching record. That would be consistent with his "Phantom Player" biography at Joel Gibson - BR Bullpen

[Cusick]

Catcher Randy Niles was on the Angels' spring roster in 1971. After retiring from baseball, Randy made quite a name for himself in another sport -- beach volleyball. He was one of the legends of early professional beach volleyball in California, and even had matches against Wilt Chamberlain. His daughter, Brooke Niles Hanson, and her partner, were ranked the 3rd best US women's beach volleyball team going into the 2012 Olympics. Only US two teams were allowed to compete in the Olympics, and they took the Gold and Silver medals.

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Merkle923

Actually the ultimate Sharmanite is a pitcher named Joel Gibson, who spent all of 1964 on the Phillies' DL after a car accident, AND spent all of '65 on the White Sox DL. Pitched in a few exhibition games. Never in a real one.

Not quite. In 1965, Gibson was no longer rehabbing from the 1963 injury (suffered during winter ball in Puerto Rico; the driver was killed, Dennis Bennett was thrown through the windshield and also seriously injured, Giibson's ankle was crushed in the back seat, and Mrs. Gibson and Coach Al Widmar, also in the back, sustained minor injuries). He returned in 1964, going 10-7 for the Phillies' AAA team in Arkansas, then was sent in the offseason to the White Sox to complete the previous Bill Heath for Rudy May trade.

In 1965, he was having a fine spring training, and Al Lopez told Gibson he was going to start the home opener against Washington (the 3rd game of the season). Then he took a J.C. Martin liner off the wrist (which is why you don't have your starters pitch batting practice, Señor!), breaking the bone, and missed the start of the season, but he did pitch that year. (Gibson later said he rushed his rehab because Lopez told him he was still considered part of the starting rotation, and hurt his shoulder.) He pitched okay at AA Lynchburg, but struggled when promoted to AAA Indianapolis late in the season. The next year, he continued to struggle at Indianapolis, and when the White Sox wanted to demote him to Lynchburg (at a cut in pay) and convert him to relieving, he retired instead.

1977 interview with Gibson. He also mentions that the pre-birth Expos expressed an interest in him joining their system in 1968, but he had a job and they weren't paying anything, so he declined.

(Also, more details on the accident, from a 1964 profile of Bennett.)

So while it took two separate injuries to keep Gibson's Sharmanite status intact, he only spent one full season on the major-league disabled list, although he was probably there for at least part of 1965, as well.

Somewhat along those lines, I found this picture (Corbis/Bettmann/UPI) of our old friend Larry Staab, who apparently qualified for Sharmanhood as an 18-year-old in 1962. The teen Dodger lefty spent the first month of 1962 with the big club (he's seen here waiting to congratulate Sandy Koufax after Koufax struck out 18 Cubs on April 24th).



(On a side note, I wonder who #46 is, as the Dodgers didn't have anyone wearing that number in 1962. Another Sharmanite?)

After Staab was sent down, still unused, at the cut-down date, he spent the remainder of the decade in the minors, eventually suffering the arm injury that cost him the entire 1968 season. But he got a second chance on a big-league roster when the Indians took him in the Rule V draft in the winter 1969/70 and had him penciled in to their rotation; however, the Tribe changed their minds after a poor spring and returned him to the Dodgers, who sold him to Rochester (Orioles AAA) at midseason, and after two games with Denver in 1971, he was done.

ETA: Dang, I take a couple hours off from researching the largely-irrelevant Larry Staab details, and Cusick beats me to the punch! Must.Post.Faster. (And good job, Cusick.)

ETAA: Actually, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure the J.C. Martin liner was in an intra-squad game, not batting practice. So it was regular work, and while the "friendly fire" aspect probably made it more galling for Gibson, it could have happened at any time.

[Cusick]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

ETA: Dang, I take a couple hours off from researching the largely-irrelevant Larry Staab details,

The Larry Staab details were not irrelevant to me. I have tried to create a list of the Sharmanites, and he wasn't on it. So I much appreciated your posting this discovery, Amazin69.

[Cusick]

I'm going to have to back off adding Staab to my list of Sharmanites. I found that on April 24, 1962, he could not have been in Wrigley Field for the Koufax 18 strikeout game, because he had been scheduled to pitch for the Salem (OR) Dodgers that night in the state of Washington. The game was postponed because of high winds, so he was rescheduled to be the starting pitcher for Salem again the next night. See below. The clipping is from the Oregon Statesman (Salem, OR) of April 25, 1962.

Staab was with the L.A. Dodgers in spring training in 1962, but was optioned out at the beginning of the season.

[Buccos]

I'm looking for color Cubs photos of these late '60s Cubs farmhands, hopefully Topps was able to snap them during a Spring Training:

Tom Binkowski
Jimmy Bryan
Marty Miller

Thanks for looking,
Jay

[Cusick]

Originally Posted by Buccos

I'm looking for color Cubs photos of these late '60s Cubs farmhands, hopefully Topps was able to snap them during a Spring Training:

Tom Binkowski
Jimmy Bryan
Marty Miller

Thanks for looking,
Jay

To my knowledge, none of these three was a non-roster invitee nor appeared on a spring training roster with the Cubs or any other major league team.

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Cusick

I'm going to have to back off adding Staab to my list of Sharmanites. I found that on April 24, 1962, he could not have been in Wrigley Field for the Koufax 18 strikeout game, because he had been scheduled to pitch for the Salem (OR) Dodgers that night in the state of Washington. The game was postponed because of high winds, so he was rescheduled to be the starting pitcher for Salem again the next night. See below. The clipping is from the Oregon Statesman (Salem, OR) of April 25, 1962.

Staab was with the L.A. Dodgers in spring training in 1962, but was optioned out at the beginning of the season.

Intriguing, but Corbis does in fact credit Staab as being in the Wrigley Field picture (he and Tommy Davis [#12] are the only ones they ID, in fact) and it's somewhat odd to imagine they'd make an identification error about someone as unknown as Staab. Bit of a Staab in the dark, one might say.

Also, while it might be confirmation bias at work, that looks like Staab in the picture, behind the guy who's behind #46, and in front of the rent-a-cops.

I suppose a trip through the Los Angeles Times or Herald-Examiner back issues could resolve this; they probably had pretty thorough Dodger coverage, including transactions.

ETA: Who is #46, anyhow?

[Cusick]

I don't have access to the Los Angeles newspapers, but perhaps the following will help. The clipping on the left is from the Lebanon (PA) Daily News of March 31, 1962. It indicates that Staab was left behind in Dodgertown (Vero Beach) as of that date as the Dodgers broke camp and began to move out onto the road. The clipping on the right is from the Oregon Statesman (Salem, OR) of April 10, 1962. It shows Staab being assigned to the Salem Dodgers as of that morning. The Los Angeles Dodgers' season began later that day.

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Cusick

I don't have access to the Los Angeles newspapers, but perhaps the following will help. The clipping on the left is from the Lebanon (PA) Daily News of March 31, 1962. It indicates that Staab was left behind in Dodgertown (Vero Beach) as of that date as the Dodgers broke camp and began to move out onto the road. The clipping on the right is from the Oregon Statesman (Salem, OR) of April 10, 1962. It shows Staab being assigned to the Salem Dodgers as of that morning. The Los Angeles Dodgers' season began later that day.

Well, you've convinced me. Of all the people for Corbis to phantom-identify in that Koufax picture, how bizarre that they settled on Staab. I mean, I didn't even know Staab existed until last year. And yet there he is, allegedly in a picture at Wrigley when he was actually two time zones to the west.

In the words of Paul McCartney (and millions of others, I just have "Penny Lane" running through my head at the moment), "very strange".

[Merkle923]

The turn UPI missed on this long and winding road - and which you understandably followed - is the fact that Larry Staab wore number 46 at Dodgers' Spring Training 1962.

Somebody at UPI's dark room space at Wrigley Field or at UPI Chicago or UPI New York without a scorecard or an opening day roster is working off a Dodger media guide or a Street & Smith's and thus identifying the fellow in the jacket with the "46" visible on his left sleeve waiting to congratulate Koufax as what it says on the latest roster - Larry Staab.

Of course, Staab was a lefthand pitcher, so why is he wearing a glove - and a fielder's one at that - on his left hand? Because he's not Staab, he's another (then) unrecognizable rookie who had actually made the Dodgers, utility infielder Dick Tracewski, who has just made his first major league roster and has presumably been given a jacket that more or less fits him. The facial similarity is pretty strong.

[Merkle923]

FYI here is the Dodgers' 1962 Opening Day roster as printed in the 4/18/62 Sporting News. 28 players, no Staab, no number 46:

[Merkle923]

A fun item from a current memorabilia auction: Lot Detail - Exceptionally Rare 1954 Weaver's Wafers Lincoln Chiefs Most Likely Near Complete Set 18/20 (16 are only known examples)

This is a newly-discovered set of cards of the Milwaukee Braves' farm club in the Class-A Western League in 1954, the Lincoln Chiefs. There are a couple of ex-major leaguers (player-managers McQuillen and Wietelmann, veterans Linden and Neill).

But who could have guessed that the actual top prospect on this squad was the guy in the glasses and bow tie in the third row? That's team radio announcer Bill King, later famed as the voice of the Oakland A's and Raiders, the San Francisco and Golden State Warriors, and Cal.

[Cusick]

Originally Posted by Merkle923

A fun item from a current memorabilia auction: Lot Detail - Exceptionally Rare 1954 Weaver's Wafers Lincoln Chiefs Most Likely Near Complete Set 18/20 (16 are only known examples)

The set also contains an image of major league pitcher Norm Brown (debut year 1943), whose photo isn't seen very often. Two spring roster players are also featured. Charley Grant was on the St. Louis Browns' spring roster in 1949 and 1950. Ted Laguna was on the Milwaukee Braves' spring roster in 1954. A photo of Laguna in a Braves' uniform is attached below.

Thanks for posting the set, Merkle.

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Merkle923

The turn UPI missed on this long and winding road - and which you understandably followed - is the fact that Larry Staab wore number 46 at Dodgers' Spring Training 1962.

Somebody at UPI's dark room space at Wrigley Field or at UPI Chicago or UPI New York without a scorecard or an opening day roster is working off a Dodger media guide or a Street & Smith's and thus identifying the fellow in the jacket with the "46" visible on his left sleeve waiting to congratulate Koufax as what it says on the latest roster - Larry Staab.

Of course, Staab was a lefthand pitcher, so why is he wearing a glove - and a fielder's one at that - on his left hand? Because he's not Staab, he's another (then) unrecognizable rookie who had actually made the Dodgers, utility infielder Dick Tracewski, who has just made his first major league roster and has presumably been given a jacket that more or less fits him. The facial similarity is pretty strong.

Thanks very much. So all of this trouble because Tracewski couldn't be bothered to wear his own #44 jacket? Or did the Dodgers decide that only the pitchers needed them, and the infield scrubs were on their own? Huh.

[rico43]

Originally Posted by Cusick

Catcher Randy Niles was on the Angels' spring roster in 1971. After retiring from baseball, Randy made quite a name for himself in another sport -- beach volleyball. He was one of the legends of early professional beach volleyball in California, and even had matches against Wilt Chamberlain. His daughter, Brooke Niles Hanson, and her partner, were ranked the 3rd best US women's beach volleyball team going into the 2012 Olympics. Only US two teams were allowed to compete in the Olympics, and they took the Gold and Silver medals.

Remarkably, considering he was an individual who has been in the celeb spotlight, Baseball Reference has not mentioned that he passed away in April of 2010.

[Cusick]

Outfielder Robert Calvin "Bob" Jenkins was on the Boston Red Sox spring roster in 1956, He hit .340 that spring, but wasn't about to make the team, when up against an outfield crew of Ted Williams, Jimmy Piersall, Jackie Jensen, Dick Gernert, Gene Stephens, and Faye Throneberry. Bob Jenkins played in the minors for ten years and ended up with a batting average of .302. I'm posting his photo in tribute because he died five days ago on October 5. He is shown here in a 1957 Los Angeles Angels uniform.

[rico43]

Taken in spring training of 1967, this is Braves 3rd base prospect Ed Pacheco, acquired from the Astros. Never made it in the Show but was a contender from 1967-68. If not for the final great defensive years from Clete Boyer, he'd have broken through. Finished up with Detroit, Pirates and Yankees before retiring in 1975 with over 1,100 minor league hits.

Seen an "unofficial" TV image in a custom card, but this is a new photo for me.

[rico43]

This Seattle pitcher, circa 1969, is a holdout on two TV folders (PP405 and HH357), and available images lend it to being ID'd as Horacio Pina, or as a longshort, Vicente Romo. Opinions are appreciated, but evidence is welome!

[keonleafs]

Originally Posted by rico43

This Seattle pitcher, circa 1969, is a holdout on two TV folders (PP405 and HH357), and available images lend it to being ID'd as Horacio Pina, or as a longshort, Vicente Romo. Opinions are appreciated, but evidence is welome!

I got the "pitching pose" of this Seattle player, some years ago. Maybe from Topps Vault, but not sure. And the ID is Art Miranda, who played with Seattle in 1968, but...who is not a pitcher, but an Infielder. In both Topps folders you cited, PP and HH, he is surrounded by Mingori and Mitchell (Bobby), which Miranda would fit. The only other pic I founded of him, is the 1970 Rochester Red Wings team photo, front row, 2nd from left.

So, this my guess....maybe a pure wild guess!!

Added Note: I remember now, taking it on John's original Flickr BB Birthday's site, in the Minor League Uniforms folder (https://www.flickr.com/photos/baseba...57626148376433) and identified by bearman14.