New historical card category - Unsung Heros! Let's collect them!

[damonrusst]

Any Negro League players making the cut for the regular cards? If not, could be an idea for another set to collect.

[Dark Horse]

Here are ten Astros related nominees.

thondi01, 1983, Dickie Thon, SS (20 HRs, 34 SBs before the modern day big athletic shortstops; career curtailed by a Mike Torrez fastball the next season)

doranbi, 1986, Bill Doran, 2B (predecessor to Craig Biggio)

cedence01, 1972, Cesar Cedeno, CF (all star, gold glove and top ten in MVP at age 21)

cooperce01, 1980, Cecil Cooper, 1B (Astros manager, but overlooked as a player; all star, gold glove, silver slugger and top ten in mvp and led the league in RBI and total bases)

cruzjo01, 1983, Jose Cruz, LF (Bill James did a nice write up in his Historical Baseball Abstract about him ; and he wore his hat just so whenever he had to run after a fly ball it would fly off)

dierkla01, 1969, Larry Dierker, SP (debuted at the age of 17 and was done by the age of 30, also a rare guy that came out of the broadcast booth to manage and was successful)

scottmi03, 1986, Mike Scott, SP (magical season, cy young, 300 Ks)

hamptmi01, 1999, Mike Hampton, SP (one the best hitting pitchers i've ever seen, he could run and field too; finished 2nd in the cy young, won silver sluggers and a gold glove and hit 16 home runs after leaving the Astrodome)

oswalro01, 2004, Roy Oswalt, SP (had five top five finishes in the cy young in his first six seasons, the year he didn't finish in the top five was cut short because of injury)

richaj01, 1979, J. R. Richard, SP (second of two straight 300 K seasons, had a stroke the next season at the time he was 10-4 with a 1.90 ERA.)

[damonrusst]

Great list of these kinds of players from Bleacher Report here:

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...l-time#slide25

[the_mad_monk]

dilonmi01, 1980, Miguel Diloné, OF


A lifetime .265 batter, the switch-hitter appears to have been mostly a platoon/bench player during his 11 year MLB career with seven teams. 1980 was the only season he had over 90 hits while finishing with 180 hits, .341 AVG, 120 OPS+, 61 SB and only 45 Ks with Cleveland.


Never heard of him until last week when the OOTP19 SIM put him on waivers (!) during the 1980 historical season I'm playing as manager of the KC Royals. Now I can start Wilson-Otis-Dilone in the OF against LH starters.

[stormfall]

Stennettre01, Rennie Stennett, 1975 - 7 hits in a game
Tatisfe01, Fernando Tatís, 1999 - 2 grand slams in one inning
Gagneer01, Eric Gagnè, 2003 - 55/55 saves
Renteriaed01, Edgar Renteria, 1997 - walk-off WS winner
Burkech01, Chris Burke, 2004 - 18th-inning NLDS walk-off HR
Grimesbu01, Burleigh Grimes, 1934 - last pitcher to legally throw a spitball
Ordoñezma01, Magglio Ordoñez, 2006 - pennant-winning walk-off HR
Conigliaroto01, Tony Conigliaro, 1970 - Led the league in homers with 20/100 vision

[Hurricane75]

Few Nationals guys:
cordech01, 2005, Chad Cordero, CL - Finished fifth in Cy Young voting at age 23, led the league in saves with 47. Suffered a labrum tear in 2008 and never made it back to the majors. (Fun fact: he threw the final pitch at three different stadiums (Olympic Stadium in Montreal, RFK Stadium in DC, Hiram Bithorn Stadium in Puerto Rico)
pattejo02, 2005, John Patterson, SP - His only good season after being picked 5th overall (Boras found an exploit in the rules which allowed him to sign with the DBacks for ~$6 million even though he was drafted by the Expos. He was traded back to the Nats for Randy Choate.) where he finished with a 3.13 ERA over 31 starts. Once again, career cut short by arm injury. Had a ton of movement on all his pitches.
hernali01, 1997/2011, Livan Hernandez, SP - Could very well be two separate cards. 1997 Livo set a league championship series record with 15 strikeouts in one game for the Marlins. 2011 Livo was what 2018 Bartolo is. Fastball sat at 85-87, curveball would go as low as 58. Made hitters look silly trying to hit the curve.
soriaal01, 2006, Alfonso Soriano, LF - Fourth member of the 40/40 club, finished with 46 home runs and 41 stolen bases.
willijo03, 2009, Josh Willingham, LF - Last player to hit two grand slams in one game against the Brewers on July 27.
morsemi01, 2011, Mike Morse, LF/1B - Fan favorite, hit .303 with 31 home runs in 2010. Also had a walk up song that everybody in the stadium would sing along with.

And since it seems like relievers are being left out...

clippty01, 2011, Tyler Clippard, RP - Finished with a 1.88 ERA through 72 appearances with a 4.0 K/BB rate and an ERA+ of 209. Consistently put up great numbers while in DC. Through seven seasons in Washington he finished with a 2.68 ERA through 414 appearances, ERA+ of 148. (Yes, he's still playing and just had a fairly good season for the Blue Jays, but he was a stud with the Nats.)

[Lukas Berger]

Originally Posted by damonrusst

Any Negro League players making the cut for the regular cards? If not, could be an idea for another set to collect.

No Negro League players for now unfortunately, maybe in future versions, who knows?

[Lukas Berger]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! Great job picking interesting players.

I've added most of these, except for a few guys who we already had in other categories of PT cards, or who didn't really fit.

[sansterre]

Not to sound like an obsessive, impatient weasel but do we have any word on an expected date for the open beta?

[stormfall]

Olearych01, Charley O'Leary, 1934 - Hit 1.000/1.000/1.000 in his age-58 season

[Lukas Berger]

Originally Posted by sansterre

Not to sound like an obsessive, impatient weasel but do we have any word on an expected date for the open beta?

No date yet, but it shouldn't be too long now

[Watson]

molinbe01, 2010, Bengie Molina, C, Texas Rangers

Bengie was traded from the Giants to the Rangers on July 1st of that year and then had one of the most improbable Cycles ever on July 16. 3 days shy of his 36 birthday. He helped the backstop situation and had a pretty big role in getting the Rangers to their first world series.

[el_gringo]

I don't have any new players to add, just wanted to chime in from the beta that I'm loving the Unsung Heroes so far - it's fun to get distracted looking up players you've never thought about much before.

One question: Is there any way to see, on the card, why they're an 'Unsung Hero' (i.e. why they were chosen here)? I can't find the stories behind the players there anywhere, and they're great!

[Lukas Berger]

Originally Posted by el_gringo

I don't have any new players to add, just wanted to chime in from the beta that I'm loving the Unsung Heroes so far - it's fun to get distracted looking up players you've never thought about much before.

One question: Is there any way to see, on the card, why they're an 'Unsung Hero' (i.e. why they were chosen here)? I can't find the stories behind the players there anywhere, and they're great!

No way as of now, but maybe we could add that in the future. Would definitely be cool.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by Lukas Berger

No way as of now, but maybe we could add that in the future. Would definitely be cool.

Yes, I think we could add a "history" field for each historical card with a quick summary why that particular player / season was chosen to be a card. This will also be interesting for the Record Breakers category

[LunchBox]

thronma01, 1962, "Marvelous" Marv Throneberry, 1B, Mets

Copied from Wikipedia

New York Mets

Reunited with Manager Casey Stengel, Throneberry got his first chance as a regular. On May, in his first game as a Met, Throneberry went 1-for-4, and scored a run in the ninth in a 8-5 loss to the Milwaukee Braves. He would not see home plate again until June 9, when he went 3-for-4 with a run scored and his first RBI as a Met in an 11-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

The 1962 Mets may not have won many games, but these "Lovable losers" won the hearts of sports fans, and no one exemplified that more than Throneberry. Many humorous stories surfaced about Throneberry, who facetiously came to be known as "Marvelous Marv". While it is likely that many of these stories are exaggerated or false, they helped turn Throneberry into almost legendary status among Mets fans. The fact of his initials spelling "MET" accentuated all anecdotes. Throneberry, maintained a sense of humor about his play, and became a favorite with fans and the media (after the season, he received the Ben Epstein Memorial "Good Guy" Award). At one point he had a fan club which numbered around 5,000 members. They wore shirts with the word "VRAM" (Marv backwards) and took up chanting "Cranberry, Strawberry, we love Throneberry."

In one famous story, on June 17, Throneberry hit a triple against the Cubs, but was called out after Ernie Banks took a relay throw and stepped on second base. "Didn't touch the bag, you know, Dusty", Banks told umpire Dusty Boggess. According to the legend, Throneberry was called out at second and Stengel came out to argue the call, but he was told by the umpire "Don't bother arguing Casey, he missed first base, too." (In another version of the story, Stengel was told this by his first-base coach.) Stengel, after a pause, supposedly replied, "Well, I know he touched third base because he's standing on it!" The next batter, Charlie Neal, hit a home run, prompting Stengel to come out of the dugout following him and pointing at all four bases. Throneberry's mistake proved costly, as the Cubs won the game 8–7.

[LunchBox]

spencsh01, 1998, Shane Spencer, OF, New York Yankees



Copied from Wikipedia


The stocky, baby-faced outfielder was first called up to the major leagues in 1998 at the age of 26, in the midst of a famously dominant season by the Yankees. He first played briefly in April, then endeared himself memorably to fans in September by hitting 10 home runs, including three grand slams, then a record for Major League Rookies, until it was broken by Alexi Ramirez in 2008. Spencer accomplished the feat in only 67 at-bats, earning him a spot on the Yankees postseason roster.

[stormfall]

David Clyde, clydeda01, 1973 - Too good for the minor leagues
Eddie Gaedel, gaedeled01, 1951 - Do it. Just for the crazy stat totals, do it.

[damientheomen3]

I only really followed the MLB from 2006-2012 or so, but here's what I got.

Micah Owings, owingmi01, 2007 - Good hitting pitcher, started a game on August 18th of his rookie year in which he pitched 7 innings in a win, with 3 hits allowed (all solo shots, the only baserunners he allowed all day), struck out 7, and hit 4-for-5 with 2 home runs, 6 RBIs, and 4 runs scored.

Jair Jurrjens, jurrja01, 2009 - Was great in 2009 and 2011, then had a 6.89 ERA in 2012 and ended the year in the minors before pitching 16 more innings the rest of his career.

Mark DiFelice, difelma01, 2009 - Affectionately known by some as the cottonballer, DiFelice toiled in the minors for a decade before making his MLB debut at 31. Essentially threw one pitch, an 82 MPH cutter with little movement, and somehow had decent success as a middle reliever for a season and a half.

[metsguy234]

mainejo01 2007 John Maine - nearly threw a no-hitter in the 2nd to last game of the 2007 Mets season, keeping their playoff hopes alive for one more day