1976 Topps #99 - Lee Lacy

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• Lee Lacy began his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1972 and finished his career in 1987 with the Baltimore Orioles. He started playing minor league ball in the Dodgers' system in 1969 and immediately showed that he could hit the ball. His lowest minor league batting average was .293. The Dodgers brought him up in June 1972 after he was batting .372 for El Paso. He played 2B for the Dodgers in '72 and batted .259 in 60 games.

• Lee didn't do so well in 1973 (.207 in 135 AB), but did a bit better in 1974 (.282 in 73 AB as a backup infielder). Lacy had a breakout season in 1975 (.314 in 306 AB) but he was traded to the Braves in a multi-player deal that netted the Dodgers Dusty Baker. The Dodgers must have wanted Lee back--he was sent back to the Dodgers along with Elias Sosa for Mike Marshall on June 15. Lacy ended up batting .269 for the year. Lee had seasons of .266 and .261 in 1977 and 1978 while playing just about everywhere. Lacy appeared in three World Series ('74, '77, '78) with the Dodgers.

• Lacy signed with the Pirates as a free agent after the 1978 season and played on the 1979 World Championship club. He fell off a bit at at the plate (.247 in 182 AB) but was still a valuable part of the team. Lee bounced back in 1980 in a big way---he batted .335 with 20 doubles in 278 AB. He continued to be productive for the Pirates through the 1984 season.

• Lee signed with the Baltimore Orioles as a free agent after the 1984 season. He had seasons of .293, .287, and .244 in his last three seasons in the majors.

• Here is a 1980 Sports Illustrated article about the productive LF platoon of Lee Lacy and Mike Easler.
  
• I think Lee runs a baseball academy now. I saw a couple of references on TTM autograph sites about it, but I can't find anything else about it on the web.