Saturday, September 11, 2010

1976 Topps #552 - Terry Humphrey



  • The Abner Doubleday story is kind of like Santa Claus. We believe it for a while when we are little kids but eventually we realize it isn't true.
  • Terry Humphrey was a backup catcher for nine seasons (1971-1979) in the  major leagues. Humphrey was drafted by the  Montreal Expos in 1969. He played in the minors in 1970 and 1971 and was brought up at the end of the 1971 season after batting .280 for AAA Winnipeg. Terry batted .192 in 26 at bats for the  Expos in September 1971.
  • Humphrey was the  Expos' backup catcher for the entire 1972 season and batted .186 in 69 games. Terry started the 1973 season with Montreal but continued to struggle with the bat and spent some time in AAA. Humphrey batted .167 in 43 games for the Expos in 1973.
  • Terry batted .359 in ten games for AA Quebec in 1974 but batted only .117 for AAA Memphis in 31 games and .192 in 20 games for the Expos. 
  • After the 1974 season Humphrey and Tom Walker were traded to the Detroit Tigers for Woodie Fryman. Terry was with the Tigers for the entire 1975 season but played in only 18 games (.244 in 41 AB). After the 1975 season Terry was sent to the Houston Astros as part of a seven-player deal that sent Milt May to the Tigers.
  • Terry never played for the Astros. He was assigned to AAA Memphis at the beginning of the 1976 season and was traded with Mike Barlow to the California Angels for Ed Herrmann in June. The Angels promoted Humphrey to the majors and he batted .245 in 71 games.
  • Humphrey became the Angels' starting catcher in 1977 and batted .227 in 123 games. Brian Downing became the Angels' starting catcher in 1978 and Terry went back to a  backup role. Humphrey batted .219 in 53 games in '78.
  • Terry's last season was 1979. Humphrey got into only nine games as he had injury problems and Tom Donohue replaced him as the backup catcher. Humphrey was batted .059 (1 for 17) in nine games when he was released by the Angels on July 31.
  • Humphrey contributed four tickets behind the Angels' first base dugout for a raffle benefiting a Los Angeles area high school in 2010. That's about all I could find about him after his playing career.

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