1976 Topps #135 - Bake McBride

• Arnold Ray "Bake" McBride (where did that nickname come from?) was an outfielder from 1973-1983. He was in the minor leagues in the St. Louis Cardinals organization from 1971-1973 and never batted below .289. Bake was given a look-see in 1973 and batted .302 in 63 at bats.

• McBride became the regular center fielder for the Cardinals in 1974 and won the NL Rookie of the Year award. He batted .309 and stole 30 bases in 150 games. Bake played fewer games in 1975 but still produced (116 games, 26 stolen bases, .300 batting average).

• In 1976 McBride was selected to the NL All Star team. He batted .335 but must have had a season-ending injury. He didn't play after August 3. Bake was able to come back in 1977 but his batting average was down. He was batting .262 when he was traded on June 15 by the Cardinals with Steve Waterbury to the Philadelphia Phillies for Rick Bosetti, Dane Iorg and Tom Underwood. He hit much better with the Phillies (.339 in 85 games) and ended up with a .316 average with 15 home runs for the season.

• McBride became the starting right fielder for the Phillies in 1978. He had his lowest batting average of his career (.269) but stole 28 bases in 31 attempts . Bake bounced back in 1979 and batted .280 with 12 triples and 12 homers.

• In 1980 McBride was 10th in MVP voting as he batted .309 in 137 games for the Phillies. He only played in 58 games in 1981 and batted .271. After the season Bake was traded to the Cleveland Indians for Sid Monge.

• McBride was off to a great start with the Indians in 1982. He was batting .365 in 27 games but didn't play after May 21. He had virulent conjunctivitis because of the contact lens cleaning solution he was using.

• Bake's last season was 1983. He batted .291 in 230 at bats for the Indians. He became a free agent after the season. McBride tried to come back in 1984 as a DH with the Rangers' Olkahoma City AAA club but hung 'em up after batting .296 in 32 games. His troublesome knees may have contributed to his early retirement. Bake retired with a lifetime batting average of .299.
• I couldn't find anything about what Bake McBride has been up to since his playing career. A 2008 "Where Are They Now" page about the 1980 Phillies on Philly.com lists just about everyone else on the team, but next to Bake's name it just shows his age. Another "where are they now" entry asks a question about Bake. Someone replied that he prefers privacy.