1976 Topps #31 - Len Randle

Len Randle was a utility player in the 70s and early 80s for five teams. He is probably best remembered for punching out his manager Frank Lucchesi in 1977 after Lucchesi gave the starting 2B job to Bump Wills. Randle was charged with assault and traded to the Mets. He went back to the minors in 1979 and played for the Phoenix Giants for part of that year. I went to a lot of those games, but I don't remember him being on the team.

Randle was one of those guys who had some value on an APBA or Strat-O-Matic team because he played so many positions.

1976 Topps #30 - John Montefusco

There have been a lot of blog entries about Mr. Montefusco lately, so there probably isn't a whole lot to say. I loved that nickname (The Count). He pitched for the Phoenix Giants (SF's AAA team) in 1974, right about when my father started taking me to ballgames. I don't have any memories of seeing John pitch, but I had a poster in my room that had line drawings of the players. I think he was on it.

John was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1975. He was the last Giants pitcher to pitch a no-hitter (9/29/76 vs. Atlanta).

1976 Topps #29 - Rick Burleson

The Roostah!

Rick Burleson was a good shortstop for the Red Sox from 1974-1980. He was traded after the 1980 season (he was going to be a free agent and the Red Sox wanted to get something for him).He had a good season for the Angels in 1981. Injuries shortened his career (he missed the entire 1985 season with a torn rotator cuff) and he didn't play a whole lot from 1982-1984. He was the AL Comeback Player of the Year in 1986 and then retired after the 1987 season.

Rick was a 4-time All Star (1977-1979 and 1981) and won one Gold Glove award (1979) and one Silver Slugger award (1981).

He was stranded at third base in the last inning of the 163rd game of the 1978 season won by the Yankees.

Rick managed in the minors from 1997-2007. He is now the hitting coach for the AAA Reno Aces (affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks).

Here is a link to an interview Rick did in March 2009. The interview is 32 minutes.

1976 Topps #28 - Dusty Baker

His name is "Johnnie B. Baker." What does the "B" stand for?

Dusty Baker was a pretty good 20+ homer guy for the Braves and Dodgers in the 70s and early 80s. Dusty was traded from the Braves before the 1976 season with Ed Goodson to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Lee Lacy, Tom Paciorek, Jerry Royster and Jimmy Wynn. He had what was probably his worst season in '76 (.242, 4 HR, 39 RBI), but he recovered in 1977 to bat .291 with 30 homers.

Dusty played in the All-Star Game in 1981 and 1982 and finished in the top ten in MVP voting in 1980 and 1981. He left the Dodgers after the 1983 season and moved to the rival SF Giants as a free agent. Dusty played for the Giants in '84 and then was traded to the A's, where he finished his career in 1986.

Dusty went on to be a coach and a manager. He managed the Giants from 1993-2002, earning three Manager of the Year awards during that time. He managed the Cubs from 2003-2006 and has managed the Reds from 2007-present. He underwent successful prostate cancer surgery in 2001.

I remember hearing fans give Dusty crap during spring training in the mid 80s about the drug allegations against him. I couldn't find much about it online though. Apparently the allegations were enough to shorten his career. Here is a good biography-type article about him.

1976 Topps #27 - Ed Figueroa

This guy was a heckuva pitcher for four years. His first good year was in 1975 with California (16-13, 2.91). He was traded to the Yankees along with Mickey Rivers for Bobby Bonds before the 1976 season. He had three more good years with the Yanks -- 19, 16, 20 wins, but went 0-4 in postseason play. In 1978 Ed was the first (and only) Puerto Rico-born pitcher to win 20 games.

Ed dropped to 4-6, 4.13 in 1979. He split 1980 between New York and Texas, going 3-10 with a 6.54 ERA. He was released by Texas after 1980 and hooked on with Oakland in 1981, but pitched only two games before calling it a career. He owns two restaurants in Puerto Rico now. Here is a "where are they now" article about Ed.

1976 Topps #26 - Andre Thornton

I don't remember Andre Thornton's time with the Cubs. He didn't register on my radar until he started playing for the Indians.

Andre started with the Cubs in 1973. He had a pretty good year in 1975 (.293, 18 HR, 60 RBI), but he was traded to the Expos after hitting only .200 for the first part of 1976. He finished the year with Montreal, batting .194 with them. He was unknowingly playing with a broken finger, which would explain the falloff in production.

Andre was then traded to the Indians for Jackie Brown. Brown won 9 games with the Expos in 1977 and then was out of the majors. Thornton went on to have a nice career with the Indians.

Andre had to deal with personal tragedy after the 1977 season. He was involved in an automobile accident which killed his wife and his three-year-old daughter. Andre and his four-year-old son survived. Andre missed the entire 1980 season due to knee surgery. Andre played for the Indians until 1987 and was productive most of the time. Here is a nice article about Andre's career.

Andre Thornton also sticks out in my mind because he was killed by a pitch in a tabletop baseball game I was playing. The game was called "Time Travel Baseball" and it used a different set of rules for each era of baseball. The game came out in 1979 or so. I was playing a "21st century" game and on some sort of rare play, Thornton was killed by the pitch. I wrote, "Dead-Do Not Use" on the card and didn't use it again.

1976 Topps #25 - Mike Torrez

Mike Torrez won 185 games in an 18-year career with seven different teams. He started out with the Expos in 1967. He was traded to the Orioles along with Ken Singleton before the 1975 season (what a steal for the Orioles -- they gave up an end-of-career Dave McNally and a couple of spare parts).

When this card was printed, he was coming off of his only 20-win season (20-9, 3.06 with Baltimore). He and Don Baylor were traded to Oakland before the 1976 season for Reggie Jackson and Ken Holtzman. He won 16 games with the A's and then was traded to the Yankees in April 1977. He won 14 games with the Yankees and had two complete-game victories in the '77 Series.

Mike signed with Boston as a free agent after the 1977 season and pitched for the Sox for five years. Mike was famous (or infamous) for giving up the Bucky Dent homer in the 163rd game of the 1978 season. He finished up his career with the Mets (1983 and 1984) and the A's (1984).

Here is a nice "catching up" article about Torrez.