Project Baseball 1976

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Bert Campaneris was an AL All Star from 1972-1975.
Campaneris played out his option in 1976 in order to become a free agent after the season. Oakland owner Charlie Finley cut Bert's salary the maximum 20% (from $90,000 to $72,000).
In his final season with the A's, Campaneris batted .256 in 149 games and had a pukey .291 slugging percentage. He also stole 54 bases.
Bert signed a five-year, $950,000 contract with the Texas Rangers after the 1976 season.
After leaving Oakland, Campaneris had only one more full season (1977). He struggled offensively in 1978 and became a part-time player.
Before peak, peak, or after peak? after peak or very end of peak

Reggie Smith was an All Star in three seasons (1972, 1974, 1975) during this five-year run
Smith led the AL in doubles and in total bases in 1972
Reggie got off to a slow start in 1976. In the first ten weeks of the season he was batting .281 with eight home runs in 47 games.
Smith was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Joe Ferguson and two minor leaguers on June 15, 1976
Reggie was happy to go back to where he was born and raised.
Smith performed better in Los Angeles, batting .280 with ten home runs. He was out for three weeks with an injury in August.
Smith felt that baseball had made progress in hiring blacks in management positions, but he said that the sport had a ways to go.
After the 1976 season Reggie underwent left shoulder surgery. He bounced back to have two good years in 1977 and in 1978.
In mid-October 1976 Smith made news when his beaded necklace that had been stolen from Dodger Stadium turned up in the home of two Los Angeles youths who were selling stolen merchandise.
Before peak, peak, or after peak? peak (but 1976 was an off-year)

Dave Rader finished a distant second to Mets' pitcher Jon Matlack in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 1972
Dave was the regular Giants catcher from 1972-1974, then he platooned for the next two years
In 1976 Rader batted .263 in 88 games. He shared time behind the plate with Marc Hill and Mike Sadek.
After the 1976 season Dave was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals

I just picked up a bunch of Hostess cards from eBay. They aren't in the best of condition, but they'll do for now. :)
Vida Blue was one of the best pitchers in baseball in the 1970s. His only bad years were 1972 and 1979. He also had a losing record in 1977, but a lot of that was due to the A's being decimated by trades and free agency.
Vida's first full season in the majors was a magical one. In 1971 he went 24-8 with a league-leading 1.82 ERA. Blue was the AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner that year.
Blue was an AL All Star in 1971 and in 1975.

Vida was the winning pitcher in the 1971 All Star Game in spite of giving up three runs in three innings pitched. He gave up home runs to Hank Aaron and Johnny Bench
He started the 1975 All Star Game and gave up solo homers to Jimmy Wynn and Steve Garvey

Vida had another good (and also tumultuous) year in 1976. He had a record of 18-13 and a 2.35 ERA
Oakland owner Charlie Finley attempted to sell Blue to the New York Yankees in June. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn voided the sale because it was inconsistent with the best interests of baseball.
On August 28 Blue came within two outs of pitching a no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers. Mickey Stanley broke it up with a solo shot in the 9th inning.
The A's remained in the 1976 AL West chase until the last weekend of the season. On October 1, Blue pitched well against the California Angels but took the loss when Rusty Torres hit a home run in the 12th inning. The Oakland players were very upset with Finley after the game because of his lack of support for the club.
Finley offered to sell Blue to the Boston Red Sox after the 1976 season, but the Red Sox rejected the offer.

Jerry Grote was toward the end of his run as the starting catcher for the New York Mets in 1976
This card represents Jerry's best offensive five-year run
Grote made the NL All Star team in 1974
Jerry batted .272 in 323 at bats in 1976
After the 1976 season Jerry considered retirement due to accumulated injuries and being "tired of baseball"
Grote started the 1977 season with the Mets but didn't play much and was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in late August.
Jerry played sparingly for the Dodgers in 1977 and in 1978 before retiring.
Grote made a comeback with the Kansas City Royals in 1981. He was released at the end of August and wasn't happy about it. Jerry also played for the Dodgers for a short time before retiring permanently after the 1981 season.
Before peak, peak, or after peak? after peak

This is a pretty rough run. Pete Broberg's 1975 season was pretty good, especially for a poor ballclub.
In late May first baseman George Scott was not happy with comments that Pete made about his fielding and said that he would prefer not to play behind Broberg in his next start
After starting the season 1-5 with a 4.15 ERA Pete was moved to the bullpen for a couple of weeks in June.
Broberg made two more starts in July and then was a reliever for the rest of the season
Pete ended up with a 1-7 record and had a 4.97 ERA in 1976
After the 1976 season Broberg was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the expansion draft
Pete was traded to the Chicago Cubs early in the 1977 season and spent some time in the minors before coming back up in July.
Broberg finished his career with the Oakland A's in 1978
Before peak, peak, or after peak? after peak

In 1976 this would not have been the best card to get. That .199 average in 1975 didn't look good. Little did we know that Jim Sundberg would turn out to be one of the better catchers in the AL for many years to come
Jim was thought of as a weak link in the Texas lineup before the 1976 season
Sundberg batted .228 in 140 games in 1976, but he won the first of six straight AL Gold Glove awards.
Before peak, peak, or after peak? before peak