Forgotten and/or Memorable Players, All-Time

[OFFNY]

13 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

 

Greg Luzinski. The Bull !!!

 

What is going on here ??? It looks like he's caught in a run-down ........ or got caught stealing a few donuts, and is trying to figure out how to escape. But The Bull was a DH, they couldn't get a picture of him swinging a bat ???  You can see more of his ass than of his face. Who's the intern at Topps that figured that this was the best that they could do ???  

But yeah, Greg Luzinski. MVP runner up in '77 (a distant second place) to Joe Morgan.

 

o

 

Greg was the MVP runner-up to George Foster in 1977 (who hit 52 HR's, and was the first player to crack the 50-HR barrier since Willie Mays did it in 1965.)

Morgan had back-to-back MVP awards in 1975 and 1976.

 

o

[weams]

 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

Kent Hrbek

[OFFNY]

3 hours ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

o

 

Kent Hrbek

 

o

o

 

 

o

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

1 hour ago, OFFNY said:

o

 

 

o

One of the all time forgotten about plays in postseason history. Lucky for Hrbek no instant replay existed back in 1991. How did this happen 27 years ago?  I hate getting old. 

[BarclaySouthway]

Great thread, OFFNY.  Missed this the first time around.

For forgotten players, I have Dan Graham and Mitchell Page.

Graham put up 2.1 rWAR and a 115 OPS as a 25-year old backup catcher for the Os in 1980.  Out of the league after 81.

Page, as some may remember had a boffo, 6 WAR rookie season for the A's the year Eddie Murray won ROY.  Truth be told, Page deserved the honor.  .307/.405/.521, 21 homers and 42 steals versus 5 caught.  He was decent in 78, then fell off a cliff.  He played 6 more years in relative obscurity, never cracking 1 WAR.

[Moose Milligan]

For some reason when I was a kid, I was convinced Ken Gerhart was going to be a star.

[VaBird1]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

For some reason when I was a kid, I was convinced Ken Gerhart was going to be a star.

Isn’t he the one who occasionally sang the National Anthem?

[OFFNY]

On 3/14/2017 at 6:32 PM, OFFNY said:

o

 

Mods, my apologies for borrowing the Orioles Talk section for what may be either considered either an MLB Section thread, or a Hangout thread ........ although it might be considered Orioles-related, since numerous players on my list were former Orioles (including one St. Louis Brown from the overall franchise history.)

Since it's March ........ and today's pre-season Orioles game is over with ........ I thought that people might be interested in recalling players that they may feel to be somewhat forgotten and/or that have not been talked about or thought about in a long time.

What is "forgotten" and/or "memorable" to some is not so for others, so there are no "right" or "wrong" answers ........ let's just have some fun on a Tuesday afternoon, and fire away with your list(s.) )  

 

These players can be HOFers, very good (but not great) players, or just players that (for whatever reason) you remember and/or feel that are at least somewhat forgotten. And feel free to go as far back as you want, to players that played well before you were born (as I have for a few of the players on my own list.)

 

*******************************

 

Glenn Beckert

Tito Fuentes

Jim Perry

George Sisler

Ted Sizemore

Dick Allen

John Tudor

George Hendrick

Joe Rudi

Sparky Lyle

Mark Littell

Ken Reitz

Don Wilson

Ferguson Jenkins

Joe Page (One of the First Bonafide Closers of the Modern Era/Past 70-80 Years)

Donn Clendenon

Gary Gentry

Jon Matlack

Len Barker

Terry Puhl

Cesar Cedeno

Rich Coggins

Ron LeFlore

Mark Fidrych

Alex Johnson

Merv Rettenmund

Enos Cabell

Dave Cash

Larry Dierker

Al Oliver

Nelson Briles

Bob Moose

Rennie Stennett

Bill Madlock

Omar Moreno

Ron Hunt

Bob Bailey

Bill Stoneman

Fred Stanley

Mickey Stanley

Willie Horton

Mickey Lolich

Tommy Tresh

Mike Marshall (Pitcher)

Mike Marshall (Outfielder)

Johnny "Blue Moon" Odom

Charlie Spikes

Joe Charboneau

Dick Tidrow

Walt "No Neck" Williams

Mike Kekich

Fritz Petersen

Horace Clark

Cliff Johnson

Andre Thornton

Omar Moreno

Ross Grimsley

Oscar Gamble

Richie Zisk

Ralph Garr

Wilbur Wood

Lerrin LaGrow

Gary Lavelle

Jorge Orta

Amos Otis

Larry Gura

John Mayberry, Sr.

Dock Ellis

Jerry Reuss

Ron Davis (Pitcher)

Ron Davis (Cardinals Outfielder from the 1968 World Series)

Ron Kittle

Ed Whitson

Lee Mazzilli

Chet Lemon

Lenny Randle

Steve Henderson

Jerry Grote

Cleon Jones

Willie Montanez

Claudell Washington

Elliot Maddox

Ed Kranepool

Ron Hodges

Jose Cardenal

Skip Lockwood

Joe Niekro

Reggie Jackson's Lost Season (1976, with the Orioles)

 

o

o

 

Moose Milligan brought up former Oriole/White Sox.Red Sox Luis Aparicio in another thread earlier this week.

 

o

[Moose Milligan]

Bringing up two prospects that I was SO PSYCHED FOR in the 90s.  I was convinced that we had not one but TWO Willie Mays types and that the Orioles were going to dominate.

 

I was at this game:  https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL199506050.shtml

Curtis Goodwin had been called up a few days before and I was super stoked to go to Camden Yards to see someone who I thought was going to be the next Willie Mays.  Looking back on it,  I was about to turn 14 so I'm not sure what I read/saw that made me think that this guy was going to be elite.  But he had two or three hits in each of his first games as an Oriole, getting me even more psyched for Curtis f'ing Goodwin.

But who was starting for the Mariners that game?

The look on his face here had to be what he thought of Curtis Goodwin.

Goodwin struck out 4 times.  And looked terrible each time.  Like, no chance. 

I remember him coming up for his 4th at bat and at OPACY back then across the top of the Diamond Vision it said what had happened in each of the batters previous at bats.  

Curtis Goodwin was steady:

Struck out swinging

Struck out swinging

Struck out swinging

Staying consistent, he struck out again.

I remember watching Goodwin walk back to the dugout after the 4th strikeout and realizing that he probably wasn't going to be Willie Mays and I felt a little bit of heartbreak but part of me still had hope.  Growing up in the 80s and 90s, that's all you had.  There were no advanced metrics, there was no Orioles Hangout.  You just read stuff in magazines and newspapers and collected baseball cards so there was more hope available. 

From there on out, I was convinced (and part of me still thinks this) that Curtis Goodwin was going to be AWESOME but Randy Johnson single handedly destroyed him one night in Baltimore and he never recovered.  Randy Johnson was the Ivan Drago to Curtis Goodwin's Apollo Creed.  Johnson was all like "I must break you."

And...he did.

I had this card.  It's a good thing I didn't have this autographed version or I would have been convinced I was going to be able to pay for college with it.  

The thing I remember most about Alex Ochoa is that people said his arm was like that of Clemente's, that he had an incredible throwing arm.  Which is an absurd comparison but when you're a kid and see a guy who looked like that you gotta think "Man, how can that guy NOT throw a baseball from the track in right field to third base on the fly?"

He was supposed to be fast.  He was supposed to have raw, untapped power.  And LOOK AT THAT CARD.  How could you not believe any of that?  Brady Anderson was probably jealous.  

So imagine how I felt in '95 when the Orioles traded this future superstar for old, fat, slow Bobby Bonilla.  And Bobby Bonilla wasn't even that old then, but when you're 13 or so, 32 seems like an entire lifetime away.  You've got no perception of time and how fast it goes.  

I couldn't believe it.   I was so pissed that the Orioles had traded a future Willie Mays clone for Bobby goddamn Bonilla.  How could they be so stupid?  

I also learned today via Wikipedia that he won a World Series ring with the Angels.  And he's the only player ever to hit for the cycle in the MLB and Japan's NPB league.  Willie Mays can't say that.

 

EDIT:  

Here's Alex Ochoa's cycle.  Golfed a homer to clinch it:

What a stud.