Saturday, June 19, 2010

Card Tribute: Johnnie LeMaster

In honor of Johnnie LeMaster's 56th birthday, here is a card tribute (thanks to Core Contrarian for the reminder). Johnnie hit an inside-the-park home run in his first major league at bat, but hit only 21 more in his 11-year career. Johnnie had a lifetime .222 batting average. LeMaster was with the Giants from 1975-1985, played for Cleveland and Pittsburgh in 1985, AAA Indianapolis in 1986, and finished his career with Oakland in 1987.

It's interesting to see similarities when all of the cards of a player are shown together. The same "pose" is used in 1981 and 1983. It looks like 1984 and 1985 were from the same set of photos. Vote for your favorite Johnnie LeMaster Giants card in the poll on the right. :)

1976 Topps #596

1977 Topps #151

1978 Topps #538

1979 Topps #284

1980 Topps #434

1981 Topps #84

1982 Topps #304

1983 Topps #154

1984 Topps #663

1985 Topps #772
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3 comments:

night owl said...

Johnnie LeMaster was one of those guys that we laughed at as kids. I remember having his 1977 card and I couldn't wait to get rid of it.

Unknown said...

As a kid who loved the Giants in the bleak late 70's and early 80's years, Johnny LeMaster is the guy I always think of to represent, en masse, all the players who WEREN'T Willie McCovey, Vida Blue, etc. These are the guys who's names I know as soon as I hear someone else say them, but can never come up with un-prompted on my own anymore. Once when he was in a long slump (which is bad when you are already talking .222 lifetime average), he was getting heckled so loudly by the Candlestick crowds that one day he wore a jersey that just said "BOO" where his name was supposed to be. I always thought it was cool that he tried to have a sense of humor about it.

Anonymous said...

Johnnie LeMaster was the last of the shortstops that did not have to hit .270 ...or even .240. As a Philadelphian, we did manage to catch Johnnnie's fould ball at the old Veterans Stadium in 1982. What i recall most was the "comeback" season he was having in 1983, when he was batting near the top of the order. He was getting clutch hits but soon his average dipped to .240 with 30 rbi's. 1983 was his break out season in my mind. We had Bowa. The Astros had Roger Metzger, Padres had Billy Almon, Cubs had Dejesus, Orioles had Mark Belanger, etc. It was a different game then. Thanks for the post.