Thursday, June 30, 2011

1976 Phoenix Giants #17 - Bruce Christensen





  • Bruce Christensen had a long minor league career. He played from 1966 through 1976 (except for 1969 and 1970)
  • Christensen retired after batting .240 for Phoenix in 1976.
  • Bruce was called up to the California Angels in mid-July 1971 and stayed with the club for the rest of the year. It was the only stint he had in the majors
  • In July 1973 Christensen was traded with pitcher Don Rose to the Giants for Ed Figueroa. 
  • This is from the March 1973 issue of Baseball Digest:

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Father's Day Contest Prize from Number 5 Type Collection

  • Here is a picture of the goodies I won from the Number 5 Type Collection blog
  • Gotta love the old cards. I'm especially excited about the Phoenix Giants cards since I went to a lot of their games when I was young
  • People who entered the contest had to make a comment about what his/her favorite team was and what his/her father's favorite team was. My comment is below:
  • My father's favorite team is the Giants. After a bit of an odyssey on my part, my favorite team ended up being the Giants as well.

    I think my dad rooted/roots for the Giants because they have trained here in Arizona. Their AAA team was the Phoenix Giants for many years.

    I started out as a Reds fan. This was the era of the Big Red Machine. I got mad at the Reds for trading Tony Perez and letting Pete Rose go. I switched to the Phillies when Rose went there. The Giants were always my secondary team because of going to so many Phoenix Giants games.

    After Pete retired I ended up rooting for the Giants full time. This was the Roger Craig "humm-baby" era. This continued until the Barry Bonds era. I pulled for the Giants for his first few years, but when Arizona got the Diamondbacks I started rooting for them. This was mainly because it was getting much tougher to root for Bonds (grouchiness, roids).

    After Bonds left I went back to the Giants and have been there ever since.
  • Thanks for the cards!!!!!


Thursday, June 23, 2011

Card Tribute: Gaylord Perry

  • Gaylord Perry spent ten years with the Giants and had a record of 134-109 with an ERA of 2.96
1962 Topps #199
  • Perry started the season with the Giants, but spend a good portion of the year in AAA Tacoma
  • He was 3-1 with a 5.23 ERA in 13 games (7 starts)

1963 Topps #169

  • Gaylord was mostly a bullpen guy in 1963
  • He was 1-6 with 2 saves and had a 4.03 ERA in 31 games (4 starts)


1964 Topps #468
  • Perry started the 1964 season in the bullpen but became a permanent part of the rotation by August.
  • Gaylord went 12-11 with 5 saves and had an ERA of 2.75 in 44 games (19 starts)
  • Perry pitched 10 innings in the 23 inning game against the Mets on May 31 and earned the win.

1965 Topps #193
  • 1965 was Perry's last year as a starter/reliever. 
  • Gaylord went 8-12 with a 4.19 ERA in 47 games (26 starts)

1966 Topps #598

1967 Topps #320
  • Had a 15-17 record with a 2.61 ERA

1968 Topps #85
  • Was 16-15 with an ERA of 2.45

1969 Topps #485
  • Led the NL in innings pitched (325.1)
  • Went 19-14 with a 2.49 ERA

1970 Topps #560
  • Led the NL in wins (23), starts (41), innings (328.2), and hits allowed (292)
  • Went 23-13 with a 3.20 ERA
  • Allowed two runs in two innings pitched in the All Star Game
  • Finished second to Bob Gibson in NL Cy Young Award voting

1971 Topps #140






Monday, June 20, 2011

Card Tribute: Mike Krukow

  • Grab some pine, meat! I love that phrase! 
  • Mike Krukow is more famous for his announcing of Giants games (along with Duane Kuiper), but he was a pretty good pitcher as well
  • The Giants acquired Mike in a trade with the Philadelphia Phillies after the 1982 season. Joe  Morgan and Al Holland were traded to the Phillies for Krukow, Mark Davis, and a minor leaguer.
  • Before the Giants got him, Krukow had a career record of 58-61 in seven seasons with the Chicago Cubs (6 years) and the Phillies (1 year)
  • Mike made his  major league debut on September 6, 1976 (my 10th birthday)
1983 Topps Traded #58T
  • In 1983 Krukow was 11-11 with a 3.95 ERA in 31 starts

1984 Topps #633
  • Krukow was 11-12 with one save and a 4.56 ERA in 35 games (33 starts)
  • Mike led the NL with 234 hits allowed

1985 Topps #74
  • Mike had a 3.38 ERA in 1985 but slipped to an 8-11 record in 28 starts
  • Won the Willie Mac Award

1986 Topps #752
  • Mike's best season was in 1986
  • Krukow had a 20-9 record with an ERA of 3.05 in 34 starts
  • Mike finished 3rd in NL Cy Young Award voting in 1986
  • Krukow pitched a scoreless 9th inning in the 1986 All Star Game
  • Beat the Dodgers 11-2 for his 20th win on the last day of the season.
  • Won the Willie Mac Award for the second straight year

1987 Topps #580

1988 Topps #445

1989 Topps #125
  • Started eight games and was 4-3 with a 3.98 ERA
  • His last major league game was June 4, 1989
  • Underwent surgery on June 30 to repair a torn rotator cuff

1990 Topps #241


Sunday, June 19, 2011

A contest!


The Number 5 Type Collection blog is running a Father's Day giveaway contest. Click this link for more details. :)

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Card Tribute: Bob Brenly

  • It's been a while since I've done one of these. 
  • Bob Brenly was always a favorite of mine. 
  • Brenly was a 27-year-old rookie in 1981 and batted .333 (15 for 45) in 19 games
1982 Topps #171
  • Bob batted .283 in 65 games as a catcher and third baseman


1983 Topps #494
  • Spent  most of his 1983 season behind the plate and also had some playing time at 1B and in the outfield
  • Batted .224 in 104 games

1984 Topps #378
  • 1984 was Bob's best season
  • Batted .291 with 20 HR and 80 RBI
  • Made the NL All Star team and struck out as a pinch hitter
  • Won the 1984 Willie  Mac award for his spirit and leadership

1985 Topps #215
  • Batted .220 with 19 HR and 56 RBI

1986 Topps #625
  • Played in 101 games as a catcher but also saw significant time at 3B (45 games) and at 1B
  • Batted .246 with 16 HR and 62 RBI
  • Led NL catchers with a .995 fielding percentage
  • Committed four errors in the same game (all in the fourth inning) as a third baseman on September 14. Bob later hit the game-winning HR in the bottom of the 9th

1987 Topps #125
  • Bob's final season as a full-time player
  • Batted .267 with 18 HR and 51 RBI

1988 Topps #703
  • Batted .189 in 73 games
  • Released after the 1988 season

1989 Topps #52
  • Started the 1989 season with the Toronto Blue Jays and batted .170 in 48 games
  • Released by the Blue Jays on July 18
  • Signed with the Giants on August 2
  • Played in 27 games (.255 in 98 AB) for the AAA Phoenix Firebirds
  • Batted .182 in 12 games for the Giants


Tuesday, June 7, 2011

1975 Kellogg's #37 - Garry Maddox


  • The write-ups on these Kellogg's cards are great!
  • I wonder why Kellogg's never did a card of Gary Matthews while he was with the Giants
  • This is the first time I have  noticed a first initial on the front of the card. I guess they also did a card of Elliott Maddox that year


Saturday, June 4, 2011

1975 Hostess #43 - Garry Maddox - and I found a good shop in Albuquerque


  • The Giants had SO  many good young outfield prospects in the 1970s: Garry Maddox, Gary Matthews, Dave Kingman, George Foster, and later Jack Clark. How could they have let so many of them go?
  • On May 4, 1975 the Giants traded Maddox to the Philadelphia Phillies even-up for Willie Montanez. Yuck!
  • Garry won the first of eight straight Gold Gloves in 1975.
  • We just got back from a short visit to Albuquerque. One thing I'll say is: Google Maps for the Android phone is great when traveling! I got a lot of use out of it during this time in Albuquerque.
  • One of the cool things is that I was able to do a search for "sports cards" and it came up with several stores. I think Albuquerque has more card shops than Phoenix.
  • The shop I visited is called Bubba's Baseball Bullpen. The store is located at 8206 Menaul Blvd. NE. It has a pretty good selection of newer stuff, lots of supplies, and some good vintage cards as well. It was nice to see that the owner didn't need to look at a price guide before giving me prices for 1970s common cards. I picked up this 1975 Hostess card of Garry Maddox and several vg-ex 1973 commons and semi stars. His singles are half price for the rest of 2011.
  • Here is a video someone made a couple of years ago: