1972 Topps Giants - part 1

#129 Charlie Fox

• The 1972 Giants took a hard fall from their 1971 NL West-winning season. Willie McCovey was injured and missed about half of the season. Willie Mays was traded to the New York Mets early in the season, and Juan Marichal went 6-16. Gaylord Perry was traded to the Cleveland Indians before the season, further weakening their pitching staff.
• Charlie Fox was in his second full season managing the Giants in 1972. He took over in May of 1970 and continued to manage the club until the middle of the 1974 season. The Giants finished 3rd in the NL West in 1970, 1st in 1971, 5th in 1972, 3rd in 1973, and were 5th in 1974 when Charlie was relieved of his duties. Fox had a 348-327 (.516) record as the Giants' manager. Fox managed the tail end of the season for the Montreal Expos (34 games) in 1976 and the last part of the season for the Chicago Cubs (39 games) in 1983.
• Team Record: 69-86 (5th in NL West, 26 1/2 games  behind Cincinnati)
• Attendance: 647,744 (11th in NL)
• Team Batting .244 (9th in NL)
• Team HR: 150 (1st in NL)
• Team Stolen Bases: 123 (2nd in NL)
• Team ERA: 3.69 (9th in NL)
• Team Fielding: .974 (tied for last in NL)
• NL All Stars: Chris Speier (SS)
• Batting Leader: Chris Speier - .269
• HR Leader: Dave Kingman - 29
• RBI Leader: Dave Kingman - 83
• Stolen Base Leader: Bobby Bonds - 44
• Wins Leader: Ron Bryant - 14
• ERA Leader (starters): Ron Bryant - 2.90
• ERA Leader (relievers): Randy Moffitt - 3.69
• Saves Leader: Jerry Johnson - 8

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#295 Dick Dietz

• Dick Dietz didn't play for the Giants in 1972. Dietz was placed on waivers  and selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 14, 1972. One source says that Dietz fell out of favor with the Giants due to his role as player representative in the 1972 strike and another source says that Dietz was lost to the Dodgers due to a clerical error. Ironically, during the celebration after the Giants clinched the NL West in a tight race against the Dodgers Dick grabbed a microphone and yelled, "To Hell with the Dodgers!" 
• Dick had played in 148 games in 1970 and in 142 games in 1971.

#643 Russ Gibson

• Russ Gibson batted .167 in five games. Gibson played in four April/May games and played in his final game on September 6 (my 6th birthday). He played in 31 games for AAA Phoenix in 1972. Gibson retired after the season.

#663 Fran Healy

• Fran Healy batted .152 in 45 games as a pinch hitter and backup catcher.

#232 Dave Rader

• Dave Rader took over the regular catching duties in 1972. He batted .259 with 6 HR and 41 RBI in 133 games.

1976 SSPC Giants - Part 2

1976 Topps Giants - Part 1

• These were grim times for the Giants. A manager isn't pictured on this team card (#443) because the Giants hadn't hired one when this set was printed. The Giants weren't drawing well and they were about to be sold and moved to Toronto before Bob Lurie bought the team and kept it in San Francisco.

• Bill Rigney was eventually brought in to manage the team in 1976. He had a previous stint managing the Giants from 1956-1960. He was let go after 58 games despite having a .569 winning percentage (the Giants were in 5th place at the time). Bill also managed the Los Angeles/California Angels from their inception in 1961 until early 1969. Rigney managed the Minnesota Twins to the 1970 AL West title and ran them in '71 and for 39 games in '72. After the 1976 season Rigney was replaced by Joe Altobelli.

• Team record: 74-88 (4th in NL West, 28 games behind Cincinnati)

• Attendance: 626,868 (12th in NL)

• Team Batting: .246 (9th in NL)

• Team Home Runs: 85 (8th in NL)

• Team ERA: 3.53 (6th in NL)

• Team Fielding: .971 (12th in NL)

• NL All Stars: John Montefusco (P)

• League Leaders: Willie Montanez (games played - 163 for Giants and Braves); John Montefusco (shutouts - 6)
• Team Batting Leader: Larry Herndon (.288)
• Team HR Leader: Bobby Murcer (23)
• Team RBI Leader: Bobby Murcer (90)
• Team Wins Leader: John Montefusco (16)
• Team Losses Leader: Ed Halicki (14)
• Team Saves Leader: Randy Moffitt (14)
  

Mike Sadek (#234) batted .204 in 93 at bats as the Giants' third catcher.

• Dave Rader (#54) was the "regular" catcher -- he played in 88 games and batted .263 with 1 HR and 23 RBI.
  
  
  

• Marc Hill (#577) batted .183 in 54 games (131 AB) with 3 HR and 15 RBI.

Others who caught for the Giants but didn't get a 1976 Topps Giants card:

• Gary Alexander (.178 in 73 AB)
  
  
  
  

1973 Topps Giants - Part 1

• Record: 88-74 (3rd in NL West, 11 games behind Cincinnati)
• Attendance: 834,193 (10th of 12)
• Team batting: .262 (3rd in NL)
• Team home runs: 161 (2nd in NL)
• Team ERA: 3.80 (9th in NL)
• Team fielding: .974 (9th in NL)
• League Leaders: Bobby Bonds (runs, 131; strikeouts, 148); Willie McCovey (intentional walks, 25); Ron Bryant (wins, 24)
• Gold Glove awards: Bobby Bonds (OF)
• Rookie of the Year: Gary Matthews
• TSN Pitcher of the Year: Ron Bryant
• NL All Stars: Chris Speier (starting SS); Bobby Bonds (OF)
  
  

• This was Charlie Fox's (# 252) last full season as a manager. The Giants won 88 games with below average pitching and fielding. This was the last year that several players from the 60s (such as McCovey and Marichal) would be with the Giants. The revamping begun in earnest in 1974. Here is an April 30 Sports Illustrated article about the Giants' great start early in the season. They weren't able to keep it up for the entire season.
  
  
  

• Fran Healy (# 361) didn't play for the Giants in 1973. He was traded during spring training for Greg Minton.
  
  
  
  

• Dave Rader (# 121) was the starting catcher in 1973. His batting average was .229 in 148 games. Dave walked 63 times, which helped him to have an on base percentage almost 100 points (.326) above his batting average. Dave was intentionally walked 23 times -- he usually batted 8th and the opposing managers wanted to get to the pitcher's spot in the order. He almost led the NL in that category.

Others who caught for the Giants but didn't get a 1973 Topps Giants' card:

• Mike Sadek (.167 in 66 AB)
  
  
  
  

1974 Topps Giants -- Part 1

• I really like these team checklists. Topps should have done this more often.
  
  
  The Giants finished 72-90 in 1974 (5th place in NL West, 30 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers)
  
• Team Batting: .254 (8th in NL)
• Team Home Runs: 93 (10th in NL)
• Team ERA: 3.80 (9th in NL)
• Team Fielding: .972 (11th in NL)
• Gold Glove Winners: Bobby Bonds (OF)
• All-Stars: Chris Speier (SS)
• Attendance: 519,987 (12th in NL)
  
  
  

• My favorite team cards are the ones that have the team records and pennant winners on the back. These cards give a sense of the history of the ballclub. Unfortunately, the Giants have only been to one World Series since this card was printed. :(
  
  
  
  

• Charlie Fox managed the Giants from the middle of the 1970 season until the middle of the 1974 season. The Giants won the NL West under Fox in 1971. He was replaced by Wes Westrum after 76 games. The Giants were 34-42 at the time of the change. Westrum finished the season and was 38-48.
  
• On this card Don McMahon is shown as a coach. He must have been a player-coach. He pitched in nine games (11.2 innings with a 3.09 ERA) as a 44-year-old reliever and was the oldest player in the National League in 1974.
  
  

• Dave Rader was the Giants' starting catcher and led the team with a .291 batting average in 113 games.
  
  

• Mike Sadek didn't play for the Giants in 1974. He spent the season in AAA Phoenix, where he batted .251 in 371 games.
  

Others who played catcher for the Giants in 1974 but didn't get a Topps Giants' card:

• Ken Rudolph (.259 in 158 at-bats)
• John Boccabella (.138 in 80 at-bats)

1975 Topps Giants Part 1

• The Giants had an 80-81 record in 1975 and finished in 3rd place in the NL West (27.5 games behind the dominant Big Red Machine).
• Team Batting: .259 (5th in NL out of 12 teams)
• Team HR: 84 (9th in NL out of 12 teams)
• Team ERA: 3.74 (8th in NL out of 12 teams)
• Team Fielding: .976 (4th in NL out of 12 teams)
• Attendance: 522,919 (12th in NL out of 12 teams)
• Awards: John Montefusco (Rookie of the Year), Garry Maddox (Gold Glove), Bobby Murcer (All Star)

Wes Westrum (#216) took over for Charlie Fox in the middle of the 1974 season and had a 38-48 record. He managed the Giants through the whole 1975 season (80-81 record). I don't know whether he was fired or quit. As a favor to Hank Aaron, Wes served as pitching coach for Richmond (managed by Tommie Aaron). He then was an advance scout for the Braves for the next 17 years. An interesting 2001 Baseball Digest article is here.

John Boccabella (#553) did not play for the Giants in 1975. He played his final game on September 19, 1974.

Dave Rader (#31) caught in 94 games in 1975 and batted .291 with 5 home runs.

Other players who did not get 1975 Giants cards but played catcher for the Giants:

• Marc Hill batted .214 in 182 at bats. He was acquired by the Giants from the St. Louis Cardinals in October 1974 but didn't get a card (he had only batted 28 times in the previous two seasons).
• Mike Sadek batted .236 in 106 at bats. He spent the first two months of the season in AAA Phoenix. He was a fixture in Phoenix for several years (1970-1972, 1974-1975).
• Gary Alexander played 2 games late in the season and was 0 for 3.