Who is the man: Two more players who made their major league debuts in 1970. Jim Dunegan pitched in seven games for the Cubs, all in relief. He went 0-2 in 13 1/3 innings. Roe Skidmore played in exactly one game, had one at-bat, got a hit, and batted 1.000 for the season.
Can ya dig it: Dunegan appears to be in a batting pose, not a pitching pose. In fact, you can barely see part of his bat in the upper left-hand corner. This makes sense because Dunegan was an outfielder before switching to pitching in 1970.
Right on: Both of these guys look old for rookies. Dunegan was 23 at the time. Skidmore was 24.
You see these rookies are bad mothers: No they aren't. They're rookies. They're CUBS rookies. That makes them even less bad-ass.
Shut your mouth: Dunegan's nickname was "Lurch," not because he moved or looked like the Addams Family character, but because he drove the team station wagon during road trips while he was with Class A Quincy. He frequently brought the vehicle to a quick stop, lurching it forward, to keep teammates awake on night trips back home.
No one understands him but his woman: Neither Dunegan nor Skidmore ever played in the majors after the 1970 season. Skidmore had just the one base hit (against Jerry Reuss), but he played 12 years in pro ball, hanging on until the 1976 season.
(A word about the back): A converted outfielder and a Braves reject. That's who the Cubs were hoping to be stars in the 1970s.
I wonder if anyone ever called Roe Skidmore, More Skidroe?
ReplyDeleteOr Moe Skidmarks?
DeleteDuring college in the 1980's, I worked at a place called Cresmer, Woodward, O'Mara and Ormsbee. My dad would occasionally ask me how things were over at Roe Skidmore.
ReplyDeleteSkidmore was also drafted in the 47th round. It's pretty rare a player drafted that late ever makes it to the majors, although I think clubs drafted more guys in the 60s than they do today.
ReplyDeleteJim Dunegan worked for a contractor in the late 70s and early 80s in the Phoenix area. One of my little league coaches was a friend of his and Jim would occasionally come to our practices. He worked with the pitchers so I didn't get much of a chance to talk with him. I had this card at the time -- I should have had Dunegan autograph it.
ReplyDeleteBack in the '80s I had a text-only computer baseball game (for the Apple II+) based on statistics.
ReplyDeleteYou could add your own teams, and I typed in the 1970 Cubs just so I could have Roe Skidmore.
Because the game was stats-based, he always delivered a single every time he came to the plate.
Sometimes I gave him a start so I could harvest three or four hits a game ... and sometimes I sat him on the bench until I absolutely, positively had to have a pinch-hit.
Never failed.
I featured Roe Skidmore in a couple of posts earlier this year,
ReplyDeletehttp://canthavetoomanycards.blogspot.com/2012/02/skidmore.html
http://canthavetoomanycards.blogspot.com/2012/02/roe-skidmore-and-ernie-banks.html