Thursday, May 16, 2013

no. 176 - red sox rookie stars


Who is the man: Bob Montgomery and Doug Griffin each made their first trips to the majors in 1970, but with different teams. Montgomery played in 22 games for the Red Sox. Griffin participated in 18 for the Angels.

Can ya dig it: Griffin is airbrushed out of an Angels cap. He was dealt from the Angels to the Red Sox in October of 1970 in the bombshell Tony Conigliaro deal.

Right on: I wonder if Topps had some other player in mind for the bottom space before Griffin was traded?

You see these rookies are bad mothers: If I've said it once, I've said it 14 times. Rookies are never bad ass.

Shut your mouth: Montgomery was a broadcaster for Red Sox TV for 14 years, between 1982-95. He was hired for the job after Conigliaro, who also interviewed for the job, suffered a stroke.

No one understands him but his woman: The combination  of these two players is very interesting given one particular aspect -- their hats. Montgomery didn't wear a helmet during his career and was the last player to do so as all players who weren't already playing in 1971 were required to use helmets. He escaped with no beaning incidents. Meanwhile, Griffin wore a helmet like all other players and suffered two horrible beanings at the hands of Nolan Ryan and Dick Bosman that basically shortened his career.


(A word about the back): Playing baseball in Hawaii sounds fantastic. But I'm sure the road trips were hell.

1 comment:

  1. I believe Montgomery was the catcher that, @ 1977, threw out Mike Cubbage at first, causing Gene Mauch to get ejected and throw all of the bats out of the dugout.

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