no. 372 - lew krausse

Who is the man: Lew Krausse won 13 games in his first season with the Brewers in 1970. It would be the second-best win total of his 12-year career. But he lost 18 games in 1970, too.

Can ya dig it: Krausse is not even looking at where that pitch is going.

Right on: Lew's working on a chaw.

You see that cat Krausse is a bad mother: Krausse pitched a three-hit shutout for the Kansas City A's against the L.A. Angels in his major league debut as an 18-year-old in 1961. He hadn't even pitched in the minors at that point and was straight out of high school.

Shut your mouth: Krausse was a victim of one of Moe Drabowsky's many pranks. Drabowsky, an Oriole and a former teammate of Krausse's with the A's, called the bullpen during a game and told the coach to get Krausse warming up. So Krausse started warming. Then Drabowsky called again and told the coach to sit Krausse down. So Krausse did. Drabowsky repeated the same calls. Then on the third go-round, he asked the coach to put Krausse on the phone. When Krausse got on the line, Drabowsky asked him, "(Are you) warm, Lew?" Krausse recognized the voice right away.

No one understand him but his woman: Krausse was part of a huge flap between A's owner Charlie Finley and the team in the late '60s. Krausse was fined by the A's for his rowdy behavior on a plane trip, an action that contributed to the firing of manager Alvin Dark. The A's issued a protest statement over Krausse's fine and when Finley found out that Dark knew about the plan to issue the statement, he was fired. A's player Ken Harrelson was also released over the matter and picked up by the Red Sox.

(A word about the back): It's interesting to see a cash amount related to a signing on a baseball card. That doesn't seem to be too common.