Wednesday, October 28, 2015

no. 467 - al santorini


Who is the man: Al Santorini endured a brutal sophomore slump in 1970, after tying for the team lead in pitching wins for the expansion Padres in 1969. Santorini and Joe Niekro each won a team-high eight games in '69.

Can ya dig it: Santorini appears to have a spectator for his photo session.

Right on: This is one of those ubiquitous tilted backgrounds that you find on '70s cards.

You see that cat Santorini is a bad mother: Santorini was the No. 11 overall pick in the 1966 amateur draft by the Atlanta Braves.

Shut your mouth: Santorini struck out 12 Mets in a 4-0 complete game shutout while with the Cardinals in 1972. "Never since I was in high school have I had 12 strikeouts," Santorini said after the game.

No one understands him but his woman: Santorini is referred to as "chunky" in the same article. It's the first word of the AP story.


(A word about the back): Oof, That 1970 pitching line has to be one of the worst in the entire set.

3 comments:

  1. Santorini's poor record early in his career might have been due to being promoted to the big leagues before he was ready, a result of expansion in 1969. He was only 21 when he pitched for the Padres in 1969.

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  2. I agree that Santorini's pitching line for 1970 is the worst for that year, but it is better than Steve Hargan 1-13, 6.67 ERA mark in 1971.

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  3. I got some stuff signed by Santorini a via mail a few years ago. I had asked him about that first season in San Diego. He told me it was the same level as a not-so-good Triple A team.

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