Tuesday, December 8, 2015

no. 480 - manny sanguillen


Who is the man: Manny Sanguillen was coming off a season in which he finished third in the National League with a .325 batting average. But he was overshadowed by fellow NL catcher Johnny Bench, who had an MVP season in 1970.

Can ya dig it: A one-of-a-kind photo with this card. I don't know what Sanguillen is doing, but it seem like he's taking dinner orders for the entire stadium.

Right on: Love the double-hat look. That's a '70s/'80s staple.

You see that cat Sanguillen is a bad mother: Sanguillen hit .379 in the Pirates' victory in the 1971 World Series. He produced 11 hits and also caught every inning of all seven games.

Shut your mouth: Sanguillen's name was pronounced "San-GHEE-yen" when he played, but the Spanish pronunciation is actually "Sangee-YEN." The accent is over the "e" in his name.

No one understands him but his woman: Sanguillen was a very enthusiastic player, who swung at almost everything. He was sometimes accused of being a "hot dog" for the way he played.


(A word about the back): Sanguillen started his pro career in the New York-Penn League in Batavia, N.Y., a town I know very well. He's talked about not being able to speak English and trying to order in a Batavia restaurant. I'm dying to know which restaurant it is because I'll bet I've been in it.

6 comments:

  1. The front photo is highly reminiscent of Bud Harrelson's in the 1970 set.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Manny Never Saw a Pitch he Didn't Like...Ha! Manny was A solid Catcher and Hitter.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like to think this is Manny autographing my dads program.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Manny was one one the reasons I became a Pirates fan. I loved how low he crouched behind the plate and and his go-up-there-hacking approach at the plate. (Alas, as a kid I had no concept of OBP.) This will always be an outstanding card, in my book.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Does anyone remember the right field experiment?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How could I forget? 1973, the first season after Clemente's death, the Bucs briefly put Sangy in RF. He misjudged so many flyballs I think they had him wear a batting helmet out there!

      Delete