Tuesday, January 3, 2017

no. 613 - pedro borbon


Who is the man: Pedro Borbon appeared in just 12 games in 1970, his first season with the Reds. He spent most of the year in Triple A Indianapolis.

Can ya dig it: Borbon looks like he means business, and if you know anything about Borbon's career, he meant business.

Right on: Dig the accent mark over the "o" in "Borbon". It's more pronounced than on some of his later cards, where it's just a dot.

You see that cat Borbon is a bad mother: Borbon famously chomped down on a Mets cap during the 1973 NLCS brawl initiated by Pete Rose's slide into Bud Harrelson. He also bit the Pirates' Daryl Patterson in the side during another brawl.

Shut your mouth: Borbon was charged with assault during an incident at a Cincinnati disco in 1979 in which he bit (yes, again) a bouncer. The Reds' GM at the time, Dick Wagner, publicly criticized Borbon's behavior, prompting Borbon to respond in the papers by saying, "Tell Dick Wagner to keep his mouth shut before I break his face." Borbon was traded to the Giants a couple months later.

No one understands him but his woman: Borbon returned to baseball as a replacement player in 1995 at the age of 48. He joined the Reds in spring training and struck out the only batter he faced in an exhibition game, but the Reds released him one game later.


(A word about the back): Look! Borbon is smiling! I made a big deal on another set blog about how Borbon never smiled on his cards and that prompted a comment from one of his daughters. Turns out all I had to do was turn over one of his cards.

3 comments:

  1. You Don't Mess around with the Vampire.....Ha!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's so cool that his daughter found your last post about him.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The "strikeout an inning" ratio was not reflected on this card.

    ReplyDelete