Who is the man: Both Joe Lis and Willie Montanez tore up Triple A pitching for Eugene, Oregon, in 1970. They each were rewarded brief call-ups in 1970. Lis played in 13 games and Montanez in 18.
Can ya dig it: Both of these guys were playing on other teams by the time I got into baseball cards. The first card of Lis I saw was his 1975 card when he was on the Indians. The first card of Montanez I saw was his 1977 card when he was on the Braves.
Right on: Note the American flag in the bottom right corner of Montanez's photo. It makes the photo much more patriotic.
You see these rookies are bad mothers: Ha! Not rookies! I don't care what kind of hot dog Montanez was!
Shut your mouth: When Lis was in the minor leagues, they moved him to third base. Phillies team president Bob Carpenter was so impressed with him that he said he thought Lis could be better than the Cubs' Ron Santo.
No one understands him but his woman: Here's a video of the San Diego Chicken mimicking Montanez's exaggerated motions at home plate and while trotting around the bases for a home run.
(A word about the back): Montanez played eight games for the Angels in 1966, struck out in both at-bats, and didn't appear in the majors again until 1970.
Phillies team president Bob Carpenter was so impressed with him that he said he thought Lis could be better than the Cubs' Ron Santo.
ReplyDeleteHa! And another Phillies president (Bill Giles) thought Rick Schu was going to replace Mike Schmidt at 3rd base!
On face value, not knowing what 1971 would bring, and asking yourself which player would hit 30 hr in his rookie season, you'd probably say Joe Lis, not Montanez. The early 70's Phillies had a hall of fame of 4A players who tore it up Eugene or AAA but not out east; Lis, Mike Anderson (played in 700+ games but never close to his projected career), John Vukovich, Pete Koegel, Mike Rogodzinski, Roger Freed (acquired from Balt). But then again there was Schmidt, Luzinski, Boone, out of that group which built later success was built.
ReplyDeleteMinor league numbers like those explain the high hopes. We all know how that turns out most of the time.
ReplyDelete