Who is the man: Dick Such spent his only time in the major leagues in 1970, appearing in 21 games on the mound, including five starts. His career stats are 1-5 with a 7.56 ERA.
Can ya dig it: Such is wearing a wicked gum stain on his uniform that I didn't notice until scanning the card.
Right on: Rookie card! Only (solo) card!
You see this cat Such is a bad mother: Such would enjoy a much more memorable baseball career as a pitching coach, particularly with the Minnesota Twins. He was the Twins' pitching coach during their World Series champion years of 1987 and 1991, heading hurlers like Frank Viola, Jack Morris, Bert Blyleven, Rick Aguilera, Jeff Reardon and Steve Bedrosian.
Shut your mouth: Such, looking back on his career a few years ago, said: "If I knew then what I knew now, I might have hung around longer." Wouldn't we all, Dick. Wouldn't we all.
No one understands him but his woman: I see he signed his name "Richard Such." I'm sure that's what he would go by if he was starting his career today. Nobody's named "Dick" these days.
(A word about the back): That 1967 York team was a horrid hitting club. The collective team batting average was .217. Such suffered the worst from it with his 0-16 mark, but York also had another pitcher on the team, Rupe Toppin, who had a 1.94 ERA in 25 games (with a 7-7 mark). Doug Ritter posted a 2.85 ERA but was 4-11. The York White Roses averaged 2.54 runs a game and went 43-95.
He signs his name "Dick" today. I have that card signed by him from a couple years back. He does have a three player card in the 1970 set, which he shares with longtime Twins' coach Dick Stelmaszec. Two dicks, one card!
ReplyDeleteI was noting that the York White Roses team referenced above featured Dick Bates, Dick Billings, Dick Nold, Dick Smith and Dick Such. Five Dicks on one team!
Delete0-16 that's brutal even though his ERA is good, but looking at the league for that year all pitching staffs were very good and all batting substandard. A real dead ball circuit. Interesting name for the York team, the White Roses. The name harkens back to 14th century England. The white rose was the symbol of the house of York or the northern half of England, they fought against the House of Lancaster (Red rose) in the War of the Roses. York Pa is called the White Rose City.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, I assumed that the signatures on these cards were the product of some back office Topps employee. (I was cynical even as a 10 years old). I now understand that the signatures were taken directly from the player's signed Topps contracts. That's why you often see more formal names and not nicknames and Such (pun intended).
ReplyDeleteThat we never got Dick Such and Dick Pole on the same team in the 70's is a shame.
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