Who is the man: Don Kessinger had completed his second straight Gold Glove season in 1970 when this card was coming out of packs.
Can ya dig it: I believe Don is facing the wrong way. The field is behind him.
Right on: I've always thought the player's number written inside the C of the Cubs logo was a little weird. Not as weird as those blue striped jammies that the Cubs wore in the '80s, but weird.
You see that cat Kessinger is a bad mother: Kessinger was widely regarded as one of the best fielding shortstops of the late '60s and early '70s. He's 15th all-time in career assists as a shortstop.
Shut your mouth: Kessinger, a player-manager for the White Sox for one year, retired as a player and a manager on Aug. 2, 1979, the same day that Yankees catcher Thurman Munson died in a plane crash.
No one understands him but his woman: While managing the White Sox, Kessinger used position player Wayne Nordhagen to pitch twice in one week. Nordhagen gave up two runs in two innings in his first start, but pitched a scoreless ninth in his second.
(A word about the back): Those 14 triples were a career-high for Kessinger. The Dodgers' Willie Davis led the league with 16.
I do believe that the numbers on the helmets were the doing of legendary clubhouse manager Yosh Kawano. Something I was not aware of was that his brother Nobu was an equipment manager for your Dodgers. I found this photo of Nobu:
ReplyDeletehttp://framework.latimes.com/2014/05/12/strike-empties-1972-dodgers-clubhouse/