Who is the man: John Bateman enjoyed the most playing time of his 10-year career in 1970, appearing in 139 games and compiling 520 at-bats in his second year with the Expos.
Can ya dig it: I have to bring it up again: that windbreaker-under-the-jersey look just seemed like part of the uniform to us kids during the 1970s.
Right on: I wish the signature wasn't right over the MLB patch.
You see that cat Bateman is a bad mother: Bateman is the only catcher to catch a team's first no-hitter for two organizations. He caught the Astros' first no-hitter, by Don Nottebart, in 1963. He caught the Expos' first no-hitter, by Bill Stoneman, in 1969.
Shut your mouth: Bateman died in 1996, but he lives on with his own Twitter account in which he chronicles the 1972 Expos season.
No one understands him but his woman: Bateman played his entire career with one kidney and was named sports chairman of the Canadian Kidney Foundation. He told the foundation he lost the kidney due to a high school football injury, but he never played football in high school. He actually lost the kidney during a drunken barroom fall.
(A word about the back): Bateman's birthdate is incorrect. He fibbed and said he was born in 1942 when he was actually born in 1940. The inaccuracy wasn't discovered until after his retirement.
Bateman was given two different 1971 OPC cards that year.
ReplyDeleteOne of the more intriguing profiles. He lied about his age, he gave a false reason for the loss of a kidney(!), and according to his Twitter feed, Pat Jarvis(?) said he was the funniest player in MLB and a cartoon from "that Amadee fella" indicates the "brash young catcher doesn't hold still for the needling by older teammates." Honestly, a fascinating character that I never heard of.
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