Who is the man: Gerry Janeski was coming off his rookie season when this card was issued. He appeared in a whopping 35 games for the 1970 White Sox, going 10-17 for a team that won just 56 games.
Can ya dig it: The comically painted red cap makes this card look ancient to me, as if it's from a time long, long ago. The longer I look at it the sillier it looks.
Right on: This is Janeski's only Topps card.
You see that cat Janeski is a bad mother: Janeski threw a complete-game shutout in his second major league start. It came against the Oakland A's in Oakland and Janeski allowed just three hits. A grand total of 2,901 in the stands saw it.
Shut your mouth: Janeski was known as "the wheat germ kid" as a rookie. He took wheat germ and liver pills and other vitamins, ran three miles a day and did 70 push-ups at a time.
No one understands him but his woman: Janeski is listed as "Gerry" here and on baseball-reference, but almost everywhere else, he is "Jerry".
(A word about the back): Janeski tied for the league league in wins in 1969 while pitching in the Red Sox organization. He pitched in the minors for the Red Sox for five years until he was sent to the White Sox as compensation for an earlier trade. Boston earlier dealt pitcher Billy Farmer to the White Sox, but Chicago soon found out Farmer had a sore arm as the pitcher quit after tossing a few balls during the first spring workout because the pain in his arm was so intense.
You don't often see a pitcher with stats like those get 200 innings. The White Sox must have not had many options in 1970.
ReplyDeleteWhite Sox were in dire straights pitching wise in 1970, their worst year ever as a franchise. They were dead last in ERA and most every other pitching stat (except walks and losses). This all makes the 1971 resurgence, 23 game turn around all that more amazing. Not sure if it can be attributed to Chuck Tanner's presence or pitching coach Johnny Sain (put Wilbur Wood as a starter) but they did great work.
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