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.
