Card fact: The third straight yellow-red card of a player in the shadows. The previous two were Willie Montanez and the Bert Campaneris all-star card.
What I thought about this card then: Never saw it.
What I think about this card now: A couple of things. First, it's one of those awful shots where you can't see the player's face. I can't even tell what Steve Rogers is doing in this photo. Is he trying to pick off someone at first base?
Secondly, early cards of Rogers look odd to me, because I always knew Rogers with a mustache. This seems like another man.
Other stuff: Rogers is the most successful pitcher in Expos history and spent his entire career with Montreal. He finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1973 and second in the Cy Young Award voting in 1982.
Rogers was one of those pitchers that the media would always call underrated. ABC enjoyed doing that during the 1981 postseason. They talked the Expos up and they talked Rogers up. And then Rogers came on in relief during the final game against the Dodgers and gave up the winning home run to Rick Monday. I was very happy.
But even though former Expos manager Dick Williams disparaged Rogers' ability in a book, Rogers was in fact one of the better pitchers in the National League in the early 1980s.
As for the cartoon, Jim Spencer was a 1970s player that we'll see later on in the set.
Other blog stuff: The No. 1 song on this date in 1975 was "Philadelphia Freedom," by Elton John.
22 losses is amazing. 37 decisions in 38 starts is also amazing.
ReplyDeleteA great pitcher who was underrated because the team behind him was simply not good enough to go against the Phils and Pirates of the day. Those teams were machines, and we didn't have what it took to beat them.
ReplyDeleteRick Monday is a four letter word in Montreal :-)