Let’s Remember a Guy!

[ironfist]

Last week I was thinking to myself that Cory Snyder would be perfect for this thread. I won't make any suggestions because I love the surprise aspect of this thread.

[revo]

Today's Guy

Mario Mendoza
Every baseball fan knows of Mario Mendoza, but do they really know about Mario Mendoza?

For some reason as a 9- or 10-year old camper, we had a song that ended with the line ".....Mario Mendoza and his supersonic farts!"

Mendoza first came to infamy when his batting incompetence was mocked by George Brett in 1980, who said in an interview: "The first thing I look for in the Sunday papers is who is below the Mendoza line." Of course, many newspapers would print the stats of every player, ranked by batting average, every Sunday, and Mendoza would routinely hover near the bottom. ESPN's Chris Berman is credited with putting it to widespread use, and today "The Mendoza Line" is attributed to players batting under .200.

Mendoza was typical of shortstops in the 1970s and 1980s, slick fielders but terrible hitters, and he obviously began to epitomize that type of player. He started with the Pirates in 1974, and actually was a decent hitter in the minors, hitting .268 with 8 HRs at AA in 1973. The Pirates used him mainly as a late-inning defensive replacement, and in his 5 seasons with the Bucs he accumulated all of 441 ABs, to the tune of a .204 BA with 1 HR.

He was shipped in a multi-player deal to the Mariners for the 1979 season, where the M's somehow liked enough of what they saw to hand Mendoza the shortstop job on a full-time basis. Not unexepctedly, he batted .218/.246/.275 (including an OPS+ of just 25 in 1979) before he was packaged off again to the Rangers, where he completed he career in 1982.

For his career, he hit .215/.245/.262 (41 OPS+) with 4 Homers. The pitchers who will always be teased for being victimized by the toothless Mendoza are: Steve Renko, Jim Barr & Jim Slaton. He also hit an inside-the-park HR off of Geoff Zahn.

That's today's guy, Mario Mendoza!

[Hornsby]

Today's Guy

Mario Mendoza
Every baseball fan knows of Mario Mendoza, but do they really know about Mario Mendoza?

For some reason as a 9- or 10-year old camper, we had a song that ended with the line ".....Mario Mendoza and his supersonic farts!"

Mendoza first came to infamy when his batting incompetence was mocked by George Brett in 1980, who said in an interview: "The first thing I look for in the Sunday papers is who is below the Mendoza line." Of course, many newspapers would print the stats of every player, ranked by batting average, every Sunday, and Mendoza would routinely hover near the bottom. ESPN's Chris Berman is credited with putting it to widespread use.

Mendoza was typical of shortstops in the 1970s and 1980s, slick fielders but terrible hitters, and he obviously began to epitomize that type of player. He started with the Pirates in 1974, and actually was a decent hitter in the minors, hitting .268 with 8 HRs at AA in 1973. The Pirates used him mainly as a late-inning defensive replacement, and in his 5 seasons with the Bucs he accumulated all of 441 ABs, to the tune of a .204 BA with 1 HR.

He was shipped in a multi-player deal to the Mariners for the 1979 season, where the M's liked enough of what they saw to hand Mendoza the shortstop job on a full-time basis. Not unexepctedly, he batted .218/.246/.275 (including an OPS+ of just 25 in 1979) before he was packaged off again to the Rangers, where he completed he career in 1982.

For his career, he hit .215/.245/.262 (41 OPS+) with 4 Homers. The pitchers who will always be teased for being victimized by the toothless Mendoza are: Steve Renko, Jim Barr & Jim Slaton. He also hit an inside-the-park HR off of Geoff Zahn.

That's today's guy, Mario Mendoza!

Fantastic pull Ed...

[Judge Jude]

I have that card!

yeah, these are great

[mjl]

requests from a Chicago fan, no idea if these are the right level of obscurity:

RoY Jerome Walton
Keith Moreland
Ron Kittle, whose great third-of-a-season in 1989 is the only thing I remember from my first season of roto
The Black Russian, Ivan Calderon

and also Gance Mullinorg

[Judge Jude]

"Have the Cubbies run right out into the middle of the field
Have Keith Moreland drop a routine fly
Give everybody two bags of peanuts and a frosty malt, and
And I'll be ready to die"

which is from the song "A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request"

and singer/songwriter Steve Goodman deserves being "a guy" as much as any player

[revo]

Today's Guy, for MJL

Greg Gross
Another in a long line of 1970s/1980s players who look more like a high school chemistry teacher than baseball player (he does looks strangely like my HS chemistry teacher, Mr. Waldman), Greg Gross to me epitomizes 1970s/1980s baseball. He had a 17-year career from 1973 to 1989, yet was last a full-time starter in 1976, which means he spent the final 14 years of his career as a pinch-hitter.

Gross started his career in 1973 with the Astros, and immediately proved he could make contact and get on base (and was a very good fielder), hitting .314 with a .393 OBP, with 76 BBs and just 39 Ks in 589 ABs. More problematic was he had little speed -- he had 12 SBs with a whopping 20 CS that season -- and zero power (0 HR). Obviously after that season, the red light was on permanently for him! He hit .290/.374/.348 in 1975 & 1976 before the Astros had enough of his limitations and shipped him to the Cubs.

The Cubs, seeing his skill-set in a different light, began to utilize him as a pinch-hitter, and he was used as such in 51 of his 115 games during the 1977 season to great success -- he hit .322/.397/.460. The Cubs used him like that for another season before packing him off to the Phillies (alongside future All-Star Manny Trillo) in early 1979.

He remained with the Phillies for a decade almost exclusively used as a pinch-hitter, where in 1,547 ABs he hit a SINGLE HR, which was his first HR in NINE seasons (off the Padres' Lance McCullers, much to his chagrin). But Gross could put his bat on the ball: he struck out only 89 times over his Phillies career, and reached base at a .374 clip.

For his career, he hit 7 HRs in 4,335 PAs, 5 of which came during the 1977 season ('roids?), and struck out just 250 times.

That's today's guy, Greg Gross!

[Erik]

I remember everyone from the 1980 Phillies, so he is indeed a guy I remember.

On that squad he was the #2 pinch hitter, behind Del Unser.

[revo]

Today's Guy

Sam Horn
Sam Horn came on like a house on fire during the 1987 season, smacking 14 HRs in just 158 ABs, forever searing himself into Red Sox lore. He was one of those all-or-nothing sluggers, but seemed to be able to rise above that. He never did.

He entered the 1988 season with high hopes, but the magic had faded: he hit just .148 through June 4th when the Red Sox had enough, and he found himself back in the minors for the remainder of the season. He didn't fare any better in 1989 either, hitting an identical .148, and the BoSox released him after the season.

He signed with the Orioles and made an immediate impact, smacking 2 3-run HRs on opening day for them, and went on to post a decent season with a .248/.332/.472 line with 14 HRs, and had his best season in 1991 when he hit 23 HRs.

He bounced between the majors, minors and Mexican League the next few years, retired in 1996, then mounted a comeback in the Independent League in 2000-2001 before hanging them up for good.

Today, Horn is a revered member of Red Sox Nation, having hosted a number of shows in the Boston area since his retirement.

That's today's guy, Sam Horn!

[TranaGreg]

and he's immortalized in a great baseball forum for red sox fans, http://sonsofsamhorn.net

[heyelander]

That's today's guy, Greg Gross!

You always got a "professional at-bat" from Gregg Gross.

[revo]

You always got a "professional at-bat" from Gregg Gross.

LOL. I think he was the first "professional hitter" of the modern era.

[revo]

Today's Guy

Pete LaCock
Come on, what 9-year old baseball fan didn't chuckle when they heard the name "Pete LaCock?"

But more importantly, in those pre-internet days, you could never answer that urban legend always associated with him: Was he the son of The Hollywood Squares' Peter Marshall or not? If so, why wasn't his name 'Marshall' too? Why was it never really acknowledged? It was only those in-the-know who knew the real answer. And it's not like we got Royals telecasts to possibly find out. It was a big mystery. His baseball career always seemed somewhat irrelevant to all this.

He did have a decent 9-year career from 1972 until 1980 as a soft-hitting first baseman with the Cubs and more famously, the Royals. His best year was probably 1978, when he hit .295 with 5 HRs in 322 ABs. He never did land a full-time gig, but was decent enough to play some of the time. His biggest claim to fame, besides his possible claim to fame, was hitting a grand slam off Bob Gibson in the final appearance of his illustrious career.

He was traded in 1976 in a 3-team deal, where the Mets parted with Jim Dwyer (another in that long line of 1970s era pinch-hitters who strangely had very long careers).

So......was he the son of Peter Marshall or not?

In 2018, with Wikipedia at our disposal, we can definitively say......Yes! Peter Marshall's real name is Ralph Pierre LaCock (no wonder why he changed it). That would have been very important news to my 9-year old self.

That's today's guy, and definitely the son of The Hollywood Squares' Peter Marshall, Pete LaCock!


LaCock in the horrid 1981 inaugural Donruss set:


"Ralph LaCock" on the Hollywood Squares set:

[The Dane]

Peter LaCock.

Apparently, on his deathbed, Groucho Marx quipped, "Do you realize Peter O'Toole has a double phallic name?"

[dslaw]

Today's Guy

Sam Horn
[/IMG]

Missed a couple of days. I used to live in Norfolk and had season tix for the Mets AAA team. Horn hit a HR dead center almost over the flag pole. The stadium dimensions were the same as Shea so it was 410' or something like that to CF. Longest HR I have ever seen in person. Probably struck out 10 times in that series but the HR is all I remember.