When I recently posted my All-Time One-Year Wonder for left field, I posted a picture of a card of Buster Mills and said I needed to find it. Well, I found it, and the rest of the team set. The set was 1979 TCMA Diamond Greats. And the "Greats" part is apparently used very loosely. Previously, I had cards of players like Dom DiMaggio, Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky, and Rico Petrocelli from the set, who were all very good to great players. The rest of the team set, well, see for yourself:
2. Tony Lupien. Lupien is mostly "famous" for taking Jimmie Foxx's first base job in 1942. He had a decent season that year, hitting .281/.351/.384 but with next to no power (three home runs). He spent three years (1940, 1942-1943) with Boston, but that was his only good one.
3. Roy Partee. Partee was the primary catcher for the Red Sox from 1943-1944 and then the backup from 1946-1947. He was a decent contact hitter for Boston, hitting .281 in 1943 and .315 in 1946, but had no power whatsoever (two career home runs). Partee was pretty good defensively, catching 42% of attempted base stealers for his career.
4. Jim Bagby. Bagby had two tours with Boston, one at the beginning of his career (1938-1940), and one towards the end (1946). He was a top pitching prospect and performed very well his rookie season (15-11, 4.21 ERA), but struggled his next two seasons and was traded to Cleveland, where he became an All Star. His return was a little better (7-6, 3.71 ERA), but he was much better with the Indians.
5. Buster Mills. I covered Mills earlier, he spent just one season in Boston (1937), but performed well, hitting .295/.361/.418 with seven home runs and 58 RBIs. It was one of only two seasons as an everyday player and the better of the two.
6. Fabian Gaffke. Gaffke was long considered a top prospect, but he never really justified it. He spent four seasons with Boston (1936-1939) and only played in more than 50 games once, when he hit .288/.342/.484 with six home runs and 34 RBIs in 54 games. It was promising, but he never came close to those numbers again.
7. George Metkovich. "Catfish" was with the Red Sox for the first four years of his career (1943-1946), and had some decent seasons, but was never a star. His best year was the WWII year 1944 when he hit .277/.319/.406 with nine home runs, 59 RBIs, and stole 13 bases.
8. Tom McBride. McBride was mostly a part-time player during his time in Boston (1943-1947). He was a utility outfielder/first-baseman who only played in 100 or more games once (1945), but that season he hit .305/.354/.387. He did not have any power either (two career home runs).
9. Charlie Wagner. "Broadway" Charlie Wagner's biggest claim to fame was being Ted Williams's roommate. He spent his entire career (1938-1942, 1946) with Boston and was decent his only two seasons in which he was a member of the rotation (26-19, 3.19 ERA from 1941-1942).
11. Harry Dorish. "Fritz" spent the first three years (1947-1949) and the final year (1956) of his career with Boston. He was used frequently in 1947, pitching in 41 games, mostly in relief and finishing 7-8 with a 4.70 ERA. But he pitched in 29 games total in his other Red Sox seasons and did not register a victory. Dorish had some luck with the White Sox in the early 1950's.
12. Ike Delock. All but seven games in the last season of his career were spent with the Red Sox (1952-1953, 1955-1963). Delock was a pretty decent pitcher and a mainstay of the Red Sox pitching staff. He had some truly impressive seasons out of the bullpen in the mid 1950's. His career numbers with the Red Sox were 83-72, 4.01 ERA, 661 strikeouts.
13. Mel Parnell. Parnell was a star when he was healthy. The southpaw was one of the best pitchers, if not the best, in the game in 1949 when he was 25-7 with a 2.77 ERA. He led the league in wins, ERA, and innings pitched that season. Unfortunately, his career was derailed when he suffered a wrist injury. He pitched his entire career (1947-1956) with Boston and was 123-75 with a 3.50 ERA.
14. Matt Batts. Batts spent the first half of his career with Boston (1947-1951). He was almost exclusively a backup catcher during his time in Boston and never played in more than 75 games with the Red Sox. He did hit .314 in 1948, but in just 40 games. Batts had a little better seasons with the Browns and Tigers.
15. Gene Stephens. Stephens was a highly-touted outfielder who was supposed to team up with Ted Williams. It never worked out that way. He is mostly known for once having three hits in an inning in 1953. For his Red Sox career (1952-1953, 1955-1960), he hit .247/.327/.362 with 24 home runs. Not quite what was expected.
16. Milt Bolling. Bolling was the primary shortstop for two seasons during his Red Sox tenure (1952-1957). Like Stephens, he was a highly-touted young player during the team's youth movement in the early 1950's, but he was nowhere near as good as the players he was replacing. He hit just .247/.324/.356 with 15 home runs during his six seasons in Boston.
17. Charlie Maxwell. Maxwell was an two-time All Star later in his career with the Tigers, but he spent his first four seasons (1950-1952, 1954) with Boston. In that time, he played in just 134 games and hit .203/.289/.285 with three home runs. Why he is shown with Boston in this set is a mystery.
18. Willard Nixon. Nixon spent his entire nine-year career (1950-1958) with the Red Sox. He was more of a back-of-the-rotation starter and was merely decent for his career. He finished with a 60-72 record and a 4.39 ERA and 616 strikeouts.
20. Dick Gernert. Gernert was another of the youth movement of the 1950's and was with Boston from 1952-1959. He had his best season in 1956 when he hit .291/.399/.484 with 16 home runs and 68 RBIs. He also had successful seasons in 1952, 1953, 1957, and 1958. He was something of an underrated player for his time who had some power and could get on base. Gernert hit .252/.352/.436 with the Red Sox with 101 home runs.
I really like this set because a lot of these players are completely outside-the-box. The players that made the most sense to be included are mostly the ones I already had. Mel Parnell was obviously a star, but most of the other guys are long-forgotten. There is no real rhyme or reason for the presence of a lot of these players and guys like Charlie Maxwell were much, much better for other teams. This set was just a fun look back through history. I am very happy with it.
