Gambo and T_Wil1 Photopack

[bobb49]

Originally Posted by dennis_keith

Does anyone have any photos they could post of Robbie wine, catcher on the 1986 & 1987
Houston Astros?

- Wine 1987 Astros

[SDL]

Originally Posted by cinemaodyssey

Pictured with the 1869 Rockford Forest Citys.

Is it me or does he look a bit like Wade Boggs?

[Terry D]

Well, here's something you don't see every day: Nardi Contreras in color.

When I post a picture of an obscure player I try to say something interesting about him. I know how hard baseball is and how good a guy has to be even to make the majors. But Nardi Contreras defeats me. His first season as a pro came in 1969 in the Mets system, and it took him nearly eight years to get above AA ball. As of 1980 he had three seasons of AAA under his belt, seasons in which he posted ERAs of 4.24, 5.97, and 4.19. By then he was pushing 30 hard and clearly not even a marginal prospect. Yet in '80 the White Sox gave him 13.2 innings of relief work anyway, mostly as a mop-up man--he finished six of the eight games he appeared in, and every one of the games he appeared in was a White Sox loss. I'm not sure what the White Sox were thinking, but I suspect that they were simply desperate for any kind of long and middle relievers that year. Ed Farmer was excellent, Mike Proly was OK, and after that there was nobody--nobody being Rich Wortham, who had lost his spot in the rotation, Trevor Hoffman, and Randy Scarberry. (Dewey Robinson was a good AAA reliever, but the Sox never gave him much of a chance upstairs.) Anyway, heeere's Nardi, courtesy of ebay seller and White Sox specialist earlywynnfan (who often has excellent stuff).

[FatJack]

Originally Posted by Terry D

His first season as a pro came in 1969 in the Mets system, and it took him nearly eight years to get above AA ball.

Nardi was drafted by the Reds in 1969 and his first season as a pro was in their system, not the Mets. The Mets took him in the November 1972 minor league draft. He pitched for AAA Tidewater in 1975...his 7th pro season. His ERA that year was 1.95. He was still just 23 at that point. In 1976 and '77, now with the Phillies organization, he split those years between AA and AAA. He only pitched a handful of games at AAA in '77, but his AAA ERA in '76 was 2.67. It was 4.24 in '78 and 5.97 in '79, but I wouldn't include the 4.19 ERA with Iowa in 1980 as most of that occurred AFTER he spent May with Chicago, not before. Considering that, the way the game was at the time, many pitchers made their major league debuts around 26 years old and 27 years old was considered "peak", it's hard for me to think of 28 years old as "pushing 30". Also worth mentioning that he went on to coach for the Yankees, Mariners and White Sox.

[SDL]

Nardi's still in baseball as a minor league pitching instructor with the Yankees. I see him all the time during the spring and during the GCL season. Great guy to talk with.

[Terry D]

Originally Posted by SDL

Nardi's still in baseball as a minor league pitching instructor with the Yankees. I see him all the time during the spring and during the GCL season. Great guy to talk with.

Oh, I'm sure he is. I am not knocking him personally, and guys who were not great players are often good coaches and managers. He wasn't really a major league prospect, but I wish him well in his current career. He definitely has one of the best baseball names I've ever heard.

[cinemaodyssey]

A 2nd generation (or maybe 3rd) image of Manning's Carl Horner cabinet photo, but beggars can't be choosers.

[Pinetarpress]

Tony Ferreira was a big prospect to this KC kid during the Royals great run in 1985. He had been their 3rd overall pick in 1981 (taken in the second round 15 pics after Mark Gubicza with David Cone being taken one round later) He climbed the ladder and was pitching at Omaha (AAA) by 1984 going 7-10 in 40 G with a 4.57 E.R.A. The 1984 staff saw Danny Jackson and Charlie Leibrandt move up to the 1985 big league rotation while Ferreira stayed at Omaha going 11-10 with a 3.21 E.R.A in 26 starts. It was good enough to get him to the big leagues where he was a part of the run for the division championship. He made his debut on 9/17 in KC against the Mariners as he came in relief as the Royals were losing 7-0. He threw 2 shutout innings and recorded his first big league K (John Moses). He pitched in one more game on 10/6 against the A's in KC as he gave up 5 ER in 3.2 IP with 4 K. It was the last time he pitched in the big leagues.

He was traded to the Mets on 4/1 in 1986 for SS Angel Salazar. He pitched for the Mets AAA cub in 1986. Mariners in 1987, Yankees and Giants in 1988 and with the Brewers AA club in 1989 before pitching one last season with the Royals again in 1990 for their AAA club going 6-6 with a 3.98 E.R.A

Today he is a pitching instructor at IMG academy in Florida....

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

New ebay listing 1977 Raul Ferreyra Cincinnati Reds

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

New ebay listing 1962 New York Met Bruce Fitzpatrick

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

Ebay listing New York Met Shaun Fitzmaurice

[SDL]

Fitzpatrick never made it to the big leagues and Fitzmaurice had a cup of coffee in 1966.

Guess they weren't good 'Fitz" with the Mets,

<rimshot>

Thank you...I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip the bartenders and servers.

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

New ebay listings 1979 New York Mets Doug Flynn

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

New ebay listings 1977 Seattle Mariners Bobby Floyd

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

New ebay listings 1976 Cleveland Indians Boog Powell

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

New ebay listings 1972 Baltimore Orioles Boog Powell

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

New ebay listings 1961/78 Los Angeles Dodgers Jim Gilliam

[Chickazoola]

I've located a photo of Jim H. Donnelly, catcher for the 1884 Kansas City Cowboys. He managed a bunch of teams in and around Boston throughout the 1890's and remained involved in baseball through the 1910's. He was involved in organizing the 1915 New England League. He is pictured along with numerous Boston baseball luminaries like Hugh Duffy and Tim Murnane in the January 8, 1915 Boston Daily Globe.

[Chickazoola]

I've located a photo of James "Jim" Dee, who played shortstop for Pittsburg in 1884. He was pictured in a vintage team photo of the 1884 Travelers of the Buffalo Amateur League in the April 8, 1884 Buffalo Evening News.

[Chickazoola]

I've located a photo from the recently identified James Morris, who pitched one game for the 1884 Baltimore Unions.

He quit pro baseball when he found God and started Grace Church in Passaic, New Jersey, which still exists to this day. The photos were provided by the pastor at the church.