Reds Retire Pete Rose's #14

Over the weekend the Cincinnati Reds Retired Pete Rose’s number.

1977 Topps #450 Pete Rose
The Reds drew 40,805 fans for the ceremony and 120K+ for a three game series versus the Padres for Pete Rose weekend.  Outside of an early season Saturday Game against the Cubs and the Home Opener versus the Phillies, the trio of games rank as the Reds top 3 draws of the season. 
 
1976 ASG
In 1976 Pete Rose made his 10th All-Star Team. However, it was his first at Third Base the fourth different position he played in the Mid-Summer Classic. Rose batted leadoff in the game and recorded a single off of AL Starter Mark Fidrych. Pete went 2 for 3 in the game wit the 2nd hit coming off of Luis TIant. After Five innings Rose was replaced at third by the Home Town player and future teammate Mike Schmidt.

During Rose's first AB in the All-Star Game a fan in the stands can be heard screaming "Where's Mike Schmidt" 

Reds alums present for the number retirement ceremony on Sunday included 3 of Rose’s Reds teammates that were on that NL ASG squad in ’76, Tony Perez, Johnny  Bench and David Concepcion.
 
 Flip

1977 Topps #450 Pete Rose 

Just wanted to show off the cartoon on the back of the card. As far as I know the 30+ year old factoid remained true until the stadium closed. In 2008 Josh Hamilton came close during the Home Run Derby and there is also a debate as to the possibility of Josh Gibson hitting one in a 1930s Negro League game. For a New York Times article regarding those homers and other long ones at the House that Ruth built click here.

Sources and Links 
1976 All-Star Game summary
Pete Rose Non-HoF Index
Baseball-ref
Cincinnati Reds
New York Times 2008 07 16
YouTube - 1976 All-Star Game 

1976 ASG +40: Randy Jones 1977 Topps #550

Tonight with the Padres in town for the Phillies first home series we are going to take a look at the the NL Starting Pitcher for the 1976 All-Star game Randy Jones.

1977 Topps #550 Randy Jones

Randy Jones earned the honor by recording an NL record 16 victories during the first half of the 1976 season. Jones got the W in the game pitching 3 shutout innings for the Home Squad, allowing 2 hits and a walk. Jones was a ground ball specialist and induced a double play to eliminate one of those runners. Notables that Jones shut down in those three innings were Rod Carew twice including the DP, as well as borderliner Hallers Bobby Grich, Fred Lynn and Thurman Munson.

It was the 2nd All-Star game for Jones who had also recorded a save in the 1975 Mid-Summer Classic. He was the first player to Earn a Save followed by a W in consecutive All-Star Games.

His first half success continued throughout the season, Jones finished 22-14 with a 2.74 ERA leading the league in Wins, Starts, CGs (25!!), Innings (315+), Batters Faced and WHIP (1.027). It all added up to a Cy Young Award for the 26 Year Old Jones.

1977 Topps
Great Card, The Padres Colors, The 77T All-Star Flair, Randy Jones Warming Up, and his epic 1970s hair.

1977 Topps #550 Randy Jones (b-side)

The text here hits the highlights of Jones' 1976 ASG performance which ties in nicely to both our theme and the the All-Star flair on the front.

I also like the Trivia Toon, Lolich set the LH K record in 1975 and we honored the 40th anniversary of that game in a posting from our 1976 Topps Record Breakers Series.

Instream Sports
If you have any interest in the 1976 ASG and have some free time there is a terrific article at Instream Sports where they basically watch a stream of the game and discuss it with folks that were involved. In the 1976 ASG article the players that are interviewed are Randy Jones and Phillies Alum Al Oliver.

Yes Randy Jones is wearing a Perm, his wife did his first one with a bottle of Toni. 

Sources and Links
1976 All-Star Game Index 
Dave Jordan Instream Sports

Sarasota Herald Tribune 1976 0708

NEW FEATURE 1976 All-Star Game 40th Anniversary: Greg Luzinski - 1977 Topps #30

Annually we here at Team Phungo attempts to put a year long feature dedicated to a single team. Past editions of the Phungo Annual have included the 1964 and 1983 Phillies as well as a feeble attempt at the 1915 NL Pennant Winners last year.

This year we are going with a different type of feature. 2016 Marks the 40th anniversary of the Bicentennial All-Star Game which was held at Veteran's Stadium in Philadelphia. To mark the occasion we are going to put together several postings related to the event. I don't anticipate hitting every player that made the team but if I am going to cover a good chunk of them we are going to have to start now..

And we lead off with a Clean Up Hitter.

1977 Topps #30 Greg Luzinski (NL All-Star)

Five Phillies made the 1976 NL All-Star roster but only one of them got to start the game in his home city. Greg Luzinski played Left Field and batted fifth, unfortunately he went 0-3 in the game. It was the second All-Star appearance for the Bull and His first of three consecutive starts in the mid-summer classic.

Luzinski's All Star Game qualifying resume at the break included a slash line that read .307/.360/.502 with 12 Homers and 57 RBIs. His All-Star campaign continued as the Bull finished 8th in the 1976 MVP voting.

SABR Star?
Despite the impressive power numbers mentioned above Luzinski's 1976 WAR was +2.3 which ranked a pedestrian 40th in the NL and 19th among outfielders. In general Greg Luzinski's defensive shortcomings probably would prevent him from being a SABR star in any given year. His Peak WAR was +5.2 in 1978 which was 11th in the league and 5th among outfielders.

Regardless he was a slugging machine over his four year all-star period running from 1975-78, averaging 32 Home Runs with 112 RBI while maintaining a .295 BA and an impressive 150 OPS+.

1977 Topps
The starters for the 1976 All-Star teams are honored in the following years Topps set so if I follow through with this feature plan on seeing plenty of 1977T AS cards. This is my favorite type of All-Star card, take the base card and add a flair to them - In the case of 1977 it is more fo a banner, but still solid. During our 1976 ASG redux, I am going to try and hit a few different years and I am sure the relative merits of the different flairs will be over-analyzed.

Lots to like about the the image on Luzinski's card - The All-Star flair, the powder blue road uni, and The uphill dugout roof that draws the photo focus to the Bull's powerful swing. Luzinsnki's uniform #19 appears to be inked on the bat knob - there is a patch on his right shoulder not sure but it may be a bicentennial patch. A final note of interest is the shot appears to be taken at Shea Stadium where Luzinski made his MLB debut on September 9 1970.

1977 Topps #30 Greg Luzinski (NL All-Star / b-side)

The text on the back of the card refers to the Phillies 4-1 NL East Clincher. Luzinski's two out 3-run homer broke a 0-0 tie in the 6th inning. The Plate Appearance had a +34 WPA, which was the best in the game. 
 
Something tells me we will be hearing from Joe Morgan later in the 1976 All-Star Game feature - he would extend his 100 Walk Season streak to 6 in 1977.

Other Voices
I am sure we will be checking in with The 1977 Topps Blog numerous times during this series. The posting on the 1977T Luzinski card can be found here.

Sources and Links
1976 All-Star Game 40th Anniversary Index
Baseball Almanac 
Baseball-Ref