Dallas Green 1934-2017

Today we got the sad news that Dallas Green has died. I had heard he was very ill several months ago, yet it is still a bummer to get the official word.

2014 Phungo #46 Dallas Green

Never got around to posting this 2014 Phungo Card. The photo was taken during the Phillies Alumni weekend in 2013. Green can be seen greeting Gary Matthews. Johnny Briggs and Gene Garber are the players in the foreground.

In 1999 Dallas Green came to speak at the Chester County Historical Society to help promote a baseball exhibition at the museum. The above poster for the event hangs in my baseball card room right above my sorting table.

I don't remember a lot of what he said but he did mention that after his playing career was over he earned his Master Degree at University of Delaware. He also noted that Wayne Gomes was not a closer. My guess is that Green spoke for about an hour and then signed autographs for anyone who was present. When I met him we had a brief discussion about the G3-1 play.

Sources and Links
Dallas Green Index 
Baseball-ref
Philly.com (Frank Fitzpatrick)

Tug McGraw would have been 70: 1979 Topps #345

Over the weekend found out via @HighHeatStats that this past Saturday would have been Tug McGraw's 70th birthday. McGraw seemed perpetually young, his 2004 death from brain cancer at age 59 felt so premature. 

1999 09 15 Tug McGraw Event Poster for Chester County Historical Society Speaker Series. Artwork by Dick Perez
1979 Topps #345 Tug McGraw

15 years ago I got to see Tug McGraw speak as part of a baseball exhibit at the Chester County Historical Society, which at the time was a block away from my apartment.

As one can imagine Tug was a great speaker, He talked about his days as a starting pitcher with the Mets and as a reliever for the 1980 Phillies.

Some of the interesting tidbits I remember are that he pitched against Sandy Koufax. He also batted against him and said that one of his proudest moments was putting the ball in play off of the Hall of Famer.

He brought his personal World Series Trophy (the players each get a smaller replica trophy from the league) from the Phillies 1980 World Championship. He also had his 1969 World Series Ring from the Miracle Mets triumph. McGraw explained that he knew it was a Phillies event but that the then current year (1999) was a Mets Anniversary Year and he wore that ring. The following year would be the Phillies 20th anniversary and he would switch rings in 2000.

Amazingly McGraw passed both items through the audience. He said he had done this has similar speaking engagements and knew he would get them back.

Autographs
The night of the CCHS event Tugger signed autographs for all in attendance. There was youngster in front of me that had a baseball that literally had the cover ripped away. The boy asked McGraw to sign the ball on the inside of the cover. McGraw mentioned that he had signed thousands of autographs but had never signed on the inside of the horsehide.

McGraw signed both poster that accompanied the event and a 1979 Topps Card that I brought. Both autographs contained his trademark smiley face.  

Sources & Links
Baseball Card Database