Rookie Cup Series: 1961 Topps #395 Chuck Estrada

Chuck Estrada earned the RHP Rookie Cup award for 1960 by leading not just rookies but all of MLB in Wins with 18. At the time Estrada was the only rookie to ever lead the AL in wins and the first since 1932 (Larry Cheney) to lead either the NL or AL. He also led rookie pitchers in Strikeouts and Innings Pitched. His 7.0 Hits/9IP led all pitchers. 

Despite these superlative pitching numbers he did not win rookie of the year. He finished runner-up to Orioles teammate Ron Hansen (22/86/.255) 

1961 Topps #395 Chuck Estrada 

These seem like obvious qualifications to win the Rookie Cup, leading two of the triple crown categories and finishing 5th in Rookie ERA. However, modern stats may have swayed the vote. Estrada ranked 3rd in WAR among RHP behind Art Mahaffey (Phillies) and Don Lee (Senators). Estrada finished behind the pair in ERA & ERA+. Mahaffey bested the trio in Winning percentage. Mahaffey finished 3rd in the NL ROY voting. Lee did not receive any vote in the AL bracket

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1961 Topps #395 Chuck Estrada (b-side) 

the third panel of the panel is kind of ironic as Chuck's attitude was mentioned in his SABR Bio as part of the reason he had trouble sticking in the majors after his incredible debut season. 

1961+ 

Unfortunately for Estrada his career peaked in 1960. He struggled with injuries the next few seasons and never regained his form. A 7 year career ended in 1967 with the struggling New York Mets. 

Chuck Estrada did make a career out of baseball serving as a pitching coach in several organizations. Among his mentees were Buzz Capra, Nino Espinosa, Craig Swan and fellow rookie cup winner Randy Jones

Subset Star

The 1961 Rookie Cup is not Chuck Estrada's Rookie Card. His RC is part of the 1960 Sport Magazine Rookie Stars subset from the previous years. Estrada's 18 Ws also earned him a spot on the very first AL Pitching (Wins) League Leader Card.

1961 Topps #48 LL Pitching (Wins) Chuck Estrada, Jim Perry, Bud Daley, Art Ditmar, Frank Lary

Estrada shared the 1960 Wins Title with Jim Perry who at the time was the only other RHP Rookie Cup winner. Jim Perry's Rookie Cup profile can be found here. 

Sources & Links 

1961 Rookie Cup 

SABR BioProject - David E Skelton

Trading Card Data Base

Baseball_ref

40 Years Ago: Randy Jones Makes the Cover of Sports Illustrated

We have reached All-Stat Week in San Diego and it turns out the game will be played on the same date in which Randy Jones appeared on the Cover of Sports Illustrated Forty Years ago.

1999 Skybox Autograph Collection Randy Jones

Several cards from the 1999 Skybox autograph set appear on Sports Illustrated Covers. The Randy Jones cover originally appeared with a Publish Date of July 12 1976. The Issue can be found here in the SI Archive. The corresponding article was penned by the San Francisco Based sports writer Ron Fimrite.

In addition to incorporating the SI cover the Card also features Randy Jones Autograph. A Nice touch on the signature is the Southpaw's uniform Number #35 within the bottom loop of the cursive J in Jones.

The cover photo was taken June 28 1976 or June 30 1976.  Getty Images specifies the earlier date, however the capsule information related to the photo lines up more with 6/30, which I am pretty sure is the correct date.

Jones and the Padres defeated the powerful Cincinnati Reds that day 3-1. It was his 14th Victory of the season. Jones went the distance allowing six hits and a pair of walks against 2 Ks.

The Photo was taken by John G Zimmerman who also took a picture that many Philadelphians are familiar with, the Chuck Bednarik/Frank Gifford Photo.

2008 UD Masterpieces #14 Chuck Bednarik


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1999 Skybox Autograph Collection Randy Jones

For folks interested in such details the Randy Jones card come with a Certificate of Authenticity regarding Jones' signature.


Sources and Links
1976 ASG Index

Randy Jones Index
Game Dated Cards Index
Sports Illustrated Vault
Getty Images - John G Zimmerman
SF Gate
Baseball-ref

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 

Randy Jones Index
Dave Jordan Instream Sports

Sarasota Herald Tribune 1976 0708

Phun Cards: 1974 Topps #173 Randy Jones

This card might be from the first pack of baseball cards I ever opened - I have no way of knowing now.  I know that it was a pack of 1974 Topps.  And I bought it at a 7-Eleven.  I think the packs had 10 cards for 9 cents.  My first experience with inflation was when packs jumped to a dime for 9 cards the following year.  The idea of cards costing more than a penny a piece was preposterous - although I probably didn't have the world PREPOSTEROUS in my vocab back then. 

1974 Topps #173 Randy Jones (RC) 

 

Randy Jones is one of the non-Phils stars that I remember from my youth.  He was a pitcher who I briefly grouped with Seaver and Carlton. Turns out Randy Jones had more of meteor ride then a career.  He had an All-Star season in 1975 and won the Cy Young Award in 76, unfortunately he was injured in his final start of the season, afterward he was never really the same.  Nobody has thrown 25 or more complete games in an NL seasons since Randy Jones reached that number during that 1976 season - Rick Langford had 28 for Oakland in 1980.

 

Jones persevered for the remainder of the 70s but was done in 1982 at the age of 32. According to his wikipedia page Randy Jones is the only Cy Young Award winner with a career losing record.  Indeed he finished 23 games under .500 at 100-123.

 

Post Career

Jones #35 uniform has been retired by the San Diego Padres. Once again, I would think Randy Jones likely has one of the worst Win-Loss records among starting pitchers with retired numbers. Regardless his peak seasons of 1975-76 make Randy Jones jersey retiring worthy.  In addition to his on field accomplishments Jones has had a good post career in San Diego serving the team in an ambassador capacity.  He also runs a sports bar in San Diego that appears to have a solid craft beer selection. 

 

For The Collector

The above card is from my legacy collection of my childhood - thus it's rather rough condition.  I am sure if you didn't care about the wrinkles and the corners you could find this card in a dime box. 

 

It was unknown where the Padres would play in 1974 and many of their cards can be found with NAT'L LEA as the team name rather than Padres.  For under $3.00 you can pick either the Padres or the NL variation of a RC of a Cy Young Award winner.   

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1974 Topps #173 Randy Jones (RC b-side) 

 

1974 All-Star Rookie Cup

Despite leading the league with 22 losses Randy Jones was the LHP representative for the 1974 Rookie Cup team. The Voters must have seen something as Jones as he went on to win 20 games each of the next two seasons. He finished 2nd in the Cy Young voting in 1975 to Tom Seaver and won the award in 1976. 

Randy Jones Index

This is an index to our postings related to Randy Jones

1974 Topps #173 (See Above)

1977 Topps #550 (1976 ASG 40th anniversary)

1999 Skybox Autograph Collection (Sports Illustrated Cover 40th Anniversary)

Links & Sources

1974 Topps Rookie Cup Index