Recently while thumbing through some old baseball cards, I came across the 1978 Felix Millan shown below, card number 505 from the Topps set that year.
Felix Millan was one of my favorite Mets growing up. Partly because he was a gritty ballplayer who played the keystone well, and partly because I also had the following card from the 1976 set, which showed the Mets second baseman with one of the most pronounced choking up batting positions in the history of the sport.
Choking up to maintain bat control, and avoid striking out, just the way ol’ Dad said to.
Millan had a very nice career as a player. Playing from 1966 through 1977, Millan was a three-time All Star form 1969 to 1971, won two gold gloves, and despite the less-than-fearsome stance showed on the 1976 card above, had a lifetime .279 batting average. Millan had the lowest strikeout rate in the National League four times (1971, ’73, ’74 and ’75). In 1973, the Mets acquired Millan and George Stone from the Braves in exchange for Danny Frisella and Gary Gentry. Stone went 12 – 3 with a 2.80 ERA in 1973, and Millan capably replaced Ken Boswell, hitting .290 and playing defense well enough to get down ballot MVP votes while the Mets won the 1973 National League pennant.
Turning our attention to the 1978 card, let’s put our Sherlock Holmes deerstalker hat on our head and fire up the computer and turn to baseballreference.com to determine if we can answer the obvious questions being asked by the picture on the card:
- Who is the base runner?
- What date is the action taken from?
- Was the batter safe or out at first?
- Who was the pitcher?
- Did the Mets win the game?
1) For those who don’t recall that for years #39 on the Pirates belonged to Dave Parker, we can turn to the Uniforms page on baseballreference.com for the 1977 Pirates and note that indeed, in 1977 Dave Parker wore number 39.
Parker had a stellar 1977 season for the Pirates as their full time right fielder. He led the National League in hits with 215, and doubles with 44 while leading the league in batting with a .338 average. Parker won his first gold glove in 1977, and had 7.4 bWAR while finishing third in National League MVP voting.
2) Looking at the card, we see the action is from a day game, and Millan is wearing the home uniform of the Mets while Parker is wearing the road uniform of the Pirates in 1977. Also the field is grass. We’re therefore looking for a day game from 1977 where Felix Millan played second against the Pirates and Parker was forced out at second, perhaps but not necessarily as part of a double play.
Using the Schedule & Results page from the 1977 Mets, we see the Mets mostly played night games against the Pirates in 1977. The days were played on April 23, July 16 and a double header on July 17. Turning to the box scores from each game, the April 23rd game can be eliminated as Millan did not play in the game for the Mets. The July 16th game can be eliminated as Parker was never forced at second. In the first game on the July 17th doubleheader, Parker went 0 – 4 and never reached base. By process of elimination, the game was taken from the second game of the double header on July 17th, 1977 at Shea Stadium.
Indeed, looking at the box score and play by play from that game, we have two possibilities. The first is the top of the first when Jerry Koosman was pitching and Parker on first, Al Oliver hit into an around the horn double play, Lenny Randle to Millan to John Stearns. Looking at the clean uniform pants of Millan, that is my choice for the play. However, in the top of the eighth, with one out and Skip Lockwood pitching with Parker on first, Bill Robinson hit into an a double play, Millan unassisted to Ed Kranepool at first. However, seeing how close Parker is to second, a grounder to second would be unlikely to have Millan turned that way if he was touching second, nor Parker getting that close to second, especially compared to an around the horn double play. In addition, by the 8th inning, Millan had already tripled, scored 2 runs and to me would not have had such a clean uniform. Also, Parker’s uniform would also be dirtier from the double play in the first, if it were the eighth inning.
3) Likely Al Oliver (first inning) or perhaps Bill Robinson (eighth inning) in either event the runner was out at first as no other times was Parker retired on a force at second.
4) Likely Jerry Koosman (first inning), less likely, Skip Lockwood, (eighth inning).
5) The Mets, who finished the 1977 season with a dismal 64 – 98 record, have one of their victories shown on the card, as the Mets won the game 9 – 3.
Let’s take a deerstalker hat off now my fellow baseball card sleuths and hang it on the peg on the wall. Remember until next time………………………
Lets Go Mets
