Here are the next three cards in the set. Maybe the last few were boring because they ran out of time. Let's hope that the text get better as we move toward #1. Oh, I sounded too much like Casey Kasem there. Today's long distance dedication (26.2 miles) goes out to all of those friends, alums and kids on my team who promised to cheer for me this weekend. Nah, back to the cards.
#45 - Rick Reuschel
So, we just took 50 pictures of Rick. Let's pick the best one for his baseball card. How about this one where his eyes are closed and it looks like Rennie Stennett is up again.
He had double-digit wins with the Cubs for his first six seasons including 20 wins in 1977. A nice way to start a career.
Not on the card - he pitched until 1991 and he had 17 wins in 1989. He had 214 career wins. Not many people would guess that he had over 150 wins.
His younger brother Paul was a Cub for the last three seasons.
Not on the card - Paul. He didn't get a Kellogg's card since he had 198 less than wins than Rick. Oddly, Paul pitched in 198 career games.
Not on the card - the brothers combined to pitch a shut-out, something that hadn't been done before. I don't think it has been done since either. They had Big League Brothers card that didn't mention the shutout. They are also prominently listed on the back of Rennie Stennett's 1976 Record Breaker card. Stennett went 7-for-7 against the Cubs. Rick gave up his first hit and Paul gave up the seventh one.
#44 - Steve Ontiveros
Another Cub from my youth. His hobby was working with youth, but that didn't include me or anyone that I knew.
He had a nice first season with the Cubs, hitting .299.
I was almost over the fact that the Cubs traded Bill Madlock until I read about it again here. They got Bobby Murcer and Ontiveros. Madlock did win two more batting titles after winning two with the Cubs.
Searching baseball-reference.com didn't even first bring up this Steve Ontiveros. The other Steve only had a 34-31 record but he shows up by default.
This Steve Ontiveros only played until the age of 28. I forgot that he went to Japan for six years where he was a star player.
#43 - Sparky Lyle
Photography is a great hobby for a closer. They've got plenty of free time.
I would never have guessed that he was the first AL relief pitcher to win the Cy Young Award. As of 1977 he had the career lead in saves with 165. 621 games and none as a starter. I think I mentioned that on one of his other cards.
There wasn't much room for other information on the card. Here are a few things.
Lyle's Cy Young was in 1977. That didn't stop the Yankees from signing Rich Gossage to be their closer. In 1978 Lyle only had nine saves and Gossage had 27. Lyle was traded after the season ended.
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