batmagadanleadoff

The MLB player who was a one-time Met and who has the highest lifetime WAR without ever being selected to an all star team is..... [fimg=444:87lu3q9o]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1478/23987145424_cc7544f2b8_o.jpg[/fimg:87lu3q9o] Thank you for playing. [fimg=333:87lu3q9o]http://cimg.tvgcdn.net/i/r/2013/08/05/1a45fb4e-bf6e-4f8a-a724-91b6b92ace2d/resize/624x468/530fb145dd9d65cfd4e5c630a52cba92/tvguide-cover-bewitched1.jpg[/fimg:87lu3q9o][fimg=333:87lu3q9o]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/b3/6a/1d/b36a1dac8be5a819d2e055cbfdf8dfda.jpg[/fimg:87lu3q9o]

[fimg=333:20rq6zmd]http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/O4oAAOxyLN9SgXET/s-l500.jpg[/fimg:20rq6zmd] I came across this Gosger photo in my photo search. This one's very likely from 1969. I say so because of the way the cap creases on the right side of the photo. I think that caps from Gosger's 70's stints with the Mets didn't do that. But I wasn't interested in this photo because it's too much of a head shot and I was looking for more body. I have this vague memory of Dave Marshall losing his glove. Hank Aaron hit an opposite field HR against the Mets at Shea. Marshall went to the wall and leaped as high as he could, trying to rob Aaron of a would-be HR. Not only did Marshall not make the play, but in the process, he lost his glove, which landed on the other side of the wall. The game had to be stopped so that Marshall could be reunited with his glove. Does anybody remember this? Or am I imagining this?

I think we have our answer. Next question: Why does that card say "SAN DIEGO PADRES"? Because it a DIY digital card, using Marshall's real 1973 card and a Man From Topps photo. As you can see, Topps went with Marshall looking upwards so the cap logo wasn't visable as they doctored up the Met blues for Padre mustard yellow, yet kept pinstripes that the Padres wouldn't incorporate on uniforms for more than a decade! And that's why I made the card. His regular card was hideous. Marshall deserves a few more too if I ever get around to it. Cause him and Boswell had the koolest sideburns ever. Putting the NOW WITH PADRES on the scoreboard was a joke, and I wrote that I paid the scoreboard guy to do that so I didn't have to do what we see here on his '72 mfc alternate card. [fimg=300]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oYmtiTsYQus/UzEXKwrwoAI/AAAAAAAAN2k/SN_Z3Y6sL80/s605-Ic42/73ZPCMarshall-z14.png[/fimg]___[fimg=300]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lgalA0IGoxU/UyZqIwoBYTI/AAAAAAAANik/b0ExWKQzbzM/s607-Ic42/73OPCMarshall-z14.png[/fimg] I think that the best explanation for why that DIY has Padres on it is because it was done in the style of O-Pee-Chee cards.

dgwphotography wrote: Edgy MD wrote: 1969 Mets are easier to market than 1970 Mets, I would guess. Rocky Dennis' life ambition was to complete his 1955 Dodgers card set. Even with stooges like Joe Pignatano. But how many people are trying to complete a 1956 Dodgers set? I get that completely. I have a '69 Mets ball that is only missing a Buddy Harrelson signature Yeah. This thread has its roots in my search for a picture of Gosger on the '69 Mets. The photo I posted is all I could find, but the patch threw me off. So if there are no '69 Mets pics of Gosger, maybe some seller decided to fake one.

d'Kong76 wrote: Ok, so who at Sterling LLC is Robert Reiss married or related to? Nobody. He's an obscenely privileged dude who owns 1-800-FLOWERS and who had enough money to buy one of those Mets shares the team sold off a few years ago when they gave up 49% of the team. And the reason that the Mets are so family oriented, other than because he simply says so, is because the Mets let his son throw out a first pitch.

dgwphotography wrote: It's not Jim Gosger - It's Dave Marshall in 1970. Makes sense to me. Marshall explains the patch, too. But it that's Marshall, it could be '71 too. I wonder if Gosger ever signed that pic.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: dgwphotography wrote: I tink dugout guy is Clendenon. It just looks like him with the long arms, and overall pose. Plus, The white glove/wristband combination looks similar in a few photos I've seen of him, including this card [fimg=444]https://goldinauctions.com/ItemImages/000005/5537e1_lg.jpeg[/fimg] I agree with the pose part. I think that Clendenon leaned his body in the same fashion as dugout guy. What do you think about Gosger's uni? Flannels or double-knit? That left hand batting glove on the Clendenon card looks very similar to dugout guy's setup. It's a batting glove, then some skin, then a wrist-band. I thought it was all one piece -- a big batting glove that extended beyond the wrist. But Clendenon might be dugout guy. So explain the patch.

dgwphotography wrote: I tink dugout guy is Clendenon. It just looks like him with the long arms, and overall pose. Plus, The white glove/wristband combination looks similar in a few photos I've seen of him, including this card [fimg=444]https://goldinauctions.com/ItemImages/000005/5537e1_lg.jpeg[/fimg] I agree with the pose part. I think that Clendenon leaned his body in the same fashion as dugout guy. What do you think about Gosger's uni? Flannels or double-knit?

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Maybe that would explain why George Theodore switched from 18 to 9 mid-season '73. Maybe Gosger wanted his old 18 back. This part is plausible because Gosger was a veteran who debuted 10 years earlier, while The Stork was a rookie and one of the last guys on the roster. So Gosger would've had the clout to engineer that switch. Besides, Theodore's reputation was that of very nice guy and so, might have been very willing to accomodate Gosger. Now if only we can get all of the other pieces of this puzzle to work together. One other thing: Gosger never wore 18 in any of his other major league stints, prior to playing for the '69 Mets. Even more interesting. Gosger is reportedly the man who coined the "Stork" nickname for Theodore, when they were teammates in Tidewater. So they were buds. Wow. Never heard that one before. Unless I did, but then forgot that I did.

Milner usually wore a black batting glove on his left hand, but in this photo below, he's wearing a white or tan batting glove, similar to dugout guy's. [fimg=444:2scvkwp4]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1592/24583569246_445be5d44f_o.jpg[/fimg:2scvkwp4] [fimg=555:2scvkwp4]https://goldinauctions.com/ItemImages/000005/5537e1_lg.jpeg[/fimg:2scvkwp4] Could dugout guy be Clendenon? That would date the photo to '69. And then we'd be back to having to explain the skyline patch.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Maybe that would explain why George Theodore switched from 18 to 9 mid-season '73. Maybe Gosger wanted his old 18 back. This part is plausible because Gosger was a veteran who debuted 10 years earlier, while The Stork was a rookie and one of the last guys on the roster. So Gosger would've had the clout to engineer that switch. Besides, Theodore's reputation was that of very nice guy and so, might have been very willing to accomodate Gosger. Now if only we can get all of the other pieces of this puzzle to work together. One other thing: Gosger never wore 18 in any of his other major league stints, prior to playing for the '69 Mets.

I can't find any evidence that Ike Hampton was a '73 phantom Met. But dugout guy looks a lot more like Hampton than May, or anybody, really. If it's Hampton, then the picture's from Sept. '74, without any proof to support the phantom theory. So then you gotta explain what Benny Ayala was wearing on the date of the Gosger photo. The Jerry May theory is the cleanest way to date the picture to '73, but dugout guy looks nothing like May. And why would dugout guy's face and arms appear so dark? You can't blame that on the poor dugout lighting conditions because every other Caucasian in the dugout appears a lot lighter than dugout guy.

RealityChuck wrote: Interesting article on how the Mets built a culture of winning. It ties in with why they were able to get Cespedes -- players love to play for the Mets, something we saw even before the team got hot last year. [fimg=844]http://blogs-images.forbes.com/robertreiss/files/2016/01/Kevin-McCann-throwing-1st-pitch-1200x791.jpg[/fimg] Doesn't every developmentally disabled Mets fan get to throw out a first pitch? /rolls eyes Nice shot of the ugly scoreboards. (And they're so close together). Maybe it's the Mets that should adopt "We Are Family" as a theme song.

Edgy MD wrote: I could convince myself that's George Theodore, if I squint hard enough, but I don't recall Theodore ever coming to the plate without his glasses, and photo evidence supports this. Maybe Gosger got a temporary uni assignment for the Mayor's Trophy Game, which was at Shea that year. That's s t r e t c h, but maybe. It can't be Theodore. The batter's batting from the left side. Look at the batter's hands: the right hand is below the left hand. Besides, his body language says lefty. A righty would't be in that position coming out of the box. It wouldn't make sense for Gosger to get a temporary uniform for the MT game. He'd been with the team since the beginning of the month, when rosters expanded. The MT game was played at the very end of the season, around 9/27/69.

Plus, Zobrist is already at the age where middle infielders, typically, can't play the middle infield anymore, let alone a coupl'a years from now.

I'm pretty sure that dugout guy's wearing glasses. [fimg=555:10yoapq4]https://goldinauctions.com/ItemImages/000005/5537e1_lg.jpeg[/fimg:10yoapq4] [fimg=555:10yoapq4]http://stvivona.webs.com/photos/-Mets/ike.jpg[/fimg:10yoapq4]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Milner looked leaner and darker than that guy. Yeah, I agree. I just threw that out there for consideration.

Did Gil Hodges have a rule against sideburns?

I think it's '73, too. The more I look at the photo, the more the uniform looks double knit polyester to me. Also, I think the uni would be baggier or looser fitting if it was a '69 uni. And '73 would explain the skyline logo patch, too. We just gotta figure out who dugout guy is. You say May. I think it looks a lot like Ike. But that would mean he was a '73 phantom.

But not with the Pilots in '69. [fimg=444:1opngytl]http://www.mainlineautographs.com/images/product_pics/1201199599357seagosg_20080421617.jpg[/fimg:1opngytl] [fimg=644:1opngytl]http://jaynachman.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Gosger-Baseball-Cards-Copy.jpg[/fimg:1opngytl]

On the other, hand, it looks like Gosger was sporting sideburns in 1970, as well. [fimg=444:1mwa61m1]http://caimages.collectors.com/psacertimages/56005_943x1597.jpg[/fimg:1mwa61m1]

Here's a shot of Gosger. The custom card is '69 style but the photo, according to the Topps Vault, is from 1973. Take note of Gosger's sideburns action. [fimg=444:p2v9gr8v]http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n63/simarc/1960s/1969Mets/Jim_Gosger-1969_zps9d321ff0.jpg[/fimg:p2v9gr8v]

Centerfield wrote: The guy in the pinkish shirt in the second row is sportin' the burns too. Looks like .73. You think that sideburns weren't in in '69? [fimg=533]http://cdn8.openculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/joe-cocker1.jpg[/fimg]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Jerry May wore his undershirt sleeves the same length as the Mystery Dugout Man. Same short torso too Yeah, but May didn't wear his skin like dugout guy did. Hey --where'd you get that May picture? It's supposed to have a Topps Vault watermark!

Could that be Milner in #28? If so, that would eliminate '69.