NAME--YEAR
He was an All-Star?
Big Jim Spencer was agile around the
bag and smooth with the glove, but
not very imposing with the lumber. A
career .250 hitter over 15 seasons,
Spencer grabbed two Gold Gloves
and one All-Star Game appearance,
taking his place amongst baseball's
elite for the 1973 Mid-Summer
Classic.
Summoned to pinch-hit for Nolan
Ryan in the bottom of the 7th inning,
the lefty swinger lifted a fly ball to left
field off Pittsburgh's Dave Giusti to
end the inning for his All-Star
moment. Trotting off the field as
reliever Sparky Lyle entered the
game for the American League,
Spencer never did get to show the
world what he did best, which was
flash the leather.
What we do find odd in looking at
Spencer's fielding stats, is that in two
of three seasons in which he logged
the most errors (7 errors in 1970 and
10 in 1977) during his career, he
collected the golden hardware.
Curious...
(7/19/09)
Big Jim Spencer was agile around the
bag and smooth with the glove, but
not very imposing with the lumber. A
career .250 hitter over 15 seasons,
Spencer grabbed two Gold Gloves
and one All-Star Game appearance,
taking his place amongst baseball's
elite for the 1973 Mid-Summer
Classic.
Summoned to pinch-hit for Nolan
Ryan in the bottom of the 7th inning,
the lefty swinger lifted a fly ball to left
field off Pittsburgh's Dave Giusti to
end the inning for his All-Star
moment. Trotting off the field as
reliever Sparky Lyle entered the
game for the American League,
Spencer never did get to show the
world what he did best, which was
flash the leather.
What we do find odd in looking at
Spencer's fielding stats, is that in two
of three seasons in which he logged
the most errors (7 errors in 1970 and
10 in 1977) during his career, he
collected the golden hardware.
Curious...
(7/19/09)
