Fritz Peterson (#142)

Here’s Fritz “Fred Ingels” Peterson, one of the top players from the late 1960s that I have not featured on any of my blogs yet. I chose to use his 1970 card because of the unusual pose. I don’t know if he’s trying to hypnotize the batter, or put the Malocchio on him!

Fritz was signed by the Yankees in 1963, and made his major-league debut in April 1966. He won 12 games for a bad Yankees team as a rookie. Peterson was the Yankees’ top left-handed starter, right behind staff ace Mel Stottlemyre.

Peterson’s best seasons with the Yankees were from 1969-72. Over that span, he won 17, 20, 15, and 17 games (again, for some bad teams), and made his only All-Star team in 1970. That was an unusual season for the Yankees in that they finished in 2nd place, while spending most of 1966-73 near the basement.

Just as the Yankees began to turn it around in 1974, Peterson was gone – traded to the Indians in late-April in a 7-player deal that brought 1st baseman Chris Chambliss to the Bronx.

After 2 seasons as the top southpaw starter in Cleveland, Fritz was traded to the Rangers in late-May 1976. By then his career was shot. He made his last appearance 3 weeks later, missing the remainder of the 1976 season due to a shoulder injury.

He was released by Texas in early-February 1977. Two weeks later he was signed by the White Sox, but after a 2nd shoulder surgery he decided to call it a career, having not pitched in '77.

Peterson retired in May 1977 after 11 seasons, with a record of 133-131.

Bill Robinson (#23)

This may just be my favorite Bill Robinson card (or at least of his non-Phillies’ cards). Just look at the intensity as he keeps his eye on the (virtual) ball. Plus, there’s the Yankee Stadium frieze in the background!

Robinson began his career in the Milwaukee Braves’ organization in 1961. His major-league debut came with Atlanta in September 1966.

After the season, he was traded to the Yankees for veteran 3rd baseman Clete Boyer. Robinson spent the next 3 seasons trying to fill the shoes first of Roger Maris (who was traded to the Cardinals in the same off-season), and Mickey Mantle (who retired after 1968). He appeared to be overmatched, having almost no pop in his bat, and batting under .200 in 2 of those 3 seasons.

Bill spent the entire 1970 season with the Yankees’ AAA team, then was traded to the White Sox for pitcher Barry Moore. Robinson spent another full season (1971) in triple-A, then was traded to the Phillies after the season for a minor-leaguer.

Here is where my interest in Bill Robinson began back in the day. After starting the ’72 season in AAA, Bill was brought up to Philadelphia in late June, and played in 82 games over the rest of the season. Although initially used in a right field mix of suspects, Bill was the team’s everyday centerfielder for the final month, after Willie Montanez moved in to 1st base following Deron Johnson's season-ending injury. I remember being happy for Robinson, that the Phillies had rescued him from the minors and his career was back on track.

In 1973 he started 55 games in right field, and 40 games in center field (spelling the newly-acquired Del Unser). He also made 11 starts at 3rd base, presumably to give Mike Schmidt and his .196 rookie-year batting average a rest on the bench. I can remember at the time Robinson hating to play the infield, because he was making too many errors and felt he was embarrassing himself. Mercifully, that experiment soon ended. Despite being moved around defensively, he clubbed a surprising 25 homers that season and hit .288 – finally achieving the potential the Yankees had hoped for several years earlier.

In 1974 he had similar results as in '72 and ’68 – single-digit home runs, and a sub.240 batting average. Robinson was a swing man in the outfield, but his larger problem was that in 1974 the Phillies had reclaimed another ex-big league outfielder from the minor-league scrap heap – Jay Johnstone. Johnstone would be the team’s regular right fielder from mid-1975 to mid-1977.

With Robinson expendable, he was traded to the Pirates during spring training 1975. Bill played for the Pirates for the next 7 1/2 seasons. I thought he was the Pirates' regular left fielder for a number of seasons, but it appears he was a backup outfielder for most of his time in Pittsburgh. In 1977 he split the 1st base starts with Willie Stargell, and was the primary left fielder in 1978.

By 1981, both Robinson and Stargell were bench players/pinch-hitting specialists. As aging veterans, they spent a lot of time sitting together in the dugout. I remember watching a Phillies/Pirates game in mid-1982 just after Robinson was traded back to the Phillies. The TV camera zoomed in on the Pirates’ dugout, and there was Stargell waving to Robinson across the diamond, an empty seat next to him that he left open for his old buddy, should he want to stroll over there for another chat.

Robinson played sparingly for the Phillies for the 2nd half of 1982, and the first half of 1983, then was released in mid-June ’83, ending his 16-year career.

He later coached for the Mets, Marlins, Yankees, and Phillies.

Robinson passed away in 2007 at age 64.

Gene Michael (#114)

Gene "Stick" Michael played shortstop (mostly for the Yankees) from 1966 to 1975. After his playing career, he worked for the Yankees as a coach, manager, general manager, and vice-president in charge of scouting.

Michael was signed by the Pirates in 1959, and played in their minor-league system for 8 seasons from 1959-66, mostly as a shortstop. He also pitched in 16 games (53 innings) in 1963.

Blocked from a big-league job by the Pirates’ Gene Alley, Stick finally made his major-league debut with the Pirates in July 1966. He played in 30 games over the 2nd half of the season, mostly as a pinch-hitter and pinch-runner.

With Alley going nowhere, Michael was shipped out to the Dodgers (with 3rd baseman Bob Bailey) for shortstop Maury Wills, who would be the Bucs’ 3rd baseman for the ’67 and ’68 seasons. Gene played only one season in LA, sharing the starting shortstop job with veteran Dick Schofield.

After the 1967 season, Michael was sold to the Yankees, where he would play for the next seven years. Gene was the Yanks’ starting shortstop from 1969 through the end of the 1973 season. In 1974, Michael was relegated to the bench as the Yankees went with Jim Mason at shortstop. After one season as the backup SS-2B, Stick was released by the Yankees.

The Tigers picked him up for the 1975 season, where he played sparingly in a bench role. After his 2nd straight off-season release, Michael signed with the Red Sox in February 1976, but he was released in early-May, not having played a game that season.

After his playing career, Gene coached for the Yankees, and later managed them in 1981 and part of 1982. Michael managed the Cubs for parts of 1986 and 1987, then returned to the Yankees as their general manager.

He was the GM from 1991 to 1995, signing most of the great players of the late-1990s dynasty. Unfortunately, George Steinbrenner was his boss, so Gene was fired before the good times began.

Michael has been a Yankees’ executive VP since 2000, early-on as Director of Scouting, then as a senior advisor to the GM.