Bill Stoneman (#398)

In just his 3rd big-league season,  Bill Stoneman became the first big star for the expansion Montreal Expos pitching staff.

Stoneman was signed by the Cubs in June 1966, and after two half-seasons in the minors, he made his major-league debut in July 1967. (Stoneman was so fresh that Topps didn't even have him on a Cubs' Rookies card in the 1967 set.) He pitched 63 innings over 28 games for the remainder of the season, picking up 4 saves.

In 1968 he only played 18 games for the Cubs, while pitching 6 games in triple-A. That doesn't add up to a full season, so maybe he spent time on the DL. After that season Bill was left unprotected in the expansion draft, and was selected by the Expos with the 19th pick.

He began 1969 as the #2 starter behind veteran Mudcat Grant, and in only his 5th start he pitched a no-hitter against the Phillies. By early-June, Grant was dispatched to the Cardinals while Stoneman became the team's ace, leading the staff with 36 starts (9 more than the next guy), 235 innings (56 more than the next guy), and 185 strikeouts (52 more than the next guy).   His 11 wins made him the only Expo hurler with double-digit wins (although he also lost 19 games).

Stoneman had an off-year in 1970, but teammate Carl Morton had an even better season than Bill's 1969,  winning 18 games and the NL Rookie of the Year award.

Stoneman bounced back to lead the staff in '71 and '72. In both seasons he led the team in starts, innings, and strikeouts, with half of his 1971 starts being complete games (19). He also had 13 complete games in 1972, tying him with newcomer Mike Torrez. Bill made his only All-Star team in 1972, and also pitched his 2nd no-hitter in his final game that season (Oct 2nd).

The wheels came off in 1973, as he only started 17 games while his ERA ballooned to 6.80 and only struck out 48 batters. By August he was replaced in the rotation by Steve Rogers, who would finish 2nd in the NL Rookie of the Year voting.

Stoneman was sold to the Angels the day before the 1974 season opener, but by the end of June his record was 1-8 with a 6.14 ERA. He was released 2 weeks later, ending his career.

He began working in the Expos' front office in 1983, and was eventually named their GM. Stoneman was also the Angels' General Manager from 1999-2007.

Jimmie Price (#129)

Jimmie Price was the Tigers' backup catcher from 1967-1971. (Backing up Bill Freehan meant you didn't get much playing time.) 

Price was signed by the Pirates in 1960, and played in their farm system for 7 seasons (the last 3 at triple-A). Four days before the 1967 season, he was purchased by the Tigers (after already appearing on a 2nd-series Pirates Rookies card that year).

Jim spent 5 seasons as the Tigers' #2 catcher behind Freehan. His most playing time came in 1969, when he had career-highs in games (72), starts (49), complete games (44), and at-bats (192). Price also had 2 at-bats in the 1968 World Series.

The Tigers acquired Tom Haller from the Dodgers in December 1971 to back up Freehan in '72, spelling the end of Price’s career.

Jim has been broadcasting Tigers' games since the 1970s.

Fred Lasher (#356)

Fred Lasher was a relief pitcher for the Tigers in the late-1960s, then pitched most of 1970 for the Indians.

He was signed by the (old) Washington Senators before the 1960 season, and played in the minors for the better part of the next 8 seasons.

Lasher appeared in 11 games for the Twins in April and September 1963, but didn’t resurface in the majors until mid-August 1967 with the Tigers. Fred picked up 9 saves in his 17 games over the final 6 weeks of the season.

(According to the back of this card, the Tigers were in the National League in 1969. Was that a perk for winning the World Series?)

In his first full season (1968), he collected 5 saves, good for 3rd place among Tigers’ relievers. (It looks like they employed a closer-by-committee approach, as all 5 relief pitchers had between 2 and 7 saves.)

Lasher remained in the Tigers’ bullpen until May 1970, when he was traded to the Indians. He pitched in 43 games for Cleveland that year, but compiled a 1-7 record and a 4.06 ERA.

The Angels selected him in the Rule 5 draft following the 1970 season, but he spent most of 1971 pitching in triple-A, while playing only 2 games for the Angels. He was released a week before the 1972 season began.

Gary Waslewski (#607)

Gary Waslewski pitched for 5 teams in his short 6-year career.

He was signed by the Pirates in 1960, and eventually dealt to the Red Sox in 1964. Gary made his major-league debut with the AL champion Red Sox in June 1967, and also started game 6 of the World Series.

After 46 games in 2 years with Boston, he was traded to the NL Champion Cardinals after the 1968 season for shortstop Dick Schofield.

His good fortune didn’t last long, as he was flipped to the expansion Expos in June for pitcher Jim Grant. Gary started 14 of his 30 games for the Expos, and was 5th in innings pitched for a team using 18 pitchers in its inaugural season.

The following May, it was on to the Yankees. Waslewski pitched more games for the New York (50) than with any other team. The Yankees releases him near the end of Spring Training in 1972, and he was picked up by the Athletics in mid-May.

He only pitched 8 games for the A’s that season, spending most of the year in AAA ball. Gary pitched in triple-A for the Athletics (1973) and Red Sox (1974) before retiring.

Larry Stahl (#494)

Larry Stahl had the misfortune of playing on some bad teams during his career: Kansas City Athletics (1964-66), Mets (1967-68), and Padres (1969-72). He finally received some payback by wrapping up his career with the 1973 Reds, and appeared in the 1973 NLCS, going 2-for-4 in spot duty.

Stahl was signed by the Athletics in 1960, and labored in the minors for 5 seasons before making his major-league debut in September 1964.

He played briefly for the A’s in 1965 (June and September), then was with the team for all of 1966, playing in 119 games. It’s odd that with all that playing time, he was left out of the 1967 Topps set. (Meanwhile, a stiff like Bruce Brubaker and his previous grand total of ZERO major league games got a card that year.)

Stahl was picked up by the Mets after the 1966 season, and played most of 1967 with them (except for mid-May to mid-June, and for the 2nd half of the 1968 season. Unfortunately for him, the Mets had guys like Cleon Jones, Tommie Agee, and Ron Swoboda patrolling the outfield, so Larry was left exposed to the expansion draft and was selected by the Padres, thus missing out on the Mets’ 1969 miracle season.

Even with the fledgling Padres, Larry was no better than 6th outfielder, behind starters Ollie Brown, Cito Gaston, and Al Ferrara, along with Tony Gonzalez and Ivan Murrell. Stahl stuck around with the Pads for 4 seasons (except for spending the first 2 months of 1970 in triple-A).

To his credit, by 1971 he had advanced to being a co-starter in left field (along with Murrell and Leron Lee), and was actually 3rd among outfielders in innings played (behind Brown and Gaston), although he spent some time in right field as well.

In one of his final games with the Padres in September 1972, the Cubs’ Milt Pappas had retired the first 26 batters, only to walk Stahl, blowing a perfect game.

After the 1972 season, the Reds purchased his contract, and he spent his final season as the Reds’ 7th outfielder, being one of 5 players the Reds used in right field (along with Bobby Tolan, Andy Kosco, Johnny Bench, and Ken Griffey Sr).

Gil Garrido (#48)

Gil Garrido is another one of those players (like Tom Timmermann and Paul Doyle) that didn’t play much (or at all) in the 1960s, and I probably would not have blogged about him had he not showed up on my list of “oldest players not yet blogged”.

I did learn 2 things from this card. 1) Garrido first played for the Giants back in 1964 (news to me), and 2) Topps misspelled his first name on the front of the card. (It’s spelled correctly on the back.)

Garrido was signed by the Giants in 1960, and had a 14-game stint with them from late-April to mid-June 1964, starting 7 games at shortstop. Then it was back to the minors for 4 years.

A May 1966 trade sent him to the Braves, and he was promoted in late-August 1968 where he started 14 games at shortstop over the final 5 weeks of the season. Was he auditioned for the job? Maybe so. He made the Braves from the get-go in 1969, and for the next 2 seasons, he and Sonny Jackson split the shortstop duties about evenly.

That arrangement ended in 1971, when rookie shortstop Marty Perez sent Jackson to center field and Garrido to the bench. Gil hung on for 2 seasons as a backup infielder, then played for the Braves’ AAA team in 1973 before retiring at the ripe old age of 32.

Eddie Watt (#497)

Eddie Watt was the Orioles' closer from 1968 through the 1972 season. He pitched 411 games over his 10 seasons, all in relief except for 13 starts late in his rookie season.

Watt was signed by the Orioles in September 1961 and made his major-league debut in April 1966.

As a rookie, he appeared in 43 games, mostly in relief except for 13 starts from mid-July to mid-September. He returned to the bullpen for the final 2 weeks of the season, and stayed there for the remainder of his career. Eddie collected 102 strikeouts in his 1st year, 3rd on the team behind Dave McNally and Jim Palmer.

After another season under the wing of veteran Moe Drabowsky, Watt became the top man in the bullpen for the next 5 seasons. He led the team in saves in '68, '69, and '71, and was 1 behind the leader in '70 and '72.

In 1969 he fashioned a 1.65 ERA, and appeared in 7 post-season games between 1969-71. (The O's won their first World Series in his rookie year of 1966, but Baltimore swept the Dodgers in 4 games (including 3 complete game shutouts) so most of the bullpen didn’t even play that Fall.) 

After dropping to 3rd on the bullpen depth chart in 1973 (but with another post-season appearance), Watt was sold to the Phillies after the season, and pitched 1 year for Philadelphia.

The Phillies released him during spring training in 1975, and he was soon picked up by the Cubs, where he pitched only 6 games (the last coming in mid-June 1975) and finished the season with the Cubs' AAA team, then was released in early-September.

Watt pitched for the Padres’ AAA team in '76 and '77, and 2 games for their class-A team in 1978 before retiring.

Dick Bosman (#175)

Dick Bosman was one of several young hurlers to come up through the Senators’ system in the mid-1960s (along with Joe Coleman, Barry Moore, and Casey Cox).

Actually, he was signed by the Pirates (I did not know that!) before the 1963 season, and then drafted by the Giants in the minor-league first-year draft after that season (didn’t know that either). He made his way into Washington’s organization 1 year later via the minor-league draft.

After playing all of 1965 for the Senators' AA team in York, PA, Bosman split the '66 season between the majors and AAA, then was back in the minors for most of 1967, until his recall for the final month of the season.

Dick was a key member of the Nats' staff for several seasons beginning in 1968. In '68 he was mostly a reliever, but was 4th on the team with 139 innings pitched in his 46 games (10 starts).

The following season, he was primarily a starter, posting a 14-5 record with a 2.19 ERA as the team's #2 starter behind Coleman.

In 1970 he was the team's only pitcher with double-figure wins, finishing with a 16-12 record and a 3.00 ERA.

After that season, Coleman (and others) were traded to Detroit for Denny McLain and others. However, McLain was a shadow of his former self, leaving Bosman as the team's pitching ace in 1971.

Dick slipped to 12 wins in '71, and 8 wins in '72 (the team's first in Texas). He started the last game in Washington Senators history, and the first in Texas Rangers history.

In May 1973 he was traded to the Indians, and pitched a no-hitter for them in 1974.

In May 1975 he was traded again – this time to Oakland for pitcher Blue Moon Odom. Bosman won 11 games for the A’s in 1975 (his last as a fulltime starter), then wrapped up his career in 1976 with a 4-2 record, making 15 starts and 12 relief appearances.

He was released near the end of spring training in 1977.

After his playing career he was a pitching coach for the White Sox, Orioles, and Rangers. More recently he has been a minor-league coach for the Tampa Bay Rays.