Friday, April 7, 2017

no. 647 - juan pizarro


Who is the man: Juan Pizarro spent the 1970 season in the minor leagues for the A's and Angels until he was dealt to the Cubs in July. He then pitched 12 games in relief for Chicago.

Can ya dig it: That's a pretty great photo of the veteran pitcher.

Right on: Pizarro looks really sweaty.

You see that cat Pizarro is a bad mother: Pizarro was a strikeout artist during his starting days with the White Sox in the early 1960s. He led the American League in strikeouts per nine innings in 1961 and 1962.

Shut your mouth: Pizarro's nickname was "Terin," which came out of childhood when kids in the neighborhood compared him to the main character in the action-adventure comic strip, "Terry and the Pirates".

No one understands him but his woman: Pizarro was branded as moody and a troublemaker by people who didn't understand the native Puerto Rican. But Hank Aaron mentioned in his book "I Had A Hammer" that he thought that the Milwaukee Braves would have won more titles if they hadn't traded Pizarro to the White Sox. "We needed young pitchers to take over for Spahn, Burdette and Buhl and we never came up with them."


(A word about the back): 318 strikeouts in one minor league season. Can you imagine?

1 comment:

  1. This was my 1st 1971 Topps card. Acquired in March of 2021! I sold all my 70s,73s, and 74s and all my Football cards, and started collecting All the years I missed from 1957 - 1976

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