Thursday, June 15, 2017

no. 670 - bill hands


Who is the man: Bill Hands was coming off the best three-year period of his career when this card was issued. A year after winning 20 games for the 1969 Cubs, he won 18 in 1970. He'd never win more than 12 the rest of his career.

Can ya dig it: It looks like Hands is warming up along the bullpen sideline before or during a game.

Right on: That crease is much more visible on the scan. It doesn't look too bad in my hands (ha).

You see that cat Hands is a bad mother: Only Fergie Jenkins won more games (21) than Hands for the 1969 Cubs. His 2.49 ERA that year was the second lowest for any Cubs starter since World War II.

Shut your mouth: Hands' nickname was "Froggy" and came about when players noticed how much his delivery resembled that of Don Larsen. Larsen was often called "Big Froggy," so Hands was called "Little Froggy" and then later just "Froggy."

No one understands him but his woman: Hands, who died in March, owned and operated a gas station on Long Island for a long time after his career. It was a popular place and many people knew him only as the service station owner because he didn't talk about his baseball career much.


(A word about the back): The Cubs trade sent pitcher Lindy McDaniel and outfielder Don Landrum to the Giants for Hands and catcher Randy Hundley.

1 comment:

  1. Hands and Larsen were teammates on the Cubs for a few games.

    ReplyDelete