Lee Elia played a total of 95 big league games. 80 on the South side of Chicago in 1966 and 15 on the North side in 1968. He hit a meager .203 lifetime, yet he appeared on Topps cards in 1966, 67, 68 and 69.
He likewise had a couple of short stints as a manager. He was the Cubs skipper in 1982 and the first part of the 1983 season. In 1987 he replaced John Felske as the Phillies manager 61 games into the season. In 1988 he was similarly dismissed just before the end of the season. Although his managerial career was just as dismal as his playing career, he still appeared on 3 more Topps. Oddly the only season he managed all 162 games was 1982 a year in which Topps didn't make manager's cards.
For Lee Elia's Card That Never Was I chose a 1982 Donruss design. Donruss was the only one of the big three that included manager cards at all in 1982, but they did not include one for the Cubs.
He had a record of 238-300 in parts of 4 seasons and never finished higher than 4th place in the division. He was best known for one of the greatest, profanity-laden rants ever recorded. A local DJ used to open his show every morning with the bleeped-version of this tirade. And every time I heard it, I couldn't help but laugh. Below I posted a YouTube video of his infamous rant. The publisher of this video even included his baseball cards, so I felt it was perfect for this site. Just a heads-up, this is not the bleeped version, it is loaded with F-bombs. Very NSFW.
In 1966 the White Sox pitching staff led the American League in ERA with a team ERA of 2.68. The next best were the Twins with 3.13. As a rookie on that staff, Dennis Higgins had a 2.52 ERA and struck out 86 batters over 93 innings, mostly in relief. After a 1967 season plagued with eye injuries he was dealt to the Senators in a six-player trade. During the 1969 season for the Senators, Higgins won a career high 10 games and had 19 saves. It was his 13th saves in 1968 that landed him on this Card That Never Was. I created this one for my other blog and have included it here:
Bill Voss was a September call-up in 1965. Although the outfielder had only 6 hits in 33 at bats one of them was a homer off Denny McLain. Voss spent most of 1966 and 1967 in the White Sox farm system. When he returned in 1968 he didn't even hit his weight but was given a second rookie card.
After the season he was dealt to the Angels. He fared better in California, hitting .255 over the next 2 seasons. After being traded to the Brewers for the 1971 season he played on 3 different teams in 1972, the Milwaukee, Oakland and St. Louis. For his Card That Never Was I created a 1972 Topps Traded card of him with on the A's.
Although his career ended in a Cardinals uniform in 1972, he did appear on a 1973 card. It was the infamous Joe Rudi card that features 3 Oakland A's players, none of them Rudi. It shows Gene Tenace crossing the plate and being greeted by Voss and Marty Martinez
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Once again this card appeals to me for no good reason. It could be Voss's inclusion on an infamous card of my childhood. It could be the inexplicable fact that Topps put 3 players on this rookie card while the others from 1966 only had 2. It could be because the Sox are my team. Who am I kidding? It is Elia's rant. To this day, it makes me smile. I give it a 6 for "Guilty Pleasure".
Once again this card appeals to me for no good reason. It could be Voss's inclusion on an infamous card of my childhood. It could be the inexplicable fact that Topps put 3 players on this rookie card while the others from 1966 only had 2. It could be because the Sox are my team. Who am I kidding? It is Elia's rant. To this day, it makes me smile. I give it a 6 for "Guilty Pleasure".
I don't think I knew that about the Rudi card. Or I did and I'd forgotten. Great work on the Voss :)
ReplyDeleteBack in the mid/late 1960s, most Rookie Stars cards issued in the 7th series had 3 players on them, as Topps scrambled to shoehorn as many players as possible into their set.
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