Note: When you click on links to various merchants in this newsletter and make a purchase, this can result in this newsletter earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
1973 Topps Don Durham (#548) - Card of the Day
Back in the early 1970s, the legendary Bob Gibson was starting to turn the corner on his Hall of Fame career with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Even if nobody — including Hoot himself — was ready to admit it.
In 1972, for example, the 36-year-old intimidator went 19-11 with a 2.46 ERA and 200+ strikeouts. That’s ace material, no matter how you cut it.
But 36 is 36, then and now. Players that age, and their teams, are playing a game of chicken with Father Time. So the Cards sure could have used a live young arm to help fill the potholes that would open up during Gibson’s inevitable decline.
Luckily, St. Louis had been grooming Don Durham in their minor league system since selecting him out of Western Kentucky University in the seventh round in the 1970 draft.
And, even though you may not recognize the name today, Durham made the Cards look pretty good in the early years of the decade. Sure his ERA rose each of three years in the minors, but when you’re starting at 1.59, you have the kind of “room to grow” that leaves you at 3.27.
That latter number was Durham’s mark for the Triple-A Tulsa Drillers in 1972, when he went 7-2 with an even 100 strikeouts in 121 innings. The year before, he had struck out more than ten per nine innings while going 13-7 for the Single-A Modesto Reds.
That solid work and a propensity to make batters miss got Durham his first look at the majors in July of 1972. Debuting on July 16 at home against the Reds, Durham went seven innings and gave up three runs as the Cardinals starter.
He also struck out six.
Durham stuck with the Cards and made sporadic appearances the rest of the summer, including seven more starts. Those follow-up games weren’t quite as rosy as his debut, though, and he finished his debut season at 2-7 with a 4.34 ERA. He did strike out 6.6 per nine, though.
That rookie campaign earned Durham a slot in the 1973 Topps set (as seen above) and also a demotion to Triple-A Tulsa to start the 1973 season.
Then, on July 16 — exactly one year after his big league debut — the Cards traded Durham to the Texas Rangers in exchange for Jim Kremmel.
The Rangers brought Durham to Arlington four days later and kept him there the rest of the season. But an 0-4 record with a 7.59 ERA in 15 appearances meant more Triple-A time in 1974.
And after Durham crafted a 6.50 ERA for the Spokane Indians that summer, he was done as a pro ball player.
Interestingly, Kremmel was a high-strikeout, high-ERA pitcher, too — sort of the lefty version of Durham — and he was in the majors just in 1973 and 1974. So the Cardinals-Rangers deal ended up being a sort of low-level challenge trade.
In the end, the swap was pretty much a wash, but today belongs to Durham as he turns 75 years old.
The Happiest Man in Cardboard?
If seeing Manny Sanguillen beam from the border of a now-old baseball card doesn’t bring you joy, it’s probably about time to hang up your hobby spikes.
Because you just might be jaded.
But even Manny had his more contemplative moments — like the uncharacteristic card I wrote about here awhile back.
And who knows? Maybe today, Sanguillen’s 80th birthday, has him in a contemplative mood. My money’s on a big smile, though.
—
Hey, we should all be smiling today.
It’s Thursday, after all, which means the weekend is just ahead. And there’s real, counts-in-the-standings baseball being played in Korea.
And it’s officially Spring.
Yay us.
And thanks for reading.
—Adam