Pat Underwood Tried to Save the Reds
If only he could have played third base between mound appearances!
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1980 Topps Pat Underwood (#709) - Card of the Day
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For fans of every really bad team, there is at least one player whose name and face stir up the old stink for decades after the fact.
When I “found” the Cincinnati Reds as my team, they were coming off a 101-loss season in 1982 and would still be sixth-place bad in 1983. I knew they were terrible even then, but I still couldn’t help but love them.
And, fair or not, the guys who clogged up my wax packs and who weren’t Mario Soto, Dave Concepcion, or Johnny Bench became the all-time posterboys for the stench on the Riverfront — at least to me.
Bruce Berenyi. Frank Pastore. Joe Price. Paul Householder. Wayne Krenchicki.
When it came to Krenchicki, in particular, the Reds just couldn’t seem to get out their way. But Pat Underwood tried to help them out.
See…
In June of 1983, the Tigers brought Underwood back to Detroit after a season-opening stint with the Triple-A Evansville Aces. And that after he had spent most of 1979 and all of 1980 and 1982 in Motown.
All of which had come on the heels of about three years in the minors after Detroit selected Underwood with the second overall pick in the 1976 draft…out of Kokomo High School. Hoosier alert!
Overall entering 1983, Underwood sported a 13-18 record with a chunky 4.29 ERA split across 34 starts and 70+ relief appearances.
But the early summer of 1983 didn’t play out even that well for Underwood, who posted an 8.71 ERA over 10.1 relief innings. That’s when the Reds smelled their guy.
On June 30, Cincy sent Krenchicki to the Tigers for Underwood, straight-up.
After spending the rest of the summer at Triple-A Indianapolis, Underwood had to be feeling a bit uneasy about his major league prospects. If the Reds didn’t have a place for him, well…
As it turned out, the Rangers thought they had a place for Underwood, so they nabbed him as a Rule 5 pick. Alas, the lefty didn’t make it out of Spring Training, and Texas released him before the season.
The Orioles signed Underwood as a free agent on April 2 and sent him to Triple-A Rochester. He went 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA to finish out his pro career.
In the meantime, the Reds went sniffing around the Tigers’ locker room again. And when they found their prey, guess who it was?
Yeah, it was Krenchicki, who they “bought” from the Tigers. Just in time to keep his run of Reds cards alive that fall, courtesy of Topps Traded (#65T — and, yes, he was in Fleer Update, too):
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Now, Krenchicki actually wasn’t a terrible hitter most of the time, and he was a pretty solid third baseman, to boot. He also helped the Reds land Norm Charlton in 1986, so there’s that.
Still, the bond between Krenchicki and the Bad Red Machine will never be broken for me.
No matter how hard Pat Underwood tried to change things.
Today, Underwood turns 67 years old, and we can celebrate by drinking in his 1980 Topps rookie card (way up there). When it was issued, it probably seemed to have about as much chance as the cards of other young Tigers to become something really special.
In the end, Tom Underwood’s kid brother may not have turned Detroit into Title Town the way Alan Trammell, Chet Lemon, Lou Whitaker, Jack Morris, Lance Parrish, Larry Herndon, and the rest of the youngsters did.
But he was right there for a lot of the climb.
1985 Wendy’s Tigers
Both Underwood and the late Krenchicki missed out on being part of that historic 1984 Tigers team by less than a year.
Of course, the Tigers might not have been the Tigers had they been constructed any differently (to state the obvious).
And that club was something to behold, from their season-opening streak, to their core of primetime young stars, to their easy romp to a World Series title in October.
No wonder Topps teamed up with Wendy’s and Coke to produce a 22-card set (plus a checklist!) of the champs the next year. Customers at Detroit-area Wendy’s would get three cards in a cello pack if they bought a Coke with their meal (or without a meal, I think).
These days, you can often find the full set on eBay (affiliate link) for about $20, or individual cards for a few bucks each.
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—
What was the first great team you remember following, whether you were a fan of the club or not? Those 1984 Tigers set the bar for me, and I still feel a sense of reverence whenever something from that magical season pops up — a card, a photo, a mention of Barbaro Garbey.
Anyway, thanks for reading, and have a great weekend.
—Adam