Slow and Steady Too Slow for Dan Monzon
Sometimes, you just run out of time on the way to stardom
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1974 Topps Dan Monzon (#613) - Card of the Day
Everything about Dan Monzon’s big league career turned out to be sort of so-so, and you have to think timing played a role in keeping things from turning for the good.
See…
The Astros selected Monzon in the 25th round of the 1966 draft, but he decided to stay in college. The next June, the Twins took him in the second round of the second phase of the draft.
His pro career was off and running, starting with the low-A Auburn Twins. From there, Monzon did exactly what he was supposed to do, clicking off one rung of the minor league ladder after the other.
Problem was, he clicked them off one year (two for Single-A) at a time, and he was 21 when he got started.
So by the time Monzon wrapped up a .305-hitting campaign with the Triple-A Portland Beavers in 1971, he was 25 years old. The Twins decided to stick with the progression plan, though, and kept Monzon out of Spring Training in 1972.
Monzon made his big league debut, drawing a walk and slapping a single in two plate appearances after coming in to pinch run for Rod Carew early in the game. The “youngster” stayed with the Twins all season, finishing with a .273 batting average and five RBI in 65 plate appearances across 55 games — he was used as a pinch hitter 16 times and as a pinch runner 21 times.
The Twins finished 77-77 in the strike-shortened season, good enough for third place in the American League West, but not exactly inspiring visions of grandeur for the new future.
Monzon was back in Minneapolis in 1973, and the new season brought a 1973 Topps rookie card, but pretty much the same sort of results on the field: .224, no homers, 4 RBI, 89 plate appearances in 39 games.
That performance helped the Twins “improve” to a robust 81-81, and (yes) a third-place finish in the A.L. West.
Topps was firmly on the Monzon train by that point, and they included him in their 1974 set, as you see above.
But the Twins, well, they were aching to shake things up, so they started Monzon at Triple-A in 1974, then traded him to the Expos in May for Earl Stephenson.
The Expos figured Triple-A was about right, so that’s where Monzon stayed for the rest of ‘74 and all of 1975. Then he did the same in 1976 and 1977, but for the Astros.
So as it turns out, that 1974 Topps Dan Monzon is a career-capper!
After his playing career, Monzon managed in the Mets minor league system for a few years before becoming a scout. Sadly, he was killed in a car accident while on the job in the Dominican Republic in 1996.
Dan Monzon was born 78 years ago today.
Waka! Waka! 1 Walk! 9 Ks!
Monzon became the 24th out of Frank Tanana’s season-ending gem when he flied out to end the eighth-inning on September 30, 1973, at Anaheim Stadium.
The Angels beat the Twins and Bert Blyleven by a 3-0 score in that one.
Eight years later, a fuzzy Fozzie Tanana was regaling collectors from the confines of his 1981 Topps Coca-Cola Red Sox card. Read all about it right here.
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These 70s cards are pretty fun for me to dig into a bit because I didn’t collect them first run. I opened my first pack of baseball cards in 1981 and didn’t care about any of them until 1983.
So, while I’ve seen pretty much all the cards from early 1970s Topps sets, I haven’t seen them thousands of times each. Many of them feel “new” to me, with plenty of discoveries to be had.
What eras of the hobby still feel fresh and undiscovered to you? I’d love to hear about your own cardboard frontiers!
Thanks for reading.
—Adam