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Friday, February 3, 2012

1963 Topps Baseball Project - The Senator's Athletic Tiger!!!


Chuck didn't have all that long of a Major League career as a player.  He started out with the Braves in 1959 then was traded to the Tigers and then to the Senators in 1961. Stayed with the Senators till 1965.  He played in Hawaii and Seattle PCL from 1966 to 1968 when he was picked up by the Angels and finished his career there in 1969 after he suffered an Achillies tendon injury.  After playing Chuck helped out in the dug out as a coach for the Mets and Mariners and then in 1984 took over as General Manger of the Mariners for a couple of years.  He didn't fair so well and was fired in early 1986 after the first 28 games and the Mariners in last place with a record of 9 - 19. After Seattle Chuck coached with the Mets, Orioles and Phillies.  He is currently a special assistant to the general manager of the Washington Nationals at the age of 76.

Speaking of short careers in the Majors.  Mike started out with the Boston Braves organization in 1952, but after the Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1953 Mike never got any playing time wallowing in the minors. He was traded to the Tigers in 1959 and toiled in the minors till 1961 when the Tigers called him up to the big leagues. In his 4 seasons in the majors Mike was always the second string catcher, being used mostly for bull pen duty.  After the 1964 season Mike became the bullpen coach for the Tigers and then the Angels till 1969. Then returned to the Tigers in 1970 as a pitching coach. From 71 to 77 Mike worked as a Minor League manager and pitching instructor until coming back into the majors for the Cubs as a pitching coach.  He also worked with the Cardinals, Padres, and Red Sox until he retire after the 1994 strike-shortened season. Mike is still around at the ripe old age of 81.



I couldn't find too much information on Bill here.  He played 6 years with the Athletics and then went on to play two years with the Yankees and his last year with the Senators in 1968.  He had much better minor league career but finished his major league career with only a .216 Batting Average, 41 home runs most coming in his 64 and 65 seasons and 125 RBI's.  Bill's is also still with us, somewhere, at 73 years young.

1 comment:

  1. Topps used the same picture of Cottier in a batting stance for his 1960 and 1961 cards, but tried to paint him into a Tiger hat and uniform.

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