Friday, June 6, 2025

Cake or gum? 1977 Mike Torrez

Last time there was a 4-4 tie. Will there be a winner here?

Looks like these two photos were taken at the same time. Hostess went with the portrait, while Topps went with the hatless pitching pose. 

Mike Torrez pitched for seven teams in his 18-year-career. 1975, his one year with the Orioles, was his one year winning 20 games. Torrez had been traded along with Ken Singleton from the Expos for Rich Coggins and Dave McNally, a great trade for Baltimore. However after the season the Orioles traded Torrez and Don Baylor to Oakland for Reggie Jackson, a trade that did not work out as well for them. In early 1977, the Yankees, with several injuries in their starting rotation, traded Dock Ellis to Oakland for Torrez, and he had a great regular season and an even better postseason, dominating the Dodgers with two complete game victories, including the clinching Game 6. A free agent after the season, Torrez signed a big contract with Boston and ended up facing the Yankees in the one-game playoff at the end of the regular season, where Torrez famously gave up Bucky Dent's big 3-run home run. Torrez struggled to live up to his big contract in Boston. He has said that he preferred pitching to Thurman Munson than Carlton Fisk, and he did improve when Fisk left, going 10-3 in 1981. Overall in 494 games Torrez went 185-160 with a 3.96 ERA. After his career he has done some coaching, and for many years has owned MAT Premiums, a promotional-items distributor. 

10 comments:

  1. Man, put your cap on, and don't lean over so much! I guess I'll go gum for the nice stadium background. Always remember Torrez as a big disappointment with the Mets, although in fairness he was 36 when they traded for him and the guy they gave up never made the majors.

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  2. Background gives gum my vote!

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  3. Gum. (Even though the card makes me feel a little off-balance.)

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  4. Going with cake, although there were no smiles with Torrez on the mound in my house.

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  5. I think I'm voting for cake for the first time ever. Not a fan of the facsimile auto blending in with the stripe on Torrez's pants.

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  6. Gum. I like Mike's smile on the cake card... but the gum card shows off more of the Coliseum.

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