1977 Topps Baseball #476 - Rookie Catchers - Gary Alexander / Rick Cerone / Dale Murphy / Kevin Pasley
- Gary Alexander
- Debut: September 12, 1975
- 1977 Stats:
- San Francisco Giants - .303, 5 HR, 20 RBI in 51 games
- Phoenix Giants (AAA) - .341, 7 HR, 55 RBI in 59 games
- 1977 Highlights:
- Other card blogs: 1979, 1980
- Gary Alexander was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 1972. Gary worked his way up the Giants' chain from 1972-1977. Alexander hit a lot of home runs, drew a lot of walks, and struck out a lot. Gary had brief stints in San Francisco in 1975 (0 for 3 in 3 games) and in 1976 (.178 in 23 games).
- In 1977 Alexander started in AAA Phoenix. He batted .341 with 7 home runs in 59 games and earned a call to San Francisco. Gary also hit well in San Francisco (.303 with 5 HR in 51 games).
- Gary was supposed to be the Giants' starting catcher in 1978, but the Giants had the opportunity to acquire Vida Blue. Gary was traded (with Mario Guerrero, Dave Heaverlo, Phil Huffman, John Henry Johnson, Gary Thomasson, Alan Wirth, and $300,000) to the Oakland A's for Blue on March 15.
- Alexander was with the A's for only half a season. He batted .207 with 10 HR and 22 RBI for the A's and was traded to the Cleveland Indians for Joe Wallis on June 15. Gary batted .235 with 17 HR and 62 RBI for the Indians. All told, Gary hit 27 home runs but led the AL with 166 strikeouts. On September 26 Alexander broke up a no-hit bid by Baltimore's Mike Flanagan by hitting a home run with two out in the 9th inning.
- In 1979 Alexander shared catching duties with Ron Hassey. Gary had some power but he struck out a lot and also had trouble defensively. Alexander batted .225 with 15 HR and 54 RBI in 110 games.
- Alexander was used more as a DH and pinch hitter in 1980. In 79 games Gary batted .225 with 5 HR and 31 RBI
- After the 1980 season Gary (along with Victor Cruz, Bob Owchinko and Rafael Vasquez) was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Bert Blyleven and Manny Sanguillen. In 1981 Alexander was used mostly as a pinch hitter. He batted .213 in 21 games.
- The Pirates released Gary at the end of spring training in 1982. Alexander played in the Mexican League in 1982 and in 1983.
- Rick Cerone:
- Debut: August 17, 1975
- 1977 Stats:
- Toronto Blue Jays - .200, 1 HR, 10 RBI in 31 games
- Charleston Charlies (AAA) - .234, 6 HR, 40 RBI in 70 games
- 1977 Highlights:
- Other card blogs: 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988
- Rick Cerone was the first round draft pick of the Cleveland Indians in 1975. He had two brief stints with the Indians in 1975 (3 for 12 in 7 games) and in 1976 (2 for 16 in 7 games).
- After the 1976 season Cleveland traded Rick (with John Lowenstein) to the Toronto Blue Jays for Rico Carty.
- Rick started the 1977 season with the Blue Jays but he was injured on April 12 when a foul tip broke his right thumb. He spent time recovering from the injury and then played in AAA until mid August. Rick was recalled when starting catcher Ernie Whitt was injured. Cerone batted .200 in 31 games for the Blue Jays.
- In 1978 Cerone split time with Alan Ashby behind the plate and batted .223 in 88 games.
- Rick became the full time starting catcher in 1979. He batted .239 with 7 HR in 136 games. After the 1979 season Cerone was traded (with Tom Underwood and Ted Wilborn) to the New York Yankees for Chris Chambliss, Damaso Garcia, and Paul Mirabella. Since Cerone grew up in New Jersey, he was happy about the trade.
- Cerone had his "career year" for the Yankees in 1980. He batted .277 with 14 HR and 85 RBI and finished 7th in AL MVP voting. Rick batted .333 (4 for 12) in the AL Championship Series.
- Rick's production dropped in 1981 (.244 in 71 games). He batted .333 (6 for 18) in the AL Divisional Series, .100 in the AL Championship Series, and .190 in the World Series.
- In the next few seasons Rick's playing time dropped as he split time behind the plate with Butch Wynegar. He batted .227 in 89 games in 1982 and batted .220 in 80 games in 1983. Wynegar became the full time catcher in 1984 and Rick batted .208 in 38 games. He spent two months on the disabled list with a tender elbow. After the 1984 season the Yankees traded Cerone to the Atlanta Braves for pitcher Brian Fisher.
- In the next eight years Rick played for six teams. In 1985 (.216 in 96 games) Cerone shared catching duties with Bruce Benedict. Rick moved to the Milwaukee Brewers in 1986 (.259 in 68 games) and split time with Charlie Moore behind the plate. In 1987 Cerone was back with the Yankees and was a starting catcher for the last time in his career (.243 in 113 games). Rick was released by the Yankees during spring training in 1988. He signed with the Boston Red Sox and he spent the next two seasons there (.269 in 84 games in 1988 and .243 in 102 games in 1989). Cerone went back to the Yankees (signed as a free agent) in 1990 (.302 in 49 games) and then played for the New York Mets (.273 in 90 games) in 1991. Rick finished his career with the Montreal Expos in 1992 (.270 in 33 games).
- In 1998 Cerone founded the Newark Bears, an independent team. He sold the club in 2003.
- Rick is now a motivational speaker. Here is a Q&A piece done by the New York Times in 2010.
- Dale Murphy
- Debut: September 13, 1976
- 1977 Stats:
- Atlanta Braves - .316, 2 HR, 14 RBI in 18 games
- Richmond Braves (AAA) - .305, 22 HR, 90 RBI in 127 games
- 1977 Highlights:
- Sept 15 - Hit two home runs, including the game-winner in the 10th inning off of Rollie Fingers, as the Braves beat the San Diego Padres 8-7.
- Other card blogs: 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1993
- Dale Murphy was the first round pick of the Atlanta Braves in 1974. He started out as a catcher and steadily moved up the Atlanta system during the next four years. Dale had brief stints with the Braves in 1976 (.262 in 19 games) and in 1977 (.316 in 18 games).
- Murphy's fielding behind the plate was below average so the Braves sought to find him another position. In 1978 Dale spent most of the season at first base. He hit 23 home runs but batted only .223 and struck out a league-leading 145 times in 151 games.
- In 1979 Murphy hit 21 home runs in 104 games and batted .276. This was the last year that the Braves tried to use Dale behind the plate. He threw out only six of the 38 runners who attempted to steal against him and his fielding percentage was below league average.
- The Braves moved Murphy to center field in 1980. Dale had his breakout season, batting .281 with 33 HR and 89 RBI. Murphy was selected to his first all star team and finished 12th in NL MVP voting.
- Murphy slipped in 1981 and batted .247 with 13 HR.
- Dale had a great six-year run from 1982-1987:
- 1982 - .281, 36 HR, 109 RBI, NL MVP
- 1983 - .302, 36 HR, 120 RBI, NL MVP
- 1984 - .290, 36 HR, 100 RBI
- 1985 - .300, 37 HR, 111 RBI
- 1986 - .265, 29 HR, 83 RBI (the only off year during this run)
- 1987 - .295, 44 HR, 105 RBI
- Murphy was an NL All Star in each of these seasons and won a Gold Glove every year from 1982-1986
- In 1988 at the age of 32 Murphy started to have a dramatic drop-off in his production. He dropped to .226 with 24 HR and 77 RBI in 1988 and then batted .228 with 20 HR and 84 RBI in 1989.
- Murphy started the 1990 season with similar stats. Dale was batting .232 with 17 HR on August 2 when he was surprisingly traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for four players. Dale hit seven more home runs with the Phillies and finished the 1990 season with 24 HR.
- In 1991 Dale improved his batting average a bit, but the rest of his stats were similar to the previous three seasons. He batted .252 with 18 HR and 81 RBI.
- Murphy struggled with a degenerative condition in his knee in 1992. He played in only 18 games and batted .161.
- Dale was released by the Phillies on April 3, 1993. On the same day Murphy signed with the expansion Colorado Rockies. He played in 26 games but batted only .143. Murphy retired on June 1.
- Murphy finished his career with 398 lifetime home runs. If he would have had a couple more good years or if the decline of his career wouldn't have been so steep Dale would probably be in the Hall of Fame today.
- Dale was known for his clean living and high personal standards. After his playing career Murphy was a mission president in the LDS church in Boston for three years and has a lot of charity work.
- Kevin Pasley
- Debut: October 2, 1974
- 1977 Stats:
- Los Angeles Dodgers - .333 (1 for 3) in 2 games
- Albuquerque Dukes (AAA) - .304, 1 HR, 60 RBI in 96 games
- Seattle Mariners - .385 (5 for 13) in 4 games
- 1977 Highlights:
- Other card blogs: none
- Kevin Pasley was drafted out of high school by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1972. Kevin worked his way up the Dodgers' system in the next few years. He played in on October game for the Dodgers in 1974 but didn't bat.
- Pasley spent four years (1974-1977) playing for AAA Albuquerque. The Dodgers called Kevin up in September 1976 and he got a month-long look. Pasley batted .231 in 23 games.
- In 1977 Kevin spent most of the season in Albuquerque. He played in two games for the Dodgers in August, going 1 for 3. On September 8 Kevin was sold to the Seattle Mariners. He played in five games for the Mariners, batting .385.
- Pasley started the 1978 season with the Mariners but was sent to AAA San Jose in May after batting .115 in 10 games. Kevin came back up to Seattle in late August and improved his hitting. Pasley ended up batting .241 in 55 games. This was his last season as a major leaguer.
- Kevin was released during spring training in 1979. He hooked on with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization for the 1979 season and then spent 1980 and 1981 playing in the Toronto Blue Jays organization.
- Pasley signed with the Detroit Tigers in 1982. He played in 25 games in AA and AAA before retiring.
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