Why this card is awesome: Because of the great shot Topps got of the jumbo helmet the Phillies had specially made in order to fit Gross' humongous eyeglasses in there. Compare to this, this, this, this, and the mother of them all, this.
Cool stat: Greg Gross is widely remembered as one of the best pinch-hitters of his era. I'm not sure so sure that's the case. Check out his career splits and you'll see that his line as a PH was .240/.362/.282. That's a .282 SLG over 733 PAs, with 0 homers, 15 2B, 5 3B, and just 64 RBI. Poo. Since 1970, Gross has the 3rd-most games with a pinch-hit.
2 comments:
Pinch hitters never have good averages. Look at any "great" pinch hitter, they are not successful. A pinch hitter is a guy not good enough to start that gets along with other players so he stays around a long time and acrues a ton of pinch hit ab's which in turn turns into a lot of pinch hits.
In addition to what Jim said, I think a pinch hitter anecdotally gets a reputation for being a great "pinch-hitter" because most of the pinch-hitter's at bats come late in the game. If he comes through, he's a hero to his team starting or keeping alive a game-saving rally. Therefore, he gets the reputation on the few times he comes through late instead of the many that he chokes.
Post a Comment