Meet The Brewers #35: Bob Humphreys

Marvin Milkes' track record as a General Manager left a lot to be desired. I have noted before how he seemed to confuse activity for progress and began shifting players in and out in Milwaukee and, a year earlier, Seattle like an ADHD kid who didn't take his Ritalin. I mean, Milkes is the guy who decided that Lou Piniella would be of no use to the Seattle Pilots in 1969 and traded him to Kansas City for John Gelnar and Steve Whitaker. Piniella then was named Rookie of the Year for 1969 (even if Ken Tatum and Mike Nagy both probably were better choices).

Another series of transactions in 1970 for Milwaukee might fall under that same category. Milkes chopped and changed out pitchers and hitters seemingly randomly. The team picked up three pinch-hitters (as noted in the Tito Francona post) around the June 15 trading deadline. At the same time, the team sent Ray Peters down to the minors, sold John O'Donoghue to Montreal and Bob Locker to Oakland, and then signed Brewer #35, Bob Humphreys, as a free agent after the Washington Senators released the 34-year-old.

1971 Topps

Robert William Humphreys was born in Covington, Virginia, on August 18, 1935. Covington is in the middle of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest along Interstate 64, about 15 miles from the West Virginia State Line and about 45 minutes from Lexington, Virginia (the home of Washington & Lee University). His family migrated southward -- moving closer to Roanoke -- where he graduated high school in Montvale, Virginia. He then attended Hampden-Sydney College -- an all-male military college about an hour away -- and starred in both baseball and basketball.

Humphreys is a smaller guy -- under 6' tall -- so he relied on intelligence and guile as a pitcher. He was never a fireballer, and more than once he was told he had no chance to be a major leaguer. In fact, as his SABR biography begins, he once wrote "YOU CAN'T MAKE IT!" on his glove wristband after being told that by a major-league talent evaluator.

But, he did make it. He signed as an amateur free agent out of college in 1958 with Detroit and got to the major leagues in September of 1962 at the age of 27 years old. The next spring training, his contract was purchased by the St. Louis Cardinals. That was fortuitous for Humphreys, as it meant that he got a World Series Champions ring in 1964 as part of the Cardinal team that overhauled Gene Mauch's collapsing Phillies and then beat the New York Yankees in the World Series.

1971 Dell Today's 1971 Milwaukee Brewers

Most of Humphreys's career was spent as a member of the second incarnation of the Washington Senators. He got there by way of the Chicago Cubs, who obtained the rights to his services thanks to a trade with St. Louis in the spring of 1965. The Sens traded for him in April of 1966 and kept him until Humphreys was released on June 13, 1970.

As his career progressed, he suffered through various arm injuries and ailments. For example, in 1965, he hurt his elbow. Rather than that being the death knell for his career, he changed his pitching to incorporate a slider and cutter taught to him by Tigers teammate Frank Lary. Later in his career, when his shoulder started hurting, he learned a knuckleball from a teammate in the Cardinals minor league system, Bobby Tiefenauer. When he arrived in Milwaukee, manager Dave Bristol told Humphreys to rely on the knuckler.

For most of his career, Humphreys was a reliever. He started just 4 games in his career. Oddly enough, one of those four starts was his final appearance as a major leaguer: Game 2 of a doubleheader between the Brewers and the Chicago White Sox before 3,826 of the White Sox' closest friends at Comiskey Park on September 25, 1970. Humphreys pitched five innings and got the win in that game.

He was released by the Brewers at the end of spring training in 1971 before being signed to a minor league contract. He pitched terribly there -- 7.11 ERA in 19 innings (14 walks, 10 strikeouts) -- and asked for his release as a result. That request was granted and that was the end of his playing career.

1994 Miller Commemorative Set

If you have looked at the three cards I have here, you might be wondering why Humphreys appears to be so old on his 1994 Miller Brewing commemorative set card. That would likely be because of what he did after his career ended. He spent five years as the head coach at Virginia Tech before joining the Toronto Blue Jays for five more years as a minor league instructor. 

But then, starting in 1984 and extending all the way through 1995, he was in the Milwaukee Brewers front office. He served through 1994 as coordinator of player development and then two seasons as the coordinator of pitching and field development in 1994 and 1995. As the great St. Louis Cardinals site Retro Simba mentions, Humphreys served as a mentor to long-time Cardinals catcher and current Cardinals manager Mike Matheny while Matheny was coming up with the Brewers. 

Humphreys later coached a year at Hampden-Sydney before returning to the minor leagues with the Cardinals. These days and at the age of 81, he is still involved with teaching youngsters baseball, as he is a pitching mentor with Home Run Club Virginia, an organization owned by one of Humphreys' former Hokie players, Orvin Kiser. Another two familiar names to baseball fans are attached to this organization: former Astros pinch-hitter extraordinaire Denny Walling and former big-league pitcher Tom House.

Based on what Trading Card DB has available, I have three of the four Bob Humphreys cards showing him as a Brewer. I am missing the 1971 O-Pee-Chee card of him.

Thanks for stopping by.

Meet the Brewers #29: Gus Gil

As it became clear during the 1970 season, Marvin Milkes seemed to confuse activity with progress. One of the moves that seems to underscore this was when 24-year-old Greg Goossen -- whose talent of getting on base likely was not as appreciated in the early 1970s as it would be now -- was sent down to Triple-A in mid-May along with infielder John Kennedy to make room for two light hitting middle infielders in their early-to-mid 30s in age. Those two middle infielders were 33-year-old Roberto Pena (who is Brewer #30) and 31-year-old Gus Gil.

Tomas Gustavo (Guillen) Gil was signed in 1959 at the age of 19 by the then-named Cincinnati Redlegs as an amateur free agent. In the minors, Gil had a couple of decent couple of seasons in the minors -- one at age 21 in Class C Missoula in 1960 and one at age 25 in 1964 in Triple-A San Diego. Still, Cincinnati never saw the need to add him to the major league roster. 

Gil's break came after the 1966 season. The Cleveland Indians finished 81-81, and Cleveland Manager and Off Hiatus PC Joe Adcock determined that Cleveland's big problem was bad defense. The pitching staff at the time consisted of Sam McDowell -- hyperbolically called "the next Sandy Koufax" -- along with Gary Bell, Steve Hargan, Sonny Siebert, and "El Tiante," Luis Tiant. So, for better or for worse, Adcock announced that Gil would be his second baseman in the early part of Spring Training in his quest for improved defense. That lasted through the first 19 games of the season, at the end of which Gil was "hitting" .154/.225/.215.

1994 Miller Brewing Commemorative

Though Gil stayed with the team the whole year, he only came to the plate another 36 times all season after May 6. It didn't help -- in those 36 plate appearances, Gil was even worse -- 1 single, 4 walks, and a sacrifice to slash at .032/.143/.032. Seriously.

Gil ended up with the Brewers thanks to his contract being purchased by the Seattle Pilots in 1969. That year was Gil's best big league season -- .222/.272/.253 is what qualified as "best," so it is not like we are talking about a budding superstar.

Gil's time in Milwaukee lasted a total of 78 games and 190 plate appearances. His work in the 1970 season did not merit him a baseball card and, in fact, the 1994 Miller Brewing set is his only appearance on a card as a Milwaukee Brewer.

After his playing career ended, Gil stayed relatively active in the Venezuelan Winter Leagues and even managed for four years in the American minor leagues as well. After leaving baseball, Gil worked as a draftsman and, later, with the US Citizenship and Immigration Service. Gil settled in Phoenix after his playing career, and that is where he passed away at the age of 76 on December 8, 2015.

Meet the Brewers #20: John O'Donoghue

A major-league veteran who was once an all-star in the same season that he led the American League in losses, John O'Donoghue was the twentieth Brewer to play in 1970. He made his appearance in relief of Marty Pattin in the 8th inning of game two. O'Donoghue coaxed a fly ball out of Sandy Alomar, Sr., before Jim Fregosi singled and Bill Voss tripled to drive Fregosi in. 

O'Donoghue was yanked, and Voss scored on a single from Alex Johnson immediately thereafter. That left O'Donoghue's ERA at 54.00 after facing three batters and pitching one-third of an inning.

1970 McDonald's Brewers

John Eugene O'Donoghue was another short-timer in Milwaukee. O'Donoghue signed with the Kansas City Athletics in 1959 as a free agent out of the University of Missouri. Looking at his minor league record, it's a bit of a question as to how he actually made it to the major leagues, except, perhaps, that it took him a while to show he could pitch at all. His best minor league work -- in the Double-A Eastern League in 1963 -- led to him getting called up to the majors by the end of the year. 

He stayed in the major leagues in 1964 for the entire year, and results for him were not great, as he sported a 4.92 ERA in a league with an overall 3.63 ERA. Somehow and for some seemingly inexplicable reason, he served as Kansas City's (seemingly) sole All-Star representative despite first-half results of 4-12, 4.08 ERA, 30 walks and 36 strikeouts in 92-2/3 innings. By the end of the year, O'Donoghue had racked up 18 losses, good enough to lead the league.

Perhaps recognizing that he wasn't very good, the A's traded him in April of 1966 to the Cleveland Indians for Ralph Terry. After the 1967 season -- his best year to date at 8-9, 3.24 ERA (3.10 FIP), the Indians packaged him in a deal to Baltimore. One year after that, and in April of 1969, O'Donoghue joined the Island of Misfit Toys in Sicks Stadium in Seattle. He was cited by Jim Bouton in Ball Four as being the "chief kid-shooer" around the stadium, with Bouton claiming O'Donoghue enjoyed the work.

1994 Miller Milwaukee Brewers

He pitched very well in Seattle as a reliever. That success did not carry over to Milwaukee, as O'Donoghue was bombed to the tune of a 5.01 ERA (4.91 FIP) in 23-1/3 innings. The Brewers dumped him on the Montreal Expos on June 15, 1970 in exchange for a utility infielder (Jose Herrera) who never played in the majors for Milwaukee. O'Donoghue pitched for the Expos in 1970 and 1971, at which time his career came to an end at the age of 31. He coached a couple of years (at least) at Bowie in the Eastern League in 1993 and 1994.

Other than that, I have three other things about him. First, he participated in an "Elderhostel" vacation series in the Bradenton/Sarasota area several years ago, where 25 or so folks over 55 paid $569 for four game tickets in spring training with five nights of meals and lodging and the opportunity to meet former Negro Leaguer Leon Harris along with O'Donoghue. I don't know if he still does that.

Second, he can be seen here standing on second base for some infield drills with a coach that I can't hear.

Finally, his family is also pretty athletic. O'Donoghue's son, John Preston O'Donoghue, was an amateur free agent signed out of LSU by the Orioles. Against many of the odds, John Jr. made it to the major leagues in 1993 at the age of 24 and pitched 19-2/3 innings in his major league career. His grandson is Landon Archangelo, who is a quarterback on the football team at Shippensburg University. 

As best I can tell, there are a grand total of four cards/items showing him as a Brewer. He has two Mike Andersen Postcards from 1970 with two different photos along with the two cards I've got.

Meet the Brewers #19: John Kennedy

On the same day -- May 18, 1970 -- that Brewer #18 Greg Goossen was sent to the minor leagues outright, another Brewer was placed on waivers and sent to Triple-A: John Kennedy.

Kennedy did not make his debut as a Brewer until the bottom of the 7th inning in the second game of the season. He debuted by pinch running for Goossen, who had pinch hit for Mike Hegan. Kennedy then played first base for the rest of that game. 

1970 McDonald's Milwaukee Brewers

Kennedy was a 28-year-old utility infielder with the Brewers when the season started. Marvin Milkes, the GM who quit at the end of the 1970 season -- likely allowed to resign before he was fired (interesting side note: Milkes went next to be the GM of the New York Raiders in the World Hockey Association in 1972 for 8 months, then, nearly 10 years later, he became the GM of the Los Angeles Aztecs in NASL just before it folded) -- sold Kennedy's contract to the Red Sox in June of 1970 rather than getting a player. Perhaps Bud Selig needed to pay for a new shipment of used Buicks.

Anyway...Kennedy. Kennedy was born on May 29, 1941. Coincidentally, he shared this May 29 birth date with a more famous John Kennedy, the future president who turned 24 on John Edward Kennedy's birthdate. Even more coincidentally, as his SABR biography points out, the baseball player was signed by the Washington Senators in 1961 and broke in with the Senators in 1962.

It was a rather auspicious debut. Pinch hitting in the bottom of the sixth inning against the team that was the Senators previously -- the Minnesota Twins -- Kennedy stepped up and promptly homered in his first major league at bat and, in the process, broke up a no-hitter. Still, JEK was never a power hitter; his career high came in 1964 when he hit 7 homers in 521 plate appearances. 

The highlight of his career came in 1965, when Walter Alston used Kennedy as a late-inning defensive replacement for much of the season (104 games played, 120 plate appearances). The Dodgers went on to win the World Series that year, and Kennedy was on the field at the end of the seventh game when the Dodgers won.

1994 Miller Brewing Milwaukee Brewers

Two stories seem to have followed Kennedy around for his career. The first is one Kennedy probably told hundreds of times: that, on one occasion, a letter meant for him went to the White House; by 2010 when the SABR biography writer asked, the letter was from Kennedy's fiancee.

The second story is, as you might guess, one of infamy from Ball Four in an entry dated June 18:

John Kennedy flew into a rage at Emmett Ashford over a called strike and was tossed out of the game. Still raging, he kicked in the water cooler in the dugout, picked it up and threw it onto the field. Afterward, we asked him what had gotten into him. He really isn't that type. And he said, "Just as I got called out on strikes, my greenie kicked in."

Kennedy told that story to some 250 kids and adults at the Elks home in Rockland, Maine, in December of 1971.  Kennedy claimed that the remark had been made in a joking fashion, saying, according to the newspaper, 

that he had vowed that anywhere he spoke he would relay the tale and try to impress upon young people the evils and dangers of taking drugs. He told the young ballplayers that it would be physically and mentally impossible for any athlete to perform effectively if he took drugs.

Ah, that 1950s mentality still in full force and effect.

Kennedy repeated his statement about that being a joke in 2010 to his SABR biographer as well, saying that he and many of the 1969 Pilots -- and, by extension, a number of the 1970 Brewers -- felt violated by Bouton's book. Kennedy admitted, though, that "Now, though, looking back on it, it all seems pretty tame."

Kennedy went on to manage here and there in baseball -- a couple of years in the Red Sox system in the late 1970s and four seasons in two different independent leagues in the mid-2000s in particular.  In the time in between, he served as a scout who admittedly did not sign anyone who made it beyond Triple-A. As of 2010, he and his wife were living in Peabody, Massachusetts.

There are three to four cards of Kennedy as a Brewer. I say three to four because his Mike Andersen Postcard from 1970 probably calls him a Brewer but it features him with a logo-less helmet. Otherwise, he also appears with the Brewers on his 1971 Dell Today's Team Stamp and the two cards that I have, shown above.

Meet the Brewers #9: Ted Kubiak

The last starter on Opening Day, 1970, to make an impact on the game (other than, perhaps, catching the ball on cutoffs from the outfield or throwing it around the horn after an out) was starting shortstop Ted Kubiak. Kubiak fielded a grounder to throw out Aurelio Rodriguez in the top of the 3rd inning and followed it by catching a popup hit by pitcher Andy Messersmith.  Kubiak slotted into the lineup hitting 8th, just before the pitcher's spot.

1970 was the only year in his entire career that Kubiak was a major league regular. He racked up 158 appearances and 626 plate appearances during the season, hitting .252/.340/.313 with 4 HRs, 6 3Bs, 9 2Bs, and 117 singles.  Don't be fooled by that .340 OBP, either -- he was the beneficiary of 16 intentional walks thanks to hitting 8th most of the year.

1970 McDonald's Milwaukee Brewers

For most of his career and as his SABR biography notes, Kubiak was a utility infielder. He was a switch hitter who could field adequately at every position on the infield (though he played first base in only two games for a total of 6 innings for the Padres in 1975 and 1976).  He grew up in Highland Park, New Jersey, as a Yankees fan and didn't think he was that special of a player in high school. So, he was shocked when the Kansas City Athletics had him attend a tryout camp.  He was even more surprised when they signed him for a $500 bonus -- which led him to turn down becoming an architect.

He spent 6 years in the minor leagues and began switch hitting in his third professional season. Once he made it to the major leagues in 1967, his playing time was limited. Being a middle infielder meant he was behind two similarly aged players -- John Donaldson and Bert Campaneris.  So, after the 1969 season, the A's sent him to Milwaukee with George Lauzerique in exchange for Ray Oyler and Diego Segui.

1971 Topps

Kubiak's performance in 1970 showed more that the Brewers did not have middle infield talent than it did that Kubiak earned the job.  Kubiak took over at second from Tommy Harper when Harper moved to third to supplant Max Alvis. Despite yet another "happy talk" story about him becoming a "mainstay" from the Milwaukee Journal in April of 1971, the Brewers decided to look elsewhere and traded Kubiak to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Jose Cardenal, Bob Reynolds, and Dick Schofield.

From there, Kubiak played a half season in St. Louis before being traded to Texas. He played there a half-season before going back to Oakland -- and being the utility man for the A's for their three World Series victories in 1972 through 1974.  At the age of 33 in 1975, he hadn't played much in the first six weeks of the season.  So, the A's traded him to the Padres for Sonny Siebert.  Kubiak played out the last two years of his career with the Padres, filling in for guys like Doug Rader when Rader was on the mend after a pulled thigh muscle.

The end of Kubiak's playing career came through his choice, sort of. The Padres renewed his contract for 1977 for the maximum pay cut allowable. He walked out of spring training when that happened on March 30, basically saying, "to hell with it."

1994 MGD Milwaukee Brewers Commemorative Set

When Kubiak's career as a player ended, he did not go back to college and become the architect he wanted to be.  Instead, he started in TV with the A's in 1978.  He picked up real estate again --something he'd been doing in Milwaukee in 1971 -- and got into renovations and house flipping. After doing that for a while, he got the itch to get back into baseball again.  In 1987, the A's hired him to manage their rookie league team in Southern Oregon.

That position transitioned into four years at Modesto for the A's in the California League. When Modesto became a Cleveland affiliate, Kubiak stayed with the team and switched to the Indians organization. He managed in Single-A and Double-A for the Indians, became an infield coordinator for several years, and then returned to managing again until after the 2014 season.  The Indians decided to make a change and did not renew the now-73-year-old's contract.

I have three Ted Kubiak cards of him on the Brewers, pictured above. I don't have: 1970 Mike Andersen Postcard, 1970 Milwaukee Brewers Picture Pack, 1971 Milwaukee Brewers Picture Pack, 1971 Dell Today's Team Stamps #466, or his 1971 O-Pee-Chee #516.  So, there are a few cards I could use of his.