 |
.jpg) |
Jose Joaquin Azcue
Cleveland Indians
Catcher
Born: August 18, 1939, Cienfuegos, Cuba
Signed: Signed by the Cincinnati Redlegs as an amateur free agent before 1956 season
Major League Teams: Cincinnati Reds 1960; Kansas City Athletics 1962-1963; Cleveland Indians 1963-1969; Boston Red Sox 1969; California Angels 1970, 1972; Milwaukee Brewers 1972
Known for his strong throwing arm and the fantastic nickname, "The Immortal Azcue," Joe Azcue played in 11 big league seasons, most successfully with the Indians. After 4 1/2 seasons in the minors, Azcue debuted with the Reds in 1960, appearing in 14 games towards the end of that season. He wouldn't stay for a prolonged period of time in the majors until 1963 when he appeared in 94 games for the Indians, reaching career highs in both home runs (14) and RBIs (46). Azcue and John Romano shared catching duties in 1963 and 1964, with Azcue finally getting a chance to regularly play following Romano's trade to the White Sox before the 1965 season. Azcue would enjoy the strongest stretch of his career between 1966 and 1968 with the Indians, and he was named to the 1968 All-Star team, catching Denny McLain (#150) and teammate Sam McDowell (#220) over three innings of work.
He'd bounce around for a few years between 1969 and 1972, spending time with the Red Sox, Angels and Brewers and missing all of the 1971 season due to a contract dispute. He played one final year professionally in 1973 as a player-coach for the Indians' Double-A affiliate in San Antonio. For his career, Azcue batted .252 with 50 home runs and 304 RBIs. As one of the top defensive catchers of his era, his caught stealing percentage of 45.2% is currently 97th all-time and his overall fielding percentage of .992 is 58th all-time.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #192
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
The Card / Indians Team Set / Accuracy Index +5
1969 Season
Azcue was on the move throughout the 1969 season. He began with the Indians, as their opening day catcher, and played in seven games before Cleveland and Boston pulled off a six-player deal. Azcue, Vicente Romo (#267) and Sonny Siebert (#455) went to the Red Sox with Dick Ellsworth (#605), Ken Harrelson (#240) and Juan Pizzaro (#498) going to the Indians. Azcue was frustrated during his time with the Red Sox as he was serving as the back-up to Russ Gibson (#89). On June 11th, he left the team and demanded a trade. On June 15th, the Red Sox granted his wish, sending him to the California Angels in exchange for Tom Satriano (#78). Azcue assumed the everyday catcher role with the Angels, but batted only .218 in 80 games.
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set. That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon. I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.
This is the 115th of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York. My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside. After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far. With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298. The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards, with this card costing a little less than a dollar.
The photo here is similar to the photo used for Azcue's 1967 Topps card. The back of the card speaks to Azcue's longevity in the game, having started professionally in 1956 as a 16-year-old. The cartoon highlights his .280 batting average in 1968, second on the team behind Lee Maye (#595), who batted .281 but didn't have enough qualifying at-bats for the official team lead.
Accuracy Index: Azcue's card scores a +5, but only because he played the first week of the season with the Indians - see below.
1969 Season
Azcue was on the move throughout the 1969 season. He began with the Indians, as their opening day catcher, and played in seven games before Cleveland and Boston pulled off a six-player deal. Azcue, Vicente Romo (#267) and Sonny Siebert (#455) went to the Red Sox with Dick Ellsworth (#605), Ken Harrelson (#240) and Juan Pizzaro (#498) going to the Indians. Azcue was frustrated during his time with the Red Sox as he was serving as the back-up to Russ Gibson (#89). On June 11th, he left the team and demanded a trade. On June 15th, the Red Sox granted his wish, sending him to the California Angels in exchange for Tom Satriano (#78). Azcue assumed the everyday catcher role with the Angels, but batted only .218 in 80 games.
Overall for the 1969 season, Azcue batted .223 with a pair of home runs and 23 RBIs. He led all American League catchers with 70 assists.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1962 Topps #417
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1962-1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA The 1960s I #36
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 50 in the Beckett online database as of 11/22/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
|
|
|
|
|
First Mainstream Card: 1962 Topps #417
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1962-1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA The 1960s I #36
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 50 in the Beckett online database as of 11/22/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
No comments:
Post a Comment