I was born in Indiana and raised in the South, and learned to catch a baseball. I was so obscure, I wasn't drafted, signing as a free agent. I made the All-Star team one season when I wasn't on the ballot, but I was hitting .337 with 18 HRs and 77 RBIs at the All-Star break and All Star Team Manager Gil Hodges put me on the team. For a catcher, I was a terrific hitter. My career on-base percentage was .390, third lifetime among all catchers. I had more than 100 RBIs one season and was third in league-wide WAR that year.
I was involved in a controversy. When Don Drysdale was in the middle of his MLB record 58 2/3rds inning scoreless streak, he was pitching against us, the bases were loaded with no outs and I was hit by a pitch...and umpire Harry Wendelstadt refused to allow me to take first base, claiming I did not attempt to avoid being hit.
Worse still, I was the team's player representative during bitter negotiations with ownership in the early 1970s. As a retaliatory measure, I was waived by management when I hit .252/.387/.419/.806 with 19 HRs and 19 doubles as a starter and our team's bitter rival picked me up for the price of the waiver fee.
The next year was my last season in MLB. I hit .295/.474/.432/.905, a 145 OPS+, which would have been 11th in MLB if I'd had enough ABs. I have caught multiple Hall of Fame pitchers. But MLB has a long memory, and even though I was 31, no team wanted any part of me, and I was blackballed by major league baseball.
Who am I?
I was involved in a controversy. When Don Drysdale was in the middle of his MLB record 58 2/3rds inning scoreless streak, he was pitching against us, the bases were loaded with no outs and I was hit by a pitch...and umpire Harry Wendelstadt refused to allow me to take first base, claiming I did not attempt to avoid being hit.
Worse still, I was the team's player representative during bitter negotiations with ownership in the early 1970s. As a retaliatory measure, I was waived by management when I hit .252/.387/.419/.806 with 19 HRs and 19 doubles as a starter and our team's bitter rival picked me up for the price of the waiver fee.
The next year was my last season in MLB. I hit .295/.474/.432/.905, a 145 OPS+, which would have been 11th in MLB if I'd had enough ABs. I have caught multiple Hall of Fame pitchers. But MLB has a long memory, and even though I was 31, no team wanted any part of me, and I was blackballed by major league baseball.
Who am I?
Audaces fortuna iuvat