17 October 2009

manny mota and jose morales through the mail success!

in light of jim thome's big pinch hit yesterday, here are some ttm autos i recently received from two of the greatest pinch hitters of all time.

i had sent a request to manny mota before, and decided to try my luck again. no surprise, the long time dodger coach returned my cards in about two weeks.

1976 toppsaside from the 1978 set, i have been using the 1976 set the most for autographs.

1981 donrussthis is one of manny's final cards, along with a 1981 fleer, but he did make an appearance in 1982, so it's not a final tribute.

jose morales also returned the cards i sent him in about two weeks. jose fits into the category of ttm attempts of dodgers who also had a 1978 topps card, so it worked out well. he signed all 3 cards i sent.

1983 topps tradedjose was acquired from the orioles for leo hernandez. here jose faces his former mates, the expos. jose pinch hit for the dodgers twice on the road in montreal during the 1982 season. the first time, may 8, he was announced as the pinch hitter, but the expos switched pitchers, so morales himself was pinch hit for. the second time, july 8, he drew a walk.

1984 toppsmorales actually started 4 games at first base during the 1983 season. they were the only games he played in the field during his tenure with the dodgers. he hit .283 for the season, with 3 pinch-hit home runs that year, although he went 0 for 2 in the nlcs against the phillies.

1978 toppsmorales had 123 pinch hits in his career, 10 of which were home runs. he set the single season pinch hit record in 1976 with 25. that record stood until 1995 when john vanderwal broke it. i think it's interesting that each of these cards list morales as a 'c-1b'. he appeared in only 30 games as a catcher over his entire career, and only 3 times after the 1977 season.

for good measure, here's another manny mota auto, on his 1980 topps record breaker card. this one i picked up in a lot of dodger autos. manny's record has since been surpassed by both lenny harris and mark sweeney, but at least they both plied their pinch hitting trade for the dodgers for a time.

thanks manny and jose!

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