30 October 2009

red adams through the mail success!

it took former dodgers pitching coach red adams less than two weeks to sign and return this 1978 topps card to me.that's red to the right of tom lasorda seated in the front row (which reminds me, i have been meaning to post my 'who's who' of the 1978 team card). some of you had asked what i had planned to do for the team card, and the answer i gave was pretty vague: that i had a few ideas. this is the first one that has been returned to me, but hopefully not the last.

charles 'red' adams won almost 200 games as a minor leaguer. in the majors, he was 0-1 for the 1946 cubs. after his playing career ended, he became a scout for the dodgers and then joined the coaching staff as the pitching coach in 1969. he held that role until 1980, and was succeeded by ron perranoski. i will let the words of don sutton pay tribute to the coach that red adams was: "red adams is a standard by which every pitching coach should be measured. no person ever meant more to me in my career than red adams, and without him i wouldn't be standing in cooperstown today."

red also kindly signed my 1973 topps card, and included a signed 4x6 as well. just for good measure, he added a note and signed my letter, too!

this is the 18th piece of my modest 1978 topps dodgers autograph project.here's the tally:

team card (red adams) - through the mail success!
dusty baker
glenn burke
terry forster
ed goodson
burt hooton
tom lasorda
rick monday
rick rhoden
elias sosa
don sutton
steve yeager

18/29 = 62%
thanks red!

3 comments:

night owl said...

Red Adams must be quite an old man now!

Matt Runyon said...

Seems like a cool guy.

gcrl said...

88 years young!