Who is this? former Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Jim Rooker
What is this? An autographed card from the 1978 Topps set
Where'd I get it? Nick from Baseball Happenings got it signed for me last year.
Why is this so special? Rooker had a solid 13-year major league career with the Tigers, Royals and Pirates, but I never saw him play since he retired after the 1980 season. His lifetime record was 103-109 and he won a World Series ring with the 1979 Pirates.
I remember Jim Rooker because of a comment he made during a broadcast of a Pittsburgh Pirates game in 1989. The Pirates put up 10 runs in the first inning of a game against the Phillies, and Rooker said on air, "If we lose this game, I’ll walk home." Sure enough, the Phillies staged a comeback and won 15-11.
After the season, Rooker followed through on his promise and walked over 300 miles while raising money for charity.
I'm glad I don't have to decipher Rooker's signature.
Plus, that photo was taken at Shea!
ReplyDeleteI thought that looked like the old Shea scoreboard, but the white pinstripe jersey threw me.
ReplyDeleteFurther research shows that the Pirates had abandoned the traditional home/road uniform concept in 1977 for a mix & match style.
Yep. There's a Pirates fan who has been trying to chart every uniform combination the Bucs wore in the years they had those mix-and-match pinstripe/black/yellow uniforms (1977-83, I think, but I'd have to look to be sure). I've actually picked up a few (mostly from Mets Yearbook on SNY) and helped fill in some blanks. But I definitely saw at least one game where they wore the white pinstripes at Shea, I think with the black pants.
ReplyDelete