Frequent contributor Rod Caborn sent this article to me and I thought it would fit right in with our occasional Weird Card Wednesday theme.
Rod writes:
Ordinarily, I take little notice of the batting characteristics for pitcher’s cards. This one, however, is worthy of note.
In the midst of my replay of the 1916 American League pennant race, Koob, pitching for the St. Louis Browns, came to the plate with nobody out and a batter on first. On the hill for the Chicago White Sox was Lefty Williams (14YZ). I called for a sacrifice for Koob and rolled a 66, thinking “That’s gotta be good for the sacrifice.”
Wrong.
I looked at Koob’s card and had to do a double-take. It was a 14 at 66, which turned into two balls, because Lefty Williams had a Z.
That prompted me to take a closer look at Koob’s card and I discovered it has no hit numbers… not even the customary 7 at 66 and 8 at 11! Koob’s card does have, however, ten 14s and thirteen 13s.
It occurred to me that Koob’s batting characteristics might be one of the more unusual batting cards I’ve ever seen in 58 years of playing APBA baseball (even more unusual than the famous Red Lutz card for Cincinnati, 1930).
By way of background, Koob. a Michigander, spent four seasons in the major leagues, all with the Browns. His lifetime pitching record was 23-31, 3.13. He started 21 times with 12 CG and three shutouts. After three relatively good seasons from 1915-1917, Koob was sent to the minors in 1918. He rejoined the Browns in 1919, but posted a poor 4-7 record with a 4.64 ERA and was sent back down in 1920. He spent 11 more years in the minors, but never recaptured the form that he showed in the mid-teens with the Browns.
As for Koob’s batting abilities…they were minimal. He had a lifetime BA of .070 (9-128). In 1916, in 57 plate appearances, he walked 15 times and fanned 24 times, which is well reflected in his 1916 batting characteristics.
Postscript: on the re-roll in the situation above, I rolled a 22, which is a 23 on Koob’s card. For Lefty Williams, s rated a 2 fielder, I rolled a 43, which put the result in Fielding One…..a single for the weak-hitting Koob.
Koob’s detailed bio can be found here at SABR’s bio collection.
Thanks Rod!!
Photo by Unknown author – http://fineartamerica.com/featured/ernest-g-ernie-koob-retro-images-archive.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41769041
This game sure has its quirky moments lol.
To me, the weird part is that the 23 and 36 are at 22 and 44. They interrupt the flow of 14s.
thanks again, Rod!
I have been playing APBA baseball for a long time. Reading this article reminded me of other cards that I had seen with no hit numbers. With a little searching I found two more examples. Eddie Watt 1971 Baltimore Oriole card has 13, 14 and 24 mostly. Eddie Watt has a 24 for dice roll 65 Harry Parker’s 1974 New York Met’s card is another example of 13 and 14’s mostly