I’m at the risk of making Monster Monday an “RIP” column. That said, I can’t ignore the loss of Hall of Fame second basemen Joe Morgan. He was someone I looked forward to seeing as a friendly in the All-Star Game but at no other time.
Morgan was truly a five-tool player as you will see by this Monster Card Monday column originally posted in 2014.
Pastor Rich Zawadzki suggested 1976 Joe Morgan APBA card for Monster Monday. A fan of the 70s, I remember this one well. It’s one of my favorites with a perfect blend of speed, power, on-base not to mention awesome fielding.
In 1976, Little Joe led the NL in OBP (.444) and slugging percentage (.576) while stealing 60 bases and hitting 27 homers for the Cincinnati Reds. Primarily batting third for the Big Red Machine, he hit the century mark in both runs (113) and rbis (111).
Morgan also had a very impressive 114/41 walk to strikeout ratio in 1976.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 Totals | 141 | 599 | 472 | 113 | 151 | 30 | 5 | 27 | 111 | 60 | 114 | 41 | .320 | .444 | .576 |
Joe Morgan’s 1976 card has formidable power numbers at 1-4-5-6. But really makes this card stand out is its ability to get on base. Morgan has seven 14s!. Not only that, five of them are 14*.
It’s amazing enough that he has thirteen on-base chances against a Grade A pitcher. Counting his four power numbers plus his 15-11, he has ten chances to get to SECOND base.
All this and he is a two-bee-nine.
Fun Numbers: 24-14, 61-14, 2B-9
1976 Morgan was given two 31s but strangely, the second one was placed at 21 and he was given a 63-32 instead.
thanks, Rich!
See also: Morgan’s 1975 card on Monster Card Monday here.
I was ten years old falling in love with baseball and the Reds, and Morgan was one of the guys I really worshipped. Used to try his elbow flap in batting practice but It just didn’t work for me. Ha. Man, just losing so many wonderful people this year. Not just ball players. Stay well.
Thanks for your comments, Erik. I have a very vivid memory of watching the All-Star Game at a friend’s house as a kid. Morgan had a key hit early in game and being Cubs fans (and ergo NL fans), we were jumping up and down.
Looking up now, it must have been the 1977 ASG. He led off the game with a homer against Jim Palmer.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/allstar/1977-allstar-game.shtml