Weird Card Wednesday: 1978 John D’Acquisto

Dacquisto

Whatever happened to the C(A*) pitcher?  Or for that matter, the D(B*)?  Tom Zuppa sent me this 1978 John D’Acquisto APBA card as a reminder that these cards weren’t all that uncommon in the 1970s. 

Usually, these cards were given to relievers with appropriately low ERAs. However, these relievers managed to start a game or two.  Rather than give him a straight Grade A rating, they would get a split grade.  

Split W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H BB SO
1978 Totals 4 3 .571 2.13 45 3 24 0 0 10 93.0 60 56 104
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/8/2014.

 

In D’Acquisto’s case, he made 42 relief appearances and started three games while putting up a nice 2.13 ERA. 

Interestingly, D’Acquisto did better as starter in 1978:

Split W L W-L% ERA G GS GF SV IP
as Starter 1 1 .500 1.37 3 3 0 0 19.2
as Reliever 3 2 .600 2.33 42 0 24 10 73.1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/8/2014.

 

As far as I know, APBA has never given a grade such as A(B*) or B(C*) where the starter grade is better than the reliever grade. 

Two things I learned doing this post.  One, John D’Acquisto’s last name is pronounced “DEE-ah-KWISS-toe” (I always thought it was “KEE-sto”).

Two, you can now get pitcher splits on how pitchers did by individual umpire on Baseball Reference.  My friend Todd Ventresca who is an umpire might be interested in that. 

Thanks, Tom!

Thomas Nelshoppen

I am an IT consultant by day and an APBA media mogul by night. My passions are baseball (specifically Illini baseball), photography and of course, APBA. I have been fortunate to be part of the basic game Illowa APBA League since 1980 as well as a frequent participant of the Chicagoland APBA Tournament. I am slogging through a 1966 NL replay and hope to finish before I die.

One Comment:

  1. Is it just me, or was Johnny D (as one of my friends used to call him) a really underappreciated reliever?

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