Monster Card Monday: 1974 John Montefusco

Don George wrote me this past week and submits this Monday’s Monster Card:

As mentioned, I’ve been rolling through a 1974 Cincinnati Reds replay. My 1974 set does not include the newly reprinted full set of 861 players. Whenever I need a player not in my set, I use data from Steve’s Card Computer to create a card.

Check out John Montefusco of the San Francisco Giants! He’ll be pitching against the Reds in games 155 and 160.

He pitched rather poorly in 7 games that year, but was 4-14 at the plate with 2 HR’s. “The Count” went on to win National League Rookie of the Year in the following year, 1975 (15-9, 2.88 ERA and 215 K’s).

A fun find! Happy Rolling

Great find, Don! I have the 1974 but like you, did not see Montefusco in the Giants envelope as I didn’t buy the XBs at the time.

Considering he was a rookie, the “Count” didn’t do too badly from the mound. He managed to impress with a 3-2 record and one shutout in five starts. Sometime during the late season, he must have given up some runs to earn that D. In fact, Montefusco was inconsistent if anything. In his first career start. he pitched nine innings and gave up just one run. He did however have several troublesome outings.

More to Don’s point, what a fun hitting card! This is a disclaimer that the above card is not an official card. Rather, it is derived from Steve’s APBA Card Computer.

Not only does Montefusco have three 1s but if you happen to roll a 22-0, you have a pretty good chance at a dinger. His card has 21 second column 1s with no other extra base hit numbers.

My OCD appreciated that the 12 was placed at the 21 which was where it was placed in the original 1974 card set. I appreciate Steve Stein’s programming effort to make that happen. If you want to change it, Steve’s APBA Card Computer gives you the option to change it.

For the smartalecks out there (you know who you are), you cannot change the placement of the 12 to 66.

Thanks, Don George!