Today's subject is a 2014 Topps Archives on a 1986 design.
The front of the card features a great dugout shot of Cutch coming off his MVP season.
The best part of the card though is the back and the subject of today's insider scoop.
There's a bit of trivia there.
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| 1939 Play Ball (image courtesy of Google images) |
Johnny Rizzo was the first Pirates player to hit 20 Home Runs in a season. He hit 23 in his rookie season in 1933. Last year rookie first baseman Josh Bell hit 26 homers as a switch hitter.
One record that Rizzo set that still hasn't been broken is 9 RBI in a game. As one of Cutch's curtain call games to the season was him hitting his first grand slam, a single, double, and another homerun which lead to 8 RBIs. Cutch was pulled in the 8th inning to a standing ovation from the Pittsburgh crowd. It's entirely possible that Cutch could have broken the record had he gotten another at bat.
Until the day a player hits 10 RBI in a game Rizzo will still be parts of two trivia questions regarding the Pittsburgh Pirates. No matter what happens with the Pirates individual future stats, there's no changing the past. Rizzo will always be the first Pirates player to hit 20 Home Runs in a season.
great post! Johnny Rizzo is all but forgotten like Debs Garms and Rip Sewell whose first name was Truett and older guys like Nick Maddox...
ReplyDeleteCool! Never heard of him...but now I have!
ReplyDelete