Monday, July 11, 2016

#552 - Chris Codiroli


What a card: Chris Codiroli was coming off a disappointing sophomore season when this card was issued. After enjoying one of the best rookie seasons for an AL pitcher in 1983, he pitched just 89 innings in 1984 and spent part of it in the minors.

My observation on the front: Codiroli's expression makes it appear as if he just hit the batter with a pitch.

More opinion from me: This card and the two that I posted before it (Scott McGregor and Andy Van Slyke) appear on the top row of a page in my '85 binder. It is a very well-balanced row with lefty McGregor delivering toward Van Slyke from the left and Codiroli delivering toward Van Slyke from the right. Cool.

Something you might know: Codiroli bailed out an injury-plagued A's starting staff in 1983, pitching over 200 innings as a rookie in 1983 and winning 12 games.

Something you might not know: A's manager Billy Martin once offered to buy Codiroli some new clothes after Codiroli showed up in a short-sleeve leisure suit.


My observation on the back: Codiroli was acquired by the A's after he struggled with injuries in the Tigers' farm system. Codiroli said in an AP article that he caught flak from Tigers GM Jim Campbell after he discussed the Tigers' minor league organization for a newspaper article. He said Campbell sent a letter to all the minor league clubs criticizing Codiroli, although the letter didn't name him. When Campbell was asked about Codiroli's charge, Campbell said Codiroli was a liar.

The blog wants to speak now: I made some changes to the blog layout. It's too complicated to explain why. The short version is Blogger (or possibly my computer) was doing weird stuff.

1 comment:

Matt Runyon said...

A short sleeved leisure suit? Oh my!