Monday, April 2, 2018

#773 - Hal McRae


What a card: Hal McRae's playing time decreased in 1984 as he made less than 400 plate appearances for the first time since his first year with the Royals in 1973.

My observation on the front: This is that weird period (between 1982-86) when McRae did not feature facial hair, except when he sported a mustache in '85. One of the first cards I ever pulled was McRae's mustachioed card in the 1975 set, and how can you forget that prominent beard in the '76 set? McRae should have facial hair, dammit.

More opinion from me: McRae knocked second basemen into shallow left field and I will never not like him for that.

Something you might know: One of the mainstays of the Royals' perennial postseason teams of the late 1970s/early 1980s, McRae was a doubles machine and finally received a World Series ring as a part-time player with K.C. in 1985.

Something you might not know: McRae became known to a later generation as a manager, first leading the Royals from 1991-94. But he turned down the Royals managing job in late 1987 after Billy Gardner was fired because McRae didn't think he'd get a fair shot of winning the full-time job for the 1988 season. The Royals went with John Wathan instead.


My observation on the back: McRae's son, Brian, became a major league outfielder for 10 years in the 1990s. McRae's other son, Cullen, was a producer in the adult film industry as of 2017.

The blog wants to speak now: The Movies category is updated.

1 comment:

Brett Alan said...

His wife's name is Johncyna? You can't see her, her time is now!