Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Ralph Michael Caldwell

I think Mike Caldwell looks so sad on his '73 Topps card because he found out that French's Mustard was providing the uniforms for the Padres that year. The Padres have sported some ugly uniforms put these have to be among the worst ever.
Mike Caldwell was drafted by the Padres in the 12th round of 1971. He made his major league debut later that year on September 4, 1971 against the Braves. He was traded to the Giants in October of 1973 for Willie McCovey and Bernie Williams. In October of 1976 he was traded to the Cardinals with John D'Acquisto and Dave Rader for Willie Crawford, Vic Harris and John Curtis. In March of 1977 he was traded to the Reds for Pat Darcy, in June of 1977 he was traded to the Brewers for Dick O'Keefe and Gary Pyka. He played 3 seasons for the Padres, 3 years for the Giants, a few games for the Reds and 8 seasons for the Milwaukee. He was released by the Brewers in January of 1985. Mike was the American League Comeback Player of the Year in 1978. According to Wikipedia he is now either the pitching coach for the Fresno Grizzlies or the hitting coach for the Scottsdale Giants.

2 comments:

night owl said...

Really, who were the brain trusts that thought yellow and brown would go well together? I know it was the '70s and all, but that's poor even for the '70s.

Matt Runyon said...

Perhaps Mike Caldwell wasn't a happy person. On one of his old APBA cards his nickname was "Mr. Warmth." I wondered about that when I was a kid.