(The 1989 Score offers are arriving fast-and-furious after my most recent post. I should be down to just a few wants in a week or two! The blog's still got it. Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 361st in a series):
I plucked this Cluck from my COMC order, which arrived early last week. You'll soon see the rest of what's probably my final order from that place, but I wanted to feature this card separate since it's kind of the black sheep of my order, not fitting neatly with any of the other cards.
I didn't pick it up only for the wonderful Toros uniforms of the era (and there are even gaudier examples) or just because of the marvelous name on the front. Nor did I add it because coach cards are a relative rarity.
I grabbed this card for all of those reasons and one other -- I interviewed Bob Cluck once. He is a "Brush With Greatness" subject who I have never mentioned.
I wonder how many other coaches who I have interviewed have cards that I have overlooked? The Brush With Greatness Series could go on and on -- that is if people are interested in reading about coaches/assistant coaches/trainers, etc.
Anyway, I interviewed Bob Cluck when he was the Houston Astros' pitching coach in 1990. I was in Montreal to do a story on Astros pitcher Jim Deshaies, who is a native of Massena, N.Y., which is in my newspaper's coverage area.
I've mentioned this story before. Deshaies is a past Brush With Greatness subject as is the Astros manager from that time, Art Howe, as is the Astros catcher from that time, Craig Biggio. I interviewed all three -- and Cluck -- for the same story while in Montreal. Four Brush With Greatness subjects from one story!
I dug my copy of the story out of the files and read through it and was kind of amazed by all that I did for that story. It wasn't a super-long story and yet there were four voices in it. You don't see that a lot in sports journalism these days, unless it's a really long story. I am puzzled when reading the sports wire now by how many stories lack quotes. Showing readers that you talked to someone was practically a requirement for writing a sports story when I started this gig.
My quotes from Cluck were on Deshaies' struggles in 1990. He had a terrific 1989 season but the Astros suffered through seven-game losing streaks in June and July of 1990 thanks to a paltry offense. Deshaies got into a habit of pitching too fine to compensate for the team's offensive woes and Cluck was trying to get the young pitcher away from that.
All of this probably seems like a long time ago to everyone. Deshaies is now most known -- and has been for awhile -- as a veteran Cubs broadcaster. Howe is probably most known for being the A's manager during the Moneyball Era. Biggio is most known for being in the Hall of Fame.
After coaching with the Astros, he later worked with the A's and then was the pitching coach for the Tigers and then a scout and consultant for the Padres and Rays.
Coaches get no respect even on the back of their own baseball card. No mention of Cluck, just a definition for "designated hitter" and then it morphs into a police card. Still, huge props to TCMA for creating a coach card.
Also, this card has been a wish list item for almost five years. I'm glad I finally did something about it.
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