(Giants Catcher Dick Dietz)
BY MARK A. LARSON
Editor & Publisher
Looks like Dietz is on these cards too:
Is that Dick Dietz’s arm on the Billy Williams card? … If you compare the Williams and Joe Pepitone cards, you can see four similarities: 1) The catcher on both cards is wearing long, black sleeves; 2) The catcher has a stripe on his white jersey near the black sleeve; 3) The shinguards are orange; and 4) The seats in the background are also orange – indicative of San Francisco’s Candlestick Park in the early ’70s.
How about Jose Pagan’s card? You can see that same orange stripe on the catcher’s jersey. Plus, his chest protector is orange around the edge – same as the one shown on the Pete Rose card.
And Dietz even had his own
“In-Action” card in the 1972 Topps set:
(Ron Stone appears to be sharing this card with Dietz – as he was the only
left-handed hitting white guy on the 1971 Phillies whose uniform number was in the 20s.)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
MR. DIETZ GOES TO TOWN
★ 1970 All-Star ★
Starting in 1966, Dick Dietz played parts of eight seasons in the National League – mostly with San Francisco. He was the Giants’ full-time catcher for two of those years.
Although not a great defensive backstop, he had an outstanding year at the plate in 1970. During the regular season, Dietz hit .300, while homering 22 times, with 107 RBIs. In addition, he smashed 36 doubles, scored 82 runs and walked 109 times. His OBP was .426.
Dietz appeared in his only All-Star game that same year and made the most of it. He went 1-for-2, swatting a solo homer that was part of a bottom-of-the-ninth National League comeback that sent the game into extra innings. The N.L. went on to win 5-4 in the 12th.
The next year, he tailed off a bit and by 1973 his big league career was over at age 32. Ironically, Dietz appeared on the 1972 Topps cards, yet didn’t play for the Giants that year, having been sold to the Dodgers right before the season began.
A couple of online articles contend Dietz was essentially blackballed from baseball because of his participation as a vocal player rep during the ’72 baseball strike. (Apparently, no good “Dietz” goes unpunished.)
“Catch” a glimpse
of Topps’ Dick Dietz Gallery:
• • • • • •
See related article on BaseballCardFun.com entitled:
“BASEBALL HOBBY NEWS — 1972: A Direct Descendent of Flower Power”
Click Link Here
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