1976 Topps - Steve Foucault.

After a down 1975 season Steve Foucault, shown here on card 303 of the 1976 Topps set, lost his closer role for the Rangers in 1976.

Returning to the middle of the bullpen meant at least a partial return to his 1974 form. Foucault appeared in fewer games than in 1975 but he seemed to handle the workload better. His ERA dropped .79 points to 3.33 and his WHIP dropped almost .2 points to 1.229.

Steve seemed to be on the road back. A little bit of improvement in 1977 could see him back in the closer's role and on top of his game. That improvement wouldn't happen in a Rangers uniform though. On April 12, 1977 Texas sent Foucault to Detroit in exchange for slugger Willie Horton.

1976 Topps - Bill Fahey.

While John Ellis was having a rough season in 1976, Bill Fahey finally shook the injury bug. After serious injuries in 1973, 1974, and 1975 Fahey, shown here on card 436 of the 1976 Topps set, avoided the Disabled List in 1976.

Unfortunately for Fahey, the effects of his injuries lingered. Not that they effected his performance but they had allowed Jim Sundberg to pass him in the organizational depth chart. With Sunny starting, Fahey was relegated to a back-up role.

In that role he played in 38 games and put in 228.1 innings behind the plate. He made just one error for a .993 fielding percentage. That was much higher than the league average .981. Fahey could be stolen on though. He caught just 32% of runners trying to steal on him. He nabbed 11 would-be thieves but there were 23 successful grabs.

On offense Fahey made 94 trips to the batter's box. He would post a .250 batting average and a .348 on-base percentage. He didn't demonstrate much power with just two doubles and one home run.

Bill Fahey had turned in a decent performance in 1976. It wasn't enough to get him the starting gig but it demonstrated that he could stay healthy and be effective. The one area that he really needed to improve in was his ability to gun down base-stealers. If he wanted to challenge Jim Sundberg for the starting job in 1977 he had to be practically flawless on defense and with the throws to bases.

1976 Topps - John Ellis.

Catcher/first baseman John Ellis, shown here on card number 383T of the 1976 Topps Traded set, came to Texas from Cleveland in a December 9, 1975 trade. In return the Rangers sent Ron Pruitt and Stan Thomas to the Indians. Ellis' role was supposed to be as a back-up for first baseman Mike Hargrove and catcher Jim Sundberg.

What actually happened was that Ellis served as designated hitter in three games and spent seven games at catcher.

John put in 39 innings behind the plate without committing an error. He also caught two of the four runners trying to steal on him.

On the other side of things, Ellis posted a .419 batting average in 31 plate appearances. He didn't work a walk but a .419 on-base percentage isn't bad. His lone home run came in the second inning of a May 9th game in Boston. That home run came at a good time as it helped Texas win their eighth straight and keep a hold on first place.

Coming up in the 5th inning of the same game, Ellis singled. Up came Toby Harrah. Harrah hit a bounding ball to second base. Ellis thundered down to second and slid in hard to try and break up the double play. The slide was too hard and John was still on the ground as the dust cleared. Coming in to the bag he had dislocated his left ankle and broken his leg.

That was it for the season for John Ellis. The rest of the year was spent in healing and therapy. He was determined to play again in 1977 but it would be a long haul.

1976 Topps - Mike Cubbage.

The front of card number 615 in the 1976 Topps set lists Mike Cubbage as a third baseman. The back lists him as playing third and second base. The back of the card is correct for 1976.

Cubbage played in 14 games for Texas in 1976. Six of those games were at DH. Five more were at second and in one game he played at third. In 35 innings at second base Mike was perfect with no errors. His one inning stint at third base was also perfect but that was because he saw no action there.

At the plate Cubbage was struggling to say the least. In 39 plate appearances he stayed just north of the Mendoza Line with a .219 batting average. The seven walks he picked up bumped his on-base percentage up to .346. He had no extra base hits and just one stolen base.

In 1976 Texas was looking to make a move. The club was trying to regain their 1974 form and was willing to deal to make it happen. Mike Cubbage was a piece the franchise was willing to part with. On June 1, 1976 Mike was sent to the Minnesota Twins as part of a deal that brought Bert Blyleven and Danny Thompson to Texas.

Thanks and No Thanks.

Well, judging by the comments on my last post, it looks like there are a lot of people who have thoughts on my recent lack of posts.

Some like Play at the Plate have been encouraging. Thanks for hanging in there man, I appreciate the support. Others like Jim from Downingtown have offered sound advice. I would do a series on the starting nine in 1972 Jim but I have already posted my 1972 Topps set. Need to find another 1972 set before I can undertake that.

Then there are some I don't know exactly how to take. Not defunct James, were you asking, prodding, or complaining?

Still others I know how to take and am not sure what I did to irritate them. Sorry Dave, not canceled. Not sure exactly "how long it really takes" George. Moving one's family 500 miles and starting a new job is a rather fluid situation. The job is going well but I'm not yet out of training so that is taking a lot of time. The family is still 500 miles away from me so I am doing the long-distance husband/father thing. That takes even more time.  How much time? I don't know and I have a feeling you don't either. Thanks for asking though.

Anyway. To all out there, supporters and others, I'm back. Sort of. Most of my cards are still boxed up. That's part of not having a permanent living arrangement yet. I still have my Topps book out though. My present plan is to work my way through some team sets while I wait to find out how long this relocating thing really takes.

1976 Topps - Leo Cardenas.

Finally got set up with a scanner. Most of my cards are still in storage since I am the only one of my family in Texas. Mrs. Spiff and the kiddos are still waiting for the house to (hopefully) sell before moving down to join me. Since the scanner is not mine I will have to get used to it some before it gets as easy to turn out posts as it was before the move.

With only one card book to choose from we come to the next card in the 1976 Topps set, number 587. Leo Cardenas had struggled in 1975 and really needed to improve his hitting to keep a spot on the team in 1976.

Apparently he wasn't able to improve enough at the plate during Spring Training in 1976. The Rangers released him on March 24th. He was unable to catch on with another team. After 16 Major League seasons, Mr. Automatic's career was over.

1976 Topps - Jeff Burroughs.

Been awhile since I last posted. Seems like time has just flown as the packing and other moving preparations continue. In addition the family and I made a previously planned trip to Texas this past weekend. Got to see the Rangers host the A's on Sunday - the only game of the four that Texas lost. Oh well, at least my brother, the A's fan, was happy. His family went with mine to the game along with my folks. Pretty funny picture of my five-year-old girl walking into the stadium holding hands with her five-year-old cousin. She's in Rangers gear, he's wearing A's stuff.

Anyway, I am due to start my new job on Monday. After that I hope to get back to at least occasional posting. The catch is that I only have my Topps book left unpacked. That means a continued look back at previous years. It gives me something to post but means I won't always be posting a card that fits current Rangers events.

Today we have Jeff Burroughs appearing on a poorly scanned card number 360 in the 1976 Topps set. Two years removed from his MVP performance in 1974, Burroughs continued to struggle. He remained the Rangers starting right fielder though and so still got quite a few plate appearances. In fact, he was second only to Toby Harrah on the team.

In 681 trips to the plate Jeff's batting average was a disappointing .237. His 69 walks helped boost his on-base percentage to .315. That was the same as the previous year in spite of his batting average coming up. Ten less walks and the 93 strikeouts helped to keep it the same. Burroughs also saw his power dip significantly as he managed just 18 home runs - 11 less that the previous season. He did get 22 doubles and two triples but still saw his slugging percentage drop.

Burroughs logged all of his playing time on defense in right field. Over the 1361 innings he played, he posted a .987 fielding percentage. That was six points higher that the league average.

All in all Jeff was still a long way from his MVP form. Texas desperately needed him to get back to it. In spite of his low numbers he was still one of the main power threats in the lineup for the Rangers. That meant they needed to do something. Trades were on the horizon and Jeff Burroughs was on the block.