#317 Gary Rajsich - New York Mets

Not only is this Gary Rajsich's rookie card, it's his only Topps card.  Looks like this picture of Rajsich breaking out of the box was taken when the Giants visited Shea Stadium.  Because he only played one day game against the Giants I'm pretty sure this picture was taken on May 9, 1982.  He batted three times in the game with a fly out to center, a ground out to first, and a single to right.  Judging by where Rajsich is looking I'd say were are looking at either the ground out or the single.

Player: Gary Rajsich went the baseball machine known as Arizona State which produced no less than 49 major league players in the 70s and 80s.  He was an 11th round pick of the Astros in 1976 and had a slow start to his pro career hitting for neither power or average his first three years.  He broke through with 20 home runs between two levels in '79 and was a minor league stud at AAA Tucson in 1980 batting .321/.435/.575 with 14 triples, 21 HR, 99 RBI, and 12 steals. 

At age 26 Rajsich wasn't exactly a blue chip prospect and the Astros traded him to the Mets for another minor leaguer with an even stranger name: John Csefalvay.  Rajsich took advantage of his fresh start at AAA Tidewater and crushed homers at an amazing clip.  He was on the Mets radar but with Dave Kingman, Lee Mazzilli, and Rusty Staub they had a glut of leftfielder / first base types.  With 24 home runs in 78 games and 288 plate appearances, Rajsich's season was ended by a broken wrist, otherwise he surely would have been a September call up.

Rajsich made the Mets opening day squad in '82 as a reserve and spent the year as a pinch-hitter finding playing time scarce until the last month of the season.  He struggled in the unfamiliar bench role and hit just a pair of homers while batting .256 in 162 at bats.

He spent most of '83 back at Tidewater waiting until rosters expanded before getting another chance.  He hit .333/.400/.500 in 40 plate appearances with only one strikeout which was  a major improvement since he K'd about 25% of the time in '82.  

Rajsich was sold to the Cardinals as rosters were taking shape in April of '84 but spent all but seven at bats at AAA Louisville where he clubbed 29 homers.  In the offseason he and three other Cards were sent to San Francisco in exchange for Jack Clark.  The Giants used him as a pinch-hitter and part time first baseman but he again struggled when he wasn't in the starting lineup.  He batted just .165 in 110 plate appearances and was demoted in July.  The Cards purchased his contract and he finished the year back at Louisville.  He spent the next three years playing in Japan for the Chunichi Dragons before retiring. 

Flipside: You can see from the numbers that Rajsich really improved after his first three years in the minors.  He credits the purchase of a $1,200 pitching machine after the '78 season for turning his career around.  He practiced relentlessly, with his wife feeding the machine and Rajsich hitting 400 pitches a day, taking heed from the Ted William adage that "the only way to learn how to hit, is to hit".

Oddball: There is saying that pinch hitting is one of the hardest things to do in sports.  You would get no argument from Rajsich, who was a mere 4 for 64 as a pinch hitter.  The rest of the time he was 70 for 232, a .302 average.

History:  Rajsich had a brief major league career with a career line of .236/.328/.345 in 149 games.  Perhaps he would have been off as a DH in the American League, but with a poor track record of pinch hitting, it's hard to say.  He has had a much better career as a scout, signing Jon Lester for the Red Sox.  Rajsich was named the Orioles director of amateur scouting in 2011.

#314 Ken Dayley - Atlanta Braves

Rookie card alert! Well if you want to be technical, Donruss put out a card of Ken Dayley in their '82 set even though he hadn't yet reached the majors.  We've seen this background in a lot of cards and I probably should know what the location is.  Candlestick maybe?  Dayley looks a little bewildered in the inset picture or perhaps he's just looking into the sun. 

Player:  Ken Dayley was the third overall pick of the Braves in the 1980 draft out of the University of Portland.  After spending his first year at AA Savannah, Dayley pitched well at AAA Richmond in 1981, with a 3.33 ERA in 200 innings, but showed he wasn't quite ready for the majors by walking 117 batters.  He started the '82 season back at Richmond but was called up to the Braves in May.  He made 11 starts and had a handful of relief outings with mixed results before being sent back down at the end of July.  He returned in September, but did not pitch in the postseason for the Braves.  His stats on the year show improved control but he was hit pretty hard sporting a 4.54 ERA and 1.458 WHIP in 71 innings.

 

Dayley didn't initially make the team in '83 but was recalled in mid-June and was used as a spot starter and long man out of the pen.  The results were slightly better but the young pitcher improved a little bit to a 4.30 ERA in 104 frames. 

 

The southpaw made the Braves opening day roster and was supposed to be a part of Atlanta's rotation but after failing to make it past the fourth inning in three of his four starts he was demoted.  He was traded to the Cardinals in June with Mike Jorgensen for Ken Oberkfell.  The Cardinals put him right to work but after two disastrous starts and a mop up appearance he was sent down for the balance of the season.  Dayley's major league numbers were not pretty as he went 0-5 with a 7.99 ERA.

 

Dayley made the '85 Cardinals roster as a bullpen arm and was put to use right away with three scoreless outings in the first four games.  He was even trusted with some save opportunities and have four saves and a 0.95 ERA at the end of May.  He continued to be a dependable late inning option for manager Whitey Herzog as he saved 11 games with a 2.76 ERA in 65 innings.  Dayley was stellar in the postseason logging 12 shutout innings with a win and two saves, as the Cards fell to the Royals in the World Series.

 

Dayley was having a decent season '86 when he hit the shelf in July with a 3.26 ERA.  Tommy John surgery left him out of action until the following May.  He returned and pitched well with a 2.66 ERA and four saves.  He ran his postseason scoreless streak to 20.1 innings before he came into Game 6 of the World Series to face Kent Hrbek with the bases loaded.  Dayley surrendered a grand slam pushing the Twins lead to 10-5.  The Twins went on to win the game and took the series the next day.

 

The injury bug bit Dayley again when he injured his back while pitching on opening day in '88.  He missed five weeks but put up similar numbers to the year prior with a 2.77 ERA in 55 frames.  Dayley was healthy and continued his strong pitching with a third consecutive season with a sub-three ERA (2.87) and a career high 12 saves.  His ERA rose to 3.56 in 1990 but he was still effectively keeping men off base as he allowed less than eight runners per nine innings for the fourth year in a row. 

 

The Blue Jays signed the free agent Dayley after the 1990 season to a three year $6.3 million deal but it was a disaster as the Blue Jays would get just five innings from Dayley over the next three years.  Dayley was plagued by vertigo and elbow problems and finished his career in '93 at AAA Albuquerque allowing 15 runs in 10 innings before calling it quits.   

 



Flipside:  Not sure how many of those minor league complete games were of the nine inning variety. At the big league level Dayley made 33 starts and worked into the eighth inning just twice and never completed a game.  His best shot came on 6/24/83 when he carried a five-hit shutout and a ten run lead into the ninth inning against the Reds.  Dayley gave up a double to Gary Redus to start the inning and retired the next two batters before giving up a home run to Johnny Bench.  A single, walk, and a double to the next three hitters got him the hook in favor of Steve Bedrosian who put out the fire. 

Oddball:  These days St. Louis fans see a lot more of Dayley's daughter Sara than they do of him. Sara Dayley is an anchor for KSDK and Rams in game reporter.

History:  Once Dayley found his niche in the majors he had a nice stretch with a 2.98 ERA and 39 saves from '85 - '90.  He twice was on pennant winners with St. Louis, but was on the disabled list when the Blue Jays won back to back in '92 and '93.

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