Names of the Game

One of my favorite baseball names from the late 1980s.

1976 Topps Traded: The Missing Cards - #255T Fritz Peterson

 

Everybody (except me) noticed that I mistakenly included Larry Biittner instead of Fritz Peterson on Fritz Peterson's "Missing Cards" Traded card. So we'll call the Biittner version an "error" and the Peterson version "correct." (If this was 1991 and we were at a card show, fathers would knowingly pull the Biittner error version from the stack and quiz their kids on who was pictured, a la Aurelio Rodriguez's 1969 rookie... Here's to you, Leonard Garcia, card nerds love you more than you will know... wo wo wo...)

Peterson was on his last baseball legs by the time 1976 rolled around. With his best years behind him, Fritz suffered six no-decisions and three losses before Cleveland unloaded him to Texas in exchange for Stan Perzanowski, a young, decent pitcher on the 1975 Texas staff whose career fizzled in Cleveland and ended after the 1977 season with the White Sox.

Fritz didn't fare much better in Texas, appearing in just four games, ending his career on June 19th with a no-decision.