Dietz was a pretty good hitting backup catcher for the Giants from 1967-'69. After Tom Haller was traded, he shared catching duties with Jack Hiatt from what I can remember. He became the outright starter in 1970 and responded with one of the great seasons of any Giants catcher: .300/.426/.515 with 19 HR's. Yeah, you read that right, an OBP of .426! He walked 17.8% of the time and struck out 17.3%. He made the NL All-Star team. I think that was the year Pete Rose barrelled into Ray Fosse while scoring the winning run for the Nationals. His numbers fell off a bit in 1971, the year the Giants won the NL West only to lose in the playoffs to the Pirates, but he was still darn good: .252/.387/.419 with 19 HR's. He put up 5.1 WAR in 1970 and 4.0 in 1971.
The 1972 season started with the first player's strike. Dick Dietz was the Giants Player Representative and was one of the most enthusiastic and vocal player reps in baseball. To old-school owners like Horace Stoneham, such a thing was unthinkable. Despite coming off 2 terrific seasons, Diets was placed on waivers 3 days before the 1972 season was scheduled to start. The Giants said the reason for the release was his poor defensive play(he led the league in PB's 2 years in a row). The Dodgers claimed him, but he suffered a season-ending injury a few days into the season. He spent 1973 with a Atlanta Braves as a utility catcher/first baseman and led a strong bench effort that became knows as the "F-troop." In 83 games and 197 PA's, he hit .295/.474./.432. .474!!. He walked an amazing 25.7% and struck out just 13.1%. Simply amazing. The Braves rewarded him by releasing him after the season. He was never able to hook on with another team, his MLB career over.
John D'Acquisto is pretty sure Dick Dietz got blackballed, not just off the Giants, which seems pretty clear, but out of baseball entirely. I'd say there is a greater than 50% chance that he is right.
there was the injury, so its hard to tell
ReplyDeletebut definitely, stoneham dumped him because of his role in the union....
the guys who pushed the union are the unsung heroes
the first guy who challenges the draft, will be the next big hero
thanks for the hat tip on the article
will read it and weep
bacci
Ironically, Stoneham's behavior pretty much proved why the players needed the power of collective bargaining behind them.
DeleteAwesome article, thanks for sharing. I know very little about the Giants in that period. I've been reading Mays' biography for a while now, but know much more about the 50's than the 70's. All the names though, Marichal, McCovey, Perry, Bonds... must've been one hell of a club to watch... and all of the greats who've put on that uniform and never gotten the ring makes me appreciate even more the feats of the two titles. Really puts things in perspective, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteNow you know why, when I read stuff by young fans complaining about 1 down season or some perceived failure on Brian Sabean's part, I feel like the kids in the AT&T U-verse ads: You don't know how good you have it!!
Deletehad the playoff system that is now in place, been there during the 60s, there is no doubt in my mind that the giants wouldve won a ws or more
Deletei think d'aquisto went light on both stoneham and murcer
dont remember bobby being a fan fave or making himself available to fans....the attitude that "i was born to be a yank" is a very bad one
man was hailed as the second coming....stoneham never paid dime one for promotion...till after that trade...and i remember murcer's pic everywhere
stoneham was a crook and a very bad businessman
if you build it in the city, they will come....but never out at candlestick point
bacci
I came to the US in 1969 as a nine year old with zero knowledge of English. The first television I ever saw was the Lunar landing. The second was Juan Marichal and his high kick. I essentially learned English by listening to Lon Simmons in the early 70's. I was very poor, and the only outing I ever went on besides school field trips was when the local charity gave me a ticket to a Giants game. Imagine a stadium with 5000 spectators for a night game, most of whom are in the lower box seats, and the few of us in the last rows of the upper deck in dead center field, too naive to realize that we didn't have to stay in our seats. This article makes me very nostalgic, but like the turbulent 60's, one would not look back at this time as the good ole days.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, the players of that era, Willoughby Carruthers, Frank Williams, Rosario, Speed, Goodson, the three Gar(r)y outfield, etc, will always remain my favorite.
Anon #1
In Lefty O'Doul's restaurant, there is picture of Juan Marichal at the top of his leg kick on the wall. To this day, whenever I see a picture of Juan with that leg up above his head, well, I really can't describe the feeling it gives me. He was a magical, special player!
DeleteJust testing myself..Matthews, Maddox and Thomasson ????
DeleteSteveVA
Yes.
DeleteAnon #1
Thanks for the article and links..I had no clue about DIetz....was kinda beyond a ten year old! I only remember wondering what the heck happened to him... But.I loved both him and Haller before him..
ReplyDeleteSteveVA
Great article and insight, thanks for sharing.. I became a young Giants fan during the early 70's listening to Russ Hodges/Lon Simmons and later Al Michaels on the radio here in Hawaii. I saw my 1st Giants game in 1972 when the Giants came to Hawaii to play the Lotte Orions in a 3 game exhibition series here in Hawaii. Players like Mays, McCovey, MarIchal, Spier, Bonds became instant favorites when they came to an auto dealership to sign autographs and take pictures here during the series.. In the official program(can't believe I still have it), there is an interesting article written by Bob Stevens titled "It all began when a man affectionly called O'Dou-San appeared..", it mentioned that Lefty O'Doul became known as the Father of Professional Baseball in Japan. I went to my 1st game at the Stick in 1975, it was a Giants/ Dodgers matchup. Ed Halicki shutout the Dodgers 2-0 beating Andy Messersmith that night in front of 7000 in the stands. It was a fun period because I was too young to follow the business side of baseball, but following 2 WS winning teams was WAY MORE FUN!!
ReplyDeleteIts shameful what happened to Dick Dietz because of union activities. A big reason why todays players have so much is because of players like Dietz and Messersmith who pushed the union.
LG
Ironically, the better the players have done, the better ownership has done too. There has never been anything close to this much money in MLB. There is more than enough for everyone! I agree with Bacci here. The next step is to share some of that wealth with the minor leagues and make sure a fair share of it goes to players and also to make sure that the minor league teams have good training facilities and nutritional options.
DeleteMy memory of Dick Dietz, if I am remembering correctly, is that when Drysdale was approaching the scoreless inning streak, he was pitching against the Giants, who had the bases loaded. Dietz was at the plate and was hit by the pitch, but the umpire said he made no effort to avoid the ball and did not award him first base. Drysdale proceeded to get him out and preserve his scoreless streak. I also believe he set the recored on the same night that Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. There are a lot of players today who make very little effort to avoid being hit by the pitch, but I never see it called. APGiantsfan
ReplyDeleteWhenever I see a player get HBP and not try to get out of the way, I think of that play.
DeleteMan. It's so great to hear you ol' timers talk about the game in the days I never got to see, or listen to..
DeleteLove this site, thanks everyone for all the great stuff over the last few years here.
PS - Did I say old timers...errr, I meant grizzled vets. Yeah, that's it!
- Rainball