Chicago Cubs

Date of birth: May 14, 1947 San Francisco California

Date of death: July 10, 2021

High School: Mount Eden High School

Location: Spring Training Posed.

Nickname: Dirt.

First Impression; As a kid I loved any Cubs card and this was one that I really liked. I could envision this was him on the mound, and love the fu man chu. TBH this version below is better. This comes from a Coca Cola issue of this set which featured the same theme, color schemes, etc but some, or at least the Cubs ones mostly featured a different photo. Sometimes a better one. This is one of those examples as this would have been a better card.

Career stats: Two time World Series Champion in 1977 and 1978 with the Yankees.  He began his career as a starting pitcher in Cleveland, amassing 103 starts in his first three seasons.  After that he was mostly used out of the bullpen and appeared in a league high 84 games in 1980 with the Cubs.  He also played for the crosstown White Sox, making the postseason in 1983.  He ended up with 55 saves over a career in which his record was 100-94 spanning 620 games.

All time stat: He was sort of the seed of an Eckersley or later Smoltz, a former starter turned closer. There appears to be about 38 pitchers who have 100+ wins and 50+ saves. Tidrow had exactly 100 wins and had 55 saves. It appears the last player to perform this feat was Ian Kennedy. There are 11 players from this set who accomplished this, of the 38 or so who did it all time. It shows it was a truly transformative time for pitching, as specialization was starting to take hold.

Fun fact: His nickname was dirt, did I mention that? He worked in his home town of San Fran where he was an assistant to the GM and helped assemble the teams that won 3 World Series in the 2010s.

Ever a Future Star?  A clean shaven Dick, he was a “Rookie Star” in 1972.

Rookie or final card? No

Hall of Fame? Number retired? N/A

Tidrow also served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1968 to 1971.

Links to stories including Tidrow.