Master Index of Archived Threads


Dean Chance, 1941-2015

G-Fafif Oct 11 2015 12:41 PM

Sources reporting 1970 pennant drive Met Dean Chance passed away this morning at age 74.

Benjamin Grimm Oct 11 2015 12:58 PM Re: Dean Chance, 1941-2015

I was baffled by his baseball card when I was a kid. 1971 was the first year I followed the Mets, and here was this guy on a current Mets baseball card, and I had never heard of him!

batmagadanleadoff Oct 11 2015 01:43 PM Re: Dean Chance, 1941-2015

I was baffled by his baseball card when I was a kid.... [H]ere was this guy on a current Mets baseball card, and I had never heard of him! Same here. Chance to the rescue: [fimg=1055]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/700/21909811689_98cf6d7af0_o.jpg[/fimg]

Zvon Oct 11 2015 04:02 PM Re: Dean Chance, 1941-2015

I remember him. He came from the Angels and had some good numbers, or so I thought as a kid, which could have meant maybe he pitched a shutout or something. Oh yea, the back of his card said he won the Cy Young! Woohoo! But he was pretty dismal as a Metropolitan. I want to do a series of cards, Players At Shea. Anyone can be on a card, as long as Shea is in the background. [fimg=400]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-R_GaMjSzJU0/Uj0xk4rYBqI/AAAAAAAAEgo/4q8w1BsDAKQ/s498-Ic42/2-64ASG-Aces2.jpg[/fimg] [fimg=400]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S-b9AfVevyY/UifF4TP1K5I/AAAAAAAADqs/2Bi8I9A0SW4/s800-Ic42/2-64ASG-Aces-back.jpg[/fimg]

batmagadanleadoff Oct 11 2015 04:09 PM Re: Dean Chance, 1941-2015

Zvon wrote: [fimg=400]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-R_GaMjSzJU0/Uj0xk4rYBqI/AAAAAAAAEgo/4q8w1BsDAKQ/s498-Ic42/2-64ASG-Aces2.jpg[/fimg] Did you put the color in that card pic?

Zvon Oct 11 2015 04:30 PM Re: Dean Chance, 1941-2015

batmagadanleadoff wrote: [fimg=400]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-R_GaMjSzJU0/Uj0xk4rYBqI/AAAAAAAAEgo/4q8w1BsDAKQ/s498-Ic42/2-64ASG-Aces2.jpg[/fimg] Did you put the color in that card pic? No. I consider that photo a rare internet find. Found it at bbfever or OOTP or one of those awesome sites. I didn't run into it until after the first release of the 64 ASG cards. At that time I had to go with this: [fimg=300]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-L3H-7HiQBUw/UiUkKwJw00I/AAAAAAAADkQ/fBt5dgGcen0/s682-Ic42/2-64ASG-Aces.jpg[/fimg]

batmagadanleadoff Oct 11 2015 04:42 PM Re: Dean Chance, 1941-2015

[fimg=400]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-R_GaMjSzJU0/Uj0xk4rYBqI/AAAAAAAAEgo/4q8w1BsDAKQ/s498-Ic42/2-64ASG-Aces2.jpg[/fimg] Did you put the color in that card pic? No. I consider that photo a rare internet find. Found it at bbfever or OOTP or one of those awesome sites. I didn't run into it until after the first release of the 64 ASG cards. At that time I had to go with this: [fimg=300]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-L3H-7HiQBUw/UiUkKwJw00I/AAAAAAAADkQ/fBt5dgGcen0/s682-Ic42/2-64ASG-Aces.jpg[/fimg] Found it. It's a Dodgers regional issue. [fimg=444]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51X2Uv1bK8L._SX466_.jpg[/fimg] The Dodgers get good regionals. On regionals, Kahn's Meats produces nice Reds sets. I wonder why they stopped making Mets sets 20 years ago? Those Kahn's sets are typically large and include players who'd otherwise never get a card. It was probably Wilpon's fault. [fimg=544]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WmE5lXtlqqU/UzHQ93CJAiI/AAAAAAAABpk/b0PZ8hcXuag/s1600/1993Kahns2.jpeg[/fimg] [fimg=544]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g7mLu7yntPw/U1Az6-oSYzI/AAAAAAAAB6E/8pSLyOaT2H8/s1600/2008Kahns3.jpeg[/fimg] I want to do a series of cards, Players At Shea. Anyone can be on a card, as long as Shea is in the background. I made this Mangual card two months ago, mainly 'cause of the Shea background. I was gonna put it in a Nats/Expos card thread that I never ended up posting. [fimg=444]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/629/21912421259_d66c1b5e97_o.jpg[/fimg]

Frayed Knot Oct 11 2015 05:03 PM Re: Dean Chance, 1941-2015

Back when there was only one CY given out each year (until 1967) for both leagues Chance took one away from Koufax, the only one Sandy didn't win in a four year run - the final four of his career as it turned out. When I heard earlier today that he had died the CY thing was my first memory. I had completely forgotten that he was (very briefly) a Met. Looking over his records he was one of those pitchers from that era who was up at age 20, a full-timer by 21 (3rd in ROY), made 35 starts [u:2ifzsb61]AND[/u:2ifzsb61] 10 relief appearances at 22, and threw 200+ innings/year for seven consecutive seasons during which time he led the league in starts once (39), in IP twice (278 & 283) and CG twice (15 & 18) You know, back when men were men. But what the 'BWMWM' crowd usually fails to mention is that he then had his last full & good season at age 28 and was out of the game by age 30. Ahh yes, the good old days.

batmagadanleadoff Oct 11 2015 05:09 PM Re: Dean Chance, 1941-2015

Chance was the youngest Cy Young award winner when he won the award. Granted, there weren't too many past winners when Chance won because the award was relatively new in '64. Who was the first, of several pitchers that followed, to break Chance's record for youngest CYA winner?

Frayed Knot Oct 11 2015 05:11 PM Re: Dean Chance, 1941-2015

Well Chance won it at age 23 so obviously Gooden was younger when he won - although that was 21 years later. oe: oh and Saberhagen the same year. And probably Vida Blue as well. If there were others in between I can't think of any.

batmagadanleadoff Oct 11 2015 05:17 PM Re: Dean Chance, 1941-2015

Frayed Knot wrote: Well Chance won it at age 23 so obviously Gooden was younger when he won - although that was 21 years later. oe: oh and Saberhagen the same year. And probably Vida Blue as well. If there were others in between I can't think of any. You got it with your OE. Vida broke Chance's record in '71. I think that Gooden is still the all-time youngest winner. Sabes set the AL record that same season, breaking Vida's. Don't know if Sabe still has the AL record. Vida's the only one of these never to play for the Mets.

Frayed Knot Oct 11 2015 05:26 PM Re: Dean Chance, 1941-2015

There was a time when it was a given among baseball trivia buffs that Vida Blue was the answer to most questions - at least to the point where if you couldn't think of an answer then your best shot was just to throw Vida Blue out there and take your chances. 'Last Switch-Hitting MVP' was one of the stumpers where VB turned out to be the trick answer.

dinosaur jesus Oct 11 2015 05:54 PM Re: Dean Chance, 1941-2015

In 1964, Koufax was injured and didn't manage to get to to 20 wins. But Chance, honestly, was better that year. Not much better, but still. Pitching in the same park (the Angels played in Dodger Stadium in those days), he outpitched in-his-prime Sandy Koufax. If he'd had decent run support, that would go down as one of the all-time seasons. It's funny, the Angels in 1964 played in the same park as the Dodgers, actually had a better record, some exciting young stars (Chance, Fregosi)--and drew a third as many fans. While the Mets lost 109 games (their best season yet)--and outdrew the Yankees.

RealityChuck Oct 11 2015 07:42 PM Re: Dean Chance, 1941-2015

Chance in 1964 had numbers that Koufax could envy. ERA of 1.65 (Koufax's best was 1.77) 15 shutouts (Sandy never managed more than 11). ERA+ of 200 (Koufax's best was 190). He won 20 vs. 19 for Koufax (Met killer Larry Jackson won 24 and got more CY votes), all for a team that went 82-80. It was a career year for him; he was never even close to those numbers again. But that year he was better than Koufax in just about everything the voters thought was important in that era.

Zvon Oct 11 2015 11:57 PM Re: Dean Chance, 1941-2015

A quick colorization for Mr Chance and a remake of his rather blah 71t card. Didn't even run into a picture (of him as a Met) worth colorizing until David Rothenberg posted this on fb earlier tonight. He shares a lot of Mets pictures.

batmagadanleadoff Oct 12 2015 12:11 AM Re: Dean Chance, 1941-2015

Zvon wrote: A quick colorization for Mr Chance and a remake of his rather blah 71t card. Didn't even run into a picture (of him as a Met) worth colorizing until David Rothenberg posted this on fb earlier tonight. He shares a lot of Mets pictures. Nice job. I downloaded your Chance card, and took the liberty of re-coloring the Chance pic in black, white and gray. Then I swapped your autograph, which was how Chance signed things in the American League, for his Mets stint autograph. I then colored my Chance autograph a shade of Mets blue so I'd have at least a little bit of color. Below is the result. Whaddya think? [fimg=444]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/593/22115331981_d725271359_o.jpg[/fimg]