Comments on: Geoff Zahn

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:35:43 +0000

17. 16 : Much thanks for the input and historical perspective, Scott. Wrigley it is, I guess. I feel this brings things full circle somewhat, since in the beginning even though things looked a little weird I had plowed ahead anyway with the premise that he was indeed standing in front of the actual wall that his pitches would soon be sailing over.

By: Scott McConnell

Scott McConnell — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:32:03 +0000

16. It’s definitely Wrigley. This is the left field “well” – you can see where the wall juts into the playing field in the far right of the picture. Prior to the bleacher expansion before the 2006 season, this was the “Family” (i.e. alcohol-free) section and had three rows of backed seats (not bleachers). The similar section above the right field “well” was reserved for large groups. These seats were added sometime in the mid-80s, prior to that they were just walkways that allowed you to pass from the bleachers into the main stadium.

The dark blobs in the background on the upper right are either trees or a building on Waveland or Kenmore, the scoreboard is out of the picture – farther to the right and closer and higher.

I believe the wall looks too low because Zahn is superimposed on top of the picture and the scale is wrong – if you look at the figures standing on the top of the wall in the upper right you can tell that the wall is much higher than it appears when looking at Zahn.

By: springer

springer — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:45:10 +0000

15. Is that the Wrigley scoreboard rising in the background on the right? It looks like the Wrigley outfield fence, but with some offseason repair work going on. Replacement bleachers?

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:55:16 +0000

14. 12 : I also have a distinct image in my mind of Zahn, from a slightly earlier Twins card in which he is in a game in the middle of his pitching motion, his bent right leg kicking high. It's a pretty dashing, dynamic card, at least in my memory, and so the discovery of this static, floppy-haired Cubs card was something of a shock. 13 : "Thank you, Chicago." And Chicago ended up just releasing Zahn, getting nothing for him, and he went on to have several decent years for the Twins and Angels.

By: El Lay Dave

El Lay Dave — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:47:26 +0000

13. We Dodger fans remember the 1974 Geoff Zahn well. Those starts (all but one) were made after the rotation needed some patching after Tommy John (13-3, 2.59, 132 ERA+ 1.14 WHIP) went down with a season-ending elbow injury that led to John having a groundbreaking surgery that you may have heard of. Zahn filled in quite capably (3-5, 2.03, 168, 1.18), then in '75 was traded to the Cubs for Burt Hooton, who was an important part of the Dodger rotation for the next seven seasons. Thank you, Chicago.

By: Ennui Willie Keeler

Ennui Willie Keeler — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:38:39 +0000

12. This page has the image that I best remember Zahn for:

http://blake.meyer.googlepages.com/1979topps

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:14:04 +0000

11. 7 : Yeah, all true. Is it an ivied wall? I still can't tell for sure. Does anyone know if the Cubs have (or used to have) an ivied wall in spring training? You know, to get guys like Zahn used to watching their offerings sail over the ivy. 9 : Those are pretty sweet silhouettes. (And was there anything Super Joe McEwing couldn't do?) Updating the Best Player of the 1970s vote from Monday's post: Joe Morgan: 10.5 votes Reggie: 8.5 votes Carew: 2 votes Bench: 2 votes Singleton: 2 votes Rose: 2 votes Stargell: 1 vote Carew wins the bronze for gaining special positive mention on a few non-Carew ballots. In that sense he's the anti-Rose, who got special negative mention on some other ballots.

By: Ennui Willie Keeler

Ennui Willie Keeler — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:13:49 +0000

10. Like alot of others here, I first thought of Zahn's hair when I saw that pic. I rmember him as a Twin with shorter hair. I have no clues where the pic was taken. It doesn't look like Arizona or Chicago to me.

By: mbtn01

mbtn01 — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:46:45 +0000

9. I kinda prefer the more subtle silouettes of the 1973 Topps cards which also had arm-appropriate pitching figures. The guy who operates the Ultimate Mets Database has made great re-use of them as seen here.

http://www.ultimatemets.com/profile.php?PlayerCode=0638

By: chiros13

chiros13 — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:19:07 +0000

8. The figures being arm-appropriate seems like a much higher level of detail than I would expect out of Topps, given all the other card faux pas-es that have been duitifully described here. But good for Topps, at least duing that one year.