August 20 – Happy Birthday Graig Nettles

August 20, 2011

The Dodgers and the Yankees clashed in the 1978 World Series. If you’re a longtime Yankee fan, older than forty, you simply don’t forget Graig Nettles defensive performance in Game 3.

The Dodgers had jumped ahead of New York two games to none and only “Puff” and his well worn fielders glove prevented them from making it three straight wins. He made four great plays in that game. In the third inning, with New York ahead 2-1 and Bill Russell on first base with two outs, Nettles made a diving stop of Reggie Smith’s smash down the third base line and threw Smith out at first. In the fifth, with the tying run on second, Nettles again victimized Smith by knocking down his screaming line drive, preventing the run from scoring and holding the Dodger outfielder to an infield single. The very next hitter, Dodger first baseman, Steve Garvey then scorched another one at Nettles who backhanded it on his knees and forced the runner at second to end the inning. Yet again in the visitors’ half of the sixth, the Dodgers loaded the bases and with two outs, LA second baseman Davey Lopes sent another hard grounder in Nettles’ direction. After another great stop, he made another great throw, forcing the runner at second and ending another Dodger threat. As he ran toward the dugout, the Yankee Stadium crowd gave him a standing ovation. Nettles won Gold Gloves in 1977 and ’78.

Born in San Diego on this date in 1944, he was the AL Home Run Champion in 1976 and when he retired after the 1988 season he had 390 career home runs. 319 of those blasts were the most home runs ever by an AL third baseman. Great glove, plenty of power, a quick irreverent wit and that Game 3 performance sum up my memories of the Yankee’s All-Time great third baseman.

Nettles shares his August 20th birthday with this long-ago Yankee who ended up in San Quentin and  this one-time top Yankee pitching prospect.

Year	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
1973	NYY	160	641	552	65	129	18	0	22	81	0	78	76	.234	.334	.386	.720
1974	NYY	155	638	566	74	139	21	1	22	75	1	59	75	.246	.316	.403	.718
1975	NYY	157	647	581	71	155	24	4	21	91	1	51	88	.267	.322	.430	.753
1976	NYY	158	657	583	88	148	29	2	32	93	11	62	94	.254	.327	.475	.802
1977	NYY	158	664	589	99	150	23	4	37	107	2	68	79	.255	.333	.496	.829
1978	NYY	159	662	587	81	162	23	2	27	93	1	59	69	.276	.343	.460	.803
1979	NYY	145	588	521	71	132	15	1	20	73	1	59	53	.253	.325	.401	.726
1980	NYY	89	369	324	52	79	14	0	16	45	0	42	42	.244	.331	.435	.766
1981	NYY	103	402	349	46	85	7	1	15	46	0	47	49	.244	.333	.398	.731
1982	NYY	122	461	405	47	94	11	2	18	55	1	51	49	.232	.317	.402	.719
1983	NYY	129	519	462	56	123	17	3	20	75	0	51	65	.266	.341	.446	.787
22 Yrs		2700	10228	8986	1193	2225	328	28	390	1314	32	1088	1209	.248	.329	.421	.750
NYY (11 yrs)		1535	6248	5519	750	1396	202	20	250	834	18	627	739	.253	.329	.433	.762
MIN (3 yrs)		121	348	304	40	68	12	3	12	34	1	39	67	.224	.314	.401	.715
SDP (3 yrs)		387	1380	1189	158	282	43	2	51	181	0	171	176	.237	.333	.405	.739
CLE (3 yrs)		465	1947	1704	224	426	59	2	71	218	12	220	183	.250	.338	.412	.750
ATL (1 yr)		112	201	177	16	37	8	1	5	33	1	22	25	.209	.294	.350	.644
MON (1 yr)		80	104	93	5	16	4	0	1	14	0	9	19	.172	.240	.247	.488

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/20/2013.

Written by pinstripebirthdays Posted in Dailies Tagged with august 20, graig nettles, third baseman, yankees