Making A Spectacle of Yourself

I got this idea after DC mentioned that Dom DiMaggio was one of the few players of his time who wore glasses. Scouts way back in the day would reject players who wore glasses as there was a stigma attached to wearing specs. It was felt those players could not play as well as players with excellent vision.

The first MLB player to wear glasses was William Henry “Whoop-la” White. White played from 1878-86. White won 229 games in his career and had an ERA of 2.28. He won 40 games or more 3 times. His best ERA was a 1.54 mark in 1882. Pitchers were about the only players who wore glasses back then since they did not have to field the ball all that much. No outfielders wore glasses until the early 20’s when Cardinal outfielder, George “Specs” Toporcer became the first outfielder to do so.

There are only two Hall of Famers who wore glasses on the field, Chick Hafey, and Reggie Jackson.

There are some pretty prominent players on the list. Dick Allen, Al Cowens, DiMaggio, Brian Downing, Leon Durham, Dan Ford, Freddie Freeman before he got contacts, Frank Howard, Eddie Joost, Ron Kittle, Carney Lansford, Stan Lopata, the first NL catcher to wear specs, Greg Luzinski, the list goes on. You could make quite an all-star team from these guys. Those were just some of the position players.

Pitchers who wore them include, Ron Belisario, Corbin Burnes before he had LASIK surgery, Tyler Clippard, Ryne Duren, who I remember well when he was an Angel. He once hit a batter in the on-deck circle. Eric Gagne, Mel Harder, Joe Kelly, Jim Konstanty, Denny McLain, Kent Tekulve, Julio Urias, Bob Veale, and Fernando. An umpire, Frank Umont, was the first ump to wear glasses.

A lot of former Dodgers on the list. Steve Yeager is there too. Allen, Howard, who I remember did not wear them until he went to the Senators, Kittle was a Dodger farmhand traded to the White Sox, Bellisario, Gagne, Dick Hughes, Kelly, Mikkelson, Urias, and Valenzuela.

Former Red third baseman, Chris Sabo wore them too. So I guess I will take a shot at an all-specs all-star team.

First base, It has to be Freeman who is one of the few on the list who has played the position exclusively. Others, Allen, who played mostly OF in LA, Earl Torgeson, Bob Watson, Leon Durham.

2B Eric Sogard. Still active. Others, Rance Mullinicks, Len Sekata. Cookie Rojas.

3B Carney Lansford. Very good player for both the A’s and the Angels, Allen started his career at 3rd for the Phillies, Vance Law, Chris Sabo.

SS Eddie Joost simply because he played so long. Roy McMillan, Jay Bell

OF, Well you have to put the two Hall of Famers, Hafey and Jackson on here. I would probably lean towards Luzinski as the 3rd outfielder, but you could also make a case for the power-hitting Howard. Al Cowens, DiMaggio, Bill Virdon.

C. The two best would be Darrell Porter, and former Dodger, Steve Yeager. Boomer was a favorite of mine for years. Clint Courtney was the first of a very shortlist.

Starting Pitchers, McLain, Urias, Valenzuela, Veale, Harder, Sisler, Splittorff and Corbin Burnes. All of those guys had careers longer than just a cup of coffee. But choosing 5, I would go with McLain, Harder, Valenzuela, Urias and Splittorff.

Relievers: I will choose 8 since that is about the norm nowadays. This is a little harder but fun nonetheless. Long man, Craig McMurtry, I always liked the guy when he was a Brave. Kyle Farnsworth, he could give you some innings. The other 6 would be, Francisco Rodriguez, K-rod as he was known, Eric Gagne, Pete Mikkleson, Kent Tekulve and Ryne Duren simply for the fear factor, and Joe Kelly. Having a guy with a 100 MPH heater is always a plus.

This one was fun to research. Did not realize how many players wore glasses. Guys with contacts qualify. Hope you guys enjoyed it. One thing I did notice, some of those players never had their baseball card photo taken with glasses on.