1979 TOPPS Willie Montanez
We all have them.
Those good-not-great players from our youth for whom we have a deep and abiding affection.
Take Guillermo Montanez here.
He showed up at Shea with a decent if unspectacular resume– finished second in the 1971 ROY voting, 24th in MVP voting twice. Was an all star once, in 1977, the year before he came to the Mets.
I loved him just the same.
When I wasn’t pitching in Little League, I was a lefty first baseman, like Willie.
But I had worn glasses since the 4th grade, so come the late ‘70s, I was prone to the inevitable taunts of “Ogilvie” from opposing teams.
I was always looking for ways to turn those gibes on their ear. So if I made a nice scoop of a short-hop throw to first, I would add to the end a little extra flourish with my big half-moon mitt.
I’d punctuate my steps to the batter’s box with a couple of one-handed flips of the bat, from handle to barrel and back to handle again. And if I then lined an RBI single up the middle, I’d hop back on the bag with both feet after I rounded it.
It was an awkward age. I wanted to be cool, I wanted to have style, I wanted to have flair. But I wasn’t, I didn’t, and I didn’t.
But to have been able to borrow just a little of each from Willie Montanez during those brief but interminable early teenage summers was a blessing that I will never forget…