PRODcast 127′s Old School Player o’ the Week: Randy “Junkman” Jones

“Junkman” earned the nickname because of his filthy sinker, not his literal junk. He’s the proud owner of some plus #DADLAP, plus #DADHAT (when he actually wore one) and some elite locks that fall somewhere between Richard Simmons merm and Phil Spector’s beehive. Also see: Bob Ross, Dr. Steve Brule, Bill Maher, and Ronald McDonald without clown paint.

Jones was born in Fullerton and went to Chapman University, was a 5th round selection of the Padres in 1972, made his big league debut in 1973, was a 20-game winner and All-Star in 1975, a 22-game winner, All-Star and Cy Young Award winner in 1976, and fell off a cliff (not literally) quickly thereafter. That was due in large part to the Padres being exceedingly shitty from 1976 to 1980 (and beyond). Jones was traded to the Mets in 1981, and no longer a MLB player by 1983.

After his playing career he coached young players (Barry Zito being the most prominent), opened a couple restaurants, started a catering company – Randy Jones Buckboard Catering – and has his own BBQ sauce.

PRODcast 126′s Old School Player of the Week: Henry Cruz

Henry Acosta Cruz was outfielder and pinch hitter for the Dodgers and White Sox from 1975 to 1978. In 310 career ABs, Cruz hit .229 w/ 8 HR and 34 RBI, which explains why his MLB career was so short lived. Following his glory days, he spent 4 years in the Mexican league, 10 years as a scout for the Indians, and (according to Wikipedia) he is currently the director of the Dodgers’ baseball academy in the Dominican.

During his playing days, Cruz looked like he was a part of the witness protection program, donning a thick mustache, 70-grade lambchop sideburns, 70-grade tinted #dadglasses, and a 60-grade #dadhat.

PRODcast 125: Old School Player of the Week: Steve Sharts

This is a deeeeep cut. Sharts, whose name is a sentence, never played in the big leagues, but spent six years in the Philadelphia Phillies organization as a middling left-handed reliever between 1985 and 1990. He spent two years at AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre, and posted decent numbers, but never got the call … which is probably a good thing because an announcer saying “Steve Sharts on the mound for the Phillies” would have broken the Internet before the Internet even existed.

He also looks an awful lot like Thomas Middleditch from Silicon Valley.