Monday, August 14, 2017

Forgotten Fan Favourites Vol #5: Ernie Whitt

Or...ERNIE! ERNIE! ERNIE!

Da man...Looking Badass
And on the move...Giddyup!

Leo Ernest Whitt....Some of you may laugh...some of you may not ...but in my mind if there is a franchise all-time catcher ..it's Ernie.

Ok...I'll tell you why I think this once the laughing dies down....I'll just go get a beer....or six.....

Everyone got it out of their systems?

 Good.

Assholes.

Yes... Ernie hardly screams the image of a world class athlete, and yes, he never excelled at any one facet of the position. But if you take the things he did well and rolled it all up together he is.. in my mind at least... THE all time franchise catcher. And dare I say it? (SAY IT!). Worthy of recognition on the Level Of Excellence ...if they took a positional approach to that.

But before I get to my mostly (totally) fanboy approach at arguing my reasons, some back story:

Ernie testing a new approach to competing at the WBC after seeing this year's roster.


Ernie was drafted by the Red Sox (perhaps the one likeable thing they've done in their existence) in 1972 during the 15th round. After some seasoning in the minors Ernie made his MLB debut  September 12th 1976 for the Sox. He managed to get into eight games garnering 18 AB's and smacking his first home run. It seemed like he was on the way....

Oddly the Sox left him unprotected in the expansion draft (cuz Bob Montgomery was a better option? He was terrible as a colour guy on NESN but I digress) and Toronto selected him as the 34th pick.

I'll spare you a season by season breakdown(or I might do it ...I always lie to you guys)  but it took until the Bobby Mattick era for Ernie to stick and really start to contribute. Suffice it to say there was no love between original Jay's manager Roy Hartsfield and Ernie.

Ernie really truly cemented himself as "the catcher" in 1982 at the start of the Bobby Cox regime..from there on in....never less than 350 AB's...never less than 120 games played until his last year with the team in 1989.

I Still Miss These....


Another added bonus was once Buck came on board in 82 as the right handed hitting compliment to the platoon he could keep him off the sauce....or not...Jesus he even looks gassed in this pic...


Ernie Inspiring Buck...
..For future Jeter ball slathering...

I digress....why the fanboy love you ask? Well...he looked like Joe Average...but in the games I attended in person he always did SOMETHING....sometimes some great things....this comes to mind.....

June 23rd 1985: ...Boston VS. Toronto.....things go well the first 3 and a half innings until Bruce Kison hits George Bell in the bottom of the fourth...

I fucking LOVE this GIF! Always will...

After things calmed down Ernie came up in the sixth with the bases juiced and crushed one ...and proceeded to yap at Kison all around the bases....the place was going nuts to say the least.


Ok that was the only game I attended that I can document...but there are many other moments...I tend to get stream of consciousness when writing so flow with me...

Here's one that I NEVER tire of...SOMEBODY please upload this whole game....I watched this on Grandpa's old ten foot satellite dish in the day...and it was the Shitbirds feed...they must have it on tape somewhere....

BOMBS AWAY!!

Now if I recall correctly...his bat is in Cooperstown for that ....Noice!

Ernie just connected to me as a ballplayer ...mebbe it was because as the catcher he always seemed to be the leader of the team, or maybe it was he projected that "everyman" aura, mebbe the 'stache...hard to say but regardless I took this to college in 89...Garnered from an 86 promo giveaway...



TBH I'm totally drinking so from here on in this will be a random collection of thoughts.....and images or videos...hopefully with minimal ball washing. Ha!

Here's another gem: Flashback 1989...The year we can NOW always use as measuring stick thanks to the wildcard system.......And for those ppl that love Buck and Tabby...pfft...these guys had them beat...and yes...I also love this moment...and have posted it several times...but hey...it was one of THE best comebacks in our history...sue me.

Think Ernie Was Committed To Being A PULL hitter?
On his knees!

Aww shit...I got the sads at the end of this ....I miss Wardo...what a beast. His lame shoulder truly sunk us..I mean the Belgian beer company would have eventually ...but short term..sigh.

Ok back to reality...some stats....

Oh...You expected depth from me?

For the anoraks ...https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/whitter01.shtml

He walked...a LOT...good OPB...Good slugging .....I'd take him on this current team any day....of course Russ can play infield...so there's that....

To sum up...if yer my age (48) ..Ernie represented and was the face of the Jays from 83-89...I've moved on of course...but he is frozen in my golden era of my discovery and love of baseball. And besides...how many Jays have had these memorable moments that are easily plucked from memory...? Delgado four homer game aside...

Aww crap ....


And no one bitched about that bat flip....I digress more...

To sum up once again....Ernie embraced us as a country...obviously from his management of our world team...so mebbe I'm biased...I know I am ...

I own this!


One more memory just cuz Ernie was on base....



Jesus Mc Gillicuddy....we were awash in talent those days.

Random images...
And there's this:

Or this:

Or for some insight....



I love Ernie Whitt (No shit) but he exudes class and charisma ....as much as he can....

Also of note...I wanted to do a side by side of him with Russ...they are pretty much equal (not defensively either but Ernie wasn't THAT bad either)...but I got too hammered. Look up the stats.....

Also : Final note...step up..post some content....you certainly can better this mish mash slop...and for MK:

Cuz We All Need 17 Minutes Of Moans...Right?


Yer a gem. :)

Post Script:....I love the feed back I get and love this community...keep it alive! And MK...thanks as always ...you sexay thang.

Bold prediction: ...we is in the wild card.

Post Post Script: Ye Gods! I was REALLY hammered!