Not So Great Clips: #3 - The 1968 Bob Miller Topps Card

[John Bonnes]

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A seventeen year career that included pitching in 694 games with a career ERA of 3.37 – and the poor guy will always need to live down this disastrous haircut.

Bob Miller came to the Twins just before the 1968 season. It was not a small deal. The Twins gave up two of their more reliable players – pitcher Jim “Mudcat” Grant and 1965 MVP award winner Zoila “Zorro” Versalles to acquire Miller, fellow reliever Ron Perranoski and aging catcher John Roseboro. Miller did his part to make the trade a success. In 1968 he worked exclusively out of the bullpen, posting a 2.74 ERA. The following year, new manager Billy Martin also had him start eleven games over the second half of the season.

Despite his success patching up the starting rotation, the Twins moved Miller following the 1969 season for a more permanent solution. They traded Miller along with a package of players to the Cleveland Indians for starting pitcher Luis Tiant. Miller struggled that year and was traded two more times before he was released by the Cubs. He was never again as effective as he had been with the Twins, but kept pitching through 1974, eventually pitching for eleven different major league teams.

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