☮ graigslist
According to Google, there are basically three things to know about Graig Nettles.
He had beef with George Brett1
He is not in the Hall of Fame, but maybe should be2
His nickname is Puff3
What else should we know about Graig Nettles4?
Ray Bellino, Harry Warner, Billy Martin, Cal Ermer…
Graig Nettles had a relatively short minor league career after being drafted by the Minnesota Twins in 1965. He spent the 1966 season at Class-A Wisconsin Rapids and most of the 1967 season at Double-A Charlotte. He debuted with the Twins with three pinch hitting appearances in 1967. He faced off against Luis Tiant in his very first plate appearance and wound up crossing paths with the hurler again. And again. And again…
He spent the majority of the 1968 season at Triple-A Denver where he continued his progression as a legitimate power hitter under the critical eye of Billy Martin. Martin was not sold on his defense but continued to develop his skills at both the hot corner and in the outfield. After a rocky start, Nettles and Martin settled on a position of mutual respect and desire to win, which is good because they would end up spending a lot of dugout time together.
Nettles returned to the Twins as a late season call-up in 1968 and soon proceeded to demolish the Detroit Tigers pitching staff hitting four home runs over a three game series. His Tigers ledger came in his very first plate appearance against them.
LEDGER ONE: September 6, 1968 at Detroit Tigers
The day after the series ended in Detroit, the Twins hosted Cleveland and he hit his second ledger in his second plate appearance against them.
LEDGER TWO: September 9, 1968 vs Cleveland Indians
His Cleveland ledger was hit off a familiar face – Luis Tiant.
… Billy Martin …
Billy Martin replaced Cal Ermer as manager of the big league Twins in 1969. Nettles found himself in an unenviable position of serving as the back-up of third baseman Harmon Killebrew. Martin often played Nettles in the outfield (a solution he had concocted back in their Denver days) to give him plate appearances.
Nettles ended the 1969 season with seven home runs and four more ledgers.
LEDGER THREE: April 8, 1969 at Kansas City Royals
LEDGER FOUR: April 25, 1969 at Chicago White Sox
LEDGER FIVE: August 16, 1969 at Washington Senators
LEDGER SIX: August 18, 1969 at Boston Red Sox
Continuing his trend from the previous season, his Royals home run came in his first plate appearance against them, and his White Sox ledger in the second.
With Hammerin’ Harmon entrenched at third base, the Twins made a move and traded Nettles to the Cleveland Indians. Their return haul included our friend, Luis Tiant.
… Al Dark, Johnny Lipon, Ken Aspromonte …
Soon after the 1970 season began, Nettles homered against his former team. It was off pitcher, you guessed it, Luis Tiant.
LEDGER SEVEN: April 30, 1970 at Minnesota Twins
Cleveland skipper Al Dark had far more confidence in Nettles’s ability to play third base. Nettles rewarded his confidence with a league-leading fielding percentage at the hot corner but also complimented his fine defense with 26 home runs in 1970. The balance of his needed American League ledgers were included in the flourish of power.
LEDGER EIGHT: June 2, 1970 (Game 1) at Milwaukee Brewers
LEDGER NINE: June 7, 1970 at California Angels
LEDGER TEN: June 24, 1970 (Game 2) at New York Yankees
LEDGER ELEVEN: August 6, 1970 (Game 1) vs Baltimore Orioles
LEDGER TWELVE: August 22, 1970 vs Oakland Athletics
The 1972 season started with Ken Aspromonte at the helm of the cellar-dwelling Indians. The relationship between Nettles and Aspromonte was strained almost immediately because the manager would frequently pinch-hit for Nettles against lefties5. This friction was enough to start the trade rumor mill and eventually Nettles was off to the Bronx.
… Ralph Houk, Bill Virdon, Billy Martin. Dick Howser, Bob Lemon… Billy Martin. Dick Howser, Gene Michael, Bob Lemon, Gene Michael, Clyde King. Billy Martin…
Nettles would spend eleven seasons with the New York Yankees. Let’s get the ledgers out of the way first.
LEDGER THIRTEEN: April 21, 1977 vs Toronto Blue Jays
LEDGER FOURTEEN: August 30, 1977 vs Seattle Mariners
He maxed his American League list again in the first year of the 1977 expansion. We also see a trope we’ve seen before and we’re going to see again. The “best” years of a player’s career are basically inconsequential from the v-Club standpoint. Players collect home runs early for teams that are forgotten then get the rest in the twilight of their career with more teams that don’t immediately come to mind when you think of the player.
Nettles is a cherished member of the Yankees. They won two World Series together. He had fantastic seasons with them, but they were not without controversy. By the time the 1984 season was about the start Nettles found himself in San Diego.
… Dick Williams, Steve Boros …
Nettles would become the tenth player to join a v-Club. Remarkably both he and fellow member Deron Johnson both graduated from San Diego High School. It’s not as if SDHS was churning out everyday MLB players either (Jacque Jones would attend in the early nineties). Anyway, Nettles returned to San Diego in his age 39 season. Much like members before him the question was how much gas was left in the tank.
His 1984 season netted him twenty home runs including a big batch of ledgers.
LEDGER FIFTEEN: April 11, 1984 vs St. Louis Cardinals
LEDGER SIXTEEN: April 23, 1984 vs San Francisco Giants
LEDGER SEVENTEEN: May 3, 1984 at Atlanta Braves
LEDGER EIGHTEEN: May 22, 1984 at Montreal Expos
LEDGER NINETEEN: May 25, 1984 at Philadelphia Phillies
LEDGER TWENTY: June 9, 1984 vs Cincinnati Reds
A quick note on his Reds ledger. It was hit off a reliever named Keefe Cato. It would not be surprising if you’ve never heard of Keefe Cato – he appeared in twelve games total in his career and allowed five home runs. But, holy cow, those five home runs came against a murderer’s row of all-time greats: Nettles, Andre Dawson, Daryll Strawberry, and two from Mike Schmidt.
LEDGER TWENTY-ONE: June 25, 1984 at Los Angeles Dodgers
LEDGER TWENTY-TWO: August 21, 1984 vs New York Mets
Nettles repeated his 1984 performance with twenty more home runs in 1985 and a maxed out ledger.
LEDGER TWENTY-THREE: May 3, 1985 at Chicago Cubs
LEDGER TWENTY-FOUR: June 12, 1985 at Houston Astros
LEDGER TWENTY-FIVE: July 19, 1985 vs Pittsburgh Pirates
Nettles’s 1985 season, his last in San Diego, saw him become an All-Star one last time. But he was firmly in the twilight of his career. As is tradition, a team decided to take a last chance flier on an aging star.
… Chuck Tanner, Bill Stoneman…
Nettles played the 1986 season in Atlanta and got his final ledger.
LEDGER TWENTY-SIX: June 27, 1987 at San Diego Padres
There wasn’t a particular sense of danger in his final ledger. He hit it in his ninth plate appearance against the Padres and would go on to have 28 more in his remaining time with the Braves and final season with the Expos. In fact, of all the inductees so far, Nettles had the most comfortable success in terms of how narrowly they got each ledger.
Graig Nettles was a great player for many years and an induction to the v26 Club is merely a sprinkle on the icing on the cake. But his story shows that sometimes the best parts of the story may not be in the thick of a plot, but rather found pulling you in at the start then leaving you satisfied at the end.
SOURCES AND FURTHER READING and WATCHING
And if you didn’t pick up on it, this article’s chapter titles took their inspiration from a scene from Seinfeld.
The two notable instances of beef between Nettles and George Brett are the altercation recorded in the headline photo precipitated by a hard slide from Brett followed by Nettles kicking him in the head. This was in the 1977 ALCS. Then in 1983, Nettles could have been seen as the tattletale who got George Brett’s home run annulled in the Pine Tar Incident.
Of course, Nettles himself wasn’t a saint with his bat compliance having been suspended for ten games because he stuffed Super Balls in his hollowed out bat.
I can cherry pick Hall of Fame standards with the best of them. Among the non-inducted, Hall-eligible players who have hit 300 or more home runs, Graig Nettles offers the third highest combination of oWar and dWar ranks. He’s behind Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez.
Take my opinion on the topic lightly, but I would say there were two factors. First, Nettles had a career batting average under .250. Second, quite simply, he’s not Brooks Robinson. Nettles stellar defense was overshadowed by Brooks Robinson and his sixteen career Gold Gloves (and also to some degree Buddy Bell in the late-middle part of his career). Had Nettles gotten more tangible recognition for his defense, I think he gets in. I also notice someone else shared this thought very recently:
He acquired the nickname Puff because he liked to play practical jokes, but would disappear quickly at their conclusion.
Graig, a portmanteau of sorts of Greg and Craig – two names his mother didn’t like separately, but smashed together was good to go! Also, a name Google simply refuses to recognize.
“I can hit lefties, but suddenly he doesn’t believe it,” Nettles said. “I’ve hit them for two years. My records prove that.”
Nettles’s statement ends up being a push. Through the 1971 season, Nettles held a .240 average against lefties with a slightly higher .245 against righties.
