RIP DON WERT

[IdahoBert]

Don was always there during my childhood love affair with the Tigers. Sorry to hear of his passing. The photos below are of his 1968 card, both front and back  

Donald Ralph Wert (July 29, 1938^[1] — August 25, 2024^[2]), nicknamed "Coyote",^[3][4] is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball from 1963 to 1971 as a third baseman, most prominently as a member of the Detroit Tigers where, he was an All-Star player and was a member of the 1968 World Series winning team.

[IdahoBert]

[IdahoBert]

[IdahoBert]

That looks like it could be Norm Cash standing behind him on the front of the card. 

[Tigeraholic1]

22 minutes ago, IdahoBert said:

That looks like it could be Norm Cash standing behind him on the front of the card. 

Is he laughing at him for wearing a helmet while playing 3rd base?

[IdahoBert]

1 hour ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

Is he laughing at him for wearing a helmet while playing 3rd base?

Ha. Good catch. That is a pretty dopey thing to do. Might’ve been on purpose while horsing around. I remember the photographs of cards of Juan Marichal in the early 60s where he’s always wearing a rain slicker because the weather in Candlestick Park sucked. That may not have been horsing around. I don’t know if it’s a tall tale but I remember hearing that wind gusts could knock a pitcher off the mound there.  Hard to believe it took three ballots for Marichal to get into the Hall of Fame. 

[gehringer_2]

12 minutes ago, IdahoBert said:

Ha. Good catch. That is a pretty dopey thing to do. Might’ve been on purpose while horsing around. I remember the photographs of cards of Juan Marichal in the early 60s where he’s always wearing a rain slicker because the weather in Candlestick Park sucked. That may not have been horsing around. I don’t know if it’s a tall tale but I remember hearing that wind gusts could knock a pitcher off the mound there.  Hard to believe it took three ballots for Marichal to get into the Hall of Fame. 

Or he was talking batting practice then the photographer walked by and asked for the shot - though I wonder if they even wore their helmets for BP then.

[Tenacious D]

The Tom Brookens of the ‘68 squad?

[holygoat]

7 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

Ha. Good catch. That is a pretty dopey thing to do. Might’ve been on purpose while horsing around. I remember the photographs of cards of Juan Marichal in the early 60s where he’s always wearing a rain slicker because the weather in Candlestick Park sucked. That may not have been horsing around. I don’t know if it’s a tall tale but I remember hearing that wind gusts could knock a pitcher off the mound there. 

Candlestick had a free section for active duty service members -- lower deck outfield down the 1st base line -- and I saw a number of games with my buddy when I was stationed in Sacramento. I can confirm that the wind gusts there were really annoying. There was a constant tornado of hot dog wrappers and peanut bags in that section.

Don Wert was one of those guys from the 68 team that retired before I started watching baseball.

[IdahoBert]

14 minutes ago, holygoat said:

Candlestick had a free section for active duty service members -- lower deck outfield down the 1st base line -- and I saw a number of games with my buddy when I was stationed in Sacramento. I can confirm that the wind gusts there were really annoying. There was a constant tornado of hot dog wrappers and peanut bags in that section.

Don Wert was one of those guys from the 68 team that retired before I started watching baseball.

Thanks for your reminiscence of candlestick. For me, Don was a role player. I don’t remember him doing much that caught my attention the way Freehan and Northrop and Kaline and Willie Horton did. Ernie used to have players on at the end of the game and he always gave them a pair of Florsheim shoes. I’m not sure that Don had many pair. But he was a solid part of the team so he owns a part of my heart. 

[gehringer_2]

14 minutes ago, IdahoBert said:

Thanks for your reminiscence of candlestick. For me, Don was a role player. I don’t remember him doing much that caught my attention the way Freehan and Northrop and Kaline and Willie Horton did. Ernie used to have players on at the end of the game and he always gave them a pair of Florsheim shoes. I’m not sure that Don had many pair. But he was a solid part of the team so he owns a part of my heart. 

in that era 3B was more a glove 1st position so Wert's occasional power was his plus attribute.

Edited August 27 by gehringer_2

[chasfh]

18 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

This was back when 30 was the new 40.

[chasfh]

16 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Or he was talking batting practice then the photographer walked by and asked for the shot - though I wonder if they even wore their helmets for BP then.

If the batting practice pitcher was just out of baseball himself and sore because of it, maybe batters would have had to wear a helmet!

[chasfh]

18 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

Seeing these early batting averages on his baseball card, I went to look up Don’s Reference page, which I never had before. I did not realize he was a 10-win player for his first five years with an OPS+ near 100, and that he was also capable of 12 to 14 bombs a year. I remember him only from the tail-end of his career and when it came to hitting, I always thought of his hitting as being indistinguishable from that of Ray Oyler.

[lordstanley]

Wert's single drove in Kaline for the win that is considered the Tigers' pennant clincher in 1968 (in reality, the Tigers had officially clinched an hour earlier when Baltimore lost)

 

 

Edited August 27 by lordstanley

[chasfh]

16 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Or he was talking batting practice then the photographer walked by and asked for the shot - though I wonder if they even wore their helmets for bullpen then.

Remembering how you said you need to shorten certain words to initials to save wear and tear on your arthritic fingers, I thought I would help out and lengthen this one for you for clarity’s sake. You’re welcome. 😉

[IdahoBert]

For people in my age group, which is early 70s, I can’t over emphasize how important it was for us to link a part of our own self image as children - with all the feckless innocence of children - to this team and to experience the ultimate payoff in so dramatic and satisfying manner when we were, by then, in a relative state of now waning innocence as teens.

This was especially true after that first World Series game humiliation of 17 strikeouts at the hands of Gibson and being down three games to one and then roaring back to win it all.

On rare occasions, out here in the diaspora, when by chance I wander across an another fan from my generation, we share the glow of that rising sun that linked our childhood to our young adulthood, and though complete strangers in everything else, we share something valuable that leaves us near speechless. 

[davidsb623]

22 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

That looks like it could be Norm Cash standing behind him on the front of the card. 

Getting ready to goose him with the bat!

[davidsb623]

Don was a great friend to those who enjoyed TTM autographs.  He had a great signature also.

[Jim Cowan]

The back of that baseball card tells me that he was a better hitter than I remember.  He was a good third baseman and all around player, in an era when Brooks Robinson set the standard of excellence at a pretty high level.