Bob Chance dead at 73

[mrmopar]

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/...me_member_of_jersey_city_cubs_dies_at_73.html

 

[worldwideed]

From a card blog I frequent.

Bob Chance was a call-up late in the 1963 season. Chance was awesome in the AA Eastern League that season, winning the triple crown with a .343 average, 26 HR and 114 RBI. He looked like a future star, and had a promising rookie season with the Indians in 1964, delivering a .279/.346/.433 line as a 23-year-old in 439 PA with 14 homers and 75 RBI, while playing mostly first base. The big rookie year earned him a Topps All-Star Rookie trophy on his 1965 card.

Unusually — given his status as a standout rookie — his ’65 card showed him as a Washington Senator, as the Indians traded him (and Woodie Held) to D.C. in the offseason for Chuck Hinton (the Indians probably won this trade, though Held was OK in his one season with the Senators).

And as if we needed any more evidence that Washington was where your career went to die, Chance basically fell apart at that point. He was a part-time player in 1965, hitting .256 with four homers in 218 PA. His role was even further reduced in 1966 and ’67, as he collected just 110 total PA over those two years while spending most of his time in AAA.

That was basically it for Bob Chance as a major-leaguer. He had a big year in 1968 with AAA Buffalo (29 HR, .862 OPS), and was drafted by the California Angels in the Rule 5 draft. But he only got into five games with the Angels and was out of the big leagues at age 28. He did play a couple years in Japan before retiring.