OT -- 1970s Phillies Roster info needed

[insidethewrapper]

Need to check a Phillies Media Guide from the year or years in question. He may be in it and it will tell all about him. I think it may mention if he was on a 40 man roster etc. Ch

[whitehse]

Looking at the information that has been presented here I think I have the wrong Jose Martinez who was the Cubs coach in the 80's. So please disregard my comments on that subject!! But if none of the other leads pan out that have been proposed here, do please contact the media relations department of the Phillies!

[insidethewrapper]

There are 1977 , 1978 etc Philadelphia Phillies Media Guides for sale on ebay right now for under $ 10. This may be a good lead.

[Rob D.]

I'll add this from my experience in the minor leagues, which might or might not be relevant:

An organization will add players to the 40-man roster (and AAA, AA, A rosters) during the off-season. Many of those players never will be on the roster they're assigned to in the winter by the time the season starts. I had teammates in Class AA who were added to Milwaukee's 40-man roster in the winter (for protection purposes to prevent other clubs from claiming them), and they knew they were going to be back in Double-A the next season.

So it's quite possible your friend might have been on the 40-man roster at some point but not the active 40-man roster that comes to most people's mind.

[whitehse]

Originally Posted by Rob D.

I'll add this from my experience in the minor leagues, which might or might not be relevant:

An organization will add players to the 40-man roster (and AAA, AA, A rosters) during the off-season. Many of those players never will be on the roster they're assigned to in the winter by the time the season starts. I had teammates in Class AA who were added to Milwaukee's 40-man roster in the winter (for protection purposes to prevent other clubs from claiming them), and they knew they were going to be back in Double-A the next season.

So it's quite possible your friend might have been on the 40-man roster at some point but not the active 40-man roster that comes to most people's mind.

Great point Rob.
Websites such as baseball abstract will not show players on the 40 man roster during the off season so that is why the best way to go is to contact the team and have them investigate if this player was ever on the 40 man roster. This might be the best time of year to do it as teams really get ramped up after the Christmas holiday and they have little time to do these sort of things after then.