Saturday, May 29, 2021

Final Card: Bruce Look

This is the first and last card for Bruce Look (#317). 
 
Look was signed by the Milwaukee Braves in 1964. After that season, the Dodgers selected him in the first-year minor-league draft. 
 
After the 1967 season the Twins selected him in the Rule 5 draft. As such, he was required to stay on the Twins’ roster for all of 1968.
Look got a 59-game look (see what I did?) by the Twins in ’68. Earl Battey had just retired, and Jerry Zimmerman (who started 81 games in 1967) was now 33 years old and limited to just 24 games (18 starts) in his final 1968 season. 
 
Who picked up the slack? John Roseboro was acquired from the Dodgers, starting 105 games in his first of 2 seasons with Minnesota. So that left Bruce as the #2 catcher for 1968. Of his 59 games, he only caught in 41 games, with most of his 29 starts coming in May and June.
 
He was one-and-done though, as Roseboro again started the majority of games in 1969 (making the All-Star team) while rookie George Mitterwald served as the backup. 
 
Bruce played 1969-71 back in triple-A – 2 seasons for the Twins, then splitting 1971 between the Yankees’ and the Brewers’ organizations. 
 
Look was traded to the Orioles after the '71 season, but chose to retire.
 
His brother Dean played briefly for the 1961 White Sox, then became an NFL official (calling the TD on Dwight Clark's "The Catch").