A casket made out of toothpicks: RIP, UL Washington

U.L. Washington – Society for American Baseball Research

One of those classic 1970s shortstops who were great fielders and not-so-great hitters.

Always loved that his intials, UL, are his actual name.

 

His rookie card also featured Alan Trammell and Paul Molitor. Good company to be in.

 

Damn.

RIP.

 

Apparently no relation to the great Clyde Kluttz, though I've read Clyde is the scout who signed Mickey to his first pro contract.

Also, UL looks 40 years old as a rookie.

 

Better hitter than I remembered. Thought for sure when I looked him up on B-R that he'd have a negative WAR, like so many middle infielders of my youth, but he actually does just fine.

There's so many middle infielders who were regulars back then that would never get a whiff of the bigs today. Even those renowned for their "glove work" wouldn't make the cut as there were no advanced range stats back then to show how truly effective they really were. Modern stats expose a lot of those dudes.

 

He's as much a part of the '80s Royals to me as Brett, White & Wilson, but I forgot UL unfortunately missed out on the title...traded to the Expos in January '85. If you're a certain age, you think of him every time you reach for a toothpick. RIP.

 

He came through the Baseball Academy.

 

Still have this card. A lot of memories.

 

Supposedly Mickey Klutts spent more days on the DL than he had games played. Fortunately for him, I think time spent on the DL counts toward MLB service time for his pension.

 

Some of those all-glove, no-hit shortstops of the day evolved into decent hitters, like Ozzie Smith.

 

Two Hall of Famers, two Hall of Namers.