John Vukovich

Vukovich was born in Sacramento, California and grew up in Sutter Creek, California. His father was the baseball coach for the local Amador High School where Vukovich attended. He was a backup for the 1975 Reds World Series-winning team, although he was traded back to the Phillies before the playoffs began, and also for the 1980 Phillies World Series-winning team. He actually began the 1975 season as the Reds\' starting third baseman, but was benched in favor of Pete Rose so that the Reds could get outfielder George Foster\'s bat into the lineup every day.[citation needed] He batted above .200 only twice in his ten-year career, appearing in 277 games while batting .161 with 6 home runs and 44 runs batted in, and had a .956 fielding percentage. During his second period of playing with the Phillies, he became beloved to the fans even though he seldom appeared in games; he was seen as a…