Roger Repoz (#138)

Here is Yankees’ outfield prospect Roger Repoz. Thanks to him hitting 20 and 23 homers in the minors in 1963 and 1964 respectively, he became one of several outfielders dubbed "The Next Mickey Mantle".

Repoz was signed by the Yankees in 1960, and worked his way up the ladder for the next 5 years from Class D to C to A to AA. After making his debut in September 1964, he split the 1965 season between the Yankees and their AAA team in Toledo.

So much for "The Next Mantle". A 79-game audition in 1965 and 37 games in 1966 were enough for the Yankees to bid him farewell, shipping him to the Athletics in mid-June (with pitchers Bill Stafford and Gil Blanco) for pitcher Fred Talbot and backup catcher Bill Bryan.

Roger spent the remainder of the ’66 season as Kansas City’s 5th outfielder and 3rd-string 1st baseman.

With Rick Monday's and Reggie Jackson's arrival in 1967, the expendable Repoz was traded to the Angels in June for veteran pitcher Jack Sanford, who at age 38 was in his final season. Roger took his place among the 8 other outfielders in the Angels’ employ, starting 45 of the team’s final 81 games (all but 5 of the starts in center field).

In 1968 he was the team’s primary center fielder for the first half of the season, then moved over to right field where he shared the starting assignments with a few others. Repoz continued to get significant playing time in center and right fields (and the occasional stint at 1st base) through the 1971 season.

Roger began the 1972 season in the minors, and after 3 games with the Angels in early June he was traded to the Orioles in June for infielder Jerry DaVanon. Repoz was assigned to the Orioles’ AAA team and never played in the majors again.

He played in Japan from 1973 to 1977.