Final Card: Al Worthington

Al Worthington (#473) began his minor league career in 1951 with the Cubs. A year later, he was traded to the New York Giants organization, and made his major-league debut with the Giants in 1953.

He spent most of 1954 and all of 1955 back in the minors, but from 1956 to 1958, he was one of the Giants' regular starting pitchers.

In 1959, Worthington became a relief pitcher. He made 39 relief appearances, and only 3 starts, which would be the last starts of his career.


Just before the 1960 season, Al was traded to the Red Sox. This began a few years of living out of a suitcase, as he spent 1960 with the Red Sox, their triple-A team in Minneapolis, and the White Sox. This was followed by 2 years in the White Sox farm system before returning the the major leagues in 1963 with the Reds.

Midway through the 1964 season, the Reds traded Worthington to the Twins, where he settled in as their closer until ending his career after the 1969 season. He pitched briefly in the 1965 World Series for the Twins. (In the World Series, there wasn't a lot of relief pitching for the Twins, since Jim Grant pitched 2 complete games in his 3 starts, and Jim Kaat pitched 1 complete game in his 3 starts.)

I don't know why there was no baseball card for Al Worthington in 1969. He pitched in 54 games in 1968 (leading the league with 18 saves), and went on to pitch in 46 games in his final year of 1969.