Rookie Parade

A few weeks ago, I posted all the 1967 rookie stars cards. Today we have all the 1968 rookie stars cards. 

 

Comparison of the 2 sets: 

 

1967 set 

Total cards - 43 

Teams with 3 cards - 5 

Teams with 2 cards - 9 

Teams with 1 card - 6 

Mixed teams - 4 cards 

 

1968 set 

Total cards - 30 

Teams with 3 cards - Orioles 

Teams with 2 cards - 6 

Teams with 1 card - 12 

Teams with 0 cards - Giants 

Mixed teams - 3 cards 

 

There were 13 fewer rookie cards in the 1968 set, and no Giants card. What? Was Topps unaware of the phenom named Bobby Bonds? They whiffed on the Senators' Del Unser too. 

 

Of the 60 players pictured on these cards, only 3 were immediate stars (Johnny Bench, Jerry Koosman, and Stan Bahnsen). Bench and Bahnsen were the 1968 Rookies of the Year. Of course, Nolan Ryan would eventually join Bench as one of the only 2 superstars among these 60. 

 

Lou Piniella was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1969, and eventually Bob Moose, Bob Robertson, Hal McRae, Ron Reed, Mike Torrez, Jack Billingham, and Larry Hisle made significant contributions over their careers. But that's 12 out of 60 - not a very good percentage. (It may be typical though, because I remember a lot of stiffs among the 1967 rookie cards.) 

 

The Orioles must have curried favor with Topps, because they have 3 rookie cards for the 2nd consecutive year. (They also had two multi-player cards in 1967, while 9 teams had none.)   Sure, they were an exciting and successful team in the late-1960s, but these 6 players were nothing to write home about. 

 

The coveted Johnny Bench rookie card - but this is not the top rookie card in the set (see below). Lou Piniella and Bill Davis appeared on 4 and 5 rookie stars cards respectively. Eventually, Piniella made it big. Davis did not. 

 

The Tigers' George Korince is back again, after appearing on TWO rookie cards in the 1967 set.  Topps, please!

 

There it is - the Jerry Koosman/Nolan Ryan rookie card.  This may be the mother of all rookie stars cards, ever.

 

Except for ROY Stan Bahnsen (who also appeared on a 1967 Yankees Rookies card) this block is a whole lot of mediocre. I know specifically that the 2 Phillies shown each pitched 1 career MLB game.

The mixed-bag cards in the 7th series. Why didn't Topps just pair Ivan Murrell and Jim Ray on a Houston Astros Rookies card?

 

 

Topps, here's what the Giants Rookies card should have looked like:

http://whitesoxcards.blogspot.com/2011/02/cards-that-never-were-42.html 

 

Ron Herbel (#333)

Ron Herbel looks determined to not finish with a 4-5 record for the 3rd straight year. (He didn't – his 1968 record was 0-0! He did get back to 4 wins in 1969 though.)

Herbel was signed by the Giants in 1958, and made his major-league debut in September 1963. He was a member of the Giants’ rotation from 1964-67. His best season was 1965, posting career highs in wins (12) and strikeouts (106).

(Why would Topps abbreviate San Fran one way on 4 lines, then change to another way?) 

Ron shifted to bullpen duty for the Giants in 1968 and 1969, but only pitched 43 innings in 1968.

After the 1969 season he was traded to the Padres with catcher Bob Barton and 3rd baseman Bobby Etheridge for pitcher Frank Reberger. Ron notched 9 saves with San Diego, then on September 1st he moved on to the Mets. He led the National League in 1970 with 76 appearances.

In December he was flipped to the Braves for 3rd baseman Bob Aspromonte. Herbel was the 11th man on Atlanta’s pitching staff in 1971, and was released the following spring.

He was picked up by the Twins but spent 1972 playing for their AAA team, never to return to the majors.

A notoriously bad hitter,  his .029 career batting average is the lowest in major-league history for a player with at least 100 at-bats.

Herbel passed away in 2000 at age 62.

Men Without Hats II

To date, I've only made 8 posts here about the Athletics, fewest of any team. So I was planning to post their 1968 team card, but I just led off my last 1967 post with the team card, so I decided to call an audible and revisit some of the awesomeness that was Topps in 1968.

For the 2nd time in 3 years, Topps screwed over an American League team from California. NOT ONE CARD in this set has an Athletic in their new Oakland uniform. Even the first-year Atlanta Braves got a few decent cards in the 1966 7th series, and in 1969 Topps was able to include new cards for FOUR expansion teams in the later series.

But Topps really half-assed the 1968 set. Even the total number of cards dropped from the previous set, from 609 in ’67 to 598 in ’68. This despite adding TWENTY All-Star cards, which they did not have in 1967. They also curiously decided to dispense with team cards altogether halfway through the season, so 7 teams were without a team card that year.

Sure, we were expecting the Astros not to have one, because Topps never made a Colt 45s/Astros team card until 1970, but six other teams also? (That’s another thing – someone’s always giving the Astros the shaft. If it’s not Topps, then it’s the dope in the commissioner's office.)


So here are the 1968 Athletics – “Men Without Hats” (or in some cases, “Men With Bad Hats”):

(And what's with having FOUR catchers?)

Tony Horton (custom)

Today we have an unplanned post: Indians' 1st baseman Tony Horton. Although Horton played for the Red Sox off-and-on from 1964 to early 1967, and was the Indians' starting 1st baseman from late-June 1967 to late-August 1970, Topps never made a card for him. [I found this card a few days ago on the www.ootpdevelopments.com website.]

Horton was signed by the Red Sox in 1962, and played in their farm system from 1963-66. He made his major-league debut in July 1964, and after the season the team traded away veteran 1st baseman Dick Stuart to open the position for Tony in 1965.

That plan didn't work out, as the manager decided to use veteran Lee Thomas for most of the season, with Tony spending part of '65 back in the minors.

After Horton started the first 4 games of the 1966 season at 1st base, rookie George Scott was moved from 3rd base to 1st base. Horton was sent to the bench for the rest of April, then demoted to triple-A for the remainder of the season.

Stuck behind the slugging Scott, Tony's big break came on June 4, 1967 when he was traded to the Indians (with veteran outfielder Don Demeter) for pitcher Gary Bell.

Within a month, Horton took over the first base job from incumbent Fred Whitfield, and held that post until the final game of his career on August 28, 1970.

Although missing 3 weeks in 1968 with a knee injury, Tony still led the Indians with 14 home runs and 59 RBI.

Tony's best season offensively was 1969, when he hit 27 homers and collected 93 RBI along with a .278 batting average. Horton spent most of 1969 and the first half on 1970 as the team's cleanup hitter.

Sometime in 1968, Horton began to feel the pressure of being a big-league ballplayer. His anxieties came to a head during the 1970 season. In a late-June game against the Yankees, Horton struck out on several "eephus" pitches from reliever Steve Hamilton, then threw his bat and helmet, and crawled back to the dugout.

After the slumping Horton endured heavy booing from the hometown fans, he attempted suicide after a game on August 28th, and suffered a nervous breakdown. Tony was hospitalized during the 1970-71 off-season, and by the time the 1971 season rolled around, it was apparent that he was not ready to play. Not until 1972 did the Indians realize Horton would not be returning to baseball.

Tony Horton's SABR page.

Manny Sanguillen (#251)

This is Manny Sanguillen's rookie card. He rated a whole card to himself, by virtue of a second-half call-up in 1967. (Hey Topps, where was Reggie Jackson's 1968 card?)

Manny had a card in 1968, but not major-league playing time. He spent the entire season in the minors, then returned in 1969 as the starting catcher.

Sanguillen was signed by the Pirates in late 1964, then played 2 seasons in A ball before jumping up to triple-A for 1967.

When Pirates' regular catcher Jerry May went down with an injury in late July, Sanguillen was called up and started 14 of the next 24 games behind the plate, alternating with aging veteran Jim Pagliaroni. When May returned in mid-August, Pags was shelved for the remainder of the season, with Sanguillen backing up May.

Manny spent the entire 1968 season back in triple-A "getting his playing time", while journeymen types like Chris Cannizzaro and Gary Kolb were retained as May's backups.

Sanguillen returned in 1969, splitting the catching assignments with May for awhile, but by late-May Manny had taken over, ending up with 107 starts to Jerry's 50 starts. Except for the first half of 1973 (when Manny started 53 of the first 54 games in right field, in an attempt to replace the late Roberto Clemente), Sanguillen was the Pirates' regular catcher until September 1976, when he gave way to Duffy Dyer and Ed Ott.

Manny was an all-star in '71, '72, and '75, and hit a career-high 12 home runs in 1973. He also collected 11 hits in the 1971 World Series, good for a .379 batting average.

After the 1976 season, he was traded to the Athletics for manager (yes, manager) Chuck Tanner. Manny returned to Pittsburgh after only one season in Oakland, with the Pirates using him as a pinch-hitter and occasional backup first baseman for the next 3 seasons.

Traded to the Indians after the 1980 season, he was released in spring training the following year. Manny sat out the 1981 season, then played in the Mexican League in 1982.

Rusty Staub (#300)

Continuing with the "hero numbers", today we have #300....Rusty Staub?!?

If I was compiling a list of "hero status" players from the late 1960s (and here's 58 names to get you started), I'm not sure Rusty Staub would be in my top 50, let alone the top 5. Yes, he was a good player, and one of the best 2 or 3 on the Astros at that time, but in the top 5 (for #100, 200, 300, 400 ,500)?

Here we see Rusty in Topps' patented 1968-69 Astros' regalia. (They forgot to airbrush-out the reflection of the Astros' logo on the helmet bill!) Staub is entering his final year in Houston, as he would become the Montreal Expos' "Le Grand Orange" in 1969.

Staub was signed by the Houston Colt .45s in 1961 (before they even fielded a major-league team). He spent the 1962 season as a 1st baseman in class-B. Rusty made his big-league debut in April 1963 at age 19, starting 2/3 of his games at 1B and 1/3 in right field.

He was the starting 1st baseman for the first half of 1964, but lost the job to Walt Bond in early July. Rusty was the team's regular right fielder from 1965-67, then moved in to 1st base for the 1968 season.

In January 1969, he was traded to the expansion Expos for outfielder Jesus Alou and 1st baseman Donn Clendenon. When Clendenon refused to report (having had enough of manager Harry Walker while both were with the Pirates), the Expos sent pitchers Jack Billingham and Skip Guinn. Staub was an immediate hit in Montreal (see comment #5 here). Dubbed "Le Grand Orange", he was one of the Expos' bright spots in their early years. In his 3 seasons with the Expos, he averaged 160 games played as the team's right fielder, and made the all-star team each year.

Staub played right field for the Mets from 1972-75, then 3 1/2 seasons with the Tigers (as the right fielder in 1976, then the DH for the other years).

In July '79, he returned to Montreal for the remainder of the season. After one season (1980) with the Rangers, Staub spent the rest of his career (1981-85) with the Mets, mostly as a pinch-hitter.

Dick Hughes (#253)

Today I’m featuring the last of the 1967 Topps All-Rookie selections. Normally, 10 players were selected (including 1 left and 1 right handed pitcher). In the 1968 set, Topps not only left the cool trophy off 3 of the cards, but they decided that Dick Hughes would share the right-handed pitcher slot with Tom Seaver. (Imagine!)


Hughes was signed by the Cardinals in 1958, but was a late-bloomer, pitching 9 seasons in the minors before reaching the majors in September 1966 at age 28.

He had a phenomenal rookie season for the World Champion Cardinals in 1967, compiling a 16-6 record in 37 games (including 27 starts), while leading the staff in wins and innings pitched. (Bob Gibson missed a month of the season with a broken leg.) Dick finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting to Seaver.

Hughes spent most of the 1968 season in the bullpen, starting just 5 of his 25 games, and finishing at 2-2 in only 63 innings of work. What a difference a year makes! In the 1967 World Series, Dick started 2 games. In ’68, he pitched 1/3 of an inning in relief against the Tigers.

I’m guessing he had arm troubles, because he spent the 1969 season playing in the single-A Florida State League, then was out of baseball at the ripe old age of 31.

Rich Nye (#339)

For some unknown reason, three of the players on the 1967 Topps all-rookie team do not have trophies on their card. I have previously posted the card for outfielder Rick Monday, leaving only pitchers Rich Nye and Dick Hughes to complete the subset.

Rich Nye was the lefthanded pitcher chosen for the 1967 Topps all-rookie team. Nye pitched from 1966-70, although his primary years were 1967-69 for the Cubs.

Rich was drafted by the Astros in 1965, but did not sign. He was signed by the Cubs in 1966, while pitching for UC Berkeley. Nye pitched for the Cubs' rookie and class-A teams that summer, then joined the big club in September.

After 2 relief appearances in 1967, Nye joined the starting rotation on April 30th, after other starters went by the wayside. He finished his rookie season with 13 wins and 119 strikeouts in 205 innings. All three of those numbers placed him 2nd on the staff, behind sophomore Fergie Jenkins. Topps apparently took notice (despite the missing trophy).

Nye slipped to 7-12 in 1968, and dropped to #5 in the rotation, behind Jenkins, Bill Hands, Ken Holtzman, and Joe Niekro. 1969 was worse yet, as he was relegated to the bullpen, making only 5 starts among his 34 appearances.

After the season, he was traded to the Cardinals for outfielder Boots Day. (Philly trivia: As a Montreal Expo in 1971, Boots was the first batter in Veterans Stadium history.) After 6 relief appearances (totaling 8 innings), Rich was sold to the Expos on May 15th, where he made 6 starts and 2 relief appearances. He was also used as a pinch-runner twice, and spent time with the Expos' AAA team in Winnipeg.

He played for three AAA teams (Expos, Indians, Pirates) in 1971, before his career was ended by a torn rotator cuff.

After his playing career, Nye began working as a civil engineer, before becoming a veterinarian.

A Rich Nye story here

 

Final Card (the bonus tracks): Pete Mikkelsen

So, I was browsing through my 1968 binder, pulling all the final cards I previously posted, for a "Final Cards Recap" post (like I did with the 1967 set). After 2 or 3 pages, I was thinking "hey, what about this guy...and that guy... and that guy?" 

I ended up with a list of 65 other players whose final card may have also been in the '68 set. After checking the Zistle database, I whittled the list down to 8 players (of which 3 are Cubs) that I missed the first time around. So here they are, the "bonus tracks".


Pete Mikkelsen's final card (#516) was in the 1968 set, despite the fact that he pitched over 150 games from 1969-72 as a member of the Dodgers' bullpen. Thanks, Topps!

Pete was signed by the Yankees in 1958, and played in the minors for 6 seasons, primarily as a reliever, but making many starts during the 1959-61 seasons. In his 9-year major-league career, Mikkelsen played 364 games, starting only 3 (in 1965).

His debut came in April 1964, and he appeared in 50 games, saving 12 as the Yankees' closer in his rookie season. After another season in the Bronx, Pete was traded to the Pirates for pitcher Bob Friend, who had been a key member of Pittsburgh's starting rotation for the past 15 seasons. Mikkelsen lasted just 1 1/2 seasons with the Bucs, and was claimed off waivers by the Cubs on August 4th, 1967.

The following April, he was traded to the Cardinals for pitcher Jack Lamabe. Ok! Moving up from the Cubs to the World Champion Cardinals! Not so fast... Pete pitched 5 games for St. Louis in June, but spent the rest of the season in triple-A.

After the season, he was traded to the Dodgers for a minor-league pitcher. Pete spent his final 4 seasons working out of the Dodgers pen, and it was a productive 4 years. The righthanded Mikkelsen was the team's #2 reliever during his 4-year stay, just behind ace southpaw Jim Brewer.

Why did Topps leave him behind? 1969 is understandable (after spending most of '68 in the minors), but what about the other years? The GarveyCeyRussellLopes blog has done what Topps was unwilling to do.

Final Card: Dick Kenworthy

This is the only Topps card for Dick Kenworthy. The back says that he was sent to the Mets in the off-season as the player to be named later in the Ken Boyer trade. Interesting. Baseball-Reference.com makes no mention of Kenworthy ever being sent to the Mets. In fact, it says the White Sox sent J. C. Martin to the Mets on 11/27/67 to complete the trade. Since this is card #63, it must have been printed sometime in late 1967, so maybe Topps was acting on some preliminary scuttlebutt regarding Kenworthy.



Kenworthy was signed by the White Sox in 1961, and played in their minor-league system for 10 seasons, before moving over to the Reds' farm system for 1971 and 1972. He was a 2nd baseman for his first two seasons before switching to 3rd base for the balance of his career.

Dick's major-league experience consisted of a few cups of coffee from 1962 to 1966. Then in 1967 and 1968, he played over 50 games each season with the White Sox, about half of them as the starting 3rd baseman.

Since he played for the White Sox in both '67 and '68, it looks like Baseball-Reference.com is right and Topps was wrong. Maybe a White Sox fan can clarify this.

Who didn't get a card, but shoulda...

Today, I'm continuing to pick at the shortcomings my analysis of the 1968 set.

As I posted earlier with the 1966 and 1967 sets, here is a list of some of the players who didn't appear on a regular or rookie card in this set, along with the number of games played in 1968:


Most of these are rookies who made their debut in 1968. Reggie Jackson is a different case. He made his debut with the Athletics in June 1967, but in 118 at-bats in 35 games, he only hit 1 home run. Maybe this caused Topps to write him off as a non-factor. Fortunately for us, our fellow blogger Steve at White Sox Cards has filled the gap.

Bobby Bonds wasn't called up until late June, but he had been tearing up the minor leagues for over a year. Other rookies who grabbed a starting job at the start of the season included Del Unser and Bobby Cox (who both made the Topps 1968 all-rookie team).

Non-rookies without a card were Indians' 1st baseman Tony Horton (who never had a card in his 6-year career), Roberto Pena (a journeyman shortstop who joined the Phillies in late April and took over the starting job in May for the injured Bobby Wine), and Red Sox pitcher Sparky Lyle.

I can't imagine how Topps could have overlooked Reggie Jackson and Bobby Bonds for their teams' rookie cards, but almost all of these players could have been added to the 7th series, which was months away. (Did we really need all those extra Mets cards?)


5-15-2011 edit:
Yesterday, I learned that relief pitcher Dick Radatz didn't have a card in the 1968 set. Radatz (nicknamed "The Monster") broke in with the Red Sox in 1962 and finished 3rd in Rookie of the Year voting. He led the AL in (what would have been) saves in 1962 and 1964. In June 1966 he was traded to the Indians, and in April 1967 he moved on to the Cubs.

From 1962 to 1967, Dick appeared in 62, 66, 79, 63, 55, and 23 games. His last major-league appearance in 1967 was on July 7th. No doubt that was the reason he was left out of the 1968 set. Still, the Braves' Tommie Aaron was afforded a card in 1968 after not having played since the 1965 season, so why didn't Radatz get similar treatment? Dick spent the entire 1968 season in the minors, before resurfacing for 1 final season in 1969 with the Tigers and Expos. His final card was in the 1969 set.


12-27-2011 edit:
In addition to Dick Radatz, these players also had cards in 1967 and 1969, but not in 1968:
Johnny Podres - P (was retired during 1968)
Jesse Gonder - C (1967 was last year in majors)
Bob Chance - 1B
Dave Nicholson - OF
Gary Geiger - OF
Tommie Reynolds - OF
Galen Cisco - P
Fred Newman - P
Tom Egan - C
Chuck Harrison - 1B
Jim Beauchamp - OF
John Kennedy - 3B

Distribution of teams within the 1968 set

Yesterday, I revisited my earlier post about the lack of a Giants Rookies card.

There were 25 cards for the Giants in 1968. However, in the 598 card set, the last Giant appears on card #545. This means that in the last 53 cards, there were no Giants. Was a planned Giants Rookies card pulled and replaced with someone else? Although the set starts off with each team being represented every 20 cards or so, in those final 53 cards, we have:

5 Mets (!?!)
4 Astros, Red Sox, Senators, and Yankees
3 Angels, Athletics, Indians, and Pirates
2 Braves, Cardinals, Cubs, Dodgers, Orioles, Reds, Twins, White Sox
1 Tigers and Phillies

The Phillies were really cut short, having only ONE card among the last EIGHTY-SIX cards!


A further analysis of the entire set shows that some teams had as many as 5 more cards than other teams:

30 Orioles, Reds, Red Sox
29 Astros, Cubs, Mets, Senators
28 Athletics
27 Cardinals, Dodgers, Pirates, Twins, White Sox
26 Angels, Yankees
25 Braves, Giants, Phillies, Indians, Tigers

20 All stars
12 Leaders
8 World Series
7 Checklists
5 Other


So, my long-time suspicion that the Phillies were short-changed in the 1968 set turns out to be correct. (Trades were not the reason, as the only significant off-season Phillies' trades were Jim Bunning for Woodie Fryman, and Dick Ellsworth and Gene Oliver for Mike Ryan, which gives an imbalance of 1 card.)

Topps' late-series push of excessive Mets, Astros, Red Sox, and Senators cards sent the totals for those teams soaring above the team average.

Don Lock (#59)

First, let me point out that the late-1960s cards of Don Lock are the most complete example of Topps' photographical laziness that I have found. Lock was traded to the Phillies in November 1966. His 1967 card shows him in a hatless photo. Fine, no problem there, because he was just traded. But, here it is ONE YEAR LATER, and Topps puts out another hatless card of Lock (with a different photo than 1967). To top it all off, Don's 1969 card (still with the Phillies, mind you) has ANOTHER hatless photo! More than 2 seasons after his trade from the Senators, and while on the Phillies roster for all that time, Topps couldn't squeeze out a new photo of Don Lock.


Don Lock was signed by the Yankees (I didn't know that until today) in 1958, and spent over 4 seasons on the Yankees' farm, until he was traded to the Senators on July 11, 1962 for 1st baseman Dale Long. Six days later, he made his major-league debut with the Senators. He started 63 of the final 76 games that season, all but one in left field.



In 1963, Don began the season as the center fielder, and except for a stretch of 19 consecutive games in late April and early May, he was the undisputed #1 in center, with 129 starts there. He also started 9 games in right field. Lock bashed 27 homers in his first full season.

1964 was more of the same, with Lock making 120 starts in center, compared to Ken Hunt's 30 starts. Don also started 25 games in right field, spelling regular Jim King. He also hit 20 home runs.

1965? The center field scoreboard says Don Lock 116 games, Woodie Held 34 games. Replaced by Woodie Held? That's what happens when your average drops to .215 and you only hit 16 home runs.

1966? Lock 101, Fred Valentine 55. Don's playing time is similar to 1965, but for the 2nd straight year, he hits a mere 16 home runs and collects less than 50 RBI.

Lock seems to be slipping in his last 2 seasons with the Senators. This affirms what I have often thought was a bad trade made by the Phillies in the mid-1960s (and always overlooked, in the shadow of the Fergie Jenkins trade). The Phillies traded pitcher Darold Knowles, who led the team in saves during his rookie season in 1966, for a starting outfielder who, under closer examination, was already on the decline. I can remember back in the 1960s, one of the "great reasons" to get Lock was that he "hit 99 home runs with the Senators" (something that is repeated on the back of this card).

Knowles went on to accumulate 143 saves in a 16-year career, which ended in 1980. Lock was heavily platooned during his 2 full seasons with the Phillies, and was sent packing to the Red Sox in early May 1969, for a guy whose entire major-league career consisted of one at-bat in 1965. Lock remained with the Red Sox through the end of the 1969 season, before retiring.

"Highly sought-after slugger"? Bah!

Multi-player Cards

Continuing with the theme from yesterday's post on my 1966 blog, here are the only 3 multi-player cards in the 1968 set.



#530 Bird Belters - These 2 players appeared (along with manager Hank Bauer) on card #1 in the 1967 set, as members of the 1966 world champion Orioles. It seems odd that Topps printed another Orioles' multi-player card in 1968, after issuing two in 1967. (A card for the 1967 champion Cardinals would have made more sense.)




#480 Manager's Dream - Here's a departure from the normal multi-player cards: players from different teams posing together. This would be Cardenas' last season in Cincinnati before shipping out to the Twins.




#490 Super Stars - One of the last cards featuring Mickey Mantle (no doubt taken at the 1967 All-Star Game).

Back on Topps' Radar: Roy White

Here is the first "full" card for Roy White (#546). White appeared on a Yankees Rookies card in 1966, but did not have a card in 1967, despite having 356 plate appearances for the Yankees in 1966. C'mon Topps, why was White left out of the 1967 set, while this guy (who had exactly ZERO major-league games played prior to this card being issued, and whose subsequent major-league career consisted of 2 games) gets his own card?

White was signed by the Yankees in 1961, and played 4 seasons in the minor leagues as a 2nd baseman, before making his Yankees debut (as an outfielder) in September 1965. He spent the entire 1966 season with the Yankees, and started 66 games in left field that season (when Tom Tresh, the Yankees' regular left fielder, would move in to play 3rd base).



In 1967, Roy didn't start a game for the Yankees until July 19th, when he started 15 of the next 18 games at 3rd base. After spending all of 1966 with the Yankees, White played 84 games with triple-A Spokane (a Dodgers' farm team) playing exclusively at 3rd base. My theory is that the Yankees (who had traded long-time 3rd baseman Clete Boyer to the Braves in the off-season) were trying to convert White to a 3rd baseman. That experiment seems to have lasted 3 weeks at the big-league level, because by August, he was in right field, and would never play 3rd base again during his career.

White was the Yankees' regular left fielder from 1968 to 1973, and was all-star in 1969 and 1970. In 1970, he started 161 games in left, and in 1973 he started 162 games in left.

In 1974, he split his time between LF and DH, before returning to full-time left field duty from 1975-77. Beginning in 1978, Lou Piniella took over in left field, relegating White to backup status. He would play for the Yankees until retiring after the 1979 season.

Roy White was the Yankees' one link between the Mickey Mantle and Reggie Jackson eras.

Turk Farrell (#217)

Another lousy hatless photo. Farrell pitched in FIFTY games for the Phillies in 1967 since his acquisition on May 8th. Why aren't Topps' photographers EARNING their money?

Turk Farrell began his career with the Phillies way back in 1953. After 4 seasons with their minor-league teams, he made his major-league debut in late September 1956. From 1957 to 1960, Farrell led the Phillies pitchers in saves each year.



In May 1961, the Phillies traded Turk to the Dodgers for third baseman Charlie Smith and outfielder Don Demeter. After the season, he was selected by the Houston Colt .45s in the expansion draft.

Farrell was primarily a starter during his 5 full seasons with Houston (1962-66), winning ten or more games in his first 4 seasons (quite an accomplishment for a bad team!)

In May 1967, he was re-acquired by the Phillies and spent the last 3 seasons of his career as the Phillies' bullpen ace. He was released by the Phillies on November 4, 1969, essentially ending his career.

In 1970, he was signed by the Braves on April 20th, but released on May 6th without having appeared in any games.

Farrell was killed in an automobile accident in Great Britain in 1977 at age 43.

Final Card: Bobby Locke

This is Bobby Locke's final card (#24). It's also his first card since 1965, so I'm going to throw him into my "Back on Topps' Radar" series.

Topps spent little or no effort on this card. They used the same photo from the 1962 card, and on the back they omitted Locke's minor-league stats.

Locke was signed by the Indians in 1953, and spent the 1953 - 1956 seasons in their minor league system.



1957 and 1958 are unaccounted for in his record. Military service is not listed, so maybe he missed 2 seasons due to injuries.

Locke pitched for the Cleveland Indians from 1959 to 1961, while also spending some time in the minors.

In November 1961, Bobby was traded to the Cubs, but he was shipped to the Cardinals a few days before the season started. Three weeks later, the Cardinals traded him to the Phillies.

Locke bounced between Philadelphia and their triple-A team for the next 3 seasons, and was sold to the Angels after the 1964 season.

Midway through the 1965 season, the Angels traded Locke to the Reds, but reacquired him in June 1966. He continued bouncing up and down with the Angels. 1968 was his final major-league season, and he spent 1969 entirely in the minors before retiring.


To tell you the truth, I'm surprised Locke even has a card in this set. 1961 was the last season that he pitched more than 20 innings in the major leagues!

Giants Rookies?

Well, today my 2 virtual spinners came up "card type = rookies" and "team = Giants", but for some reason Topps didn't issue a Giants Rookies card in 1968. Was it laziness? Short-sightedness? Let's see if Topps even had anyone to pick from that year.


According to Baseball-Reference.com, there were 4 rookies who got some playing time with the 1968 Giants. Even if they were only cups of coffee, they could still qualify under Topps' loose interpretation of "Rookie Stars". (After all, how many times did we see George Lauzerique on a Reds or Athletics "Rookie Stars" card?)

Rich Robertson's stats aren't overly impressive, but they are at least as good as George Korince, the Tigers' farmhand that Topps wasted TWO rookie cards on in 1967:

Some other candidates:





Wait, I think there was one more rookie on the 1968 Giants. Oh yes, it was:

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Topps couldn't find two players worthy of their "Rookie Stars" interpretation, to slap onto a card in 1968?

Instead, we are treated to a Bobby Etheridge card, with a bright, shiny trophy indicating that he was Topps' selection as the 3rd baseman on the 1967 all-rookie team. In 1967, Etheridge batted a stellar .226 in 40 games, struck out 12 times, and didn't even make the team in 1968!

Tommie Aaron - Why does he have a card?

Tommie Aaron (#394) didn't have a baseball card in 1967 - and with good reason. He had no appearances with the Braves in 1966. Likewise, he appeared in a total of zero major-league games in 1967, yet here he is with a 1968 card. Where's the logic?



However, Tommie does hold the distinction of being one half of the greatest brother home-run tandem in history, with 768 homeruns (Hank - 755, Tommie - 13)!

Notice Topps' new airbrushing style of completely obliterating the front of the cap with black, a technique used with reckless abandon on the Athletics and "Houston" (Astros) cards in 1968.


Why does he have a card?

Woody Fryman (#112)

As you can see from the previous post, Jim Bunning was All-Everything for the Phillies pitching staff in 1967. Nevertheless, the Phillies traded him to the Pirates in the off-season for Woody Fryman and 3 minor-league prospects (including SS Don Money).

Since this card was in the 2nd series, it was printed and sold just a few months after the trade, so we see Woody still in his Pirates uniform (no, that's not Jim Thome).



Though not as accomplished as Bunning, Fryman was 12 years younger, and as a southpaw, he gave the Phillies' starting rotation more balance, teamed with lefty Chris Short and righthanders Larry Jackson and Rick Wise. (Bunning was righthanded.)

After three seasons as a starter, Fryman spent his last year and a half with the Phillies as a swingman, before being shipped to the Tigers in late 1972.

Topps lazily used this same photo for Fryman's 1969 card, apparently having no time during the 12 months after the trade to snap a new picture of Fryman.


Also see his 1967 card.