Dick Hall (#17)

This is the last of Dick Hall's two Phillies' cards. Hall was traded from the Orioles during the winter of 1966-67, and returned to Baltimore after the 1968 season. Surprisingly, Topps was able to produce both of Hall's Phillies cards showing hin in a Phillies uniform, and not some airbrushed or capless travesty, which is how they handled the Turk Farrell and Don Lock cards for the several years they were with the Phillies.

Hall was signed by the Pirates as an outfielder in September 1951. He made his major-league debut in April 1952, but after sticking with the Pirates until mid-May, he was sent down to their class-B team, where he spent much of the '52 and '53 seasons.

He played the entire 1954 season with Pittsburgh, starting 84 games in the outfield. Dick began pitching in 1955, and split that season between the Pirates and their class-A team in Lincoln, Nebraska. After a full season with Pittsburgh in '56, he was in triple-A for most of 1957 and out of baseball altogether in 1958.

Hall returned in 1959 and compiled an 18-5 record in 27 starts for the Pirates' AAA team in Salt Lake City. After the season he was traded to the Kansas City Athletics, and spent one season in their starting rotation before moving on to the Orioles in April 1961.

Hall spent his first season in Baltimore divided evenly between starting and relieving, but the next 5 seasons found him firmly entrenched as a bullpen mainstay for the Birds. He wrapped up his first stint with the O's as a member of the World Series champs in 1966.

After the season he was traded to the Phillies and spent 2 seasons co-closing with Turk Farrell, before returning to the Orioles in 1969, where he pitched in the World Series in each of his last 3 seasons before retiring after the 1971 season.

Hall was an amazing control pitcher!  Since becoming a full-time reliever in 1962, he pitched 780 innings, during which he only issued 61 unintentional walks.

Although a full-time major-leaguer since 1960, Hall did not have a baseball card in the '64, '65, '66, or '69 Topps sets.

Final Card: Bob Tiefenauer

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Bob Tiefenauer (#269) returned to the Topps baseball card world in 1968. He previously had baseball cards in 1959, 1962, 1964, and 1965. You can't blame Topps for this one, as his career travels (below) are enough to make your head spin!

On the back of his card, we see a 4-year gap in major-league service between 1955 and 1960. As Topps often does with long-time vets, his minor league stats are omitted from the back of the card.

Bob began playing pro baseball in 1948 in the Cardinals' system. Tiefenauer had a 6-game cup of coffee (8 innings, all in relief) with the Cardinals in 1952, followed by 2 more seasons back in the minors. In 1955, he resurfaced with the St. Louis, this time for 18 relief appearances (32 innings).



In September 1955, Bob began a 5-year odyssey through oblivion that started with his trade to the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers assigned him to the minor leagues, where he remained for the entire 1956 season. After the season, he was traded to Toronto, an unaffiliated AAA team in the International League. He made over 60 appearances per season (all in relief) for Toronto in 1957 and 1958. Following the 1958 season, Toronto traded him to the Indians, but he retired, rather than play in 1959.

In 1960 he spent some time with the Cleveland Indians until his early June acquisition by the Cardinals. St Louis kept him in the minors for the rest of 1960 and most of 1961, although he appeared in 3 games for the Cardinals.

After the 1961 season, he was purchased by the expansion Houston Colt .45s, and spent the 1962 season with Houston, before being traded BACK to the Cardinals (again) just before the 1963 season.

It almost seems that the Cardinals liked to mess with him, because in mid-June of the same year, he was traded again, this time to the Milwaukee Braves. After playing for the Braves for 2 seasons, he was traded to the Yankees in June 1965. His time in New York was short, because 2 months later he found himself back with the Indians!

Bob spent all of 1966 and most of 1967 with the Indians' triple-A Portland team, pitching in only 5 games for Cleveland in 1967.

This year (1968) he didn't even play for the Indians, as he was traded to the Cubs at the end of March for pitcher Rob Gardner. Bob appeared in only 9 games for the Cubs in 1968, his last on September 21st.

He played for Chicago's triple-A team in Tacoma, WA for most of 1968 and all of 1969 before retiring.
Tiefenauer played 19 seasons in the minor leagues!
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Final Card: Bill Henry

(Now that the World Series is over, I'm putting away my Yankees and Phillies cards, and will focus on players' final cards for awhile.)

In an era filled with pitchers like Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Don Drysdale, Whitey Ford, Denny McLain, Jim Kaat, and Sam McDowell, Bill Henry (#239) isn't someone I (and probably most others) ever gave a second thought about. But by the time he retired in 1969, he had put together a 16-year career as a fine relief pitcher.

Here are his minor-league stats, which Topps sometimes leaves out for space reasons. We see that Bill started in 1948 with the Class C Clarksdale Planters. Before the 1952 season, he was acquired by the Red Sox, and pitched for them for 4 seasons, as a starter and reliever.


After spending 1956 and 1957 in the minors, Bill returned in 1958 with the Cubs, as a full-time reliever. From 1959 to 1963, Henry collected double-digit saves each year. After 2 seasons with the Cubs, he was traded to the Reds for 3B/1B/OF Frank Thomas following the 1959 season.

He was traded to the Giants in May 1965. Beginning in 1966, he was pitching fewer innings per game. It seems that he was probably used as a situational lefty.

Midway through the 1968 season, the Giants sold Henry to the Pirates. He was released in August and not signed by another team. (This explains why he has no 1969 baseball card.)

After a stint in the Seattle Pilots' training camp, the Astros signed him at the end of May 1969, and released him a month later, ending his career. For his last 2 seasons, he pitched in 17 games in 1968 and 3 games in 1969.

Final Card: Eddie Mathews

Eddie Mathews (#58) began playing pro baseball in 1949 at High Point-Thomasville, in the class-D North Carolina State League. He also played in Atlanta and Milwaukee when they were Braves' minor league teams.

His major-league debut was in 1952 with the Boston Braves. After 15 years as a fixture with the Braves, Mathews was traded to the Astros, where he joined the 500 homerun club in 1967. In August 1967, he was dealt to Detroit (for pitcher Fred Gladding), where he finished his career by getting a World Series ring with the 1968 Tigers. What better way to go out!