Final Card: Dick Calmus

After reading about all the goings-on at Wrigley Wax Headquarters, I decided to offer up a little-known Cubs card.

After first appearing in the 1964 set as a Dodger, Dick Calmus (#427) dropped off Topps' radar for 3 years, but returned here for his final card. When I first got this card back in 1968, I thought he looked like a young Jack Kennedy!

Calmus was signed by the Dodgers in 1962. After playing 1 season of class-D ball, he spent the entire 1963 season with the Dodgers, appearing in 21 games (all but 1 in relief). He then spent the next 3 seasons in the Dodgers farm system, mostly as a starting pitcher. Calmus was at AA Albuquerque in 1964, and AAA Spokane in 1965 and 1966.


In late April 1967, he was traded to the Cubs for pitcher Fred Norman (who would go on to pitch many years with the Padres and Reds). Calmus spent the entire season at triple-A Tacoma, then made one appearance with the Cubs on September 2nd. It would be his last major-league game.

Dick would play in the minors for 2 more seasons: for the Cubs in 1968 and the Dodgers in 1969.

I wonder why he even has a card here in 1968, since he pitched a grand total of 4.1 innings in 1967, and none in 1968.

Final Card: Jimmie Schaffer

Here is the final baseball card for journeyman backup catcher Jimmie Schaffer (#463). After having a card for each year from 1962 to 1965, Schaffer fell off Topps' radar in 1966 and 1967. Now he's back for one more card, though I don't see how he swung it, based on 2 at-bats in 1967!

Jimmie was signed by the Cardinals in 1955, and spent six full seasons and part of 1961 in the minors before making his major-league debut on May 20, 1961. That season, he started 45 games behind the plate - the most by any of the 6 catchers used by the Cardinals that season.



In 1962, Schaffer settled back into the backup role (behind Gene Oliver and Carl Sawataski) that would follow him for the rest of his career. After the season he was traded to the Cubs (along with pitchers Larry Jackson and Lindy McDaniel) for pitcher Don Cardwell, outfielder George Altman, and catcher Moe Thacker.

Jimmie was the Cubs 2nd-string catcher (behind Dick Bertell) for the 1963 and 1964 seasons. He was traded to the White Sox in December 1964, and split the 1965 season between the White Sox and the Mets. That was pretty much the end of Schaffer's major-league career.

Prior to the 1966 season, Schaffer was one of three players the Mets traded to the Phillies for first baseman Dick Stuart. Jimmie spent the 1966 and 1967 seasons with the Phillies' triple-A team in San Diego, getting only a few at-bats in September call-ups each season.

Schaffer only played 4 games for the Reds in 1968, his final game coming on July 11th, He spent most of 1968, and all of 1969 and 1970 with the triple-A teams of the Reds, Dodgers, and Orioles.

Final Card: John Tsitouris

This is the final card for John Tsitouris (#523). He had cards in 1960, '63, '64, '65, and '66, but not in 1967 (so he also qualifies for my "Back on Topps' Radar" series). In 1967, he appeared in a grand total of 2 games (for 8 innings), so I also wonder "Why does he have a card?"

John began his minor-league career in the Tigers organization in 1954. His major-league debut came in June 1957 with the Tigers.



After the 1957 season, Tsitouris was traded to the Athletics in a deal which involved TWELVE other players. The most notable of those were Billy Martin and Gus Zernial, who went to the Tigers.

Prior to the 1961 season, he and pitcher John Briggs (not the Phillies outfielder) were traded to the Reds for pitcher Joe Nuxhall. However, he spent the entire 1961 season and much of the 1962 season with the Reds' triple-A team (Indianapolis in 1961, and San Diego in 1962).

John's big years with Cincinnati were 1963 to 1965, where he made 30 or more appearances each year, mostly as a starter. Near the end of the 1964 season, his 1-0 shutout of the Phillies began their 10-game losing streak which cost the Phillies the NL pennant.

From 1966 to 1968, he was used sparingly by the Reds, and spent most of those seasons in triple-A. (Strangely, in 1967 he played for the Phillies' triple-A team in San Diego, even though it appears that he was still owned by the Reds.)

His final big-league game was on April 24th, 1968. Over his entire career, he played 149 games in the majors and 196 games for triple-A teams.

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?