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 

 

NL / ML Rookies (#579, 569, 539)

Topps' custom for Rookie Stars cards from 1964 to 1972 was that by the time they got to the 7th series, if there weren't at least 2 remaining rookies for the same team, they would group them on "NL Rookies", "AL Rookies", or "ML Rookies" cards.  (I'm not sure why they just didn't put Ivan Murrell and Jim Ray on a "Houston Rookies" card.)


Larry Hisle was handed the Phillies' starting center field job to begin the 1968 season, but flopped miserably, and after only 7 games was sent down to AAA for much-needed seasoning. He returned the following spring as the #1 center fielder, and after a great rookie season, slumped in 1970 and split 1971 between the Phillies and the minors. He later played 5 years with the Twins (including a career year in 1977) and 5 years with the Brewers.

Mike Lum played 8 full years with the Braves (1968-75), and was then a part-time player for the Reds (1976-78) and Braves (1979-81). He was the Braves’ regular right fielder in ’71 and ’72, the years when Hank Aaron played 1st base.

After cups of coffee with the Astros from 1963-68, Ivan Murrell was drafted by the expansion Padres in 1969 and played 3 full seasons in San Diego as a part-time outfielder. Murrell bounced up and down between the Padres, Braves, and their minor-league teams from 1972-75, then played in Mexico from 1976-83.

Les Rohr pitched in the Mets’ farm system from 1965-70, and saw action in 6 games with the Mets between 1967 and 1969.

Jim Ray pitched a few games for the Astros in ’65 and ’66, then was a bullpen mainstay from 1968-73. He finished his career in 1974 with the Tigers.

I was surprised today to see how short Mike Ferarro’s MLB career was. Although he played in the minors from 1962-75, he only made brief appearances with the Yankees (10 games in ’66, 23 in ’68) and Seattle Pilots (5 games in ’69) before his only season as a regular in 1972 (124 games for the Brewers). He also managed the Indians in 1983 and Royals in 1986.

Phillies Rookies: Larry Colton / Dick Thoenen

This is the only Phillies Rookies card in the 1968 set (#348). (There was only one Phillies Rookies card in the '66, '67, and '68 sets. That number ballooned to 3 in the '69 set. Backlog of prospects? Nah.)

Each of these players had a major-league career lasting exactly one game. (Larry Colton pitched 2 innings on 5/6/1968, while Dick Thoenen pitched 1 inning on 9/16/1967.) This is the rookie card for both players, and the only card for Thoenen. Surprisingly, Colton re-appears on a 1969 Phillies Rookies card.


Larry Colton was signed by the Phillies in 1964, and was a starting pitcher in their farm system for 5 seasons (1965-69), starting at least 25 games each season except for 1968. That season, he spent part of the time riding the bench in Philadelphia, along with some time on the DL.

At the time, it was reported that he "hurt his shoulder reaching for the telephone on his bedside table". Years later, it was revealed that he was injured in a bar fight, and it cost him his shot in the majors.

After the '69 season, he was sent to the Cubs to complete the Johnny Callison for Dick Selma and Oscar Gamble trade. Colton pitched the 1970 season for the Cubs AAA team, then was out of baseball until pitching the 1975 season for an unaffiliated class A team.

At one time, Colton was married to the daughter of movie star Hedley Hedy Lamarr.

Dick Thoenen was signed by the Phillies in 1963, and pitched for 7 seasons in their farm system. Although a starting pitcher for his first 3 seasons, he was converted to a reliever at the start of the 1966 season and worked out of the bullpen in double-A (1966), and triple-A (1966-69).

His cup of coffee was pitching the 4th inning in relief of starter Rick Wise. After giving up hits to the Dodgers' Bob Bailey and Luis Alcaraz, he retired Don Sutton, Nate Oliver, and Wes Parker in order.

I found this write-up about Dick Thoenen recently at the NJ Baseball blog. At the end of the blog post, there's a newspaper clipping listing the Phillies' September 1967 call-ups. Larry Bowa was among them, although he wouldn't get into a major-league game until April 1970.

Orioles Rookies - Frank Peters / Ron Stone

This is the 2nd of three Orioles Rookies cards in the 1968 set (#409). Topps also included three Orioles Rookies cards in the 1966 and 1967 set, whereas most teams got only one or two rookies cards. If you were an Orioles fan in the mid-1960s, you really got your money's worth, what with all the rookie cards, World Series highlights in 1967, league leaders cards (thanks to Frank Robinson and Dave McNally), and various multi-player cards.

Frank Peters spent 10 seasons in the minor leagues from 1964-74 (mostly in the Orioles' chain) and never played in the big leagues. Topps' comment on the back about Luis Aparicio's departure paving the way for Peters left out one small detail: Mark Belanger.



Ron Stone takes his place alongside Lou Piniella as a frequent guest on Topps' rookie cards in the 1960s. Stone was in the 1966 set with the Athletics, here with the Orioles, and in 1969 with the Phillies, before getting his own Phillies' cards in '70, '71, and '72.

Signed by the Orioles in 1963, Stone spent 1963-1968 in Baltimore's farm system, except for a Rule 5 cup of coffee with the Athletics in early 1966. On 7/1/66, he was returned to the Orioles, where he languished until Baltimore traded him to the Phillies for catcher Clay Dalrymple in January 1969.

The highlight of his career was spring training 1969, where he assumed the role of spring phenom. Once the season began, he settled into a spare outfielder role through the end of the 1972 season. He retired after spending all of 1973 with the triple-A Phillies and Royals.

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!

Cubs Rookies: Jose Arcia / Bill Schlesinger

The 1967 Topps set included 43 rookies cards. Most teams had 1 or 2 rookies cards, with a few teams (Astros, Cubs, Athletics, Orioles, Yankees) having 3 rookies cards.

The 1968 Topps set only had 29 rookies cards. Most teams only had 1 card. The Pirates, Reds, Indians, Twins, and White Sox had 2 rookies cards, while the Orioles had 3 cards, just like the previous season (good farm system?). For some reason, the Giants did not have a rookies card in 1968.

Here is the Cubs Rookies card (#258) for 1968.



Jose Arcia was signed by the Houston Colt .45s in 1962, and bounced around in the minors from 1962 to 1967 with 4 organizations (Colt .45s, Tigers, Indians, Cardinals) before being acquired after the 1967 season by the Cubs.

In 1968 (as a rule 5 draftee) he remained on the Cubs roster all season as a backup middle infielder. After the season, he was drafted by the expansion Padres. In San Diego, he shared the starting second base job in 1969, and was the backup SS-2B in 1970.

After the 1970 season, he played exclusively in the minor leagues through the 1976 season, for the Padres, Angels, Twins, Royals, and Astros.


The career of Bill Schlesinger was even shorter than Arcia's. Schlesinger played minor-league ball from 1964 to 1970 for 4 organizations (Red Sox, Athletics, Cubs, Phillies). His major-league career consists of 1 game in 1965 with the Red Sox (which is when this airbrushed picture was probably taken).

Tigers Rookies - George Korince/Fred Lasher (#447)

What is up with Topps and George Korince? This is his 3rd rookie card in 2 years! He wasn't that good!

On the other hand, Fred Lasher appeared in 140 games from 1967 to 1971 for the Tigers, Indians, and Angels. He also made 11 relief appearances with the Twins in 1963. It looks like he's in a Twins uniform in this picture.

Reds Rookies - Johnny Bench/Ron Tompkins (#247)

The second-best rookie card of 1968 belongs to Johnny Bench (oh... and Ron Tompkins).

Bench came up in September of 1967, and played well enough that the Reds traded their 6-year starter Johnny Edwards to St. Louis in the off-season. I can remember reading the pre-season predictions in a local Philadelphia paper during the Spring of 1968. The sportswriter was doing a preview for each team, and for the Reds he said "The Reds need to hope that Johnny Bench can stay off his last name".

What can be said about Ron Tompkins? Congratulations, you have a very valuable rookie card!

Mets Rookies - Jerry Koosman/Nolan Ryan (#177)

Has there ever been a better 1-2 punch on a Topps Rookies card than this? Topps had a pretty good combination on one rookie card in 1967, but this one is gold. I was flipping through my 1968 cards, and no other team's rookie cards comes close. (I also discovered that there were no Giants' Rookies cards in 1968.)

Jerry Koosman followed up what teammate Tom Seaver started in 1967 with a spectacular rookie season of his own in 1968, including being selected to the all-star team, and was the National League southpaw on the Sporting News all-star team.

Nolan Ryan's early career with the Mets was adequate. (Does anyone remember his ongoing problems with finger blisters, and the pickle brine solution that was the treatment?) Ryan was traded to the Angels a few years later for an aging Jim Fregosi. This turned out to be the Mets' version of the Phillies/Cubs Ferguson Jenkins trade.



Good call, Topps!!