Lou Johnson (#184)

Here we see the hatless "Sweet Lou" Johnson, joining the Cubs after several seasons with the Dodgers.

Johnson was signed by the Yankees way back in 1953, but didn't make his major-league debut until April 1960, with the Cubs. In between, he spent several seasons with the Yankees' and Pirates' organizations, and played one season with the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues, until the Cubs acquired him in 1956.

Lou only played 35 games for the Cubs in his rookie season, spending most of that season with the Cubs' triple-A Houston Buffs team. On April 1, 1961 the Cubs traded him to the Los Angeles Angels. After one game with the Angels, he was traded to the triple-A Toronto Maple Leafs (an independent team in 1961) for outfielder Leon Wagner.

In 1962 Toronto became affiliated with the Milwaukee Braves, and Lou spent some time playing in Milwaukee. Johnson was back in the minors for all of 1963, first as Braves' property, then after May 8th, as a Tigers' farmhand.



Just before the start of the 1964 season, the Tigers traded Lou to the Dodgers for pitcher Larry Sherry. After playing for triple-A Spokane for the entire 1964 season, Johnson got his big "break" in early 1965, when the Dodgers' left fielder Tommy Davis broke his leg. Lou would be the Dodgers' primary left fielder for the next 3 seasons. His playing time slipped somewhat in 1967, due to an early-season ankle injury. The Dodgers brought in outfielder Len Gabrielsen to share the outfield load with Al Ferrara.

After the 1967 season, Lou was traded to the Cubs for infielder Paul Popovich and minor-league outfielder Jim Williams. Midway through 1968, it was on to the Indians in exchange for "Wonderful" Willie Smith.

After half-seasons in Chicago and Cleveland, Lou spent his final season (1969) back with the Angels. His last game was on September 6, 1969. His final baseball card was also in 1969.

Final Card: Sam Bowens

Sam Bowens (#82) was primarily a backup outfielder in the mid-to-late 1960s, for the Orioles and Senators. Just as in his life (he was born and died in Wilmington, NC), his baseball career never strayed far from 1 spot.

Here we have his final card (with the ugly 1st-series burlap borders). By the time this card was issued, Bowens was already with the Senators.



Bowens played for the Nashville Giants in the Negro Leagues in 1957 and 1958, then was signed by the Orioles in 1960, and spent 4 seasons in the minors before making his major-league debut in September 1963.

In 1964, he spent the entire season with Baltimore as their regular right fielder. He started 116 games in right, along with 16 games in left field.

Rookie Curt Blefary cut into Bowens' playing time in 1965. When Boog Powell moved in to 1st base, Blefary would move over to left field, and Bowens played in right. Otherwise, Bowens was the odd man out. He also spent 24 games at triple-A Rochester.

In 1966, Bowens was relegated to backing up Curt Blefary in left field and Frank Robinson in right field. After the 1967 season, he was sold to the Senators. His time in Washington was more of the same - pinch-hitting and backing up in the outfield.

Bowens' last major-league game was on July 26, 1969. He spent part of the 1968 and 1969 seasons with the Senators' triple-A team in Buffalo. In 1970, he played minor-league ball with the Braves and Pirates.

Final Card: John Wyatt

John Wyatt (#481) was signed by the Cardinals way back in 1954, and played one season for their class-D team in Hannibal, MO before being released the following spring.

John played all of 1955 and part of 1956 with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League. During 1956, he also pitched for minor-league teams in the Braves' and Athletics' organizations.

1957 and 1958 are unaccounted for in his records (possibly back in the Negro Leagues?), but after spending the 1959-1961 seasons in Kansas City's farm system, he made his major-league debut in September 1961.

In 1962, John began a string of 4 seasons as the Athletics' closer. He led the league with 81 games pitched in 1964.


(Wow, there's a lot of wasted space on the back of this card!)

In June 1966, after 19 relief appearances he was traded to the Red Sox in a 6-player deal. John made 42 more appearances for the Red Sox that season, then in 1967 took over Boston's closer role from the departed Don McMahon. With Boston, he won game 6 in the 1967 World Series.

John's last 2 seasons were lived out of a suitcase. In May 1968 he was sold to the Yankees. A month later the Yanks sold him to the Tigers. Although John pitched in 22 games for the Tigers, he did not play in the 1968 series. (Nine pitchers appeared in the World Series for the Tigers, none named Wyatt.) The Tigers released him in spring training 1969. A few days later the Athletics signed him, but they released him at the end of May.

Ernie Banks (#355)

Here we have Chicago Cubs superstar Ernie Banks. "Mr. Cub" never played minor league baseball, but he did play for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League from 1950 to 1953.

Banks is one of a handful of former Negro League players still playing major league baseball into the late 1960s. I guess it's common knowledge that Willie Mays and Hank Aaron were Negro League veterans, but I recently learned that Yankees catcher Elston Howard was Banks' teammate with the Monarchs. (I also discovered that early 1970s Detroit Tigers infielder Ike Brown played in the Negro Leagues. I mistakenly assumed that anyone not making the major leagues until the 1970s would have been too young to play Negro League baseball.)

Banks was signed by the Cubs on September 8, 1953, and made his major-league debut at shortstop on September 17th, playing 10 games that first season.

From 1954 to 1969, Banks was in the lineup almost every day, playing 150 or more games for 12 of those 16 seasons. Between 1954 and 1960, he led the league in games played 6 times. Banks was originally the Cubs regular shortstop, but in 1962 he moved over to first base.



Beginning with the 1970 season, the 39-year-old Banks cut back his workload, sharing the first base job with Jim Hickman. In 1971, Joe Pepitone took over the first base chores, while Banks only played 20 games at 1B. He appeared in 52 other games as a pinch-hitter.

Ernie was released by the Cubs after the 1971 season. He had played his entire 19-year major-league career with the Cubs, and retired with 512 homeruns. His 277 homeruns as a shortstop was the record until Cal Ripken came along.

Final Card: Elston Howard

Elston Howard (#167) began playing baseball in 1948 as an outfielder for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro American League. There, he was a teammate of future Chicago Cub Ernie Banks. Buck O'Neill (who came to my attention in Ken Burns' excellent mini-series on baseball) was the manager of that team.

In July 1950, the Yankees purchased his contract from the Monarchs and assigned him to their farm system, where he learned to be a catcher. His first season for the Yankees was 1955. Since the Yankees already had Yogi Berra catching, and an outfield that included Mickey Mantle and Hank Bauer, Howard's playing time came mainly in left field, which he shared with Norm Siebern, as well as backing up at catcher and 1st base.



In 1960, Howard finally became a regular, catching more games than Berra. From 1961 to 1963, he hit over 20 home runs per season, and won the AL MVP award in 1963.

In August 1967, Elston was traded to the Red Sox, where he was a steadying influence on their pitching staff (and I assume, a mentor for Boston's young catchers Mike Ryan and Russ Gibson). Howard played in the 1967 World Series for the Red Sox, his 10th series. He was released after the 1968 season, ending a 14-year major-league career.

Willie Mays (#50)

Topps got a little lazy when it came to Mays' cards. This is the same photo that was used on the 1965 card. (The 1966 Mays photo was also used in 1969.)

It looks like age is catching up to Willie. A quick check on his stats shows that 1967 was an off year for Mays. 1966 was a good year for him, but it was a step down from his previous seasons. Willie went on to play 5 more seasons, finishing in 1973 with the NL champion Mets. He retired with 660 home runs (2nd place at the time).


Notice the typo in 1963: ("Sna Fran").