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.

Tony Conigliaro (#140)

Tony Conigliaro was a rising star for the Boston Red Sox in the mid-1960s. This power-hitting rightfielder was the fastest player to reach 100 homeruns, and was considered to have a chance to eventually break Babe Ruth's record. He was beaned in late 1967, and was never the same after that.

Conigliaro began in class-A ball in 1963. After just 1 year, he was up to the big club in 1964. He led the league in homeruns in his 2nd year. In August 1967, Conigliaro was hit in the eye by a pitch from the Angels' Jack Hamilton, and was out for the season, missing the World Series. In fact, although this is his 1968 card, he also didn't play at all in 1968.


He resumed his career on opening day 1969, and played in 141 games in 1969 and 146 in 1970, while hitting 20 and 36 homeruns in those seasons.

After 1970, he was traded to the Angels with Ray Jarvis and Jerry Moses for Doug Griffin, Jarvis Tatum and Ken Tatum. (Never had so many guys named Jarvis or Tatum been included in the same deal!) Tony only played in 74 games for the Angels that year (hitting only 4 homers). After being released by the Angels, Conigliaro signed with Boston again in 1975, but after 21 games (all as a DH or pinch-hitter), he was forced to retire due to permanent eye damage.

Several years later, he suffered a heart attack, and then a stroke, and remained in a coma for several years until his death in 1990.

Final Card: Jim Bouton

The career peak for Jim Bouton (#562) was in 1963 and 1964. He won 21 games in 1963, and won 2 games in the 1964 World Series.

This is Bouton's last baseball card (although blogger WhiteSoxCards has thankfully corrected that situation). The reason for this may be that he spent most of 1968 in the minors. After appearing in 12 games for the Yankees, he was sent to the Angels' triple-A team in Seattle, where he spent the remainder of 1968 (going 4-7 in 27 games).

As you may know, 1968 was not Bouton's last major-league season. He stayed in Seattle, as a relief pitcher for the expansion Seattle Pilots. He made 57 appearances before being traded to the Astros in late August. Bouton documented this season in his best-selling book Ball Four. For anyone who hasn't read it, Bouton kept a daily diary of the season, and turned it into a book. His recollections of manager Joe Schultz, outfielder Wayne Comer, and the other animals in this Seattle zoo make for great reading.



Bouton continued with the Astros for most of the 1970 season, until being released in mid-August. After his book was published, he pretty much put himself on the blacklist regarding future employment.

He had a brief comeback in the late 1970s, playing A and double-A ball from 1975-78, and appearing in 5 games for the Braves in 1978.

Tony Gonzalez (#245)

Tony Gonzalez was one of the Phillies' regular outfielders for most of the 1960s. After playing in the Reds minor-league system (including 1958 and 1959 in Havana), Gonzalez made the Reds team in 1960, but was traded to the Phillies in June. He immediately took over the center field position, and held either the left field or center field job through the 1968 season. Primarily the center fielder, Gonzalez was the regular in left field during 1966 and 1967.

In 1967, Tony's .339 batting average was 2nd best in the NL.



Gonzalez was selected by the San Diego Padres in the expansion draft prior to the 1969 season, He was the Padres regular leftfielder before being traded to the Braves in June 1969. The Braves outfield was already staffed by Rico Carty, Felipe Alou, and Hank Aaron, but Gonzalez was the swingman in left and center, giving Carty and Alou some rest.

Prior to the 1970 season, Alou was shipped to Oakland, so Gonzalez started 111 of the first 132 games in centerfield, before being sold to the Angels. Once in California, he took over the centerfield job that had been shared by Jay Johnstone and Roger Repoz. In 1971, Gonzalez had a reduced role for the Angels: splitting the left field job with Alex Johnson, and pinch-hitting.

1971 was the end of Tony's major-league career. In 1973, he returned to play 45 games for the Phillies double-A team in Reading, PA.

Final Card: Roger Maris

Everyone knows about Roger Maris (#330) and his 1961 season, so I won't re-hash that here.

Roger's major league debut was in 1957, with the Indians. Before that, he played minor-league ball in the Indians' system for 4 years, including a stop in Reading, PA in 1955 (then an Indians' farm club, but since 1967, the Phillies' double-A team).

In mid-1958, the Indians traded him (along with 2 other guys) to the Kansas City Athletics for infielder Woodie Held and 1st baseman Vic Power. As with most good Athletics players of that era, Maris was eventually traded to the Yankees. New York acquired Maris (and 2 other guys) for P Don Larsen, RF Hank Bauer, LF Norm Siebern, and 1B Marv Throneberry.



As you can see by the back of his card, as soon as Maris joined the Yankees, he became a homerun machine. He appeared in 5 straight World Series with the Yankees (1960-64).

Yankee outfielders in the "Maris era" (click to enlarge):


After the 1966 season, Maris was traded to the Cardinals for 3rd baseman Charley Smith. After 7 seasons with the Yankees, Roger could now be "just another guy" on a team already led by Bob Gibson, Orlando Cepeda, Lou Brock, and Curt Flood. He played his final 2 seasons in St. Louis, and appeared in the World Series both years. A nice way to wrap up a career!

Final Card: Larry Jackson

Larry Jackson (#81) made his major-league debut with the Cardinals in 1955, and was a workhorse pitcher for every one of his 14 seasons. (His 2-2 record in 1956 is misleading. That year, 50 of his 51 appearances were in relief.) He was generally (and exclusively after 1958) a starting pitcher, except for the 1956 season.

After 8 seasons with the Cardinals, he was traded to the Cubs. He won 24 games in 1964, (but unfortunately for him, it was for the Cubs, and not the world-champion Cardinals).



After 3 full seasons in Chicago, he was traded to the Phillies in mid-April 1966. He won 15, 13, and 13 games in his three seasons with the Phillies as their #3 starter. Normally, this would be considered a good thing, but in Jackson's case, the 1966 trade included the Phillies parting with rookie pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, who went on to win at least 20 games for 7 of the next 8 years (twice leading the league in wins). At least the Phillies learned their lesson (until 1982, when the Cubs again fleeced the Phillies by sending SS Ivan DeJesus to Philadelphia for SS Larry Bowa and a minor-leaguer named Ryne Sandberg!)

After the 1968 season, Jackson was selected by the Montreal Expos in the expansion draft. Rather than start over with a new team, Jackson retired. The Phillies sent good-field no-hit shortstop Bobby Wine to Montreal as compensation.

Joe Pepitone (#195)

For the next several days, my 3 card blogs will take on a Phillies and Yankees flavor, as we gear up for the World Series.

Joe Pepitone was the Yankees regular 1st baseman in the 1960s. Here, he looks like the Yankees answer to the Jets' Broadway Joe Namath.



He was a backup 1B-OF in his rookie year of 1962, but when 1st baseman Moose Skowron was traded away after the season, Joe took over as a regular for the rest of the decade. In 1967 and 1968, he was the Yankees regular centerfielder, as he swapped positions with Mickey Mantle due to Mantle's limited mobility. After Mantle's retirement prior to the 1969 season, Pepitone moved back to first base.

After the 1969 season, he was traded to the Houston National League Baseball Club (known outside the Topps baseball card company as "Astros") for outfielder Curt Blefary. Midway through his only season with the Astros, he was acquired by the Cubs, where he would play until May 1973. In his first season in Chicago, he was their centerfielder, then came two seasons as their first baseman. In 1973, the Cubs traded him to the Braves, who released him one month later.

In summary, Joe Pepitone came along and replaced Moose Skowron, then Mickey Mantle, then Ernie Banks!

Jim Palmer (#575)

Jim Palmer was a key part of the Orioles pitching staff for almost 2 decades.


The early years:

His major-league career began in 1965. Since the rotation was already capably manned by Milt Pappas, Steve Barber, Dave McNally, and Wally Bunker, Palmer found himself as the #3 man in the bullpen behind Stu Miller and Dick Hall. He did manage to make 6 starts to go along with his 21 relief appearances.

Palmer's potential enabled the Orioles to trade Pappas to the Reds for Frank Robinson prior to the 1966 season. In his 2nd year, Palmer joined the starting rotation and made 30 appearances (all starts). He was the #2 starter in innings (behind McNally), with Bunker and Barber completing the rotation. The top-notch pitching, along with Frank Robinson's triple crown season, led the Orioles to a World Series championship.

In 1967, the wheels fell off the entire starting rotation, with Palmer affected the most. Because of a sore arm, he made only 9 starts for Baltimore in 1967. He was sent down and only played 34 innings combined in A and AAA ball. The Orioles dropped to 6th, as McNally and Bunker were also having problems.

In 1968, he wasn't on the Orioles at all, and only managed to pitch 37 innings combined for 3 Orioles farm teams. (Back then, the Orioles were my "A.L. team", and Palmer was one of my favorite players. I remember thinking at the time that Palmer was done.) Meanwhile, the Orioles rebounded to 2nd place, thanks to McNally's comeback season of 22 wins.

In 1969, Palmer was back, with 16 wins. Mike Cuellar was acquired from the Astros (for Cury Blefary - what a steal!), and posted 23 wins. McNally won 20 games, and the Orioles finished in 1st place, meeting the Mets in the World Series.

In 1970, Palmer began a string of winning 20 or more games 7 times in 8 years. The rest is well-known history.