Woody Held (#289)

Nothing says "jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none" better than having "INF-OF" appear on your baseball card.

Woody (a/k/a Woodie) Held was signed by the Yankees in 1951, and played in their farm system through part of the 1957 season.

Although having a cup of coffee with the Yanks in 1954, Held returned to the majors for good during the 1957 season. On June 15th 1957 Held, Billy Martin, and 2 other players were traded to the Athletics for 3 players. Exactly one year later, he and Vic Power were traded to the Indians for Roger Maris and 2 others.



Woody was the Indians' regular shortstop from 1959 to 1962, making over 100 starts there in each season. In 1963, he moved over to second base, and although he was the regular there, he also started some games in the outfield (INF-OF alert!).

With the Indians' acquisition of shortstop Dick Howser, Larry Brown (who had taken Held's shortstop job the previous season) was moved to second base in 1964, replacing Held again. Woody was now in full INF-OF mode, and would remain there for the rest of his career.

After the 1964 season, Held and first baseman Bob Chance were traded to the Senators for outfielder Chuck Hinton. A year later he was traded to the Orioles for catcher John Orsino.

Midway through the 1967 season, he went to the Angels for pitcher Marcelino Lopez. His last move was in July 1968, when he was traded to the White Sox for infielder Wayne Causey. The Sox released him after the 1969 season, ending his 14-year career.

Final Card: John Buzhardt

And now a 10-day blitz, as I wrap up most of the remaining 10-year veterans who retired in the late 1960s...


I almost hate scanning and posting these 1968 Astros cards, because every last one of them is either hatless or airbrushed. Earlier today, upon completing his tour of the entire 1969 set, Wrigley Wax noted that at some point he "hit the wall". I hit the wall every time I see one of these hatless wretches! What makes it even worse is when there is no other interesting aspect to the photo. In a few days, we'll all be treated to Buzhardt's Astros teammate Larry Sherry - an equally un-interesting hatless photo, as well as the Phillies' Turk Farrell. But I digress...

John Buzhardt (#403) was signed by the Cubs in 1954, and played in their minor-league system from 1954 to 1958. His major-league debut came on September 10th, his first of 6 appearances that year.

In 1959, John played for the Cubs the entire season. Before the 1960 season, Buzhardt was traded (along with third basemen Alvin Dark and Jim Woods) to the Phillies for outfielder Richie Ashburn.



John's two seasons in Philadelphia seem less than impressive. He compiled records of 5-16 and 6-18. Two of his 6 wins in 1961 were the games just before and just after the Phillies' infamous 23-game losing streak.

After the 1961 season, Buzhardt and third baseman Charlie Smith were sent to the White Sox for first baseman Roy Sievers. John fared better in his 5-plus seasons with the Sox than with the Phillies. (It was probably the team!) Twice he got double-figures in wins. Twice his ERA was under 3.00. For awhile, he was actually on par with Gary Peters, Joe Horlen, and Tommy John!

In 1967, Buzhardt was on the move. He was one of five players (along with Jim King, Jim Landis, Jack Lamabe, and Ken Harrelson) to play for more than 2 teams in 1967. [Hmm... 4 of these 5 played for the White Sox!] On August 21st he was sold to the Orioles. A month later he was sold to the Astros. (I'm not sure why. Houston was not on any kind of stretch drive for the last week of September!)

1968 was John's final season. He appeared in 39 games for the Astros - his most since 1961.

Walter Alston (#472)

Walter Alston was the Dodgers' manager from 1954 to 1976. This was a total of 23 seasons, all on 1-year contracts. He was followed by Tommy Lasorda from 1977 to midway through the 1996 season (another 19 1/2 years). So, for 42 1/2 years, the Dodgers only had 2 managers. Compare that with the revolving door of the past 13 years, where 5 different managers have led the Dodgers.

In Alston's first 13 seasons at the helm, the Dodgers finished in first place 6 times, including 4 World Series championships, and finished in second place 3 times.



After a 3-year slump from 1967-1969 (which included two 8th-place finishes), the Dodgers finished in either first or second place in 6 of Walt's last 7 years.

Alston was replaced by Tommy Lasorda for the final 4 games of 1976, but it must have been for health reasons, because the Dodgers were in 2nd place at the time.

Final Card: Bobby Locke

This is Bobby Locke's final card (#24). It's also his first card since 1965, so I'm going to throw him into my "Back on Topps' Radar" series.

Topps spent little or no effort on this card. They used the same photo from the 1962 card, and on the back they omitted Locke's minor-league stats.

Locke was signed by the Indians in 1953, and spent the 1953 - 1956 seasons in their minor league system.



1957 and 1958 are unaccounted for in his record. Military service is not listed, so maybe he missed 2 seasons due to injuries.

Locke pitched for the Cleveland Indians from 1959 to 1961, while also spending some time in the minors.

In November 1961, Bobby was traded to the Cubs, but he was shipped to the Cardinals a few days before the season started. Three weeks later, the Cardinals traded him to the Phillies.

Locke bounced between Philadelphia and their triple-A team for the next 3 seasons, and was sold to the Angels after the 1964 season.

Midway through the 1965 season, the Angels traded Locke to the Reds, but reacquired him in June 1966. He continued bouncing up and down with the Angels. 1968 was his final major-league season, and he spent 1969 entirely in the minors before retiring.


To tell you the truth, I'm surprised Locke even has a card in this set. 1961 was the last season that he pitched more than 20 innings in the major leagues!

Rick Monday (#282)

Rick Monday was the first pick in the 1965 amateur draft - the very first draft.

He spent his first 2 seasons in the minors, making his major-league debut on 9/3/1966. He had a fine rookie season in 1967, and although he was named to the Topps' 1967 All-Rookie team, a trophy doesn't appear on his card.



After 5 seasons as the Athletics' centerfielder, Rick was traded to the Cubs for pitcher Ken Holtzman in November 1971. Monday played with the Cubs for 5 seasons, and has his best power numbers there - hitting 26, 20, and 32 homers in 3 of his 5 seasons with Chicago.

In January 1977, Monday was traded to the Dodgers with pitcher Mike Garman for shortstop Ivan DeJesus and outfielder Bill Buckner. In his first season in LA, he was the Dodgers' regular centerfielder, but year by year, his playing time was reduced, so that by his final season in 1984, he only appeared in 31 games. He was released in June 1984.

Norm Miller (#161)

Norm Miller was signed by the Los Angeles Angels prior to the 1964 season and spent the season with single-A Quad Cities. [Back in the day, I wondered where "Quad Cities " was. In 1991, I was in Quad Cities (Rock Island & Moline IL, Davenport & Bettendorf IA) on business.]

After the season, Norm was drafted by Houston, and played 11 major-league games in both 1965 and 1966. Although he would still play in the minors for parts of 1967 and 1968, 1967 was the first season where the majority of his time was spent in the majors.



In 1967, Miller split time in left field with Ron Davis. He was the Astros' primary right fielder from 1968 to 1970. (Right-field incumbent Rusty Staub moved to first base in 1968, and was shipped to the Expos in 1969.)

In 1971, outfielders Bob Watson and Cesar Cedeno became everyday players, and with Jimmy Wynn already a fixture, Miller and Jesus Alou scrambled for playing time, resulting in Miller's demotion to 5th outfielder.

In April 1973, Norm was traded to the Braves for pitcher Cecil Upshaw. He lasted 2 seasons in Atlanta before being released after the 1974 season. The Dodgers signed him in February 1975, but released him prior to the season.

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!

Russ Nixon (#515)

Russ Nixon started his career in 1953 with the Green Bay Packers Bluejays, the Cleveland Indians' affiliate in the class-D Wisconsin State League.

After 4 seasons in the minors, Nixon made his Indians' debut on April 20, 1957. He and 36-year-old Jim Hegan each caught about 1/3 of the games, with the rest handled by Dick Brown and Hal Naragon.

In 1958, Russ took over the #1 catching job, while Dick Brown was his backup. The following year, his playing time was decreased, with Brown starting more games.



In 1960, Nixon was twice traded to the Red Sox. In March, the first trade was voided when one of the players refused to report. In mid-June, a second deal involving all different players was completed.
Although not joining the team until mid-June, Nixon managed to start more games than the other Red Sox' catchers.

1960 was the high point of his Red Sox' career, as he slipped to 2nd or 3rd string behind Jim Pagliaroni and/or Bob Tillman during the 1961-1964 seasons.

In 1965, Mike Ryan arrived in Boston to further crowd the catching picture. Prior to the 1966 season, Nixon was traded to the Twins, where he continued as a backup catcher (to Earl Battey and Jerry Zimmerman).

After 2 seasons with Minnesota, Nixon returned to the Red Sox in 1968. He spent part of the season in the minors. After the season, Russ was selected by the White Sox in the rule 5 draft, but was released prior to the 1969 season, ending his 12-year career.

Nixon managed the Reds and the Braves in the 1980s.