Final Card: Eddie Mathews

Eddie Mathews (#58) began playing pro baseball in 1949 at High Point-Thomasville, in the class-D North Carolina State League. He also played in Atlanta and Milwaukee when they were Braves' minor league teams.

His major-league debut was in 1952 with the Boston Braves. After 15 years as a fixture with the Braves, Mathews was traded to the Astros, where he joined the 500 homerun club in 1967. In August 1967, he was dealt to Detroit (for pitcher Fred Gladding), where he finished his career by getting a World Series ring with the 1968 Tigers. What better way to go out!

Bob Aspromonte (#95)

Bob Aspromonte was an original Houston Colt .45 from 1962. In fact, he started practically every game at 3rd base for Houston for their first 6 years. Here we see "Aspro the Astro" with a doctored cap, as with all the 1968 Astros cards.



The back of the card tells us that "Last year, Bob had his finest big league season at the plate". No matter, as 1968 was the year he finally lost his regular 3B job (to 2nd-year man Doug Rader). After 1968, Bob was sent on to the Braves, and ended his career in 1971 with the Mets.

The card back also tells us that Bob got 1 at-bat with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956. Thanks to that one appearance, he became the last active Brooklyn Dodger.

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?

Frank Kostro (#44)

It looks like Frank Kostro played minor-league baseball forever. So much so that there's no room on the back of his card for any commentary.

Kostro's card displays the dreaded position of "INF-OF". In reality, he was primarily a pinch hitter in 1967 and 1968, while playing only 4 games in the field in 1967, and in a few dozen games in 1968. He ended his career in 1969 with 2 pinch-hitting appearances for the Twins.

Woody Fryman (#112)

As you can see from the previous post, Jim Bunning was All-Everything for the Phillies pitching staff in 1967. Nevertheless, the Phillies traded him to the Pirates in the off-season for Woody Fryman and 3 minor-league prospects (including SS Don Money).

Since this card was in the 2nd series, it was printed and sold just a few months after the trade, so we see Woody still in his Pirates uniform (no, that's not Jim Thome).



Though not as accomplished as Bunning, Fryman was 12 years younger, and as a southpaw, he gave the Phillies' starting rotation more balance, teamed with lefty Chris Short and righthanders Larry Jackson and Rick Wise. (Bunning was righthanded.)

After three seasons as a starter, Fryman spent his last year and a half with the Phillies as a swingman, before being shipped to the Tigers in late 1972.

Topps lazily used this same photo for Fryman's 1969 card, apparently having no time during the 12 months after the trade to snap a new picture of Fryman.


Also see his 1967 card.

NL Pitching Leaders (#7, #9, #11)

With Sandy Koufax retiring following the 1966 season, and Bob Gibson missing almost 2 months with a broken leg, this opened up some space at the top of the National League pitching charts in 1967. The Phillies' Jim Bunning took particular advantage:






Had the Phillies not foolishly traded Fergie Jenkins to the Cubs in early 1966, the Phillies may have had a stranglehold on these cards!

Ed Charles (#563)

Ed Charles was a 5-year starter at 3B for Kansas City, then was traded to the Mets on 5/12/1967 for outfielder Larry Elliot (who never played another major-league game after 1966). He took over the Mets regular 3rd base job from Ken Boyer (86 starts vs. Boyer's 43 starts) . Charles continued as the Mets' regular 3rd baseman in 1968, but lost his starting job in 1969 to Wayne Garrett. Twelve days after the Mets won the 1969 World Series, Charles was released.


What caught my attention about this card is the large amount of blank space on the card back. Usually, Topps omitted the minor-league stats for long-time veterans, but they did it here also. When checking into Charles' minor league statistics, I learned that he was originally signed in 1952 by the Boston Braves.

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.