1959 Topps #178 Ruben Amaro
Ruben
Amaro played 40 games for the 1958 Cardinals, but his first Topps card
was issued with a Phillies Logo in the 1959 set. This is despite the
fact that Amaro would not play with the Phillies
unitl June of 1960. Amaro was a member of the Phillies for 6 years
including the ill-fated 1964 season. Amaro was good enough to stick
hold down a majore league job for 11 seasons, but that is about it. He
did not really have any offensive standout years
and finished his career with 8 home runs and a .234 batting average.
His 11 years were split among 4 clubs including the Angels and Yankees
in addition the Phils and Cardinals. Thanks to the Phillies 1964
collapse Amaro never got a chance to play in the
post-season, but he did earn a Gold Glove for his play during that 1964
season.
Ruben Amaro
is of course the father of Ruben Amaro Jr who is the current GM of the
Philadelphia Phillies. Ruben Amaro JR or RAJ in @TwitterSpeak also
played a few unremarkable years with the
Phillies. While doing some Wiki-research I found out that the RAJ is
actually a 3rd generation professional ballplayer. His grandfather
Santos Amaro played in the Cuban and Mexican Leagues. According to
Wikipedia Santos played 17 seasson in the Mexican
League compiling 1,339 hits and a .314 batting average. He was elected to the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977.
For the Collector
The 1959 Topps Card for Ruben Amaro is a Rookie Card, but basically a common. I picked up this card up for 30 cents. A graded PSA 8 Amaro card sold for $243.26 recently. The PSA 7 graded cards are significantly more affordable with 3 auctions ending at under $26.
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