1959 Topps #225 Johnny Logan
Like the Phillies who have added many Philadelphia A's to their Wall of Fame the Brewers have honored their baseball past by adding Milwaukee Braves to their Wall.
Johnny Logan gets the well deserve honored this season - he has been a leader in the effort to keep the them histoyr of the Braves time in Milwaukee alive. Logan need not enter a teams wall of fame on ambassador credentials alone. He had one of those really decent, if forgotten, careers. His 13 years in the majors included 11 with the Braves in both Boston and Milwaukee and the balance with the Pirates. He was the starting shortstop on two Braves World Series teams including the 1957 squad which won the World Championship in 7 games. Between 55 and 59 Logan made 5 All-Star appearances. His best year was probably 1955 when he led the league in Games Played and Doubles while batting .297 (116 OPS+, 6.0 WAR ranked 6th in the NL). He also stacked up well defensively, leading the NL in assists at short 4 times during the 1950s.
He has a very interesting SABR Bio that is worth a look if you have some time. Logan lost 2 minor league seasons to the service during WWII, but he also attributes that time to helping him learn the fundamentals of the game while playing for the Army team based out of Camp Wheeler Georgia.
While in the Army Logan was sent to Japan, the Bio isn't specific, but this may have factored into him playing in Japan after his Major League career ended with Pittsburgh. Logan joined the Nankai Hawks for a single season. The Hawks won the Japan Series that year making Johnny Logan the first player to be on winning World Series squads in both the US and Japan. Logan also homered in both series
Rewind
Last year the Brewers honored broadcaster Bob Uecker with a statue near the stadium - briefly mentioned in this post last year.
CommishBob covered the 59 Topps Johnny Logan card on his Set blog back in 2011.
For The Collector
I picked up the Johnny Logan card featured above as part of an ebay lot in April of 2008. The card went for about 40 cents - it is in ok condition, couple of creases the number 16 (Logans Uni # w/ the Bucos) in pen on the front and a small 'x' written on the back. At larger card shows Topps 1959 commons often be found for 50 cents.
The Topps Rookie Card of Johnny Logan is #158 the 1953 Set. It has sold recently for a low of $15 (there was an off condition card for $5.75 from a questionable seller). The high for the card was $42.50 for a card graded NM by somebody known as Starx Cards, whomever they are.
The 1953 Topps Logan card lists his name as John rather than Johnny and it is the only card where he is a member of the Boston Braves. He has a Topps card for every year from 53-63 excluding 1955. In 55 Bowman had a Johnny Logan offering (#180). His last Braves card is in 61, the final two cards are with the Pirates.
References
Baseball-Ref
SABR Bio
Pipe Dream - Binghamton University Student Paper
Ebay
Baseball Card Database
3 comments:
On the "Ask Bob" segment on last night's Brewer's broadcast, Uecker was asked what he could remember about playing with Logan. Pretty good stuff. From bout the 6th or 7th inning; if it is archived on MLB...
That is cool - great when a posting times out just right.
Thanks for the SABR link. Johnny Logan grew up in the same town I grew up in -- he's got a few things named after him, but I never heard much about him growing up. It's only recently that I've followed him.
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