1969 Topps #237 Bobby Cox (1941-2026)

Over the weekend we got the sad news of Bobby Cox's passing. He is best known for his Quarter Century managing the Braves in two different stints that covered parts of SIX DIFFERENT DECADES. 

1969 Topps #237 Bobby Cox (image stolen from ebay)

Prior to his Managerial career Bobby Cox had two major league seasons with the New York Yankees in the late 1960s. His 135 games with the 1968 Yankees earned him the spot on the All-Star Rookie Squad. While none of his Rookie Numbers (.229/7/41) are impressive he led all three categories (for 3B). Well sort of - none of the 3B batted enough to qualify for the batting average title. I am giving Cox the nod since he had more than double the number of plate appearances the anyone who had a better average. Yes .229 was the batting leader among Rookie 3B in 1968, Freddie Patek batted .255 in 234 PAs compared to Cox's 490.  

AL Rookie of the Year

The 1968 Rookie of the Year Award went to Cox's teammate Stan Bahnsen who had very impressive Pitching Numbers (17-12, 2.05, 162 Ks). Only one other player received ROY votes, Del Unser. 

Not sure how Unser got 3 ROY votes his batting numbers are similar to Cox (.229/1/30) and honestly a touch worse. Del Unser started his career in CenterField and perhaps voters found that to be a more important defensive position than third base. Modern stats were not available in 1968, if they were voters would have been able to consider Bobby Cox's +0.9 WAR vs Unser's -1.5.

Flip

1969 Topps #237 Bobby Cox (b-side image stolen from ebay)

Couple of interesting things on the flip side. Looking at the text we find out that Bobby Cox was a player in the Braves organization a decade before he started managing Atlanta. The two seasons he played for Braves affiliates were 1966 Austin and 1967 Richmond. 

The other item that caught my attention is the comic, unfortunately I was unable to track down much information on Bobby Cox's Venezuelan League career. According to Tim Deale's SABR Bio Cox played in Venezuela from 1967-1970 

Other Voices

Check out this posting from our friend Jim from Downingtown who discussed this card and Bobby Cox's career as both a player & manager back in 2014.  

Bobby Cox HOF Index

1998 Topps #334 Andruw Jones  Cox Quote re: Jones

Source & Links

SABR Bio - Tim Deale

Baseball-reference

1969 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Index

Phungo HOF Index

Ebay

ANNIVERSARY 1968 OCT 02: Bob Gibson Sets World Series Strike Out Record

I missed the 50th anniversary of this a year ago so we are catching up today.

1969 Topps #162 World Series Special Game 1 Gibson Fans 17

Yes 51 years ago Bob Gibson Struck out 17 Tigers in Game one of the 1968 World Series.

Number of things to like on this card:

- Newsprint style format
- Gibson's face is a bit in the shadow, but overall I think this is a good photo from the era
- Great headline, subheader and synopsis
- Sponsorship by The Sporting News
- It's BOB freaking GIBSON

Gibson's 17K day broke the previous record set by Sandy Koufax 5 years prior, also on October 2 and in a game 1, Gibson struck out every Detroit hitter in the starting lineup at least once with the 3 & 4 Htiters Al Kaline and Norm Cash each whiffing 3 times. Other notable victims include Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews who went down on strikes as a Pinch Hitter, Bill Freehan and Willie Horton.

According to Baseball Almanac the record still stands today.

Flip

1969 Topps #162 World Series Special Game 1 Gibson Fans 17 (b-side)

The back of the card has a box score for the Cardinals 4-0 victory. Note the 17 Putouts credited to Tim McCarver. Lots of other big names on the Cardinals, HOF Lou Brock's hit was a Home Run which accounted for the single run in the 7th.

While the Cardinals won this battle, the Tigers would eventually win the War taking the 1968 Series in 7 games.

1968 Topps World Series Special Subset
The subber for the 1968 World Series runs 8 cards from #162-169, one for each game plus a summary. Hall of Famers earning cards in the set other than Gibson are the aforementioned Kaline and Brock.  

Sources and Links
1969 Topps Baseball
Bob Gibson Hall of Fame Index
1969 Topps World Series Special Subset
baseball card database
Baseball-Ref
Baseball Almanac

2018 Heritage The Originals - 1969 Topps

This is an Index of our posts related to the 2018 Topps Heritage and it's original Uncle 1969 Topps.

1969 Topps #174 Grant Jackson

Base Cards
Previous Retros
All-Star Cards
Rookie Cups
Manager Cards
League Leaders
World Series
Checkers
2018 Heritage Photography vs 1969 Photography and stochastic screening (SABR Baseball Cards: njwv)
Transograms (SABR Baseball Cards: Tim Jenkins)

1969T Hall of Fame Cards

Sources and Links
1967 Topps Blog
Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards - Bob Lemke
Cardboard Connection   

1976 ASG +40: Catfish Hunter 1988 Topps 87 ASG #11

We have a lot going on with our Sunday Night Baseball posting this week. 

ESPN is back in New York for another Red Sox v Yankees match up. The Big Apple venue gives us a chance to discuss one of the sadder of our 1976 All-Star Game subjects, Jim "Catfish" Hunter.

1988 Topps 87 All-Star #11 of 22 Jim Hunter

The 1976 All-Star game was the final of Catfish Hunter's eight appearances on the Mid-Summer Classic Roster. He represented the A's six times and the Yankees twice.

Overall 1976 was a mediocre season for Catfish, his ASG roster spot was earned with four consecutive top-4 Cy Young finishes in the seasons prior. His 1975 Cy 2nd included leading the league with 23 Wins and 30 Complete Games. His the most recent player to break the 30 CG mark and will probably be the last of my generation

Hunter was the 2nd AL pitcher to take the mound in the 76 ASG. He pitched the 3rd and 4th innings giving up a pair of runs on a 2-run bomb by Reds Outfielder George Foster. Hunter faced 3 HoF players in the two innings:

Joe Morgan - Singled and scored in front of  Foster's Home Run
Johnny Bench - Stuck Out to end the 3rd Inning
Tom Seaver - Stuck Out to end the 4th Inning

So really he faced only 2 HoF Hitters, we are being precise here - blogging is important.

The sole Phillies batter he faced was Greg Luzinski who flew out to Left.

1988 Topps All-Star Commemoratives
Picked this card because Catfish was not issued an All-Star card as a Yankee during his playing days.

The 1988 Topps Commemoratives which were placed in rack packs included two 1987 ASG Honorary Captain cards. Hunter represented the AL while Billy Williams received the honor for the NL. The two were inducted into the Hall of Fame later that summer.

Sloppy Topps
Details kids, the 1987 All-Star game was held in Oakland and Catfish wore the colors of his original team the A's for the occasion.

Catfish Hunter All-Star
Catfish Hunter spent his entire career in the AL during an era when the NL dominated the All-Star Game. The Junior Circuit lost all eight games in which he was on the roster, and truth be told he didn't help the AL very much.

Hunter pitched in six of those eight games including a fine performance in his first ASG in 1967. The game went 15 innings and Catfish pitched the final 5. Hunter only gave up two hits through his first four innings, unfortunately he gave up a Home Run to Tony Perez in the 15th.

The games outcome is noted in the -toon on the back of Hunter's 1969T card.

1969 Topps #236 Jim Hunter (b-side)

In today's terms giving up a run in an All-Star game seems about average, the cartoon neglects to mention that the single run occurred in an outing that went 5 innings.

And an Anniversary
Turning our attention to the text, the card mentions Catfish Hunter's No Hit Perfect Game. Today happens to be the anniversary of that Perfect Game a 4-0 A's victory over the Twins on May 8 1948. Hunter's 1969 Topps card is the first one issued after the game, therefore the first of his cards to include the words "Perfect Game". I imagine that prior to this card the only Topps Cards that mentioned "Perfect Game" were dedicated to Don Larsen, Jim Bunning and Sandy Koufax.

According to Baseball-Ref Catfish Hunter made $23,500 in 1968. Assuming that is his post bonus number, the $5,000 raise mentioned on the card is an increase of 27%. The US Department of Labor Inflation Calculator estimates that five grand is the equivalent of $34,000 in 2016 Dollars.

Here is a look at the front o the card

1969 Topps #236 Jim Hunter

Hunter's other ASG appearances were all mediocre at best

1966: DNP
1967: See above
1970: 3 Earned runs including a Home Run to Dick Dietz, while recording only a single out.
1972: DNP
1973: His Best ASG 1 1/3 no runs 1 hit, no walks. outs recorded vs HoF Joe Morgan and Hank Aaron plus Pete Rose.
1974: 2 Innings allowed a Home Run to Reggie Smith, Struck out 3 batters including Perez.
1975: Allowed 2 ER in 2IP - although the runs were both allowed in by Goose Gossage after Hunter exited the game without recording an out in the 9th.
1976: See Above

Sources and Links
1976 ASG 40th Anniversary Index 
Catfish Hunter HoF Index
No-Hitter Index
Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards - Bob Lemke  
Getty Images
YouTube - 1976 ASG
Baseball Almanac
Baseball-ref 
Bureau of Labor Inflation Calculator

50th Anniversary: Chris Short's 18 Strikeout Game

On October 2nd 1965 Chris Short set the National League Record for Strikeouts in a game.

1969 Topps #395 Chris Short

In the 2nd game of a double-header versus the Mets Short struck out 18 batters tying the modern National League record for Ks in a game. Short's 18 punch outs came over 15 shutout innings rather than the standard 9 and is not typically recognized in lists of high strikeout games.

The reason Short pitched 15 innings despite not allowing a run is that the Phillies were unable to score versus the Mets Rookie Pitcher Rod Gardner. In only his 5th career major league appearance Gardner also tossed 15 shutout innings, more than doubling his career total at the time.

In the end neither team scored and the game was suspended after 18 innings.

Gardner was Short's number one victim with 4 Strikeouts, Danny Napoleon took home a golden sombrero - even though he did not start. Joe Christopher struck out 3 times as well, but one of the Ks was versus Phillies reliever Jack Baldschun.

1969 Topps

1969 Topps #395 Chris Short (b-side)

This is the 3rd Topps Card issued for Short who debuted in 1959 but did not get signed by Topps until 1967.

Chris Short added 4 more shutouts to the team record mentioned in the -toon. His record 24 career Shutouts for the Phillies was eventually eclipsed by Hall of Famer Steve Carlton (39). The franchise shutout record is held by Grover Cleveland (Pete) Alexander (61) 

The Box for the All-Star game referenced in the text can be found here. Among the 7 batters Short faced were future Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew (popout) and Carl Yastrzemski (Walk). The final batter Short faced was hometown Angels All-Star Rep and future Phillies Manager Jim Fregosi who struckout.

Jim from Downingtown has an interesting post on the 67 All-Star game here, it includes vintage newspaper photos from the era. One of the pix is of Dick (Richie) Allen with Hall of Famer Tony Perez.  

Sources and Links
Phungo Chris Short Index (1964 Phillies Retrospective)
1960s Baseball - Jim from Downingtown

Retrosheet
Baseball-ref
1960s Baseball
Astros Daily
Phillies
2015 1003 - Added link to Jim from Downingtown's 1967 ASG posting.  
 

1969 Topps #507 Cookie Rojas - 1965 All-Star

The first All-Star Game hosted by the Twins was in 1965. The game was held at Metropolitan Stadium. The Phillies Cookie Rojas made the first of his Five All-star appearances in that game.

1969 Topps #507 Cookie Rojas Sources

The NL won the game 6-5, 3 future Hall of Famers Homered for the senior circuit, Willie Stargell, Willie Mays and Joe Torre. The AL got a home run from hometown hero Harmon Killiebrew.

Rojas flew out to centerfield in his only plate appearance.  The NL Squad included two other Phillies, Dick Allen who started and batted cleanup and Johnny Callison who did not play. The team was  piloted by Phillies manager Gene Mauch.

1964 Phillies  
I am adding this post to our 1964 Phillies series. Click on the team link to find some more profiles on the club include the aforementioned Dick Allen and Johnny Callison. 

2014  Phungo All-Star Coverage
Ozzie Virgil
Glenn Wilson
Johnny Callison
Chase Utley

More Cookie 
1969 Topps Blog has a nice career summary on Rojas

Sources
Baseball-ref

2014 03 08 Card Show Valley Forge PA: $2 Box - 1969 Topps #6 LL HR Dick Allen & 2 HoF

Next up on our VF show Show n Tell is a card from the $2 Bin.


1969 Topps #6 League Leaders Willie McCovey Dick Allen Ernie Banks

This is a pretty unique LL card for Phils fans. We have one of the clubs most prolific Home Run hitters flanked by a pair of first ballot Hall of Famers.  It was the 2nd of 3 Home Run titles for Willie McCovey who led the league in 1963 and would win the HR title again in 1969. Dick Allen finished second in the league with 33 followed by Banks at 32. It was the 2nd time that Allen was runner-up, he would finally win an Home Run title in 1972 as a member of the ALs White Sox. 1968 was the last time Ernie Banks would hit 30+ Home Runs. Previously Banks had won HR titles in 1958 and 1960. 

In 1968 McCovey's 36 Homers was the lowest total to lead the NL since Ralph Kiner won the title with 23 dingers in 1946. Since '68 the Home Run title has been won with 36 or less homers five times 1974 Mike Schmidt (36), Schmidt again in Strike shortened 1981 (31), 1984 Schmidt and Dale Murphy(36),  1992 Fred McGriff (35), and last year when Pedro Alvarez and Paul Goldschmidt each had 36.  

2014 03 14 VF Card Show
1973 Topps #503 Phil Niekro

Sources 
Dick Allen Player Collection Index 
Willie McCovey Index

Baseball-ref

Katie & Ted Uhlaender: Olympic Athlete Daughter & Ballplayer Father

Recently via the fine twitter account of @ObxLeatherman I found out that Katie Uhlaender, A US Competitor in the Olympic Skeleton, is also the daughter of 60/70s era Outfielder Ted Uhlaender.

1966 Topps #264 Ted Uhlaender (RC)


Sochi is the third olympiad for the 29 year old Katie Uhlaender.  Uhlaender's resume includes a 6th place finish at the 2006 Olympics in Torino. She also has Olympic aspirations in the summer sport of weightlifting.

This years Women's Skeleton events will be held on Thursday and Friday (13th & 14th).  Not sure if the game competition will be on NBC, but will be keeping an eye on that.

Sadly Katie's father Ted Uhlaender died of cancer in 2009 at the age of 59.

1969 Topps #194 Ted Uhlaender (Swiped from Baseball Card Database)

To honor her father Katie keeps Ted's 1969 Topps card taped to her sled. As a card collector, I find this to be a really hip tribute. The 1969 Ted Uhlaender card is show above.

Ted Uhlaender spent eight seasons in the Majors mostly with the Twins, but was also a member of the Reds 1972 National Leaque Championship squad. During game 2 of the World Series he had a pinch hit double off of future Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter. 

Katie Uhlaender has a card in the 2014 Topps US Olympic and Paralympic Team Hopefuls Trading Card set (including an auto). I would think that this would make the Uhlaender's one of the few father-daughter combinations to both have Topps Cards - very unique.

2014 Topps US Olympics #84 Katie Uhlaender
In our 2014 Topps Olympic Cards break we feature Katie Uhlaender a bit more. That post can be found here. 

More Uhleander's
1967 Topps Baseball
Von's Cards (2014 Olympic Katie, 1972 Topps Ted)  

Sources
Sochi2014
SportsRef/Baseball-ref
Baseball Card Database
New York Post
Cardboard Connection
Phungo 2014 Topps US Olympics Box Break

Updates (2018 0211) - Added Katie Uhlaender card and link to related box break.  

Tonights Football Game related Posting: 1969 Topps #17 Mike Marshall

The Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks face off over in New Jersey tonight. I am rooting for Seattle, but overall I haven't developed much interest in the game either way. 

50 years ago Seattle didn't have any professional teams, well they probably did but not at the Major level. The Supersonics came in 1967. Then Seattle got BASEBALL. The Seattle Pilots arrived in 1969. The travails of that first team were famously chronicled by Jim Bouton in hsi book Ball Four. 

1969 Topps #17 Mike Marshall 

The first card issued of a Seattle Pilot was the above of relief pitcher Mike Marshall. It is card #17, there are 26 Pilots cards in 1969 Topps, The most notable players are Tommy Davis, Mike Hegan and the Lou Piniella RC (shared with Marv Staehler)

Mike Marshall didn't have much success with the Pilots (3-10, 5.13 ERA). He did eventually find his way to the Dodgers where he became a relief pitching phenomenon. During the 1974 Season he pitched in an impressive 106 games and 208 innings IN RELIEF. The numbers led to a Cy Young award for the then 31 year old righthander.  The Dodgers won the NL Pennant that season but lost to the A's in the World Series. Marshall pitched in all 5 games of the 74 Series. For his career Marshall led the league in Saves 3 times, Games 4, and Games finished 5.    

Phillies
Marshall was originally signed by the Phillies in 1960. He spent 5 minor league seasons in the Phils organization, but only one as a pitcher. Originally Marshall was a shortstop. He hit 32 Home Runs over those 5 years, topping out at 14 for single-A Magic Valley in 1963. Marshall batted .274 in the minors but his average dipped severely at AA and above, likely leading to the position change.  

The time Mike Marshal spent with the Phillies is mentioned on the flip of his 1969 card

1969 Topps #17 Mike Marshall(b-side)

Seattle Pilots
For further info on the cards of the 1969 Pilots check out this great summary post at the 1969 Topps Blog

Sources
Baseball-ref.com
TeamSets4U  
1969 Topps Blog