On Tuesday Night the Pirates Rookie Pitcher Paul Skenes will throw the first pitch of the All-Star game. It's a rare occurrence but so is starting your career 6-0. Skenes' name is being mentioned in the same sentence with Rookie phenoms such as Doc Gooden, Fernando Valenzuela, Mark Fidrych and Jim Nash.
Jim Nash??
The first three of those names are all folks casual fans know well and whose Rookie accomplishments are referenced frequently. However Jim Nash - well he's before my time and even though he is a member of the All-Star Rookie Cup canon I had to look into his accomplishments
1967 Topps #90 Jim Nash
Nash was the RHP representative for the 1967 TASR squad and he earned it, 12-1 with a 2.06 ERA. He led rookies in both categories (100 IP minimum). Prominent pitchers in the Rookie class included Future HoFs Don Sutton (12-12, 209K, 2.99 ERA, 3.5 WAR) and Fergie Jenkins (6-8, 3.32 ERA, 150 K, 3.3 WAR)
Flip
Cover Boy
At roughly the same time as the above card was issued Jim Nash was also the triple cover subject for Sports Illustrated.
Yes in March of 1967 with 12 Career Wins under his belt Jim Nash made the cover of Sports Illustrated. At 22 years of age he was the staff ace for an Oakland A's staff that included a Young Catfish Hunter and Blue Moon Odom.
Phuture Phillie
Jim Nash's ended his career with 8 starts for the 1972 Philadelphia Phillies, He lost ALL 8 of those starts. The 97 Loss Phillies were really bad, however Nash's 6.27 ERA with the squad was a pretty large factor in those losses.
This looks like an airbrushed shot of Nash. Check his cap, I doubt he wore that number 23 with the Phillies. According to baseball-ref both he and Oscar Gamble wore 23 in 1972, but their tenures with the club appear to overlap so I am thinking Nash wore the other number they have listed #42.
Flip
The comic on the flipside mentions Jim Nash's rookie Win Streak. I also want to note the Weight listed as 220. That is likely Nash's Rookie number. Articles from the era mentioned the voracious appetite of "Jumbo" Jim Nash and that he had ballooned to 260 lbs at one point in his career.
Best of luck to Paul Skenes on Tuesday Night. Right now I imagine he is the front-runner to be the RHP rep on the 2024(2025 card) Topps All-Star Rookie team - hopefully if he ever becomes a Phillie he does better than 0-8.
Peanut Gallery
For more coverage of this card check out Jim's column on the 1967 Topps Blog.
Sources and Links
1967 Topps All-Star Rookie Index
Philadelphia Inquirer (1970 June 11, Sandy Padwe)
