#151 - Clay Dalrymple After 9 years with the Phillies, Dalrymple is traded to Baltimore in the off-season. Topps thinks so much of this player, and because they want their cards as accurate as possible (sarcasm now turned off), two versions of Clay's card are made. Topps really had to dig deep into the files to find a hatless picture, because the one they chose was taken at the Polo Grounds. Why didn't they just take the airbrush to the photo on the first card?
#152 - Tommie Sisk Sisk was traded by the Pirates to the Padres just before the start of the 1969 season, on March 28. He made 53 appearances and had a horrible record on a horrible team, going 2-13 with a 4.78 ERA. He was traded to the White Sox the next spring and was out of the majors by June, 1970.
I'm starting to notice a trend with many pitchers, who because of expansion, were just barely hanging on. It seems like there have been several who had their careers extended, and the ended in 1969-1970.
#153 - Ed Brinkman Here is something shocking: In 1968, Brinkman hit under .200 for the second straight year. In 1969, he raised his average up to .266 , hit 2 home runs and and drove in 66 runs. That was good enough to finish 20th in the AL MVP voting. How bad was the AL that only 19 players were deemed more valuable that Ed Brinkman?
#154 - Jim Britton Jim looks like he had a rough night last night. He was 7-5 for the Braves in 1969 shuttling between the rotation and the bullpen.
#155 - Pete Ward These are the uniforms that the White Sox wore in the Civil Rights game on June 20. His career was in freefall and 1969 was his last season with the Sox. He was out of baseball after 1970.
#156 - Astro Rookies The Astros were 0-2. Gilson made 15 big league appearances in 1968 but never returned to the majors. McFadden got into 62 games with the Astros over three seasons and hit ..215. His photo looks more like a mugshot than a baseball card!
#157 - Bob Rodgers Rodgers was one of the last original Angels still with the team in 1969. He played in only 18 games and was released at the end of the season. He would later manage the Halos for parts of four seasons
#158 - Joe Gibbon In the year of the pitcher, 1968, Joe led the Giants with a 1.58 ERA. 1969 was not the year of Joe Gibbon as he was traded to the Pirates mid-season.
Overall Set Totals (player cards only)
Hall of Famers - 10
Hatless - 38
Airbrush - 32
Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 27
The 1969 set had 2 cards for both Dalrymple and Donn Clendenon. (The forerunner of the "traded" subsets that started in 1972!)
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