#338 - Del Unser Hey Night Owl, this one's for you! A night card; well, probably a dusk card, but the lights are burning bright. There aren't too many cards where you actually see the lights. Unser finished second in the AL Rookie of the Year balloting in 1968 by hitting .230 with 1 homer and 30 RBI's in 156 games. Yes, you read that right. Those offensive numbers were good enough for ROY runner up.
#339 - Reds Rookies Mingori wouldn't make it to the majors until 1970 and he had some decent years with the Royals in the late '70's. Pena got into 6 games with the Reds in 1969 and then was taken by the Dodgers in the rule 5 draft after the season.
#340 - Dave McNally The Oriole soutpaw was coming off a monster season, going 22-10 with a 1.95 ERA.. He was just as good in 1969, going 20-7, his second of three straight 20+ win seasons. He also made the All Star team for the first time.
#341 - Dave Adlesh After making 40 appearances for the Astros in 1968, he was dealt to the Cardinals during spring training. 1969. Topps was on the ball here making the switch. Too bad Adlesh never pitched in the majors again.
#342 - Bubba Morton Here we have another Angel hitter wearing a helmet for the picture. Bubba broke in the with Tigers as a 29 year old rookie in 1961. By the time of this card, his career was almost over, with 1969 being his last. He played in 87 games for the Angels and hit .244.
#343 - Dan Frisella A Met...moving on,,,,
#344 - Tom Matchick The angle of this picture makes Tom's glove looks huge. We also get a good look at the TV numbers the TIgers wore. 1969 was the peak year for Matchick, getting into 94 games and hitting .242. The Tigers sold high on him and traded him after the season. He spent the next three years with four different teams.
#345 - Frank Linzy Usually the cards numbered with a multiple of 5 were give to big name players. I wouldn't consider Frank Linzy a name player; though maybe Giants fans would. He was the Giant's bullpen ace. In 1969 he had an amazing 14-9 record. I'm not sure what to make of a bullpen pitcher with 23 decisions. Either the Giants made alot of comebacks or Linzy blew alot of saves and then the Giants came back.
#346 - Wayne Comer Wayne has that Elvis smirk on his face, "Thank you, thank you very much." I have no idea who's uniform he is wearing. All his MLB experience had been with the Tigers, and they don't wear pinstripes. He would hit .245 with 15 home runs for the Pilots in 146 games.
Overall Set Totals (player cards only)
Hall of Famers - 20
Hatless - 79
Airbrush - 75
Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 48
Del Unser .230 good enough for 2nd? In the year of the pitcher the ROY was Stan Bahnsen who went 17-12 with a team leading (among starters) 2.05 ERA for the 83-79 Yankees.
ReplyDeleteCool looking card!
I meant to pick up the Unser card at my last card show, but didn't get around to it. Next one.
ReplyDeleteJose Pena was 26 when he won ROY but he looks a lot older than that.
ReplyDeleteWayne Comer was signed by the Senators in 62 and traded during spring training in 63. This is most likely a Senators' uniform he's wearing in the spring of 63.
ReplyDeletehttp://exhibits.baseballhalloffame.org/dressed_to_the_nines/detail_page.asp?fileName=al_1963_washington.gif&Entryid=1026