#455 - Sonny Siebert The Indians had three pretty decent starters with Luis Tiant, Sam McDowell, and Sonny Siebert. He was 12-10 for the Tribe in 1968. But early in the 1969 season, the Indians wanted to add some offense and sent Siebert to the Red Sox in a trade for Ken Harrelson. Siebert went 14-10 for Boston
#456 - Bud Harrelson - the Mets shortstop
#457 - Dalton Jones The utility infielder is the Red Sox all time pinch hit leader with 55. That would be a trivia fact that only a hard-core Red Sox fan would know. He hit .389 (7 for 18) in the 1967 World Series. 1969 was his final season in Boston, and he hit only .220. He was traded to the Tigers after the season.
#458 - Curt Blefary The 1965 AL rookie of the year could never repeat the success of that season. The Orioles gave up on him after 1968 and sent him to Houston for Mike Cuellar. Cuellar won the Cy Young Award for the Orioles in 1969, while Blefary hit only .255 for the Astros. That was his only season in Houston and his last as a regular.
#459 - Dave Boswell The Twins righty is showing us his grip. He was 24 and ready for the best season of his career. He was 20-12 for the division-winning Twins. But I'm guessing he had some arm trouble because he slipped to 3-7 in 1970 was was finished after 1971.
#460 - Joe Torre The Dodger skipper was traded by the Braves to the Cardinals for Orlando Cepeda after the 1968 season. Atlanta may have given up a little early on the five-time All Star. Though not an All Star in 1969, he finished 23rd in MVP voting. He would have the best seasons of his career in St. Louis and make the All Star team four more times.
#461 - Mike Epstein Frank Howard and Mike Epstein gave the Senators a powerful 1-2 punch. He hit career-highs with 30 HRs and a .278 average in 1969.
#462 - Red Schoendienst Red was elected into the Hall of Fame by the veterans committee in 1989, back in the days when the veterans committee actually let players in. His last game as a player was in 1963 and he was the Cardinal's manager only two years later. He led the Red Birds to consecutive NL crowns in 1967 - 1968, winning the World Series in 1967. The 1969 Cardinals won ten fewer games than the previous season and finished in fourth place.
#463 - Dennis Ribant This card gives us our first look at the Royals uniform, yet Ribant never pitched an inning for the Royals. He was sold to the Cardinals at the end of spring training. He appeared in only one game for the Cardinals and was traded to the Reds in June. He then pitched in seven games for the Reds, the final games of his career.
Overall Set Totals (player cards only)
Hall of Famers - 30
Hatless - 106
Airbrush - 90
Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 61
Blefary for Cuellar - what a steal for the Orioles!
ReplyDeleteTorre: The Cardinals had 2 "catchers of the future" (or so they thought) in Bob Didier and Walt Hriniak (ok, you can all stop laughing now), and they needed Cepeda's power to offset the loss of Mack Jones and Eddie Mathews in the previous few seasons.
Ribant: After several card series where the Royals' (and other expansion teams') players were airbrushed or hatless, the late-season cards like Ribant's, Jon Warden's, and Dave Wickersham's looked pretty cool.