Sandy Alomar (#561)

It's time for a high-numbered card.

Sandy Alomar was a second baseman who played for 15 seasons (1964-78) for the Braves, Mets, White Sox, Angels, Yankees, and Rangers.  This is his only card as a Met, the team he played the least amount of time for.

Alomar was signed by the Milwaukee Braves in 1960, and was a shortstop until switching over to 2nd base during the 1965 season. His major-league debut came in September 1964 with the Braves.

Sandy split the 1965 season between Milwaukee and their AAA team in Atlanta.

The Braves moved to Atlanta in 1966, but by early-June Alomar had moved on to Richmond, the new home of their triple-A team.

1967 was an unusual year for Alomar:
 - 2/25: sent to the Astros to complete an earlier deal (Eddie Mathews to Houston for Bob Bruce and Dave Nicholson).
 - 3/24: Traded to the Mets for Derrell Griffith.
 - 8/15: sent to the White Sox to complete an earlier deal (Ken Boyer to Chicago for J.C. Martin).

Sandy was always a bench player until the 2nd half of 1968, when he took over the Sox' 2nd base job.

Following his May 1969 trade to the Angels for Bobby Knoop, Alomar was the Halos' regular 2nd baseman for the next 4 ½ years, that string coming to an end in the closing weeks of 1973. While an Angel, he started 134, 152, 134, 150, and 103 games from 1969-73. He also made the 1970 All-Star team.

The Angels acquired 2nd baseman Denny Doyle from the Phillies in the 73/74 off-season, so Alomar rode the bench in 1974 until his contract was purchased by the Yankees in July. Sandy regained a starting job in the Big Apple for the rest of 1974 and all of 1975.

It was deja-vu all over again for him in 1976. The Yankees traded for Willie Randolph in the 75/76 off-season, so Alomar was back on the bench, although he did start a handful of games in July and Auguist.

Sandy was traded to the Rangers before the 1977 season, and spent his last two years as a bench player. He backed up 2B Bump Wills in '77 but rarely played the field in '78 and was used mostly as a pinch-runner (at age 34!). Alomar was released after the 1978 season.

Later, he was a coach for the Padres (1986-90), Cubs (2000-02), Rockies (2003-04), and Mets (2005-09).

His sons Sandy Jr and Roberto made their major-league debuts with the Padres while he was a coach there.

Bob Priddy (#26)

Bob Priddy is one of the very few players who I always forget is in the 1967 Topps set. (The others are ….. oops, I forgot !) *

Priddy was traded to the Senators (along with Cap Peterson) for pitcher Mike McCormick in December 1966 – too late for Topps to correct the first-series cards for Priddy and McCormick (see below), but still time to include a “traded” note on the back of the 2 cards.

Actually there are 2 versions of these 2 cards – with and without the note on the back. (I think the “with” cards are more common.) Peterson’s card was in the 5th series, so there was time to portray him as a Washington Senator.

Bob was signed by the Pirates before the 1958 season as a 3rd baseman. He played in 46 games at the hot corner, and a dozen each at shortstop and the outfield (but no pitching).

In 1959 he became a pitcher exclusively, and for the next 5 seasons (1959-63) he pitched his way up the Bucs’ minor-league ladder. Priddy also had a 2-game cup of coffee with the Pirates in September 1962.

He split the 1964 season between the Pirates (19 games from mid-June to mid-July) and triple-A (21 games).

In February 1965 Bob and 1st base prospect Bob Burda were traded to the Giants for catcher Del Crandall. Priddy pitched most of the ’65 season in the minors, except for 2 early-season games and 6 in the final month.

1966 was Bob’s first full season in the majors, and also his last with the Giants. He appeared in 31 games (all but 3 in relief), slotted behind rookie closer Frank Linzy and the veteran Lindy McDaniel in the bullpen. Those 3 righthanders were joined by veteran southpaws Bill Henry and Joe Gibbon. (Take a moment to click on those other 4 relievers' names.  There sure was a lot of blue sky at the Giants' training camp!)

Priddy moved on to the Senators in 1967, picking up 4 saves in 110 innings over 46 games.

After just 1 season in Washington, it was on to the White Sox, joining pitcher Buster Narum and shortstop Tim Cullen in exchange for shortstop Ron Hansen and pitchers Dennis Higgins and Steve Jones. Priddy reached career highs in starts (18) and innings (110), but also fashioned a 3-11 ERA in 1968.

The following May he was shipped off to the Angels (with 2nd baseman Sandy Alomar) for 2nd baseman Bobby Knoop.

Bob’s stay with the Angels was the shortest of his career. Less than 4 months after arriving, he was flipped to the Braves (with 47-year-old Hoyt Wilhelm) for outfield prospect Mickey Rivers. He only played 1 game with the Braves in 1969, but relieved in 40 games for each of the next 2 seasons.

Priddy retired after the 1971 season, finishing up with 249 games in a 9-year career played for 6 teams.


*The others tend to be Dennis Higgins, Chico Salmon, Marcelino Lopez, Sandy Alomar, and (surprisingly enough) Mike Cuellar.

Final Card: Ron Campbell

Program Note: I recently acquired the 1969 Topps Blog from its previous owner. Be sure to check it out, and add it to your sidebars. (You may also want to add my 1963 and 1970 blogs to your sidebars, if you haven't already done so.)


This is the final card for Cubs' utility infielder Ron Campbell (#497). It also happens to be his rookie card. Ron is one of several in the 1967 set whose career ended before the 1967 season. I wonder if anyone else had their rookie card issued after their major-league career was over?



Ron was signed by the Cubs in 1960, and played 11 seasons (1960-70) in the minors, mostly with the Cubs' organization, but his last 2 seasons in the Pirates' system. In the minors, Campbell played 3rd base about 85% of the time, but also saw action at 2nd base and shortstop.

He made his major-league debut on September 1, 1964, and played about 2 dozen games with the Cubs in each of 1964 and 1966, and only 2 games in 1965. Probably the arrival of rookie infielder Paul Popovich in 1967 made Campbell's presence unnecessary on the major-league roster. Of course, with Ron Santo, Don Kessinger, and Glenn Beckert as the starters, extra infielders by any name weren't really necessary!

Check out Wrigley Wax's post on Ron Campbell.

Final Card: Larry Elliot

Here is the 2nd and final card for Larry Elliot (#23), who previously appeared on the 1964 Mets Rookies card. Elliot is one of a dozen players in the 1967 set who didn't play in the majors after 1966.

Larry was signed by the Pirates in 1958, and spent 6 seasons in their farm system, with only a handful of major-leagues appearances in 1962 and 1963. After the 1963 season, the Mets purchased his contract, and he split the 1964 season between triple-A and the Mets. In New York, he started 59 games in a center field platoon with Jim Hickman.

Elliot spent the entire 1965 season on loan to the Reds' triple-A team in San Diego, before returning to the Mets in 1966. This time around he was relegated to 4th-outfielder status, behind (among others) rookie Cleon Jones and 2nd-year man Ron Swoboda.



Larry's final major-league appearance was on October 2, 1966. In early May 1967, he was traded to the Kansas City Athletics for 3rd baseman Ed Charles. He spent the 1967-69 seasons playing in triple-A for the Mets, Athletics, Angels, and Twins, before retiring.

Final Card: Ray Barker

This is the last of four cards for Ray Barker (#583). Ray's first card appeared in 1961, a solo card with a yellow "rookie" star, as was the custom that year. He also appeared on a 4-man Indians Rookies card in 1965, and his own Yankees card in 1966.

Barker was signed by the Orioles in 1955, and spent ten seasons in the Orioles' and Indians' minor-league organizations. After finally making the Indians at the start of 1965, he was traded to the Yankees in mid-May for 2nd baseman Pedro Gonzalez. Ray was productive in his rookie year, starting 43 games at 1st base (behind Joe Pepitone's 113 starts) and hitting 7 homers.



His stats dipped in 1966, as he made only 82 plate appearances and 14 starts at first base. Rookie 1st baseman Mike Hegan came up in September and started most games at 1B for the last 2 weeks of the season, essentially ending Barker's Yankee career.

With Mickey Mantle moving in to 1st base for the 1967 season, and Hegan getting more playing time, Barker was done in New York, playing his last big-league game on May 21st. He spent most of 1967 in the minors with Syracuse and, after a July 4th trade for Orioles' pitcher Steve Barber, Rochester.

Final Card: Orlando McFarlane

First, a commercial:

Last week, I signed up on the Zistle.com site, after reading about it on The Phillies Room blog. So far, I've got all my baseball cards from 1952-80, and all my football cards (1964-79) entered. Check it out using the link at the top of my sidebar.

Now, where was I..., oh yeah, Orlando McFarlane.


This is the final card for backup catcher Orlando McFarlane (#496), one of four players named Orlando in the 1967 set. McFarlane was signed by the Pirates in 1958, and toiled in their system though 1963 (although getting an 8-game cup of coffee in 1962). In 1960, he played at 3rd base more than as a catcher, and also saw action at shortstop.

In 1964 he spent the entire season with the Pirates, but only played in 37 games. The following season, he was back in the minors all year, but split his time between the Pirates' and Senators' farm teams.



After the 1965 season, he was selected by the Tigers in the Rule 5 draft. Orlando spent the entire 1966 season in Detroit as Bill Freehan's backup. Just before the 1967 season started, he was traded to the Angels, as we see on the back of this late-series card. (This trade happened so last-minute that Topps only included 1 Tigers' catcher (Freehan) in the 1967 set, while having 4 Angels' catchers!) He was ticketed as the 3rd-string catcher behind Bob Rodgers and Tom Satriano, but he must have been injured in mid-season, because he only played 12 games for the Angels (none after June 3rd) and no games in the minors.

In 1968 McFarlane spent most of the season with the Angels' triple-A team in Seattle, but did play 18 games for the Angels. That would be his last major-league action, as not even the creation of 4 expansion teams could keep him in the majors. During 1969 and 1970, he played for the Angels' and Mets' triple-A teams.

Bill Bryan (#601)

Bill Bryan, a journeyman catcher, was signed by the Kansas City Athletics in 1960, and spent his first 4 seasons in the minors, with occasional call-ups to Kansas City.

1964 was Bill's first full season in the majors, where he was the Athletics' 2nd-string catcher, behind Doc Edwards and ahead of Charlie Lau. In 1965, he was the Athletics' #1 catcher, starting 89 games at catcher (to rookie Rene Lachemann's 54 starts).



In 1966, Bryan began the season alternating starts with rookie catcher Ken Suarez, but in late May, the newly-acquired Phil Roof took over and started nearly every game for the rest of the season. After appearing in 32 games (and starting 14 games), Bryan was traded to the Yankees in mid-June along with pitcher Fred Talbot for pitchers Bill Stafford and Gil Blanco, and outfielder Roger Repoz (one of the many Yankees' young outfielders designated as "the next Mickey Mantle").

With the Yankees, Bryan was firmly entrenched as the 3rd-string catcher behind Elston Howard and Jake Gibbs. He only made 13 starts, and appeared in 14 other games as a pinch-hitter.

1967 found Bryan back in the minors for the first time since 1963. This late-season card includes a note that he was sent to triple-A Syracuse on May 10th. He only played 1 game for the Yankees in 1967. After the season, he was selected by the Senators in the rule 5 draft.

He started 28 games in 1968 as the Senators' 3rd-string catcher behind Paul Casanova and Jim French, and also played with triple-A Buffalo. He spent the 1969 season with Washington's triple-A team in Buffalo, and in 1970 played for the Phillies' single-A team in Spartanburg, SC.

Jim Barbieri (#76) / Cubs Rookies (#272)

Jim Barbieri's major-league career consisted of 39 games with the Dodgers in 1966. (20 games in the outfield (17 starts), and another 19 games as a pinch-hitter.) This first-series card indicates that he was sent down to Spokane in October 1966. A check of his career stats shows that he never returned to the major leagues, and wrapped up his minor-league career in 1969. Although his card says "INF-OF", there's no evidence that he played anywhere but the outfield in LA or the minors.


Although his time in the majors was short, he did appear in the 1966 World Series. He also appeared in the 1954 Little League World Series, the first person to appear in both series. This link also tells us that his teammate on the 1954 little league team was Bill Connors (below).


Cubs Rookies (#272)

Bill Connors minor league career lasted 10 years, all with the Cubs and Mets. He had a few major-league appearances from 1966 to 1968.

Dave Dowling's career is even less impressive than Bill Connors. He kicked around the Cardinals, Cubs, and Giants farm systems from 1964 to 1968, and appeared in 2 major-league games.

John Stephenson (#522)

John Stephenson was a backup catcher who came up with the Mets in 1964.

This year, his card is in the high-number series, so there's an updated message that he was sent down on April 10th (opening day minus 1). In fact he didn't play for the Mets at all in 1967. On June 17th, he went to the Cubs as the throw-in in the Bob Hendley for Rob Gardner trade. He was released by the Cubs in April 1968, and quickly signed by the Giants. However, he spent most of 1967 to 1970 in the minors, before making a few appearances for the Giants in 1969 and 1970, and some more regular playing time with the Angels in 1971 to 1973.

John is most remembered (in the Philly area anyway) as striking out to wrap up Jim Bunning's perfect game on Father's Day in 1964. Local myth is that he said he would "get" Bunning for that.



You can also see his 1966 card here.
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Final Card: Jim Piersall (#584)

What can be said about Jim Piersall's career and his off-field struggles that hasn't already been said? (I'll leave that for you to Google.)

He played 8 seasons with the Red Sox, 3 with the Indians, and then bounced around for 6 more years. Here is his 1967 card. Since it's a high number card, Topps has updated it with an announcement of Piersall's retirement. They were also thoughtful enough to tell us he moved into a job with the Angels' promotion department!



As they often do with long-time veterans, Topps has left Piersall's minor league stats off the card. He played in the minors from 1948 to 1952. (From his minor-league stat page, you can link over to his major-league stats, to find that his last game was on 5/1/67. He had 5 plate appearances in his last season.)

Many a Manny

The other day on another blog, there was a battle of the Pirates' Mannys: Manny Sanguillen vs. Manny Mota.
Here's my 2 cents (circa 1967):

Manny #1:
In 1964 and 1965, Manny Mota (#66) started about 1/3 of the games in center field. In 1966, Mota's former Giants teammate Matty Alou arrived in Pittsburgh and took over as starting centerfielder for the retired Bill Virdon. This development reduced Mota's starts in center field to 1/4 of the games each year from 1966 to 1968. After the 1968 season, Manny was drafted by the Montreal Expos.




Manny #2:
After a fine rookie season with the Kansas City Athletics in 1962, Manny Jimenez (#586) bounced between Kansas City and the minor leagues for a few years until the Pirates selected him in the minor league draft on November 29th, 1966. The card back tells us he was sent down on May 10th, 1967, but he appeared in 50 games for the Pirates in 1967. After spending 1968 with the Pirates, he ended his career in 1969 with 6 pinch-hitting appearances for the Cubs.


(The fellow in the background is most likely a coach. This picture was taken in early 1967, but no player wearing #6 appeared during the regular season. Numbers 7 to 39 were all used by players, and manager Harry Walker wore #3. Perhaps the coaching staff also wore the low numbers?)


Not quite a Manny:
We learn from the back of the Minnie Rojas (#104) card that while Minnie was pitching in the Mexican League in 1964 and 1965, he turned down a chance to play in the major leagues.

Derrell Griffith - Why does he have a card?

First, let's just pause for a few moments to take in this hair style:



Derrell Griffith (#502) accumulated a whopping 15 major-league at-bats the previous season, having spent most of the year with the Dodgers' triple-A Spokane team. He hasn't had significant major-league action since 1964. Because this card was printed late in the 1967 series, it includes recent information like "traded to the Mets in November 1966", "dealt to the Astros in March 1967", and "sent down on March 24th".

A quick check of his career stats shows that his career was over in 1966. Topps should have put Card #502 to better use (like printing an Astros team card!)


Why does he have a card?

Jim Hicks (#532)

Jim Hicks - In 1964, 1965, and 1966 he had zero, 19, and 26 at-bats respectively. He's a candidate for my "Why does he have a card?" series, but something else trumps that.

Here we see his 1967 card, where he's taking some healthy swings for the camera (a few inches from Johnny Romano's head).



This is a "high-number" card, so the back includes an update that he was sent down on April 4th. In fact, Hicks spent the entire 1967 season at triple-A Indianapolis. Based on his sparse pre-1967 career, maybe Topps should have replaced his high-number card with another player who had more significant playing time in early 1967 (like Lenny Green or Tony Horton).


Two years later, he appears on a Cardinals Rookies card. Apparently, Topps forgot that Hicks was already shown on a full card!



(apologies to Packaddict for stepping into his 1969 turf)