Chuck Dobson (#438)

Here's another last look at a Kansas City Athletics' player. I really like these A’s cards – it's sad to see the mess Topps created in the 1968 set after the team moved to Oakland.

This looks like a Spring Training shot, with palm trees behind the fence. His rookie card in 1966 (below) shows him in the same location.

Chuck Dobson was signed by the Athletics late in 1964. After one game in the Florida Instructional League that year and splitting the 1965 season between A and AA ball, he debuted with the Athletics at the start of the 1966 season. His first major-league appearance was to start Kansas City's final home opener on April 19th, where he collected his first career win.

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Dobson was one of several youngsters who made up the Athletics' starting rotation for the next few years. He teamed with Catfish Hunter, Blue Moon Odom, and (for the first few seasons) Jim Nash and Lew Krausse. In the early 1970s they would be joined by Vida Blue.

Chuck won between 10 and 16 games every season from 1966 to 1971. He missed all of 1972 due to elbow surgery, and spent all of 1973 in the minors, only pitching 1 game that year for Oakland (on 9/25).

Released by the Athletics during Spring Training in 1974, he hooked on with a Mexican League team until the California Angels came calling in late-June.

Although he pitched a few games for the Angels in '74 and '75, he spent most of 1974-76 pitching for their AAA team, before retiring.

Casey Cox (#414)

I didn’t realize until today that Casey Cox only had one season under his belt when this card came out.

Cox was signed by the Cincinnati Reds in 1962 (I didn’t know that!), then was picked up by the Indians after that season in the 1st-year draft (didn’t know that either!).

In May 1963 the Senators made a waiver claim for him, and he spent the next 2 1/2 seasons on their farm before making his major-league debut in April 1966. He led the staff with 66 games as a rookie, also picking up 7 saves.

After a full season in 1966, Casey pitched most of 1967 with the Senators (except for a brief trip to the minors in late-May/early-June), but pitched almost all of the 1968 season for the Senators’ AAA team.

Cox returned to Washington in 1969, this time also mixing in some starts (having previously only pitched in relief). He posted a 12-7 record and was 3rd on the team in innings pitched (171).

In 1970 he was primarily a starter (30 of his 37 games), but slipped to an 8-12 record. (The Sens’ top 3 starters each lost 12 games that season.)

After 1970 Cox went back to a primarily-relief role. After 2 more seasons with the club, the Rangers traded him to the Yankees in late-August 1972 for pitcher Jim Roland.

Cox was rarely used in the Big Apple, only pitching 5 games in the season’s final month. After pitching 1 game in 1973 (on April 6th) he was released a week later.

Casey pitched the remainder of 1973 for the Cubs’ AAA team before retiring.

Dennis Higgins (#52)

Here is the first solo card for reliever Dennis Higgins. Currently, Higgins is the oldest living player from the 1966-70 period that I have not yet blogged about.

When I mentally run through the players in the 1967 Topps set (yes, I’m enough of a card geek that I do that occasionally), Higgins is invariably one of the players that I forget about (along with Sandy Alomar, Bob Priddy, Willie Smith, and surprisingly, Mike Cuellar).

Dennis was a relief pitcher from 1966-72 for the White Sox, Senators, Indians, and Cardinals.

Higgins began his career with a 6-year stint in the White Sox’ farm system (1958-65), then debuted with the ChiSox in April 1966, appearing in 42 games that season (all but 1 in relief). He picked up 5 saves over 93 innings, and sported a 2.52 ERA.

He missed part of the 1967 season, only pitching 9 games for Chicago and 6 games in triple-A.

In Spring Training 1968 he was traded to the Senators with shortstop Ron Hansen and pitcher Steve Jones for pitchers Bob Priddy and Buster Narum and shortstop Tim Cullen. Higgins pitched over 50 games in each of his 2 seasons with the Nats, and won a career-high 10 games in 1969.

Before the 1970 season, he and pitcher Barry Moore were traded to the Indians for 2nd baseman Dave Nelson and pitcher Horacio Pina. (In 1970, 5th-place Cleveland was a slight upgrade from 6th-place Washington.)

Higgins only spent one season with the Tribe, but led the team with 11 saves in 58 games as their closer.

He was in the minors for almost all of 1971, during which he transferred to the Athletics’ and then the Cardinals’ organizations. He pitched in 3 games for the Cardinals that year.

Dennis split his final season (1972) between triple-A and the Cardinals, pitching only 15 games for the Cards. In the season’s final month he was sold to the Padres, but never played a game with them.

Higgins is a cousin of White Sox’ 2002-2008 3rd baseman Joe Crede.

Jay Johnstone (#213)

Jay Johnstone will be appearing on my 1970 blog soon, as part of the “Bat Rack” series, so I’ll focus on his entire career in that post. I wanted to show his 1967 card also, specifically because of the uniform he is wearing.

Here it is 2 years after the Angels moved from Los Angeles to Anaheim, and Jay is shown in his “Los Angeles” uniform. (Maybe the Topps' expert misread this as "Angels", and let it go.) This was brought to my attention about a year ago by fellow blogger Eric C. Loy, as we were discussing Topps’ inability to photograph Angels’ players in a timely fashion. This must have been a spring training photo from 1965, because Johnstone didn’t begin playing for the Angels until 1966, when they were in Anaheim.

This is also Johnstone’s rookie card. He was one of 6 rookies with significant playing time in 1966 that didn’t appear in the 1966 Topps set, even on a Rookie Stars card. I previously posted this list on my 1966 blog in April 2010:


I began paying attention to Jay in the mid-1970s when he was with the Phillies. Johnstone was one of 2 players (along with Bill Robinson) that the Phillies rescued from the minor-league scrap heap during that time, who went on to revive their careers the second time around. Jay was the Phillies’ regular right fielder from late 1974 to mid-1977, when the Phillies acquired Bake McBride from the Cardinals.

Johnstone was known as a character (a “flake” in 1970s’ parlance), and was dubbed “The Jay of Johnstone” by Phillies’ broadcaster Harry Kalas. I remember him specifically for a great defensive play he made against the Pirates during a game in 1975. Playing right field, he ran in and took a snap throw from catcher Johnny Oates, picking runner Frank Taveras off of first base. (I discovered today that this event is mentioned by the sponsor of Johnstone’s Baseball-Reference.com page.)

George Scott (#75)

After 4 seasons in the minors, George "Boomer" Scott made his major-league debut on April 12, 1966. Thrown right into the fire, he played every game during his rookie season. After starting 3 of the first 4 games at 3rd base, he moved across the diamond and started all but two of the remaining games at 1st base.

Boomer (he was "Boomer" long before that blowhard on a national sports network was "Boomer") finished the season with a .245 average, 27 homers and 97 RBI, while leading the AL with 152 strikeouts, and finished 3rd in the Rookie of the Year voting.

He had similar playing time in 1967, but his average jumped to .303, while his homers (19) and RBI (82) were down. He also cut his strikeout total to 119, and won his first of 8 gold gloves. Scott was 6 for 26 in the World Series that year.

George played 6 seasons with the Sox, and was primarily their 3rd baseman during the '69 and '70 seasons (the only 2 years from 1967-76 that he didn't win a gold glove).

He was traded to the Brewers after the 1971 season (with pitchers Jim Lonborg and Ken Brett, catcher Don Pavletich, and outfielders Billy Conigliaro and Joe Lahoud) for pitchers Lew Krausse and Marty Pattin, outfielder Tommy Harper, and ex-Phillies farmhand Pat Skrable. (Wow, that deal seems so lopsided!)

George played 5 seasons as the Brewers' 1st sacker, then returned to the Red Sox (along with outfielder Bernie Carbo) for 1st baseman Cecil Cooper. After 2 1/2 seasons back at his old 1st base post in Fenway Park, Scott was traded to the Royals in June 1979.

After 2 months in Kaycee, and 1 month with the Yankees, George's major-league career was over. He played in the Mexican League from 1980-1984.

Woody Fryman (#221)

Woody Fryman was the left-handed pitcher selected by Topps for their all-rookie team in 1966.

Fryman was signed by the Pirates in 1965, and after only 1 season in the minors, he made the Pirates out of spring training in 1966, and compiled a 12-9 record in his rookie season. He slumped to 3-8 in his sophomore season, and was traded to the Phillies (with 3 minor-league prospects) for veteran pitcher Jim Bunning.

Woody spent 4 1/2 seasons with the Phillies, and was the team's only all-star in 1968. Early on, he was strictly a starting pitcher, but he made a number of relief appearances for them from 1970-72.

Fryman was shipped off to the Tigers in August 1972, and helped the Tigers reach the postseason. He was in Detroit's rotation through the end of the 1974 season, then after 2 seasons in Montreal, he spent a season with the Reds and a half season with the Cubs, before being traded back to the Expos in June of 1978.

After finishing the season in the Expos' starting rotation, Fryman moved to the bullpen at the start of the 1979 season, and was strictly a reliever for the remainder of his career (and was the team's #1 reliever in 1980 and 1981). Woody spent most of the 1983 season on the disabled list (appearing in only 6 games), and was released following the season.

Fryman passed away on 2/4/2011 at age 70 in his hometown of Ewing, KY.


Also see his 1968 card.

Jim Nash (#90)

Starting a series on all the Topps 1966 all-star rookies...

Jim Nash made his major-league debut with the Kansas City Athletics on July 3, 1966. In just half a season, he compiled a 12-1 record with a 2.06 ERA, and finished 2nd in the AL Rookie of the Year voting to White Sox' outfielder Tommie Agee. Just 6 seasons later, his career would be over.

Nash was signed by Kansas City in 1963, and collected 14 wins in each of his 2 full minor-league seasons ('64,'65). After fashioning a 7-4 record in 13 starts in 1966, he was called up to the Athletics in early July.

Nash joined the all-righthanded starting rotation that included full-timers Lew Krausse (14-9) and Catfish Hunter (9-11), along with John Odom (5-5) and Chuck Dobson (4-6). At age 23, Krausse was the senior statesman of the group.

Jim won 12 games again in 1967, but lost 17 games. The other Jim (Hunter) also lost 17, but they were the top 2 starters on a bad team, with Odom and Dobson again rounding out the rotation. Last year's ace Krausse spent half the season in the bullpen.

Two .500 seasons followed (13-13, 8-8), but by then team management had seen enough. Nash was traded to the Braves after the 1969 season for outfielder Felipe Alou.

He had a bounce-back year in Atlanta's starting rotation in 1970 (13-9 in 33 starts), but slipped in 1971, was relegated to the bullpen by mid-July, and finished with a 9-7 in 32 games (19 starts).

After 11 appearances, the Braves traded Nash and his 5.46 ERA to the Phillies in mid-June 1972. He started 8 games for the Phillies (0-8, 6.27 ERA), and was part of the horrendous, non-Steve Carlton portion of the Phillies' pitching staff that season. As such, he was released the following March.

Nash wrapped up his pro career with the Athletics' double-A team in 1973.

Final Card: Bill Hepler

This is the final baseball card for Bill Hepler (#144). His only other card came in 1966, when he appeared on a 7th-series Mets Rookies card.

Until today, I never gave a 2nd thought to Hepler. Sure, I had seen his short career listed on the back of this card, and I knew he didn't have a card after this one, but here's what I learned today: Bill was signed by the Washington Senators in 1965, and spent one season at class-A Geneva, NY where he compiled a 13-10 record in 28 starts.

Based on only one class-A season, two things happened:
1) The Mets selected him in the Rule 5 draft
2) Topps gave him a slot on a 1966 Mets Rookies card

Were the Mets (and Topps) so smart to give him such attention? If he was a phenom, why did the Senators leave him unprotected?



Bill jumped all the way to the majors in 1966 (well he'd have to, being a Rule 5 draft pick), and appeared in 37 games (3 starts) for a total of 69 innings. He also walked twice as many batters as he struck out. This may well explain his one-year major-league career.

After 1966, he spent the next 3 years pitching for A and AA teams in the Mets' system, before wrapping up his career in 1970 with 5 games for the Senators' single-A team in the Carolina League.

Maybe a veteran Mets' fan can shed some light on the fast rise and faster fall of Bill Hepler's career.

Final Card: Ossie Chavarria

Ossie Chavarria (#344) was a utility infielder who played a season and a half with the Kansas City Athletics.

Ossie (from Panama) was signed by the Cubs before the 1959 season, but after only 1 season in their system, was traded to Kansas City. He spent 6 seasons with various Athletics' farm teams. Primarily a 2nd baseman, he also saw significant playing time at 3rd base and shortstop, as well as occasional games at 1st base and in the outfield.

Chavarria made his major-league debut on April 14, 1966, and spent the entire 1966 season with Kansas City. In 1967, he split his time evenly between Kansas City (38 games) and triple-A Vancouver (40 games). His final major-league game was in early August 1967.



Ossie spent the next four seasons in the minors, playing for the Athletics' AAA team in 1968-69, and for the Yankees' AAA team in 1970-71. After the 1969 season, the A's traded Ossie and 1st baseman Danny Cater to the Yankees for pitcher Al Downing and catcher Frank Fernandez.

Chavarria never played for the Yankees. After the 1971 season, he was traded to the Mexico City Tigers for 3rd baseman Celerino Sanchez.

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.