Phil Roof (#129)

This was one of the first cards I remember getting in 1967. As card #129, this was in the 2nd series, issued about the time I began collecting baseball cards (May 1967).

I remember that the first time I saw this card, I asked my brother if the “Athletics” were maybe a minor-league team, because I hadn’t heard of that team before. (Most likely, because the Athletics were not found on one of the baseball jackets my brother and I had back in the day.)

Phil Roof was signed by the Milwaukee Braves in 1959, and played in their farm system for 6 seasons (1959-64). During that 6-year span, his only big-league action with the Braves was 1 game in April 1961, and 1 game in May 1964.

After the 1964 season, the Braves traded him to the Angels for pitcher Dan Osinski. Roof played in the majors for the entire 1965 season, but only lasted with the Angels until mid-June.

After only playing 9 games as Bob Rodgers' backup, Phil was shipped to the Indians for outfielder Bubba Morton. He finished out the season with Cleveland, mostly as a pinch-hitter and 3rd-string catcher.

In December 1965, Roof was traded to the Kansas City Athletics (with outfield prospect Joe Rudi) [I learned something new today!] for veteran outfielder Jim Landis. Phil became the Athletics’ regular backstop for 1966 (119 starts) and 1967 (107 starts).

He missed most of the 1968 season due to a torn shoulder muscle, and was replaced by Jim Pagliaroni and Dave Duncan.  Phil returned to the starting job in 1969, starting 83 games behind the plate (to Duncan’s 40).

Prior to the 1970 season, Roof was traded to the Brewers with pitchers Lew Krausse and Ken Sanders, and outfielder Mike Hershberger, for 1st baseman Don Mincher and utility infielder Ron Clark. Roof was the team’s #1 catcher in 1970, but after losing that spot in May 1971, he was traded to the Twins in July.

Roof then spent 5 seasons as the Twins’ backup catcher. (In 1974, he didn’t play in his first game until June 4th!) In August 1976 he moved on to the White Sox, playing in a few games with Chicago that season, and 3 games for the Blue Jays in 1977.

After his playing career, Roof was a bullpen coach for several teams from the late 1970s to early 1990s.  He later managed in the Twins' farm system for 16 seasons, until retiring in 2005.

Jim "Catfish" Hunter (#369)

Here is my first card for Jim “Catfish” Hunter. It’s a nice spring training shot, much better than the rather plain photo from 1966, or the ridiculous capless head shots in the ’68 and ’69 sets.

Catfish was signed by the Kansas City Athletics in 1964, and became the last "bonus baby".  (The bonus baby rule became moot with the advent of the amateur draft.) They immediately sent him to the Mayo Clinic to correct a foot injury due to a hunting accident a year earlier.

Hunter never played in the minor leagues, and made his major-league debut at age 19 in early May 1965. Catfish joined the starting rotation permanently 2 months later, and finished his rookie season with a record of 8-8.

In 1966 the Athletics’ starting rotation was rebuilt, with Hunter now joined by Lew Krausse, Blue Moon Odom, Jim Nash, and Chuck Dobson, all in their early 20s. Hunter made more starts (25) than any other A’s pitcher.

The rotation stayed the same in 1967, although Odom and Krausse both alternated between the rotation and the bullpen. Hunter became the team’s ace, leading the staff in wins (13), starts (35), innings (259), and strikeouts (196).

1968 was the Athletics’ first season in Oakland, and Hunter marked the occasion by twirling a perfect game on May 8th against the Minnesota Twins. [Earlier this year, my daughter got me this book about the 20 perfect games pitched in MLB history. So far, I have read the chapters on Jim Bunning and Jim Hunter. I learned from the book that A’s outfielder Joe Rudi (who had played 19 games in 1967) was just recalled from the minors, and was playing his first game of the 1968 season that day. He made a critical defensive play to preserve Hunter’s perfecto.]

Hunter and his rotation mates chugged along for the next few seasons, although Nash and Krausse were traded away after the 1969 season.

In 1971, Catfish was eclipsed by rookie Vida Blue, who won 24 games while striking out 301, on his way to winning both the Cy Young and MVP awards. Hunter did his part, winning 21 games (a feat he would repeat in ’72 and ’73), as the A’s made it to the ALCS, only to be swept by the Orioles.

Hunter continued pitching for the A’s through the 1974 season. The team won the World Series for 3 consecutive seasons (1972-74), and Catfish led the AL in wins (25) and ERA (2.49) in 1974, and won the Cy Young award.

Catfish was granted free agency after the 1974 season, due to owner Charlie Finley botching a provision in Hunter’s contract. He was approached by all the other teams (except the Giants), and signed a 5-year contract with the Yankees for over 3 million dollars – the largest contract at the time.

In his first season with New York, he again led the AL in wins (23), and also in complete games (30), while finishing 2nd in the Cy Young voting to Jim Palmer. After going 17-15 in 1976, Hunter’s workload and performance dropped off over the next 3 seasons due to arm injuries. He was also diagnosed with diabetes early in 1978.

He retired after the 1979 season, at age 33. After his playing career, he returned to his farm in North Carolina, hunting and raising various crops. He was also a spokesman for diabetes awareness.

In early 1998, he was diagnosed with ALS, and died at age 53 on September 9, 1999, a month after falling at home and hitting his head on concrete steps.

***

My brother (who I’ve referred to several times on this blog) was diagnosed with ALS early in 2012. He continues to battle this disease, and his mobility and speech have been severely impaired. I will be visiting him tomorrow for Thanksgiving dinner.

Checklists 1 - 6

Here are the remaining checklists for the 1967 set. As in the '68 and '69 sets, the checklist features a small photo of whichever player happens to have the number 'x00' card on that particular checklist (with Mickey Mantle demoted to a 'x50' card). In the '67 set, these photos are floating heads.

Prior to 1974, the cards were released in 7 separate series, with each checklist (except the first) released in the previous series, as well as in the series it pertains to.

There are 2 different 3rd series checklists (with and without Willie Mays' neck), and 2 different 6th series checklists (with and without Juan Marichal missing an ear). One version of the Mays' checklist incorrectly lists card #214 as Dick Kelley, instead of Tom Kelley. (Dick's card is #138.)

  
These are my original cards from 1967, except for the series 1 card. In '67, I got my brother's hand-me-down card (or hand-me-up, since I'm a year older), which was creased and round-cornered. I replaced it in the 1980s.

This is where it all began

This is where the card-collecting bug bit my friends, my brother, and me back in the 1960s. A Mom & Pop corner store in Collingdale, PA named Harry's Market. (When the pop-up balloon appears, click "Street View". It's the brick building on the right.)

[March 2013 edit: I fixed the above "Harry's Market" link. This store is now possibly a pre-school.]

This store had been a hairdresser for the past few decades, but back in the day (1967-72), the grassy area in front of the current store was all concrete. We would sit there with our backs to the wall and open our packs of cards... not wanting to wait the 3 minutes it would take us to walk home!

Our "backup store" (Walt's, now called "Steak 'Em Up"), and the store where I bought my 1967 football cards (Joe's) were one block down the side street on the right of the photo.

Also at that far intersection was a drugstore (Perry's, now closed), where in the late 60s/early 70s I would go buy The Sporting News, and sit at the counter drinking fountain sodas while poring over all the stats! (This must have started in 1968, because I can remember one of the first issues I bought was when Jax was tearing up the home run race early in his rookie season, before cooling off.)
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#60 - Luis Aparicio ("Infield"?)

Back in 1967, as my brother and I were busting open packs of cards, anytime we found a player designated as "INFIELD" (or worse yet, "INF-OF"), we immediately sized him up as a stiff. There appears to be one exception:



Here, Topps' use of "INFIELD" doesn’t make any sense, since Aparicio was a perennial all-star shortstop with the Orioles (and White Sox). To add to the confusion, the back of his card stated his position as ‘Shortstop’. (The same situation occurs on Ron Hansen’s card, but he wasn’t at the same level as Aparicio.)

I wonder if Luis' teammates ribbed him for being a "utility infielder"?