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.

Final Card: Billy O'Dell

One side-benefit of scanning all these cards is that, after all these years, I'm finding out which cards could use an upgrade. This is probably the most beat-up of my 1967 cards.



Billy O'Dell (#162) was winding down his career in 1967. He started pitching in 1954 with the Baltimore Orioles (their first year after moving from St. Louis). Although the card back says 'Major & Minor League Pitching Record', Billy never played in the minor leagues.

[Since blogging here, I've learned that:
1) Billy O'Dell, Dick Groat, and Sandy Koufax never played in the minors. (I already knew about Al Kaline.)
2) Some players (like Harmon Killebrew) played in the majors before playing in the minors. After seeing several of these players, I noticed that they were also all "bonus babies", so I assume the requirement was that they spend X amount of time on the major-league roster after signing a contract.]

After returning from the service, Billy joined the team full-time in 1957, appearing in 35 games (15 starts) and pitched 140 innings, 5th-most on the team. 1958 was more of the same, as he started 25 of the 41 games he pitched.

After one more season with the Orioles, he was traded to the Giants, where he pitched for 5 seasons, including the Giants' 1962 pennant-winning season. That season, O'Dell led the rotation (which included Jack Sanford, Juan Marichal, and Billy Pierce) in games, starts, innings pitched, and complete games, and was second in wins to Sanford's 24.

After the 1965 season, Billy was traded to the Milwaukee Braves for catcher Ed Bailey. After a year and a half with the Braves (mostly as a reliever), he was traded to the Pirates in mid-1966, and retired following the 1967 season.

Final Card: Dick Groat

For the next several days, my 3 card blogs will take on a Phillies and Yankees flavor, as we gear up for the World Series.


Dick Groat is best remembered as the Pirates shortstop of the 1950s and early 1960s (including appearing in the 1960 World Series). He never played minor-league baseball, as the Pirates signed him right out of Duke University in June 1952, and immediately put him on the roster.

(Groat was a star basketball player at Duke. In 1952, he played for the NBA's Fort Wayne Pistons.)

After the 1962 season, he was traded to the Cardinals for pitcher Don Cardwell and infielder Julio Gotay. After 3 seasons with the Cardinals (including another World Series championship in 1964), he was traded to the Phillies along with 1B Bill White and C Bob Uecker for P Art Mahaffey, OF Alex Johnson, and C Pat Corrales.



This is Groat's final card. He spent the early part of 1967 on the Phillies' disabled list, and in late June was sold to the Giants, where he finished out the season.

Groat accumulated over 2100 hits in 18 seasons. Good thing he could hit, because his career fielding percentage was only .961, including 5 seasons of 30 or more errors.