Cardinals Rookies: Jim Cosman / Dick Hughes

This is the only rookies card (#384) for the Cardinals in 1967.

Jim Cosman played in the minor leagues from 1963 to 1971 for 4 organizations (primarily the Cardinals, but also the Mets, Reds, and Cubs). His only major-league action was 1 game in '66, 10 games in '67 (all for St. Louis), and 1 game in 1970 with the Cubs.



Dick Hughes was a little more successful. He was signed by the Cardinals in 1958, and spent 9 seasons in the minors (mostly with Cardinals' teams) before making his major-league debut in September 1966 at age 28.

Although he only played in the major leagues for 3 seasons, he was a key member of the Cardinals' pitching staff in both 1967 and 1968, as they went to the World Series in both years. In 1967, Dick was a starter for most of the season, while in 1968 he pitched mainly in relief. His last major-league game was in game 6 of the World Series.

In 1969, he played 15 games for the Cardinals' class-A team in St. Petersburg, FL, and then his career was over. (It seems like this may have been an unsuccessful rehab assignment.)

Final Card: George Altman

Today, I received 9 cards that I bought to upgrade my worst 1967 cards: Billy O'Dell and Ralph Terry (clearly the 2 poorest), also Joe Nuxhall, Matty Alou, Bob Priddy, Mike McCormick, Wes Stock, George Scott, and George Brunet. Somehow, I missed George Altman, whose card has no solid corners. Oh well, next time!

This is the final card for George Altman (#87). 1967 was also his last season, most of which was spent in triple-A.

After playing the 1955 season with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues, George was signed by the Cubs in '55, and played all of 1956 and part of 1958 in the Cubs' farm system. Sandwiched between those 2 seasons was a year and a half in the military.

Altman made his major-league debut with the Cubs on April 11, 1959, and was the Cubs' regular center fielder during his rookie season.



In 1960, he was replaced by Richie Ashburn, and was used as a backup outfielder. George was back in the starting lineup the next year, as he took over the right field job in 1961 and 1962. In 1962 his outfield mates were Billy Williams (LF) and Lou Brock (CF).

After the 1962 season, Altman and pitcher Don Cardwell were traded to the Cardinals for pitchers Larry Jackson and Lindy McDaniel, and catcher Jimmie Schaffer. He was the Cardinals' regular right fielder in 1963, playing alongside Stan Musial and Curt Flood. (Wow, in 2 years, Altman played alongside 4 all-stars!)

Altman only lasted 1 season in St. Louis, and was traded to the Mets for pitcher Roger Craig. George was the Mets' regular left fielder in 1964, since their #1 outfielder (Joe Christopher) played in right.

Once again, Altman's stay lasted only 1 season. He was traded to the Cubs for outfielder Billy Cowan in January 1965.

George's 2nd tour with the Cubs was not as productive. In 1965 he was in the Cubs' 5-man committee of left fielders. In 1966 he backed up rookie sensation Byron Browne in left field. In 1967 he played 4 games for Chicago and 108 games for triple-A Tacoma.

My Want List (as of 12/21/2024)

1965 Topps Baseball:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 22, 25, 32, 33, 34, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 55, 58, 60, 61, 62, 68, 70, 71, 73, 74, 76, 77, 78, 81, 82, 83, 88, 89, 90, 94, 95, 97, 99, 100, 103, 108, 110, 111, 113, 114, 118, 119, 120, 125, 126, 130, 132, 133, 134, 135, 137, 138, 139, 140, 142, 143, 144, 145, 150, 151, 152, 153, 155, 157, 160, 165, 166, 167, 170, 172, 173, 175, 176, 178, 180, 181, 182, 185, 188, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 197, 199, 201, 207, 209, 210, 212, 213, 214, 215, 218, 220, 221, 222, 223, 227, 228, 229, 230, 232, 236, 237, 238, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 250, 251, 252, 254, 258, 259, 260, 264, 265, 266, 267, 270, 271, 272, 275, 276, 277, 279, 285, 286, 290, 293, 294, 295, 300, 302, 303, 305, 306, 308, 312, 315, 318, 319, 320, 321, 325, 326, 330, 331, 332, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 340, 341, 343, 346, 347, 348, 350, 351, 354, 358, 359, 360, 362, 364, 365, 366, 368, 371, 374, 375, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 385, 386, 388, 389, 390, 392, 396, 397, 398, 400, 403, 405, 408, 410, 411, 412, 415, 416, 420, 423, 424, 426, 431, 432, 435, 438, 439, 445, 447, 450, 452, 453, 456, 458, 461, 465, 468, 469, 470, 472, 473, 475, 477, 478, 479, 480, 481, 484, 486, 487, 490, 492, 493, 495, 497, 500, 501, 502, 503, 504, 506, 509, 510, 512, 513, 515, 516, 519, 520, 522, 523, 524, 525, 526, 527, 528, 529, 530, 531, 532, 533, 535, 536, 537, 538, 540, 543, 545, 546, 547, 548, 549, 550, 553, 554, 556, 557, 558, 559, 560, 561, 563, 565, 566, 568, 569, 570, 571, 572, 573, 574, 576, 581, 582, 585, 586, 587, 588, 589, 590, 591, 593, 594, 596, 597, 598.

1966 Topps Baseball:
50 - Mickey Mantle
110 - Ernie Banks
300 - Roberto Clemente
450 - Tony Oliva
500 - Hank Aaron
Also high numbers: 524, 525, 526, 528, 532-542, 544-548, 550, 552-559, 561-567, 569, 570, 572-577, 579, 580, 582, 583, 584, 586, 588-590, 592, 593, 594, 596, 597, 598.

1967 Topps Baseball:
569 - AL Rookies (Rod Carew)
581 - Mets Rookies (Tom Seaver)

1969 Topps Deckle-edge Inserts:
11b - Jim Wynn
22b - Joe Foy

1970 Topps Baseball:
189 - Yankees Rookies (Munson)
580 - Pete Rose
600 - Willie Mays
Also high numbers:
640 - Al Kaline
660 - Johnny Bench
712 - Nolan Ryan

1966 Philly Gum (NFL) Football:
24 - Johnny Unitas
31 - Dick Butkus
38 - Gale Sayers
41 - Jim Brown
59 - Chuck Howley
61 - Don Meredith
Team cards: 14, 26, 27, 39, 40, 52, 53, 66, 79, 91, 92, 104, 105, 117, 118, 130, 144, 156, 157, 160, 169, 170, 182, 183, 195.

1967 Topps (AFL) Football:
98 - Joe Namath

1968 Topps Football:
100 - Johnny Unitas
196 - Bob Griese

1969 Topps Football (181 cards):
2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 31, 32, 33, 35, 37, 38, 39, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 58, 61, 62, 65, 66, 67, 69, 70, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 84, 92, 93, 95, 96, 99, 102, 103, 104, 106, 109, 110, 111, 113, 114, 115, 116, 120, 121, 124, 128, 129, 131, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 146, 147, 148, 150, 151, 152, 153, 155, 156, 157, 158, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 177, 178, 179, 180, 183, 185, 186, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 200, 201, 202, 203, 205, 207, 209, 211, 212, 213, 215, 216, 217, 218, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 254, 255, 256, 257, 259, 260, 262, 263. 

For the following years, these are Topps baseball cards that I HAVE:

1955
130

1956
220, 296.

1957
214, 397.

1958
145 (reprint), 161, 171, 264, 328.

1959
85, 129, 175, 178, 208, 382, 398, 412, 436, 452, 472, 503.

1960
13, 52, 64, 79, 82, 97, 103, 125, 127, 130, 138, 167, 185, 194, 211, 226, 233, 251, 264, 285, 293, 308, 319, 331, 345, 347, 355, 366, 384, 416, 438, 447, 451, 472.

1961
3, 20, 59, 65, 78, 93, 103, 105, 111, 144, 154, 179, 190, 202, 219, 222, 234, 262, 281, 299, 316, 341, 353, 359, 377, 394, 411, 433, 468, 479, 502, 522.

1962
17, 46, 76, 77, 104, 111, 116, 146, 157, 181, 212, 220, 249, 269, 284, 294, 303, 328, 352, 359, 374, 385, 434, 453, 494, 581.

1963
8, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 26, 29, 31, 32, 33, 42, 44, 46, 48, 55, 56, 58, 69, 71, 81, 82, 84, 86, 87, 88, 91, 94, 95, 96, 98, 99, 100, 103, 118, 125, 132, 139, 149, 157, 160, 161, 175, 177, 187, 190, 191, 192, 221, 231, 241, 268, 283, 305, 318, 341, 348, 365, 366, 370, 385, 404, 434, 551.

1964
16, 21, 26, 33, 43, 45, 58, 83, 104, 121, 129, 135, 153, 157, 168, 173, 187, 191, 194, 207, 208, 212, 222, 231, 238, 243, 244, 248, 251, 254, 265, 278, 279, 285, 293, 298, 302, 310, 319, 321, 345, 347, 355, 365, 379, 389, 396, 412, 432, 448, 451, 462, 464, 479, 482, 493, 513, 520, 533, 561, 585.

1964 Giant
1 - Gary Peters
2 - Ken Johnson
5 - Rocky Colavito
6 - Ron Hunt
13 - Nellie Fox
15 - Jim Gentile
16 - Dean Chance
17 - Dick Ellsworth
19 - Dick Groat
22 - Turk Farrell
24 - Frank Howard
31 - Warren Spahn
33 - Pete Ward
36 - Johnny Callison
39 - Luis Aparicio
43 - Tommy Davis
44 - Tony Oliva
54 - Leon Wagner

1972 Topps Football
Series 1 and 2: all
Series 3: 286, 314.

It's 2010 ...Time for a census!

It's the start of a new year, so I thought I would survey my collection of vintage cards (click to enlarge):


The yellow areas are my "wheelhouse". My 1st period of collecting began in May 1967 and stopped after the 1972 football season. I got the low-numbered '67, '68, and '69 cards, and all of the '72 cards in the year issued.

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The release of the 1979 and 1980 Burger King Phillies sets, coupled with the Phillies winning the 1980 World Series, got me started in the hobby again. I decided to limit my collecting to:

A) Completing my '67, '68, and '69 sets

B) Collecting the Phillies cards from all years

C) Buy 1981 factory sets

How did I do?

A. The '67, '68, and '69 high numbers were acquired mostly in the early 1980s. I now have them all except 4 cards from the 1967 set.

B. During the 1980s and early 1990s, I collected Phillies cards from 1964 (an arbitrary starting date, based mostly on economics) up through 1993. This included:

1. All Topps from 1964 to 1993 (except the Mike Schmidt rookie).
2. All Fleer from 1981 to 1992.
3. All Donruss from 1982 to 1992.
4. Most Upper Deck and Score from '90 to '92, and all Bowman from '90 and '91.

C. In 1981, I got the Topps and Fleer factory sets, and the Topps Traded set. In the early 1990s, I also went factory-set crazy, and have all the factory and update sets for Topps, Fleer, and Donruss from 1988 to 1992, and the 1992 Score set.

After 1993, I stopped collecting again until the fall of 2008.

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With the Phillies winning the World Series in 2008, I got back into card collecting. Interests since late 2008 include:

1. Recent Phillies cards (Topps base set, some Topps Heritage and Upper Deck). I have most from 2004 to 2010.

2. Phillies cards from 1963 back to the early 1950s. I currently have all the 1960 to 1963 Phillies except the high numbers, and a few from earlier years. I also have some Phillies from the early 1960s' Post and Fleer sets.

3. Started collecting the non-Phillie 1964 to 1966 Topps cards. I'm currently focusing on adding to my 1966 set.

4. In early 2010, I began adding to my collection of 1970 baseball cards, and now have most of the 720 cards.

Sometime in the last 20 years, my 1969 cards of Willie Mays, Johnny Bench, and Rod Carew went missing. I have recently replaced these.

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Oh, I forgot to mention football cards:

Gary Peters (#310)

Gary Peters was the ace of the White Sox pitching staff in the mid-to-late 1960s.

Peters was signed by the White Sox in 1956, and spent 7 seasons (1956-62) in the minor leagues, while making a few appearances during the 1959-62 seasons.

In 1963 he joined the White Sox for good as a 26-year-old rookie, and what a rookie season it was! He compiled a 19-8 record, his 2.33 ERA led the league, and he led all White Sox starters (Ray Herbert, Juan Pizarro, John Buzhardt, Joe Horlen) in games and innings pitched. He was also named American League Rookie of the Year.

Peters followed that up with another fine season in 1964. He led the starting rotation (same 5 guys) in wins (20), games, starts, complete games, and innings pitched, and was named to the all-star team.



1965 was an off-year for Gary, but 22-year-old Tommy John had now joined the rotation (replacing the aging Ray Herbert), and went 14-7 to help pick up the slack. Peters rebounded in 1966, and although his 12-10 record is not spectacular, his 1.98 ERA was tops in the American League.

In 1967, Peters was back on top in the "workhorse" categories of games, starts, and innings pitched, but his 16-11 record was eclipsed by Horlen's 19-7. The Sox' top 3 of Peters, Horlen, and John were as good as any in the league.

Look out! In 1968 Gary's record came crashing down to 4-13. He was even used in relief for 6 games. Peters would play one more season in Chicago before being traded to the Red Sox (along with catcher Don Pavletich) for utility infielder Syd O'Brien, and a minor-league pitcher. What a humbling end to a great run in Chicago!

Peters' first 2 seasons in Boston went well, as he pitched in 34 games each season, and compiled records of 16-11 and 14-11. However, in his final season (1972) he was shifted to the bullpen, making 29 of his 33 appearances as a reliever. He finished with a 3-3 record, and was released after the season, ending his 14-year career.

Final Card: Johnny Romano

Johnny Romano (#196) was a catcher in the 1960s, mostly for the White Sox and Indians.

Romano was signed by the White Sox in 1954, and played in their minor-league system for 5 years. His major-league debut came in September 1958, when he played 4 games for the White Sox.

In 1959, Johnny started 34 games, as the backup to Sherm Lollar. After the season, he was traded to the Indians with first baseman Norm Cash for catcher Dick Brown, outfielder Minnie Minoso, and 2 other players.

In 1960, Romano started 88 games behind the plate, more than 3 times as many starts as any of the other 3 catchers used that season. In '61 and '62, he had a better grip on the starter's job, starting 140 and 128 games during those seasons.

Romano and Joe Azcue (acquired from Kansas City early in 1963) shared the starting job for the 1963 and 1964 seasons. At the close of the 1964 season, Johnny went back to the White Sox as part of a 3-team, 8-player deal:

Rocky Colavito - Athletics to Indians
Cam Carreon - White Sox to Indians

Tommie Agee - Indians to White Sox
Tommy John - Indians to White Sox
Johnny Romano - Indians to White Sox

Mike Hershberger - White Sox to Athletics
Jim Landis - White Sox to Athletics
Fred Talbot - White Sox to Athletics

Romano was the undisputed starting catcher for the Sox during 1965 and 1966. After the season, he was traded to the Cardinals for pitcher Don Dennis and outfield prospect Walt "No-Neck" Williams. Although he stuck around all season, Johnny only played in 24 games during his 10th and final season.

Well, that wraps up the 1967 cards for veterans with 10 or more years who retired in the late 1960s. (I still have another week to go on the 1968 blog.) You can see the entire list here.