John O'Donoghue (#127)

John O'Donoghue is the oldest living player from the 1966-70 era that I have not blogged about yet.

I think of him as a Cleveland Indian, but he played more games for the Pilots/Brewers and Athletics than he did with the Tribe. After 2 seasons as a front-line starter with Kansas City, he became a supporting player for the remainder of his career.

John was signed by the Athletics in 1959, and made his major-league debut in 1963 (on Sept 29th!)

O’Donoghue was a starter for the Athletics for the next 2 seasons. In 1964 he won 10 games as a 24-year-old rookie, and was the youngest of the 3 primary starters (after Orlando Pena and Diego Segui) on the staff. (In 1965, 19-year-old rookie Catfish Hunter claimed that title.)

Meanwhile, in '65 John led the AL with 18 losses. He did have 9 wins, which was 1 less than the leader for this bad Kansas City team. He also made the All-Star team, despite his eventual 9-18 record.

John got a reprieve in 1966 as he was traded to the Indians in early-April for pitcher Ralph Terry. During his 2 seasons with the Indians he was the infrequently-used #5 starter, behind a strong rotation of Sam McDowell, Sonny Siebert, Steve Hargan, and Gary Bell / Luis Tiant.

After the 1967 season he moved on to the Orioles, in exchange for knuckle-baller Eddie Fisher. After leaving the Indians, John was used almost exclusively in relief for the remainder of his career.

He played for triple-A Rochester in August 1968 and April 1969, then was traded to the expansion Pilots in late-April, where he joined his old teammates Segui, Bell, and Fred Talbot in Seattle. John appeared in 55 games for the Pilots, and another 25 games for the Brewers in 1970, before his mid-June trade to the Expos.

He split the 2nd half of the 1970 season between Montreal and their AAA team. After 13 appearances in 1971, the Expos released him at the end of June, ending his 9-year career.

His son (also named John) pitched for the Orioles in 1993.

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.

Pete Richert (#590)

Here is Pete Richert’s high-numbered 1967 card. The 1967 7th-series cards were not sold in my area, so I had no idea who Pete was (other than that he was traded to the Orioles for Mike Epstein and Frank Bertaina in early 1967) until getting his 1968 card the following year.

Pete was signed by the Dodgers in 1958, and after 4 years as a starting pitcher in the minors he made his Dodgers’ debut in April 1962, setting a record by striking out the first 6 batters he faced.

From 1962 to 1964, he was up-and-down between the Dodgers and their triple-A team (first in Omaha, and later Spokane).

After the 1964 season, Richert was part of the 7-player deal with the Senators that saw Frank Howard, Ken McMullen, Phil Ortega, Dick Nen, and Richert headed to Washington in exchange for Claude Osteen, John Kennedy, and cash. (I wonder if any of these guys was ever called "Old 5-for-2"?)

Richert made an immediate impact with the Senators. In 1965 he led the staff in wins (15), strikeouts (161, almost double the next guy), ERA (2.60), innings (194), starts (29), and complete games (6).

He was the Sens' #1 pitcher in 1966 also, leading the team in wins (14), strikeouts (195), innings (245), and starts (34). His 3.37 ERA was the lowest among the starters. Pete made the All-Star team in both seasons.

You would think Richert would be a keeper, but after a 2-6 start in 1967, in late-May he was traded to the Orioles for a much-needed slugging 1st baseman (Mike Epstein). Richert was a starter for the Orioles for most of the season, but had an off-year (as did most of the Orioles in ’67), only going 7-10 in 26 games (19 starts) with 90 strikeouts.

The Orioles rebuilt their starting rotation in 1968, so Richert was relegated to the bullpen that season, and stayed there for the remaining 7 seasons of his career. In '68 he was the only southpaw in the ‘pen.

In 1970 Richert led the team with 13 saves, and had an ERA of 1.98 while pitching 54 innings across 50 games. In 1971 the team acquired lefty Grant Jackson from the Phillies, pushing Richert down on the bullpen ladder.

Pete pitched in 3 consecutive World Series for the Orioles (1969-71), but after the '71 season, he returned to the Dodgers in the Frank Robinson trade. For 2 seasons with the Dodgers, he was just another reliever not named Jim Brewer.

Richert spent his final season (1974) with the Cardinals and Phillies. The Dodgers traded him to St Louis for Tommie Agee, then in mid-season he was sold to the Phillies.

Born on the Same Day - 7/21/1940

Another installment in my "Born on the Same Day" series, featuring players who were born on the same day (!) and year. 

This is post #17 in the series: John Bateman and Denis Menke - both born on 7/21/1940.

John Bateman caught for the Astros from 1963 to 1968. Selected by the expansion Expos, he played in Montreal from 1969 to early-1972. Bateman finished his career in 1972 with the Phillies. Traded in mid-season for Tim McCarver, Bateman was on-hand to witness his battery-mate Steve Carlton win 27 games.

Denis Menke played for the Braves from 1962-67, and the Astros from 1968 to 1971. Both of his All-Star selections came while a member of the Astros. After the 1971 season, Denis accompanied Joe Morgan and others to the Reds in a blockbuster deal. He finished his career back with the Astros in 1974.

Bateman and Menke were teammates during the 1968 season.

Turk Farrell (#190)

Ok, after last week's make-over for Larry Sherry, now it's "Richard" Farrell's turn.

We last saw Turk Farrell here, but come on now, what kind of a card is that? Topps did a pedestrian job with many of the 1968 photos. They also gave Farrell ANOTHER capless photo in the 1969 set. It seems they have no excuse, since he was with the Phillies several years earlier (and it was not beyond Topps to use old photos).

Farrell returned to the Phillies in May 1967, so by the time I got his card that year he was already with the Phillies. (At the time, I assumed he was swapped for Bo Belinsky, since Bo was with the Phils in '66 and Astros in '67, but they were separate deals.)

Dissecting the 1967 Set

The 1967 Topps set had 609 cards. This included 19 team cards (no Astros), 20 managers, 43 rookie stars cards, 12 league leaders cards, 5 World Series cards, 7 checklists, and 13 multi-player cards. This leaves 490 cards of individual players. Today's post will look at the position breakdown of those 490 cards.

208 cards for "PITCHER" or "P"
47 cards for 'CATCHER" or "C"
21 cards for "1B"
23 cards for "2B"
22 cards for "SS" or "SHORTSTOP"
18 cards for "3B"
12 cards for "INFIELD" or "INF"
99 cards for "OUTFIELD" or "OF"

That's a total of 450 cards. The remaining 40 cards featured players at more than 1 position (which is the REAL purpose of this blog post). Below is a sample of each position:

The most common combination of positions is 1st base and outfield. Five players are featured with a position of 1B-OF (Felipe Alou, Joe Pepitone, Wes Parker, Tito Francona, and Lee Thomas).
Four players have the reverse combo (Bob Tolan, Ron Fairly, Jim Beauchamp, and Tommie Reynolds).

There are also five cards with a position of 3B-OF (Richie Allen, Jim Ray Hart, Mike Shannon, Bob Bailey, and Derrell Griffith.)
Cap Peterson is the only player with the reverse OF-3B combination.


The rest of these combinations feature fewer players:

Jack Hiatt and Gene Oliver are the only C-1B players.
John Boccabella is the only 1B-C.

Even more rare is the catcher/3rd base combo.  These two are the only players with these positions.

You would think that middle-infield types would be more common, but these are the only 2 cards with a 2B-SS or SS-2B position.

Phil Gagliano is the only player with a 2B-3B designation.  The opposite is a little more common (Jim Lefebvre, Tommy Helms, Don Buford, Rich Rollins).

Wayne Causey is the only SS-3B in the set, but there are 3 of the opposite combo (Jim Davenport, Dick Schofield, Ron Campbell).

The 1967 set has 12 players with a position of "INFIELD" or "INF", and none is more puzzling than Luis Aparicio. Looie played only at shortstop, and was an All-Star to boot! Why would Topps have him labelled as a (utility) infielder?
Same for Deron Johnson - there are 4 cards showing players as "INF-OF", and the other three (Woodie Held, Jim Stewart, Jim Barbieri) ARE utility types, but Johnson was a front-line player.  He was a regular at 1B, 3B, and LF in 3 consecutive seasons, so I guess Topps couldn't fit 1B-3B-OF on the card.

I put these two together because surprisingly, there are no cards with their opposite combination (3B-1B, OF-2B). Killer has this one all to himself, while Pete Rose, Cookie Rojas, and Chico Salmon all show 2B-OF.

Here is the most unusual combination of all. Mel Queen came up as an outfielder, and was transitioning to pitching in 1966. All his cards after 1967 show him as a pitcher.