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.

Hurlers Beware (#309)

Here's another of the 13 multi-player cards issued by Topps in the 1967 set. For some reason, 9 teams didn't get one of these cards (Red Sox, Yankees, Senators, Athletics, Angels, Cubs, Reds, Astros, Dodgers), while 2 teams (Orioles, Indians) got 2 such cards.

Johnny Callison and Richie Allen were the Phillies' top two sluggers in the mid-1960s.

The left-handed Callison played for the Phillies from 1960-69, and had big homerun totals from 1962-65. He also won the 1964 all-star game with a walk-off homer.

Right-handed Allen won the NL Rookie of the Year award in 1964, and was the team's top slugger for 6 seasons, before being traded to the Cardinals after the 1969 season. He had some monster years for the White Sox in the early 1970s, before returning to the Phillies for the '75 and '76 seasons.

The Phillies also had a multi-player card in the 1966 set, titled "Power Plus" and featuring Callison and Wes Covington. (no Allen?)

Cubs Team (#354)

Here's a card featuring the entire Cubs' team. Oddly, in a few years, Topps would issue the Cubs Team with a series of floating heads instead of a group picture. (All other teams would get the traditional group picture.)

I was going to post the Dodgers' team card tonight, but the sheer number of pitchers listed on the back of this card (20) jumped out at me. (The NL champion Dodgers only had 9 pitchers listed on their card.)

The Cubs finished in last place in 1966, losing 103 games. (That tends to inflate the number of pitchers used.) The big loser was Dick Ellsworth at 8-22. What to do with him? Ship him to the Phillies! After all, they just took Bob Buhl and Larry Jackson off your hands.

Twelve of these pitchers wouldn't be back for the 1967 season, including veteran Robin Roberts, who ended his career going 2-3 for the Cubs.

In 1967 they jumped up to 3rd place, and would repeat that finish in 1968.

The 1967 Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox jumped from 9th place in 1966 to 1st place in 1967, powered by Carl Yastrzemski's triple-crown performance, Jim Lonborg's 22-9 pitching record, and to some extent, the collapse of the defending champion Baltimore Orioles' pitching staff.

The Sox started the season with a rotation of Jim Lonborg, rookie Billy Rohr, Darrell Brandon, and Dennis Bennett, with Hank Fischer getting the odd spot start. By the end of the season, that would change to Lonborg, Jose Santiago, Gary Bell, and Lee Stange.

Jim Lonborg led the team with a 22-9 record in 39 starts, including 15 complete games and 246 strikeouts. He was 2-1 in 3 World Series starts. Lee Stange went 8-10 in 24 starts and 11 relief appearances. He was with the team for the entire season, but didn't join the rotation until early June. Gary Bell won 12 and lost 8 after his June 4th acquisition from Cleveland. Dennis Bennett was 4-3 in 11 starts before he was shipped out to the Mets in late June.

John Wyatt fashioned a 10-7 record as the team's bullpen ace, pitching in 60 games (all in relief). Darrell Brandon made 19 starts through early August, then was relegated to the bullpen for the rest of the season. Jose Santiago spent most of the season in the bullpen, although he made 5 consecutive starts in May, and returned to a starting role in late August. He also started 2 World Series games. Dan Osinski made 34 appearances, all in relief.

Sparky Lyle made his major-league debut on July 4th, the first of 27 relief outings. Dave Morehead spent most of the season in the minors, then appeared in 10 games (9 starts) beginning on August 1st. Gary Waslewski made his major-league debut on June 11th, and made 8 starts in June and July.  He returned to the team in late September in a relief role. After 2 seasons as a key member of Boston's staff, Jerry Stephenson only appeared in 8 games in 1967, all in  late August and September.

Other assorted pitchers: Hank Fischer pitched in 7 games in April and May. His only other action was both ends of an August 8th doubleheader. Bill Landis pitched 18 games for the Red Sox in 1967, with very few appearances in mid-season. Galen Cisco spent much of the season in the minors, but played 11 games between late April and mid-July. On June 2nd (one year to the day he was acquired from the Indians) Don McMahon was traded to the White Sox for Jerry Adair.

Here are the starting 8 for the Sox. After the season, Mike Ryan would be traded to the Phillies. George Scott was fresh off his Topps all-rookie season in 1966, and hit 19 homers in 1967. Rookie Mike Andrews won the 2nd base job, but slipped into a job-share with Jerry Adair in late September (and the post-season). Rico Petrocelli and Joe Foy held down the left side of the infield.

The outfield was manned by triple-crown winner Carl Yastrzemski, rookie Reggie Smith, and slugger Tony Conigliaro. Tony was beaned in late August, and missed the remainder of the season, and all of 1968.

These are the bench players, in order of playing time.  Jerry Adair was acquired in early June, and filled in for Petrocelli at shortstop for most of July, and replaced Foy at 3rd base for most of August and September. Lefty Jose Tartabull started 18 games in center and 29 games in right, many coming just after Conigliaro was beaned. Dalton Jones was the primary infield reserve. Rookie catcher Russ Gibson started 37 games, and would share the starting job in 1968 with long-time Yankee Elston Howard, who was acquired on August 3rd.

George Thomas was the 5th outfielder, playing mostly on the corners. Ken Harrelson was signed in late August (after his release by Kansas City) to replace Conigliaro in right field. Bob Tillman began the season as the team's backup catcher, but with the emergence of Gibson and the acquisition of Howard, Tillman was expendable, and was shipped to the Yankees days after Howard's arrival.

Veteran Norm Siebern was picked up on July  15th, and provided lefthanded pinch-hitting. Don Demeter and 1st baseman Tony Horton were traded to the Indians in early June for pitcher Gary Bell.
[Tony Horton photo courtesy of http://www.ootpdevelopments.com] Jim Landis was signed in mid-August to replace Conigliaro, but was released a week later.

Ken Brett made his big-league debut on September 27th. Speaking of debuts, this was Dick Williams' first major-league managerial job, and he went all the way to the World Series. Garry Roggenburk and George Smith did not play for the Red Sox in 1967.

Topps hit the jackpot with the first Red Sox rookies card - both players were everyday players in their rookie season. Billy Rohr began the season in the starting rotation, but returned to the minors in early June.


Transactions from the end of the 1966 season to the end of 1967:

10/13/66 - Traded pitcher Bill Monbouquette to the Tigers for George Smith and George Thomas.

10/17/66 - Sold pitcher Bill Short to the Pirates.

10/21/66 - Released shortstop Eddie Kasko and outfielder Lenny Green.

11/28/66 - Drafted Bill Landis from the Athletics in the rule 5 draft.

12/15/66 - Traded pitchers Dick Stigman and Rollie Sheldon to the Reds for Hank Fischer.

06/02/67 - Traded Don McMahon to the White Sox for Jerry Adair.

06/04/67 - Traded Don Demeter and Tony Horton to the Indians for Gary Bell.

06/24/67 - Sold Dennis Bennett to the New York Mets.

07/15/67 - Purchased Norm Siebern from the  Giants.

08/03/67 - Traded pitcher Ron Klimkowski to the Yankees for Elston Howard.

08/08/67 - Sold Bob Tillman to the Yankees.

08/22/67 - Signed Jim Landis as a free agent.

08/28/67 - Signed Ken Harrelson as a free agent; released Jim Landis.

09/01/67 - Released pitcher Pete Charton.

11/30/67 - Traded outfielder Bill Schlesinger to the Cubs for pitcher Ray Culp.

12/15/67 - Traded Mike Ryan to the Phillies for Dick Ellsworth and Gene Oliver.


Next team review: Atlanta Braves

Mel Stottlemyre (#225)

Here's my first Mel Stottlemyre card. Mel was somewhat of a favorite player of mine as a kid, not because I liked the Yankees, or Mel in particular, but mainly because my earliest baseball glove that I can remember was a Mel Stottlemyre model, by Wilson. (In later years, I think I had (and still have) a Rod Carew glove.)

Mel was signed by the Yankees in 1961, and played in the minors for 3 1/2 seasons. After compiling a 13-3 record at triple-A Richmond for most of 1964, Mel made his major-league debut on August 12th, with a complete-game 7-3 victory over the White Sox. He also saw his only post-season action in 1964.

In his first full season (1965) Mel went 20-9 with a league-leading 18 complete games, while edging out long-time Yankees' kingpin Whitey Ford. His personal success didn't extend to the team, as the Yanks slipped from 1st place in 1964 to 6th place in '65.

Stottlemyre slumped to 12-20 in 1966, as the Yankees plummeted to the AL basement. They say a 20-game loser is a sign of a good pitcher, otherwise he wouldn't get the playing time.

Mel had some good seasons on a bad team. He won 20 games in '68 and '69, led the league with 24 complete games in '69, and made 5 all-star appearances between 1965 and 1970. Stottlemyre remained at the top of the Yankees' rotation from 1965-1973, winning in double figures each year.

In his final season (1974), he only appeared in 16 games, making his last appearance on August 16th, 10 years and 4 days after his debut.

After his playing career, Mel was a minor-league instructor for the Mariners for 5 seasons, and then a pitching coach from 1984 to 2008 for the Mets (10 seasons), Astros (2), Yankees (10), and Mariners (1).

Two of Mel's sons were also major-league pitchers: Todd (1988-2002 with the Blue Jays and others), and Mel Jr (1990 Royals).

Final Card: Recapping all 80

For the past few years, one of the recurring series on this blog has been a player's final card. The 1967 set includes the final card for 77 players and 3 managers. Here is a quick recap of them all, in order of years of service, from Curt Simmons' 20 years to Bruce Brubaker's 2 games:

Some, like these 11, had already played their last big-league game before these cards came out. Others like Dennis Bennett, would remain in the majors for 2 more seasons, but most saw their careers end in 1967.


Also check out the 1966 and 1968 final cards.