Final Card: Don Landrum

Don Landrum (#43) was signed by the Phillies, and spent 7 seasons with their minor-league teams, with a 2-game cup of coffee in Philadelphia beginning on September 28, 1957.

Two weeks before the end of the 1960 season, he was traded to the Cardinals for third baseman Bob Sadowski, and finished the season in St. Louis. In 1961 he played 28 games with the Cardinals, and 86 games in triple-A.

Don spent the entire 1962 and 1963 seasons in the majors, first with the Cardinals, then with the Cubs, following his June 1962 trade. Don was the Cubs' 4th outfielder in 1962, but in 1963 he shared the starting centerfield job with Ellis Burton.



In 1964, Landrum was back in the minors for most of the season, but the next year he was the Cubs #1 centerfielder, starting 104 games.

After the 1965 season, Landrum and pitcher Lindy McDaniel were traded to the Giants for pitcher Bill Hands and catcher Randy Hundley. Don was seldom used by the Giants in 1966. Although he played in 72 games, he made only 14 starts in the outfield, along with another 40 late-inning defensive appearances. Willie Mays, Ollie Brown, Jesus Alou, and even Len Gabrielson and Cap Peterson all got the outfield assignments before him. Don also spent part of 1966 with the Giants' triple-A team.

Final Card: Ken Hamlin

This is the final card for Ken Hamlin (#69). It's also his first card since 1962. Hamlin was a shortstop until 1965, when he switched to second base for his final 2 seasons.

Ken was signed by the Pirates in 1957, and played in their farm system from 1957 to 1959. He had a 2-game cup of coffee with the Pirates in 1957. He also played in the Mexican league for part of 1958.

After the 1959 season, the Pirates traded Hamlin and pitcher Dick Hall to the Athletics for catcher Hal Smith. After only 5 major-league games in the 3 previous years, Hamlin became the Athletics' regular shortstop in 1960, starting 127 of his 139 games there. Oddly enough, after this Cinderella story, Hamlin was left exposed to the expansion draft, and was selected by the Angels.



After sharing the starting shortstop assignments with the likes of Fritz Brickell and Rocky Bridges, Hamlin was traded to the independent Toronto Maple Leafs for second baseman Billy Moran in late June. This was 2 days after the Angels purchased shortstop Joe Koppe from the Cardinals for $1000. (Koppe would start almost all the remaining games at shortstop.)

After the season, Ken was claimed by the Washington Senators in the rule 5 draft, and he was back in the majors in 1962. He shared the shortstop job with journeyman Bob Johnson and rookie Ed Brinkman.

The next 2 seasons were spent in triple-A (presumably on loan, because Rochester was the Orioles' affiliate, and Toronto was the Senators' and Braves' affiliate).

Ken made it back to the majors in 1965, now as a second baseman. He started 63 games at 2nd and 31 games at SS, but was the backup at each position (to Don Blasingame and Ed Brinkman).

His playing time decreased in his final season (1966), as he started only 40 games at second base. By this time, he was the 3rd-stringer behind Bob Saverine and Don Blasingame.

He retired after the 1966 season at age 31.

Final Card: Joe Christopher

Joe Christopher (#343) was signed by the Pirates in 1955, and played in the minors from 1955 to 1959. During part of 1957, he also played in the Mexican League.

Joe made his major-league debut in late May 1959, and played 15 games for the Pirates, mostly as a pinch-hitter.

In 1960 he was used mainly as a pinch-hitter, but also as a 5th outfielder. The Pirates' starting outfield was Bob Skinner, Bill Virdon, and Roberto Clemente. Whatever playing time was leftover was usually scooped up by 4th outfielder Gino Cimoli.

In 1961 Joe saw more action, starting about 25% of the games in left field, as Bob Skinner's playing time was reduced. After the season Christopher was drafted by the Mets in the expansion draft.



In 1962, Joe, Richie Ashburn, and Jim Hickman were the primary starters in center and right field. Ashburn had seen enough losing, and retired after the season. However, in 1963 Duke Snider, Jim Piersall, and rookie Ed Kranepool would join the team and clutter the outfield picture, taking playing time away from Christopher.

Things would be different after that, as Joe's ship finally came in. In 1964 he was the #1 right fielder, starting 127 games there. The following season he started 110 games in the outfield, although his starts were split between left and right.

After the 1965 season he was traded to the Red Sox for shortstop Ed Bressoud. He didn't stay in Boston long. His last major-league game was on June 9th 1966. A week later he was traded (along with pitcher Earl Wilson) to Detroit for outfielder Don Demeter and pitcher Julio Navarro. Joe finished the season in the minor leagues.

He would play 2 more seasons in the minors before retiring after the 1968 season.

75 New Cards (including John Stephenson)

On Saturday, I received 75 1966 cards that I recently bought from DeansCards.com, all from the first 2 series. Just by coincidence, they include at least 3 cards from each team (7 from the White Sox!), except only 1 each from the Cardinals (Curt Flood) and Athletics (Rene Lachemann), and none from the Phillies (I already have them all). Also included were 6 league leaders cards.

I had to laugh when I read the back of John Stephenson's card, where Topps proclaims "Johnny is a left-handed batter with good power to all fields." In 3 minor-league seasons, he has hit 8, 9, and 5 home runs! That's "good power"?

John Stephenson (#17) was the Mets' backup catcher. Apparently, Topps can't decide whether to call him John or Johnny, as we have 4 "John", 1 "Johnny", and 1 "Johnnny" on this card.



Rather than repeat myself, you can find more pertinent facts about John Stephenson on my 1967 blog.

Final Card: Willie Kirkland

Willie Kirkland (#434) was a starting outfielder for the Giants in the late 1950s, and later for the Cleveland Indians.

Willie (wow, he even has the right first name for a Giant!) was signed by the New York Giants in 1953, and played 4 seasons in their farm system before missing the 1957 season due to military service.

Kirkland made his major-league debut on April 15, 1958, and started 102 games in right field during his rookie season.

1959 was more of the same, as Willie the K started 105 games in right. (Felipe Alou started most of the remaining games there.) Even though Willie McCovey joined the Giants in 1959, that didn't affect Kirkland, as McCovey played only 1B that year. Orlando Cepeda would alternate between 1B and LF, which squeezed left fielder Jackie Brandt.



1960 would be Kirkland's last season with the Giants, and he went out with a bang - starting 135 games in right field. After the season, he and pitcher Johnny Antonelli were traded to the Indians for outfielder Harvey Kuenn.

Willie played 3 seasons for the Indians, the first 2 as their starting right fielder. In 1963, he shared the right field chores with Al Luplow.

After the 1963 season, Kirkland moved on to the Orioles, where he was re-united with former Giants teammate Jackie Brandt. For awhile, Willie started about half the games in right field, alternating with Sam Bowens. After July 9th, Bowens took over the job fulltime, and Kirkland was sold to the Senators on August 12th.

Willie played for the Senators until the end of the 1966 season, and was pretty much a 5th outfielder (behind Frank Howard, Don Lock, Jim King, and Fred Valentine). In 1965, he shared the right field starts with Jim King.

In 1967, Kirkland played 144 games for the Senators' triple-A team in Hawaii, before retiring from baseball.

Final Card: Albie Pearson

Albie Pearson (#83) was signed by the Red Sox in 1953, and spent 5 seasons with their minor-league teams, the last 2 with their Pacific Coast League affiliate in San Francisco. The small (5'5", 140 lbs) outfielder was traded to the (old) Washington Senators for 1B-2B Pete Runnels in January 1958.

As a 23-year-old rookie, Pearson his major-league debut in April 1958, and was the Senators starting center fielder that year, playing in 146 games.



In 1959 Pearson was the starting center fielder for the first 11 games, then missed the next 16 games. During this time, Bob Allison became the starting center fielder, and would hold that job for the remainder of the season. Pearson returned to the starting lineup (in right field) for 10 games in mid-May, but was soon traded to the Orioles for outfielder Lenny Green. Pearson would struggle for playing time in Baltimore. He made only 23 starts for the rest of the season, and rarely started more than 2 consecutive games.

1960 was even worse for Pearson. The Orioles had Gene Woodling in left, and Jackie Brandt in center. Even with a revolving door in right field, Pearson only managed to start 17 games with the Orioles, and in fact, played 53 games in triple-A. Quite a freefall since being a fulltime center fielder in his rookie season!

Pearson's career took a tun for the better in 1961. The Angels drafted him from the Orioles, and he became an outfield fixture for the Angels for several years. In 1961 he started over 100 games between center field and right field. In 1962 and 1963, he was the Angels' regular center fielder, playing over 130 games in each season. He also made the all-star team in 1963.

What happened after that? In 1964, he split the centerfield starting job with Bob Perry, whose major-league career consisted of 2 part-time seasons ('63-'64) with the Angels. In 1965, Pearson lost the starting center field job for good when the Angels acquired rookie Jose Cardenal from the Giants.

The 1966 season is a mystery. He played a grand total of 1 game in 1966, and it was on July 16th. He had no minor-league activity in 1966, so he was either injured, or was doing some serious bench-riding.

Final Card: Johnny Blanchard

Yes folks, it's "Atlanta Braves Backup Catchers Week"!

John Blanchard (#268) was a Yankees backup catcher in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was signed by the Yankees in 1951, and spent the next 8 years either with a Yankees' farm team or in the military. Although he played in 1 game in 1955, his real major-league action began in 1959.

In his first 2 seasons, Blanchard was the 3rd-string catcher behind Yogi Berra and Elston Howard (which is to say, "minimal playing time"!)

From 1961 to 1963, Blanchard's playing time spiked. Why was that? In 1961, Berra became the regular left fielder (catching only 15 games), elevating Blanchard to 2nd-string catcher. In 1962, Mickey Mantle missed a lot of games, which moved Roger Maris to center field, and Blanchard to right. In 1963, Maris missed 72 games, while Mantle missed 97 games. Johnny was on-the-spot as a replacement outfielder.



In 1964, Blanchard returned to his 2nd-string catcher role, behind Elston Howard. In May 1965 he was traded to the Athletics. Later that season, the A's sold him to the Braves. His final game was on September 27, 1965.