Final Card: Carl Warwick

Here is the final card for outfielder Carl Warwick (#247). Warwick was signed by the Dodgers and played in their minor-league system for 3 seasons (1958-60) before making his major-league debut with the Dodgers on April 11, 1961. A month later, he was traded to the Cardinals, and started 33 games in center field as Curt Flood's backup.

On May 7, 1962, Carl was traded to the Houston Colt .45s for veteran pitcher Bobby Shantz. He immediately became the regular center fielder for the expansion team, starting 104 games in center, including 71 of the next 79 games. In 1963, Warwick moved over to right field, starting 103 games there, while a young Rusty Staub started most of the other games there.



1962 and 1963 were the high points of Warwick's career. Just before the 1964 season, he was traded back to the Cardinals, and faded into a 5th outfielder role. In the '64 World Series, Carl was 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored.

Warwick was sold to the Orioles in late July 1965, but only appeared in 9 games for the rest of the season. Just prior to the 1966 season, he was traded to the Cubs for catcher Vic Roznovsky. Carl appeared in only 16 games for the Cubs that season (the last on June 12th), and spent most of the season in the Cubs' minor-league system.

Who didn't get a card, but shoulda... (re-mix)

I originally posted this on 11/15/2009, but recently I found several more players who were missing 1966 cards, so I'm bumping this to the top.


Here are some players who didn't have a card in 1966, though playing in the majors for some time:

Joe Adcock
Joe was a long-time first baseman for several American League teams in the 1950s and 1960s. His last player card was in 1963, although he continued to play regularly for 3 more full seasons with the Angels. After retiring following the 1966 season, he was immediately hired as the Indians manager, and has a 1967 manager card.

Dick Hall
Hall was a relief pitcher for the Pirates (1955-59), Athletics (1960), Orioles (1961-66, 69-71), and Phillies (1967-68). He had Topps cards in 1955-57, 1960-63, and 1967-71. The missing cards in 1958 and 1959 are to be expected, since he spent most of 1957 and 1959 in the minors, and was either out of baseball or injured during the 1958 season. However, there doesn't appear to be a baseball reason for the missing cards from 1964 to 1966, since he was a full-time major-league player with plenty of appearances from 1960 to 1971.

Maury Wills
Wills didn't have a Topps card until 1967. I read a note from Ted Taylor saying that Wills was under contract to Fleer (he had a Fleer card in 1963) and Fleer would not release him to Topps.

Chris Short
Like Wills, Short's 1st card was in 1967. He had been pitching regularly for the Phillies since 1960.

Tony Horton
Tony was a backup 1B-OF for the Red Sox between 1965 and early 1967. Although he only played 6 major-league games in 1966, in 1965 he appeared in 44 games for the Red Sox, playing 344 innings at 1st base. This should have warranted a card for 1966.

Doug Clemens (added 2/28/10)
Clemens was in the major leagues for parts of every season from 1960 to 1968, and continuously since opening day in 1964. He had 218 at-bats in 1964 and 340 at-bats in 1965, yet his only baseball card was in 1967.


Added 4/20/2010:

None of the players listed below spent any time in the minors in 1965 (normally the reason a veteran is denied a baseball card).

Lou Clinton
Lou played 102 games in 1965 for the Angels, Athletics, and Indians. In 1966, he played 80 games for the Yankees. His last card was in 1967.

Don Blasingame
Don was the Senators' regular 2nd baseman in 1965, and played 80 games in 1966 for the Senators and Athletics. His last card was in 1965.

Frank Bolling
Frank was the Braves' regular 2nd baseman in 1965, and played 75 games in 1966 for the Braves, splitting the 2B duties with Woody Woodward. His last card was in 1965.

Bob Lillis
Bob was the Astros' regular shortstop in 1965, starting 2/3 of the games there. He played 68 games in 1966 for the the Astros. His last card was in 1964.

Eddie Kasko
Eddie got 215 at-bats for the Astros in 1965, starting 1/3 of the games at shortstop. He played 58 games in 1966 for the Red Sox. His last card was in 1963.

Joey Amalfitano
Joey played 67 games (96 at-bats) for the Cubs in 1965 as a utility infielder. He played 41 games in the same role in 1966. His last card was in 1965.

Wes Stock
Wes pitched in 62 games for the Athletics in 1965, and another 35 in 1966. His last card was in 1967.

Jay Ritchie
Jay pitched in 44 games for the Red Sox in 1965, and 22 for the Braves in 1966. His last card was in 1965.

Final Card: George Banks

George Banks (#488) was a utility player who played briefly for the Twins and Indians from 1962-1966. Although he played 3B-OF in the majors, in his 11-year minor league career he was almost exclusively a 3rd baseman.

George began baseball life as a Yankees' farmhand in 1957. After the 1961 season, the Minnesota Twins selected him in the Rule 5 draft, and he spent the entire 1962 season with the Twins. He started 20 games, and appeared in another 40 games strictly as a pinch-hitter.

(The card front shows OF-3B, while the back shows 3B-OF)

In 1963 (free from the Rule 5 restrictions), the Twins sent him back to the minors, which is where he stayed for most of his career. He appeared only briefly with the Twins in 1963 and 1964, before he was traded to the Indians on June 15, 1965 (with pitcher Lee Stange) for pitcher Jim "Mudcat" Grant.

The Indians used him as the Twins did - mostly playing 3rd base in triple-A, this time in Portland Oregon. His last season in the majors was 1966, when he appeared in 4 games for the Indians (the last on May 7th). George spent most of 1967 playing for the Angels' triple-A team in Seattle.

He wrapped up his pro career in 1968, playing for the Phillies' class-A team in Spartanburg, SC.

Final Card: Billy Herman

Billy Herman (#37) was a 2nd baseman for the Cubs in the 1930s, and the Dodgers in the early 1940s, before finishing up his playing career in 1946 and 1947 with the Braves and Pirates.

He was a player-manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates for one season (1947). After many years as a coach for the Dodgers, Braves, and Red Sox, Billy got his 2nd and final shot as a major-league manager with the Red Sox.



After taking over the team with 2 games remaining in 1964, Billy was at the controls for all of 1965 and most of 1966, until he was fired with 16 games remaining. The Red Sox finished in 9th place in both of Herman's seasons.

It turned out to be a good move, as Boston went on to play in the World Series the following season with Dick Williams as a rookie manager!

Herman coached briefly with the Angels and Padres in the 1960s and 1970s.

Final Card: Bill Faul

Here's the final card for pitcher Bill Faul (#322), who looks like like a guy named Mike that I used to work with.

Faul started his career with the Tigers in 1962. He spent most of the season in class-A ball, and pitched 1 game with the Tigers in late September that season. His baseball card shows a whopping 27.00 ERA for that one game, but baseball-reference.com says it was 32.40. In any case, he surprisingly remained with the Tigers for all of 1963. In 1964, he spent most of the season in the minors, and was sold to the Cubs during spring training in 1965.



He pitched 17 games for the Cubs in each of 1965 and 1966, but spent a good portion of both seasons in triple-A, as well as the entire 1967 season.

In 1968, Faul was sold to the Indians, who sold him to the Reds, who returned him to the Indians (whew!), all the while remaining in the minors.

Bill continued playing in the minors from 1969-73 for the Royals, Giants, and Cubs, with only a brief 7-game stint in the majors for the Giants in early 1970.