Donn Clendenon (#375)

Donn Clendenon had a 12-year career as a first baseman, spending the first 2/3 of his career with the Pirates, before moving on to other teams, including the 1969 Miracle Mets, where he was named the World Series MVP.

Donn was signed by the Pirates in 1957, and played five seasons in the minors as a first baseman and outfielder. He also pitched two games in 1957.

Clendenon made his major-league debut in September 1961. In 1962, Donn made 41 starts at first base (mostly in August and September) and 17 starts in left field. He finished 2nd in NL Rookie of the Year voting to Cubs’ 2nd baseman Ken Hubbs (19 votes to 1 vote).

After the 1962 season, the Pirates traded their long-time first-sacker Dick Stuart to the Red Sox for catcher Jim Pagliaroni, paving the way for Clendenon to play fulltime at 1B. He started 146 games there in 1963, and never played another position for the Bucs (save for 2 innings at 3rd base in 1965).

Donn was the Pirates’ regular 1st baseman for the next 6 years, hitting between 12 and 28 homers per season, but also leading the NL in strikeouts in ’63 and ’68.

With young first basemen like Al Oliver and Bob Robertson waiting in the wings, Clendenon was left exposed to the expansion draft after the 1968 season, and was selected by the Montreal Expos with the 11th pick. Three months later, he was flipped to the Astros with Jesus Alou for Rusty Staub. When Clendenon refused to report to the Astros (word is that he didn’t like ex-Pirates’ and current Astros’ manager Harry Walker), the Expos kept Staub and Clendenon, and sent pitchers Jack Billingham and Skip Guinn to complete the deal.

Topps issued 2 cards for Clendenon that year (both #208), in a forerunner to their "traded" subsets that would begin in 1972.


After a brief holdout, Clendenon rejoined the Expos in mid-April, then was traded to the Mets in mid-June for pitcher Steve Renko and 3rd baseman Kevin Collins. Talk about a lucky break! Donn went from an expansion team to the eventual World Champions. He alternated at 1st base with Ed Kranepool for the remainder of the season, and although he didn’t play in the NLCS, he hit .357 (5 for 14) with 3 homers and 4 RBI in 4 World Series games, and was named the Series MVP.

In 1970, Donn started 96 games at first base, with outfielder Art Shamsky starting another 55 (Kranepool missed several months). This would be Donn’s last season as a regular. Kranepool returned in 1971 and started 2/3 of the games, leaving 1/3 for Clendenon.

Donn was released by the Mets after the ’71 season, and was picked up by the Cardinals that December. He only started 31 games in his final season, mostly from May to July. His last game was on August 5th, and he drew his release 2 days later.

After his playing career, Clendenon earned a law degree and practiced law in Ohio. Later in life he battled drug addiction and leukemia. He passed away in September 2005 at age 70.

Bert Campaneris (#175)

Bert Campaneris had a 19-year career (1964-83), and was the Athletics’ shortstop for his first 13 seasons.

Although he famously played all nine positions during one game in 1965, he was mostly a shortstop. He did play a few dozen games in the outfield during his first 2 seasons, and in his final 2 seasons was a backup at 3B and 2B, but otherwise was found at shortstop for 94% of his career 19,123 innings played.

Bert was signed by the Kansas City Athletics in 1961, and made his major-league debut with Kansas City in July 1964. "Campy" shared the shortstop job with Wayne Causey for the 2nd half of the season, while also starting 27 games in left field. Bert was named to the Topps All-Rookie team in 1964.

In 1965 he started 103 games at shortstop and 37 in left field. That year, Campaneris led the AL in triples (12) and stolen bases (51). In fact, he would lead the league in stolen bases for the '65, '66, '67, '68, '70, and '72 seasons. He stole a career-high 62 bases in both 1968 and 1969, and also led the league with 177 hits in 1968.

Campaneris made the AL all-star team 5 times with the Athletics ('68, '72 – '75). He also played in the post-season 5 consecutive years (1971-75).

Campy became a free agent after the 1976 season, and signed with the Rangers. He had a good first year in Texas, making the all-star team for the final time in his career. He began the 1978 season as the starting shortstop, but was relegated to the bench for the final 2 months.

In May 1979, he was traded to the Angels for infielder Dave Chalk. Campaneris played the next 3 seasons with the Angels, sharing the shortstop job with others for 2 seasons, then becoming the backup 3rd baseman for the 1981 season.

Bert was granted free agency after the 1981 season, but with no takers, he played the 1982 season in Mexico. He returned to the American League for his final season in 1983, dividing his time between the Yankees and their triple-A team.

Bert's cousin is outfielder Jose Cardenal.

NL Rookies: Bart Shirley / Grant Jackson

Here is one of the multi-team rookie cards that Topps put in their 7th Series in the mid-to late 1960s. Normally, these rookie stars cards have 2 to 3 players from 1 team, but in the last series, Topps had these "catch all" cards to pick up random rookies not already featured. (The Rod Carew rookie card in 1967 is another example.)

Bart Shirley was a utility infielder briefly for the Dodgers in the 1960s. This is his rookie card, but he also appears on a Mets Rookies card in 1967 and on his own card (as a Dodger) in the 1969 set.

Shirley was signed by the Dodgers in 1961 and played every season from 1961-70 in their farm system, mostly at SS/2B. Bart had brief call-ups to LA for a dozen or so games in 1964 and 1966.

After the '66 season he was selected by the Mets in the Rule 5 draft, but after 6 games with New York, he was returned to the Dodgers in mid-May. He was immediately assigned to the minors, and only saw major-league action again during the last 2 months of the 1968 season, playing in 39 games.

This is also Grant Jackson's rookie card, but unlike Bart Shirley, Jackson went on to a long career with the Phillies, Orioles, and Pirates. He appeared on a Phillies Rookies card in the 1967 set, then had his own card in every set from 1968 to 1982.

Jackson made his major-league debut with the Phillies in September 1965. After 2 games in 1966, he made the Phillies for good at the start of 1967. After long stints with the Orioles and Pirates, he played briefly with the Expos and Royals before retiring after the 1982 season.

You can read more about Jackson here.