Rene Lachemann (#157)

This is Rene Lachemann’s first solo card. It’s one of a handful of 1966 cards that appear to have been painted, rather than photographed. It’s also the same picture Topps used on the 4-player Athletics Rookies card in the 1965 set.

I much prefer his 1967 card (below), but this 1966 blog was short on Athletics, so here he is.

Wow, I am REALLY surprised to see how little major-league playing time Lachemann had! 92 games in 1965, only 7 games in 1966, NO games in 1967, and 19 games in 1968. Even having 4 new expansion teams in 1969 couldn’t keep him in the majors.

After working as the Dodgers' batboy from 1959-63, Rene was signed by the Athletics in 1964, and played in the minors every season from 1964-72. Early on, he was mostly a catcher, but during his 1969-72 stint with Oakland’s AAA club in Iowa, he was primarily a 1st baseman while also playing 3B, outfield, and a few games behind the plate.

He started 54 games as a rookie in 1965 (playing behind Bill Bryan), but it was all downhill after that. Was it his .227 batting average? His 57 strikeouts in 216 at-bats? Still, he hit 9 homers and collected 29 RBI – not bad for a part-time rookie catcher.

Lachemann began his managing career in 1973. After stints in the minors with the Athletics and Mariners from 1973-80, he managed the Mariners from 1981-83, the Brewers in 1984, and the Marlins from 1993-96. He also managed the Cubs for 1 game in 2002. His final skipper’s job was with the Rockies’ AAA team in 2009.

Lachemann’s brother Marcel was a pitcher for the Athletics from 1969-71, and managed the Angels from 1994-96.

Harry Walker (#318)

Harry “The Hat” Walker managed the Pirates from the start of the 1965 season until midway through the 1967 season. He then managed the Astros from the 2nd half of 1968 until mid-August 1972, when he was replaced by Leo Durocher.

Walker’s baseball career began in 1937, when he was signed by the Phillies. After 3 seasons as an outfielder in their farm system, he was traded to the Cardinals, and played 2 seasons in their system, including a few games each year with the big club.

Harry played the entire ’42 and ’43 seasons with the Cardinals, as a reserve in 1942, and as the everyday center fielder in 1943. He made the all-star team in ’43, and played in the World Series both years against the Yankees.

Walker missed the 1944 and 1945 seasons while in military service, then returned to the Cardinals in 1946, where he hit .412 in the World Series vs. the Red Sox.

Harry was traded to the Phillies in May 1947, and went on to win the NL batting title with a .363 average that season. He also chipped-in a league-leading 16 triples.

Walker began the ’48 season in center field, but lost the job to rookie Richie Ashburn in early May. He spent the remainder of that season as the backup CF/LF, and pinch-hitting. He also caught 4 straight games in late-August, including both ends of a doubleheader.

He was traded to the Cubs after the 1948 season, then quickly bounced to the Reds and Cardinals.

Walker became a player-manager in the Cardinals’ minor-league system from 1951 to 1958, but also managed the Cardinals for the 2nd half of 1955 on an interim basis

After a 4-year gap, Harry returned as the Cardinals’ AAA manager for ’63 and ’64, then moved on to his 2 big-league managing gigs from 1965-72 as mentioned above.

Walker passed away in August 1999 at age 82.

Harry’s brother Dixie Walker was a starting outfielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1940s, and played for other teams during the 1930s.

Grady Hatton (#504)

Awhile back, I posted the Luman Harris card. Lum was the Astros' manager in 1965, but was fired in December (about 2 months AFTER most teams conduct their off-season firings!) Topps issued a 2nd manager card for the Astros in 1966. They would do the same in 1969 for the Senators.


Grady Hatton began his major-league playing career as the Reds' regular 3rd baseman from 1946-52. He kicked around with the White Sox, Red Sox, Cardinals, and Orioles from 1954-56, then became a minor-league player-coach until 1961 (which included a short stint in 1960 playing for the Cubs).



In 1962, Grady was hired as the director of player personnel for the expansion Houston Colt 45s. He followed that with 3 seasons as the manager of Houston's AAA Oklahoma City team before getting the call to the big club in 1966.

Hatton's major-league managerial career was brief. After 2 full seasons in 1966 (8th place) and 1967 (9th place), Grady was fired after 61 games in 1968, with his team in 10th place. I guess having the lowly Mets pass them in the standings was just not acceptable! He was replaced by Harry Walker, who had been fired in mid-1967 by the Pirates.

Hatton continued with the Astros as a scout until 1972. He also scouted for the Giants in the 1980s.

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: Don Heffner

Don Heffner's (#269) major-league managing career consisted of managing the Reds for the first 83 games of the 1966 season. Prior to this, the picture on his card indicates that he was the coach of the "Blue Team". (Was this a semi-pro team in Flushing, NY?)



At the time of his firing, the Reds were in 8th place with a 37-46 record (15 games back). There didn't seem to be any lineup adjustments made by the new manager (Dave Bristol), and the team finished the season in 7th place (76-84, 18 games back).

Final Card: Bobby Bragan

Bobby Bragan (#476) was a player, manager, and baseball executive.

He played for the Phillies and Dodgers in the 1940s.

In addition to managing in the minors, Bragan managed 3 big-league teams: the Pirates (1956-1957), the Indians (1958) and the Braves (1963-1966). In 1966, he was fired after 112 games.



After his managing days were over, Bragan became the president of the Texas League in 1969, and president of the National Association of Minor League Baseball in 1975.


More on Bobby Bragan here
.

Final Card: Johnny Keane

Johnny Keane (#296) took over as the Cardinals manager midway through the 1961 season and managed them through 1964, culminating in their World Series championship over the Yankees.

After the season, he left the Cardinals and was hired to manage the Yankees, replacing 1st-year skipper Yogi Berra. Unfortunately, the Yankees glory years were now over, as 1964 was their last post-season appearance for many years.

He was fired 20 games into the 1966 season, and replaced by Ralph Houk, who had previously managed the Yankees from 1961 to 1963. He passed away less than a year later from a heart attack, while an Angels' scout.



More info: here

Lum Harris (#147)

We haven't had a manager's card for awhile. Here we have Lum Harris, the manager of the Astros (or is he?)



On the back of the card, after going on and on about Harris' career, Topps wraps up with the statement "Lum was released as manager of the Houston Astros on December 12, 1965."

This raises several questions:
1) How inept was the Astros' front office that it took until December 12th before they decided to fire their manager? What losses occurred between October 1 and December 12?

2) Why would Topps bother to include a Harris card? After reading this a second time, I noticed that the text starts off "Lum was the manager...". (Not "is", "was".) So a sentence about his firing wasn't just tacked on to the end of an already-composed card back. It's at the top! Why not just pull the card, replace it with another Astros player, and catch up later in the summer after the Astros have decided who the new manager will be?

Harris went on to manage the Braves from 1968 to 1972.

Final Card: Chuck Dressen

Time for a manager's card!

Back in the day, I had heard the name Charlie Dressen (probably from listening to Richie Ashburn and By Saam ramble on during Phillies' broadcasts), but since he wasn't managing in 1967 (my first year of collecting baseball cards), I didn't know anything about him, other than he was one of the "old-time" managers (like Jimmie Dykes, Birdie Tebbetts, Leo Durocher, Danny Murtaugh, etc).

Earlier this year, I began collecting 1966 cards, and bought some from DeansCards.com. This card was among the bunch:



Since he was the Tigers' manager in 1966, and the Tigers finished the '66, '67, and '68 seasons in 3rd, 2nd, and 1st place respectively, I wondered "Why would the Tigers replace Dressen prior to the 1967 season?" I learned that he had a heart attack prior to the 1965 season, and a second one during the 1966 season. Dressen passed away in August of 1966.

The card back alludes to a long playing and managing career, but obviously can only skim the surface. I'll let this Wikipedia page tell the story (where we also learn he was an NFL quarterback in 1920).