Final Card: Robin Roberts

Here is the final baseball card for 19-year veteran pitcher Robin Roberts (#530). I just received this card a few days ago, filling a prominent gap near the top of my list of retiring veterans.

Roberts was signed by the Phillies in 1948, and after only 11 games in the minors, he was brought up to the Phillies on June 18th. He ended up being the #4 starter in his rookie season, and by 1950 he was the team's ace, a position he held through the 1960 season.

Roberts led the Phillies to the 1950 World Series, and won 20 or more games every year from 1950 to 1955. This was quite a feat, since most of those Phillies teams had so-so records.



In Robin's final season with the Phillies (1961), he dropped off to a 1-10 record, and was sold to the Yankees after the season. By the following May, the Yankees released him, but he was picked up by the Orioles.

Roberts was in Baltimore's starting rotation during the years when Wally Bunker and Dave McNally were getting their start.

He was released in July 1965, and picked up by the Astros a week later. Robin started 10 games in 1965 and 12 games in 1966 before getting his release on July 4th, 1966. He played the remainder of that season with the Cubs, and in 1967 with the Phillies' double-A team in Reading, PA before retiring.

Final Card: Del Crandall

What I find most interesting about Del Crandall (#339) is that he is one of the last few active players who played major-league baseball in the 1940s, and he played for the Boston Braves.

Del was the Milwaukee Braves regular catcher from 1953 to 1960. His last season was 1966, when he caught about 25% of the Indians' games. (Joe Azcue caught 50%, and Duke Sims the other 25%.)

After Del's playing career, he began managing in the minors in 1969, and managed the Brewers from 1972-75, and the Mariners in 1983 and 1984.