Dean Chance (#340)

Here is Dean Chance’s last card as a member of the California Angels, complete with wax or gum residue at no extra charge.

Dean’s best season was 1964, when he won the Cy Young award (back then there was only 1 award, not 1 per league) and led the AL in wins (20), ERA (1.65), shutouts (11), complete games (15), and innings pitched (278). He also had 207 strikeouts.

Chance was also an all-star in 1964 and in 1967, his first season with the Twins. In ’67 he won 20 games and was the league leader in starts (39), complete games (18) and innings pitched (283).

Chance was signed by the Orioles (I did not know that) in 1959, then after 2 seasons in their low minors, he was selected by the expansion Washington Senators in the December 1960 draft. That same day he was flipped to the expansion Angels for reserve outfielder Joe Hicks. Dean pitched for the Angels’ AAA team in Dallas-Fort Worth in 1961, and made his major-league debut on 9/11/61.

In 1962, the 21-year-old rookie led the 2nd-year Angels with 14 wins, remarkable since he spent most of May and all of July in the bullpen. Chance finished 3rd in the AL Rookie of the Year voting behind the Yankees’ Tom Tresh and Angels’ teammate Bob Rodgers.

Dean won 13 games in 1963, then had his monster season in 1964, as described above. After 2 more seasons at the top of the Angels’ rotation (15 and 12 wins), Chance was traded to the Twins after the 1966 season for 1st baseman Don Mincher, pitcher Pete Cimino, and outfielder Jimmie Hall. (The Angels later sent shortstop Jackie Hernandez to the Twins to complete the trade.)

After his big season in 1967, he leveled off at 16-16 in 1968. In 1969 Chance missed all of June and July with a back injury, and finished with a 5-4 record in only 88 innings (20 games) in his final season with the Twins.

In December 1969 he was traded to the Indians (with 3rd baseman Graig Nettles, pitcher Bob Miller, and outfielder Ted Uhlaender) for pitchers Luis Tiant and Stan Williams. Dean was 9-8 for Cleveland while starting 19 of his 45 games, then was sold to the Mets in mid-September.

The Mets traded him to the Tigers during spring training 1971, and his spent his final season as a swing man for Detroit, compiling a 4-6 record in 31 games (14 starts) in only 89 innings.

After his retirement, he formed a company that operated games of chance (!) booths at carnivals and state fairs in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1990s, he started a boxing association and managed several fighters.

Final Card: Aubrey Gatewood

Aubrey Gatewood (#42) had a brief career in the mid-1960s with the Angels.

Signed by the Tigers in 1959, he was selected by the Angels in the December 1960 expansion draft. After one season on the Angels' farm, Aubrey was selected by the expansion Mets in the Rule 5 draft, but returned to the Angels before the start of the 1962 season.

Gatewood made his major-league debut with the Angels in September 1963, starting 3 of his 4 games that month. The following season, he made 17 starts for triple-A Hawaii, along with 7 starts and 8 relief appearances for Los Angeles.



Aubrey spent the entire 1965 season with the (now California) Angels, working primarily out of the bullpen that season. Unfortunately, he walked just as many as he struck out (37).

He spent the next 6 years in the minors (although pitching 2 innings for the Atlanta Braves in 1970), playing for 7 different organizations before retiring.

Jim Fregosi (#5)

Two posts ago, I mentioned that all the Braves' cards were hatless, since the Braves had just moved to Atlanta in the off-season. I just realized that Topps' other lavender team, the Angels, are also all hatless (or with airbrushed hats), as they had also moved from Los Angeles to Anaheim. This is ridiculous, because the Angels had moved prior to the 1965 season. TOPPS HAD ALL OF 1965 TO GET PHOTOS OF THE PLAYERS IN CALIFORNIA ANGELS UNIFORMS, BUT DID NOT!

Jim Fregosi was the last of the original Los Angeles Angels. He was their regular shortstop from 1962-1971, appearing in 6 all-star games during that time.



Jim was signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1960, and after 1 season of class-D ball he was selected by the Angels in the expansion draft. Fregosi spent all of 1961 with the Angels' AAA team in Dallas-Fort Worth, and made his major-league debut on September 14th. He played 11 games with the Angels that month, starting 6 of the last 9 games at shortstop.

In 1962 he was back in triple-A for the first half of the season. His first appearance for the Angels was in both games of the July 1st doubleheader. Jim took over the Angels' starting shortstop job on August 17th, and held it until September 8th, 1971. He played the remainder of the 1971 season at 1st base.

In addition to his 6 all-star selections, Fregosi won a gold glove in 1967, led the league with 13 triples in 1968, and generally was a workhorse for the Angels, making over 640 plate appearances 7 times between 1963 and 1970.

After the 1971 season, Jim was infamously traded to the Mets for Nolan Ryan and 3 no-names. After a year and a half in New York, he was sold to the Rangers, where he was a backup corner infielder for several season, before being traded to the Pirates in June 1977.


On June 1, 1978 the Pirates gave Fregosi his release, so he could take the Angels' managerial job. He managed the Angels until midway through the 1981 season.

Next was the White Sox' manager's job, which Jim held for the second half of 1986 and all of '87 and '88.

Fregosi's longest tenure as a manager was his 6 years with the Phillies (1991-96). The Phillies won the NL pennant in 1993.

His 4th and final managerial job was with the Blue Jays from 1999-2000.

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 and winning the Rookie of the Year award.



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.