Chico Salmon (#594)

Something I don’t often do is post images of cards that I don’t have. In the roughly 1200 cards I have posted across my baseball blogs, maybe 5 to 8 were cards I don’t have. (The 1965 cards of Jerry Fosnow and Dan Pleis come to mind. I posted internet images of them to complete my series of 1965 final cards.) 

This 1966 Chico Salmon card is another. I have Salmon's 1967-1970 cards, but in 1969 he is capless, and in 1970 he is shown as an Oriole, while I consider him mostly as an Indian. I also have many ’67 and ’68 cards remaining to post, but not so many '66 cards, so Chico has been assigned to the 1966 queue. (Besides, I noticed tonight that I also have Chico Ruiz and Chico Cardenas on this blog, so Salmon completes the trifecta.) 

Chico Salmon played every position but pitcher and catcher, although he didn’t play shortstop until 1966, with the Indians. He was signed by the (old) Washington Senators in 1959, and bounced around in the minors for several years - to the Giants in 1960, the Tigers in 1961, and the Braves in 1963.

After the 1963 season, the Braves traded him to the Indians for a player to be named later (Mike de la Hoz). Chico made his major-league debut with the Indians in June 1964. He started 39 games in right field over the 2nd half of the season, sharing the job with Tito Francona. He also started 2 dozen games at 2nd base.

In 1965 he played in 79 games but spent most of the season on the bench, only starting 16 games at 1st base and a handful elsewhere.

Things improved for him in 1966. He played all over the infield, mostly at shortstop where he started 57 games, including every game from 5/22 to 7/5. He also started another 47 games at 1B/2B/3B. The Tribe decided to use Larry Brown at shortstop for most of the 2nd half (and in subsequent seasons), so Chico returned to the bench for the remainder of his Indians' career, except for April/May 1968 when he was the starting 2nd baseman.

Salmon was selected by the Seattle Pilots in the expansion draft, but traded to the Orioles just before the start of the 1969 season for Gene Brabender. What luck for him! He moved from the Indians (a perennial 2nd-division team) to the Pilots (yecch), to the Orioles (the AL kings for much of 1966-1971).

For the next 3 seasons Chico was the O’s top utility infielder, and played in the '69 and '70 post-season.

In 1972 rookie Bobby Grich took over the backup infield assignments, relegating Salmon to only 17 games, mostly pinch-hitting appearances. He was released in mid-August.

Salmon passed away in 2000 at age 59.

Duke Sims (#169)

Duke Sims played in the majors for 11 seasons (1964-74), the first 7 years with the Indians before moving around to other teams. Although never an every-day backstop, he got significant playing time with the Indians from 1967-70, mostly platooning with Joe Azcue. 1969 was the only season where he started more than half of his team’s games.

Sims began his pro career on the Indians' farm in 1959. After 6 seasons in the minors he made his major-league debut in September 1964, making 1 start that year on the season’s final day.

After the 1964 season, the Tribe traded starting catcher Johnny Romano to the White Sox, opening up the starting job for Azcue, who was the ’64 backup. Sims also moved up a notch, starting 33 games in his rookie season after spending the first 2 months in triple-A.

Sims was bumped down to #3 catcher in 1966, when Cleveland acquired the veteran Del Crandall (in his 16th and final season) to serve as Azcue's main caddy. The Duke still saw action in 48 games (31 starts).

With Crandall retired, Sims' fortunes improved in 1967. Not only did he return to the #2 slot, but he was on almost even footing with Azcue (77 starts to Joe’s 80 starts).

Their playing time in 1968 is misleading. Although Sims had 71 starts behind the dish to Azcue's 90, Duke began the season starting 14 straight games, and then was the starting 1st baseman for most of July (presumably Tony Horton was out of the lineup with injuries).

Azcue was dealt to the Red Sox during April 1969, meaning a promotion for Sims. He started a career-high 94 games behind the plate, with rookie Ray Fosse and journeyman Ken Suarez picking up the rest. That was to be his last season as a somewhat-regular catcher, as Fosse was primed to take over the job in 1970.

With Fosse catching 120 games in '70, Sims started a few dozen games at 1st base and a similar number in left field, while catching 38 games on Fosse’s days off.

After the 1970 season, Duke was traded to the Dodgers for pitchers Alan Foster and Ray Lamb. In LA, Sims was part of a 3-way catching carousel with Tom Haller and Joe Ferguson in 1971. The following year, he split the catching with Chris Cannizzaro (wait...Cannizzaro was a STARTING catcher for the Dodgers????), until Duke was shipped off to the Tigers in early August (joining 1971 teammate Haller, by the way).

He joined the Yankees for the last week of the 1973 season, and caught the final game at old Yankee Stadium. Sims bounced from the Yankees to the Rangers in 1974, and was released after the season.

Don McMahon (#133)

Don McMahon had Topps cards every season from 1958 to 1972 (also in 1973, if you count his appearance as a coach on the Giants’ manager’s card). This is his last card as an Indian, and his last card wearing a cap until the 1970 set. (McMahon began his career with 6 seasons with the Braves, and ended it with 6 seasons with the Giants, but in-between he bounced around to 5 other teams for about 1 ½ years in each location.)

He was signed by the Boston Braves in 1950, and made the Milwaukee club in 1957 at age 27. His one all-star appearance came in 1958. He also pitched in the ’57 and ’58 World Series for the Braves, finishing 3 games in each series.

In May 1962 McMahon was sold to the expansion Houston Colt .45s. This began a series of short-term stints with a number of clubs. On the final day of the 1963 season, he was sold to the Indians, where he remained until June 2, 1966. On that day he was traded to the Red Sox for reliever Dick Radatz, and on the same date in 1967 moved on to the White Sox for 2nd baseman Jerry Adair. He missed out on Boston’s appearance in the ’67 World Series, but the following July he was traded to the Tigers for pitcher Dennis Ribant, and so was able to play in the 1968 Fall Classic.

In August 1969 Don made his last move – a trade to the Giants. He manned the bullpen there until his release following the 1972 season.

Topps’ 1973 managers cards also feature thumbnails of the coaching staff, and Don was on the Giants’ card as their pitching coach. He was re-activated in late June, and released following the ’73 season. This process repeated itself in 1974, although he gained his final release in early July, just 5 weeks after being reactivated.

He retired at age 44 as the oldest player in the majors. Don pitched for 18 seasons (1957-74) and appeared in 874 games, all but 2 as a reliever. At that time, only Hoyt Wilhelm, Lindy McDaniel, and Cy Young had pitched in more games.

McMahon passed away in July 1987 at age 57.

Sonny Siebert (#197)

Sonny Siebert was one of the top starting pitchers in the American League for a few seasons in the mid-1960s.

Siebert was signed by the Indians in 1958, and spent 6 seasons (1958-63) in their farm system. Although usually a starting pitcher, he played exclusively in the outfield (hitting 5 homers and collecting 45 RBI in 61 games) during his 1959 season with the Tribe’s class-C team in Minot, North Dakota.

In 1960 Siebert returned to the mound, and eventually made his major-league debut with the Indians in April 1964.

The 27-year-old rookie spent most of his 1st season in the Tribe’s bullpen, behind veterans Don McMahon and Ted Abernathy. Meanwhile, the starting rotation featured veterans Dick Donovan and Pedro Ramos, a young Luis Tiant, and a pair of 21-year-olds named Sam McDowell (already in his 4th season) and Tommy John. Sonny started 14 of his 41 games that season.

In 1965, John was traded to the White Sox, so Siebert joined McDowell and Tiant in giving Cleveland a solid top-3 in the starting rotation. Sonny had a great sophomore season, finishing 3rd in the AL in ERA, and missing 3rd place in strikeouts by just one K. (His teammate McDowell finished 1st in both categories.) Sonny also notched 16 wins, 5th-best in the league and one behind McDowell for the team lead.

Siebert won 16 games again in 1966, 4th-best in the league. His 2.80 ERA was also in the top 10, though well behind the 2.48 posted by teammate Steve Hargan. Sonny no-hit the Senators on June 10th, and made his first of two all-star teams in ’66.

In 1967 his record dropped to 10-12, but he also lowered his ERA to 2.38, which returned him to the #3 slot on Topps’ ERA leaders card he occupied two years earlier.

Siebert’s ERA shot up to 2.97 in 1968. That sounds respectable, but in the Year of the Pitcher, that was only 22nd-best in the AL. Too bad – if he had snared 3rd-place again, the Indians would have nailed the trifecta on Topps’ ERA leaders card that also featured Tiant and McDowell. Anyway, he reversed his won-lost record to 12-10, but that would be his last full season with the Indians.

In mid-April 1969, Sonny was traded to the Red Sox (with catcher Joe Azcue and pitcher Vicente Romo) for veteran pitchers Dick Ellsworth and Juan Pizarro, and outfielder Ken Harrelson. Siebert spent the next 4 seasons in the Sox’ rotation, and made his final all-star team in 1971.

After 4 seasons in Boston, Sonny was on the move again. In May 1973 he was traded to the Rangers, then moved on to the Cardinals for the 1974 season. His final season (1975) was split between the Padres and Athletics. Although he bounced around a lot in those last 3 seasons, he remained a starting pitcher until the end.

Floyd Weaver (#231)

Here is the 2nd of Floyd Weaver's 3 Topps cards. (He also appeared on the Indians' Rookies card in the 1965 set, and in the 1971 set as a member of the White Sox.)

Weaver was signed by the Indians in 1961. His major-league debut came in the final game of the 1962 season, when he was the Indians' starting pitcher that day. Floyd returned to the minors for the next 2 seasons (as a starter) then resurfaced for 32 games in 1965 (all but 1 in relief). It would prove to be his final time with the Indians.

After another full season with the Indians' AAA team in 1966, Weaver was traded to the Mets for infielders Ernie Bowman and Lou Klimchock.

Floyd never made it to New York, spending the entire 1967 season in the minors. He was out of baseball during the '68 season, and spent the '69 season in the Giants' and White Sox organizations.

He finally made it back to the big leagues in 1970, pitching 31 games for the White Sox and 21 games for the Brewers in 1971. He also spent time in the Cubs' minor league system in 1972 and 1973.

 Floyd Weaver passed away at age 67 in November 2008.

Final Card: Tony Martinez

This is Tony Martinez' last baseball card (#581). He also appeared on a 1963 Rookies card, and as an Indian in the 1964 set. Tony was primarily a shortstop, playing less than 5% of his major and minor league games at 2nd base.

Martinez was signed by the Indians in 1960, and played shortstop for various teams in their farm system from 1960 to 1965. He also played 43 games with Cleveland in 1963, and fewer than a dozen games in each of 1964 and 1965. Also in '65, he played for the Cardinals' triple-A team in Jacksonville, although it appears that he was still property of the Indians.



Tony made the Indians team at the start of 1966, but only played in 17 games, the last on June 14th. Two days later, he was sold to the Cardinals, who assigned him to triple-A Tulsa for the remainder of the season. He would never return to the big leagues.

On April 1, 1967, Tony was bundled with pitcher Art Mahaffey and 2nd baseman Jerry Buchek, and shipped off to the Mets for veteran shortstop Ed Bressoud and outfielder Dan Napolean. Martinez spent 1967 and 1968 in the minors, although he only played in 24 games combined for those last 2 seasons.

Final Card: Bob Heffner

This is the third and last card for Bob Heffner. I wonder if Bob is related to Reds' manager Don Heffner, or maybe to man-about-town Hugh Hefner? (True, Bob's name is spelled differently than Hugh's, but Topps has been known to goof up spelling players' names, such as 1965's Jim Katt, and countless Charlie/Charley mix-ups).

Heffner (Bob, not Hugh) was signed by the Red Sox, and spent 6 1/2 seasons in the minors (including playing for his hometown Allentown (PA) Red Sox in 1959 and 1960) before making his major-league debut in June 1963. As a rookie, Bob was Boston's #4 starter, but the following season he transitioned to the bullpen and was the team's #2 reliever behind closer Dick Radatz.



1965 saw Heffner's performance slip, and included a return to the minors (after staying with the Sox for all of 1964).

After the 1965 season, Bob was selected by the Indians in the Rule 5 draft, but split the 1966 season between Cleveland and the minors. After just 1 season, the Indians sold him to the Mets, who flipped him to the Angels before the start of the 1967 season. He spent all of 1967 with the Angels' triple-A team in Seattle, and only pitched 7 games for the Angels in 1968, the last coming on May 28th.

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: 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.