Final Card: Dave Roberts

I just got this card a few weeks ago, and along with a few others, I can wrap up some loose ends in the 1966 Final Cards subset.

Dave Roberts had a very brief major-league career, appearing in 16 games for the 1962 expansion Colt .45s and 14 games for the 1966 Pirates. He also played 61 games for the Colt .45s in 1964.

However, he had a very long professional career, playing 15 years in the minors (1952-66) and 7 seasons in Japan (1967-73).

After playing independent ball in '52 and '53, he was in the Orioles' organization from 1954-57, the Braves from 1957-60, the Cubs in 1961, the Colts/Astros from 1962-65, and finally the Pirates in 1966.

As mentioned, 1964 was the high point of his career. Although mostly used as a pinch-hitter, he started 18 games at 1st base for the Colt .45s in June.

After the 1965 season, the Pirates selected him from the Astros in the Rule 5 draft. He played 14 games in 1966 (all during the first 6 weeks of the season), mostly as a pinch-hitter or pinch-runner. He spent most of the season with the Pirates' AAA team, so I guess the Astros didn't want him back.

Although the Orioles purchased his contract in September 1966, he played the next 7 seasons in Japan.

Pirates Rookies (#123, #498)

Topps included 3 pitchers and a catcher in their 1966 Pirates Rookies Stars.

First up is Frank Bork, Topps apparently lost track of what they were doing with Bork, putting him on a Rookie Stars card 1 year after giving him his own card. Nice...

Jerry May was the Pirates' #1 catcher in 1967 and 1968, then backed up Manny Sanguillen from 1969-70. He also played for the Royals from 1971-73.


Luke Walker appeared on a Pirates Rookies card in '66, '67, and '68. (Can anyone say Lou Piniella?) After a 2-game debut in September 1965, he played 10 games in April and September 1966, then not again until the start of the 1968 season.

Woody Fryman was named to the Topps All-Rookie team in 1966 after posting a 12-9 record. After 2 seasons with the Bucs, he was traded to the Phillies (with 3 others) for pitcher Jim Bunning. He pitched 16 more seasons with the Phillies, Expos, and others.

Final Card: Bob Purkey

A few years ago I wrapped up my “Final Cards” series on this blog, with a recap post of all the cards, with a footnote that I was missing 9 of the cards (including Bob Purkey). A few months ago, I acquired Purkey’s final card (#551), so we can consider this a “bonus track”.

Bob Purkey finished up his career in 1966 in the same place it began 12 years earlier – with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bob was signed by the Bucs in 1948 and pitched 3 seasons in the low minors before missing the 1951-52 seasons while in military service.

After another year (1953) in the minors, Bob played all of 1954 with the Pirates, pitching in 36 games (11 starts), logging 131 innings. He spent part of ‘55 and most of ‘56 back in the minors, but appeared with the Pirates in both seasons.

Bob was back in Pittsburgh for all of 1957, compiling a record of 11-14 in 48 games (21 starts). That was his last season with the Pirates for a long while, as he was traded to the Reds in December ’57 for pitcher Don Gross.

The knuckle-balling Purkey was a mainstay in the Reds’ rotation for the next 7 seasons. He made the All-Star team 3 times (’58, ’61, ’62) and had his best season in 1962, compiling a 23-5 record with a league-leading .821 winning percentage. He also finished 3rd in the Cy Young voting and 8th in MVP voting that year.

Bob’s 1963 and 1964 seasons were not up to the level of his previous five seasons, and after the ’64 season he was traded to the Cardinals for pitcher Roger Craig and reserve outfielder Charley James. Purkey lasted 1 year in St. Louis. He compiled a 10-9 record in 32 games (17 starts), but was sold to the Pirates one week before the 1966 season. At age 35, I guess the Cards were “going in another direction”, presumably making room for youngsters Nelson Briles and Larry Jaster.

Bob pitched sparingly for the Pirates in his final season, appearing in 4 games in April, 4 in May, and 2 in July, before getting his release in early August.

He finished his 13-year career with a record of 129-115, and was elected to the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1974.

Purkey passed away in March 2008 at age 78.

Tommie Sisk (#441)

Tommie Sisk played for 9 years (1962-70), mostly as a starting pitcher for the Pirates.

Sisk was signed by the Pirates in 1960, and was a starting pitcher in their farm system for 3 seasons. He also played a few games with the Pirates in late July, and again in late-September 1962.

In 1963 and 1964, Tommie worked out of the Bucs’ bullpen, along with Al McBean and the veteran Elroy Face. Sisk appeared in 57 and 42 games over that span.

He began the 1965 season in the bullpen, but by late-July Sisk was moved to the starting rotation, replacing Joe Gibbon. His final 12 games that season were all starts.

Tommie was primarily a starting pitcher for his final 3 seasons in Pittsburgh. By this time, veterans Bob Friend and Vern Law were winding down, and Bob Veale had taken over as the staff ace. Veale, Sisk, Steve Blass, and rookie Woodie Fryman formed the core of the rotation. Sisk won 10 games in ’66 and 13 in ’67 (with 11 complete games), but an off-year in 1968 probably made him expendable, and the following March he was traded to the expansion San Diego Padres.

After 1 season in the Padres’ bullpen, Sisk was traded to the White Sox. He played in 17 games with the ChiSox through mid-June, then was traded to the Indians for pitchers Bob Miller and Barry Moore.

Tommie’s last major-league action was with the Sox, as the Indians assigned him to their triple-A team for the rest of the season. Sisk pitched for the Expos’ AAA team in 1971 before retiring.

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.

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.

Bill Mazeroski (#210)

I led off last week’s 1968 Bob Gibson post with some comments on various superstars that I managed to overlook so far on my blogs. Since then, I was checking each blog for the number of posts per team. 

It looks like time for some team-balancing. On this blog alone, there are only 3 posts each for the Cardinals, Pirates, and Twins, while the Angels (!?!) have 10 posts. The 1968 blog: 10 Red Sox, but only 2 Braves and 3 Dodgers. On the 1969 blog, five teams don’t have any posts, while the Braves and White Sox only have 1 each. 

So, across my 1966-69 blogs, in addition to working in the stars like Hank Aaron and Johnny Bench, I’m going to catch up on the forgotten teams, and place an embargo on Phillies :(, Mets, Red Sox, Astros, and some other teams for a while. (I've also added who's "on deck" to my sidebars.) 


Bill Mazeroski was signed by the Pirates in 1954, and made his major-league debut on 7/7/1956 at age 19. He was handed the starting 2nd base job that day, and started 81 of the final 86 games that season.

Bill was a defensive wizard, winning 8 Gold Gloves between 1958 and 1967, and making 7 all-star appearances during those same 10 years. “Maz” started 138 or more games every season from 1957 to 1968 (except for 1959 (129) and 1965 (125) ), and topped 160 starts three times.

During the ’68 and ’69 seasons, the Pirates were working Freddie Patek in at shortstop, so incumbent shortstop Gene Alley made several dozen starts at 2nd base in those seasons. In September 1969, rookie Dave Cash was called up and started most of the remaining games at 2nd.

Mazeroski and Cash shared the 2nd base job 70/30 during the 1970 season, and the following season Cash took over the starting job, leaving only 3 dozen starts each for Maz and rookie Rennie Stennett.

In Bill’s final season (1972), he was relegated to a bench role, playing in only 34 games (12 starts at 2nd base).

Maz is best known for his exploits in the 1960 World Series vs. the Yankees. He hit .320 with 2 homers and 5 RBI, including a walk-off home run off of Ralph Terry with no out and nobody on in the bottom of the 9th inning of game 7. He was also a limited participant in the ’70, ’71, and ‘72 post-seasons.

Mazeroski was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 2001.

Final Card: Frank Carpin

There's always a straggler....

This is the only card for pitcher Frank Carpin (#71). Carpin was signed by the Yankees in 1959, and was (mostly) a starting pitcher in their organization for six years. After the 1964 season, the Pirates selected him in the minor league draft.

Frank split the 1965 season between the Pirates and their AAA team in Columbus. His major-league debut came on May 25th, and he made 39 appearances (all in relief). He pitched a total of 39.2 innings, so maybe he was their situational lefty.

That November, the Astros picked him up in the Rule 5 draft. Carpin made 6 relief appearances by May 6th, then was sent down to triple-A Oklahoma city, where he pitched 44 games in relief. (I guess the Pirates refused to take him back, per Rule 5 rules.) Frank returned to the Astros in August, and pitched in 4 more games - the last on September 3rd.

His career was cut short due to bone chips in his elbow.


Here's another blogger's story of Frank Carpin, from Notre Dame to the major leagues to the business world.

Multi-player Cards

It's hard to figure out Topps' logic when it came to multi-player cards in the late 1960s.

In 1966, there were 5 such cards, all within the first 300 cards:
Astros
Giants
Phillies
Pirates
White Sox
In the later series, multi-player cards just disappeared.


In 1967, that number grew to 13 cards, but only for 11 teams:
Braves
Cardinals
Giants
Mets
Phillies
Pirates
Indians (2)
Orioles (2)
Tigers
Twins
White Sox


In 1968, Topps cut way back to just 3 cards (all in the 6th series):
Orioles
Stars from multiple teams (2)


In 1969, there were 4 such cards, again all in the 6th series (it's as though Topps waited until they were sure they wouldn't need a 5th Royals Rookies card!)
Giants
Orioles
Senators
Athletics
(I first discovered these baseball card blogs last September, when I stumbled upon PackAddict's 1969 Athletics' card shown in the above link.)



I previously posted the Giants' multi-player card. Here are the rest:


#152 Power Plus - How can they make a card about the Phillies' power hitters and not include Richie Allen?



#99 Buc Belters - Stargell and Clendenon would also appear together on the 1967 Pirates' multi-player card. Hey Topps, where's Roberto Clemente? In 1965, he had 10 homers to Clendenon's 14. (They both had fewer than Jim Pagliaroni's 17.)



#199 Chisox Clubbers - In the land of the Go-Go Sox, "clubbers" is a relative term. Skowron and Romano each had 18 dingers in 1965, Robinson had 14.



#273 Astro Aces - At least the title of this card isn't implying home run power for its featured players!

Final Card: Jerry Lynch

Jerry Lynch (#182) began playing minor-league baseball in 1950 for the Greenville (MS) Bucks, an unaffiliated class-C team. Before the 1951 season, the Yankees purchased his contract, but he spent the 1951 and 1952 seasons in the military. After the service, he played for the Yankees' class-B team in Norfolk, Va in 1953.

After the 1953 season, the Pirates selected him in the rule 5 draft, meaning he had to stay on the major-league roster. In 1954, Lynch was part of a 3-way left field platoon with Dick Hall (who would later pitch for the Orioles and Phillies) and Frank Thomas. Lynch also played in right field.



In 1955, rookie Roberto Clemente joined the team and took over right field. Frank Thomas started 81 games to lead all Pirates left fielders. Thomas also started 55 games in center field, so Lynch played left field for 30 of those games, as well as spelling Clemente in right field for 30 games.

Lynch must have been injured in 1956, because he only appeared in 19 games that year, and only 1 game in the field. After the season, he was selected by Cincinnati in the rule 5 draft.

Jerry played for the Reds from 1957 until May of 1963, when he was traded back to the Pirates for outfielder Bob Skinner. In 1957, Lynch was a backup to regulars Frank Robinson, Gus Bell, and Wally Post. Before the 1958 season, Post was traded to the Phillies, which opened up right field for Lynch.

In 1959, the lineup was Lynch in LF, rookie Vada Pinson in CF, and Gus Bell in RF. Hey, I learned that for most of 1959 and half of 1960, Frank Robinson played first base! In 1960, Jerry's playing time got squeezed, as Robinson moved back to the outfield, and Post was reacquired from the Phillies for rookie outfielder Tony Gonzalez.

Cincinnati's outfield continued to be crowded in 1961, as Robinson and Post would mix-and-match as the starters in left and right, with Lynch backing up in left and Bell backing up in left and right. (Pinson was a fixture in center.) This same dynamic continued in 1962, except that Marty Keough replaced Gus Bell.

In 1963, Lynch returned to the Pirates, and for 2 years became Pittsburgh's regular left fielder (alongside Bill Virdon and Roberto Clemente), although he had rookie Willie Stargell breathing down his neck. In 1965, Stargell took over as the regular, with Jerry backing up.

1966 was Lynch's last season, and he was relegated to pinch-hitting duty, appearing in 64 games, only 4 of them in the field.