Mickey Mantle (#50)

It's always a good day for a Mickey Mantle card! (Even a reprint.)

I got this card (and the 1965 Mantle reprint) on the same day I snagged a 1967 Brooks Robinson high-number in 2016.

Yankees Rookies: Bobby Murcer / Dooley Womack

Here is Bobby Murcer's rookie card (#469). I got this last year at an outdoor flea market, cutting the remaining 1966 non-high numbers needed from 12 to 11.

Murcer also appeared on a Yankees Rookies card in 1967, before finally getting a solo card in the 1969 set. (He was omitted from the 1968 set because he had been in the Army for all of 1967 and 1968.) Please check out those 2 Murcer links, so I don't have to repeat his exploits on this page. 


This is also Dooley Womack's rookie card. I haven't posted any of his solo cards yet, so I'll say that he played 8 seasons in the Yankees' farm system before pitching out of the Yanks' bullpen from 1966-68.

Traded to the Astros in the off-season, he was swapped to the Seattle Pilots late in 1969 for Jim Bouton. Womack spent most of 1970 and all of 1971 in the minors before retiring.  He pitched 2 games with Oakland in late 1970. His final card was in the 1969 set.

Roger Repoz (#138)

Here is Yankees’ outfield prospect Roger Repoz. Thanks to him hitting 20 and 23 homers in the minors in 1963 and 1964 respectively, he became one of several outfielders dubbed "The Next Mickey Mantle".

Repoz was signed by the Yankees in 1960, and worked his way up the ladder for the next 5 years from Class D to C to A to AA. After making his debut in September 1964, he split the 1965 season between the Yankees and their AAA team in Toledo.

So much for "The Next Mantle". A 79-game audition in 1965 and 37 games in 1966 were enough for the Yankees to bid him farewell, shipping him to the Athletics in mid-June (with pitchers Bill Stafford and Gil Blanco) for pitcher Fred Talbot and backup catcher Bill Bryan.

Roger spent the remainder of the ’66 season as Kansas City’s 5th outfielder and 3rd-string 1st baseman.

With Rick Monday's and Reggie Jackson's arrival in 1967, the expendable Repoz was traded to the Angels in June for veteran pitcher Jack Sanford, who at age 38 was in his final season. Roger took his place among the 8 other outfielders in the Angels’ employ, starting 45 of the team’s final 81 games (all but 5 of the starts in center field).

In 1968 he was the team’s primary center fielder for the first half of the season, then moved over to right field where he shared the starting assignments with a few others. Repoz continued to get significant playing time in center and right fields (and the occasional stint at 1st base) through the 1971 season.

Roger began the 1972 season in the minors, and after 3 games with the Angels in early June he was traded to the Orioles in June for infielder Jerry DaVanon. Repoz was assigned to the Orioles’ AAA team and never played in the majors again.

He played in Japan from 1973 to 1977.

Final Card: Jack Cullen

This is the last of 2 Topps cards for Jack Cullen (#31). Cullen's rookie card was in the 1963 set, a 4-player Rookie Stars card that also featured future NBA star Dave DeBusschere.

Jack was signed by the Yankees in 1959, and pitched 8 seasons (1959-66) as a starter in their farm system. Cullen won in double figures for his first 4 seasons in the minors, and had a 2-game cup of coffee with the Yanks in September 1962.

After two off-years (1963-64), he bounced back in '65 with a 14-5 record, which earned him a 2-month stay with New York at the end of the '65 season. He made 9 starts and 3 relief appearances with the Yankees that season.

Cullen made 5 relief appearances for the Yankees in April and early May 1966, but spent the remainder of that year back in triple-A. After the season, he was traded to the Dodgers for 3rd baseman John Kennedy.

Jack never made it back to the majors. Although always a starter in the Yankees' farm system, the Dodgers converted him to a reliever, and he spent 2 seasons with their triple-A club in Spokane before wrapping up his career with 2 seasons (1969-70) as a member of the Braves' triple-A team in Richmond, VA.

Final Card: Bobby Richardson

Bobby Richardson (#490) was the regular 2nd baseman for the Yankees during the end of their golden era (1959-1966).

After losing back-to-back World Series in 1963 and 1964, the grand old Yankees began dropping parts like a junker losing its transmission: Tony Kubek after 1965, Richardson, Clete Boyer, and Roger Maris after 1966, Whitey Ford retiring in May 1967, Elston Howard later in 1967, and finally, Mickey Mantle after 1968.

Richardson was signed by the Yankees in 1953 and played 4 seasons in their farm system, while also making brief appearances in New York in 1955 and 1956.

Bobby made the Yankees to stay in 1957. After a few starts in April and May, he took over the starting 2nd base job from Billy Martin on June 4th. (2 weeks later, Martin was traded to Kansas City.)



In 1958, Richardson was relegated to a backup 2B-3B role, but bounced back the following season as the #1 second baseman, a job he would hold until retiring after the 1966 season. From 1961 to 1965 he was a workhorse, starting 160, 161, 150, 156, and 157 games at 2nd base.

In his final 1966 season, Bobby played more games (149) than any other player also in their final season that year. (Willie Kirkland (124) and Harvey Kuenn (89) were the closest to him.) Richardson played his last game on October 2, 1966.

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

Final Card: Bob Friend

(Now that the World Series is over, I'm putting away my Yankees and Phillies cards, and will focus on players' final cards for awhile.)
----> Related link

Yes, I just said I was putting my Yankees cards away, but Bob Friend (#519) is not a Yankee, he's a Pirate. (Just look at the card back!)

Topps tends to omit minor league stats for long-time veterans, but here we see that Bob spent 1 year in the minors in 1950.

Bob joined the Pirates in 1951, and after a few years, he was not only a horse for the Pirates, but one of the best pitchers in the league during the late 50s and early 60s. In fact, the stats on the back of this card don't do him justice, so I'm including this link.



After the 1965 season, Friend was traded to the Yankees for pitcher Pete Mikkelsen. His time in the AL was short-lived, as after 12 games with the Yankees (8 starts), Bob was sold to the Mets on June 15th. He pitched in 22 games for the Mets (12 starts), and was released after the season, ending his 16-year career.

Final Card: Hector Lopez

Hector Lopez (#177) was signed by the then-Philadelphia Athletics, and played in their farm system from 1951 to May 1955. His major-league debut was on May 12, 1955 with Kansas City. From 1955 to 1959, he played 3rd base and some 2nd base.

In May 1959, he was traded to (naturally) the New York Yankees. (Fellow Athletics' teammate Roger Maris would follow him at the end of the season.) Beginning in 1960, Lopez played exclusively in the outfield, usually in left field.



For those of you who never heard of Hector Lopez (and I was among them, before poking around on baseball-reference.com a few years ago), here's how he fit into the Yankees outfield (click to enlarge):

(I used 1966 as the cutoff, because Maris and Lopez left after 1966, and Mantle moved to 1st base in 1967.)

Lopez was released by the Yankees following the 1966 season. He played 2 more seasons with the Senators' triple-A team in Hawaii (1967) and Buffalo (1968).

Pedro Ramos (#439)

For the next several days, my 3 card blogs will take on a Phillies and Yankees flavor, as we gear up for the World Series.


Pedro Ramos played for both the Yankees and the Phillies toward the end of his career. He began his career with the (old) Washington Senators in 1955. At that time, he was primarily a starter.



After 7 seasons, the Twins traded him to the Indians for 1B Vic Power and P Dick Stigman. During his 2 3/4 seasons in Cleveland (1962-64) he was used more and more as a reliever, so that by the time he was sold to the Yankees in early September 1964, he was strictly a relief pitcher, and remained so for the rest of his career.

Following the 1966 season, Ramos was traded to the Phillies for pitcher Joe Verbanic. The Phillies saw enough of him in 2 months to give him his release in late May 1967, and replace him with organizational yo-yo John Boozer. He spent the rest of 1967 and 1968 in the minors, was up and down during 1969, and finished his major-league career with the (new) Washington Senators in April 1970. After 2 more seasons in the minors, he hung up his glove.