Joel Horlen (#560)

Joel Horlen was one of the White Sox' "Big Three" starting pitchers in the mid-1960s. (No, the Orioles didn't invent that concept.)

Horlen was signed by the White Sox in 1959, and pitched in the minors for 3 seasons before making his major-league debut in September 1961.

Beginning with his rookie season of 1962, Joel was a fixture in the White Sox' starting rotation for the next 10 seasons, and reached double figures in wins for every season from 1963 to 1969, including 19 wins in 1967. He also led the American League with a 2.06 ERA in 1967.



After 2 sub-par seasons in 1970 (6-16) and 1971 (8-9), he was released at the end of spring training in 1972. Two weeks later, he was picked up by the Athletics, and played his last season in the majors with Oakland in 1972.

1973 was Horlen's last season in professional baseball, where at age 35, he compiled a 6-1 record in 9 games for the Indians' double-A team in San Antonio, TX.

Brooks Robinson (#390)

Recently, I received a surprise package of 1966 and 1970 cards from the folks at DeansCards.com. Thanks, Dean! Over the past few years, I have purchased many vintage cards from them (usually 'Ex', sometimes 'VG'), and have always been satisfied with the quality of their cards. This is the first of several 1966 cards from that recent package.

Back in the late 1960s, I was somewhat of an Orioles fan (one needs to have an AL team!) Even though I'm not a Brooks Robinson fan, I always like getting his cards (and now have his '66, '68, '69, '70, and '72 cards). I think it's because I was never able to get his 1967 card. Oh well, the '69 card photo is similar to the '67.


Brooks Robinson was signed by the Orioles in 1955, and made his major-league debut in September call-up that season. Robby spent all of 1956, and part of 1957 in the minors, but became the O's full-time 3rd baseman in 1958. He committed 21 errors in 1958, the most of any year in his career.

After spending part of 1959 in the minors, he re-established himself in Baltimore in 1960. He won a gold glove at 3rd base every year from 1960 to 1975, and was an all-star selection every year from 1960 to 1974! He also led the league in games played in '61, '62, '63, '64, and '68, and was the American League MVP in 1964.



The Orioles' exploits in 1966 and the early 1970s are well-documented, and Brooks was a big part of those teams. Robinson played 23 seasons in the majors, all with the Orioles.

Final Card: Howie Koplitz

My 1966 blog resumes with the final card of Senators' pitcher Howie Koplitz (#46). Howie was signed by the Tigers in 1956, and pitched for 6 years (mostly as a starter) before making his major-league debut in September 1961, after compiling a 23-3 record that season at double-A Birmingham.

In 1962, Koplitz appeared in 10 games for the Tigers, compiling a 3-0 record in 6 starts. This wasn't enough to earn a permanent spot on the team, as he spent the entire 1963 season back in the minors.

After the 1963 season, Howie was selected by the Senators in the Rule 5 draft. However, he spent most of the 1964 season in the minors, so I assume the Tigers declined to take him back, allowing the Senators to demote him.



In 1965, Koplitz pitched 9 games for triple-A Hawaii, but returned to the majors with the Senators for 33 games, his longest stretch of big-league service.

Howie's last pro season was 1966. He pitched 1 game for Washington and 3 games for their double-A York club before a shoulder injury ended his career.

Roland Sheldon (#18)

Like Gil Blanco in my recent 1967 post, Roland Sheldon was a former Yankees pitching prospect who rode the Kansas City/New York express (but in the wrong direction).

Sheldon was signed by the Yankees in 1960, and after going 15-1 with their class-D Auburn club that year, he jumped all the way up to the majors to start the 1961 season. Rollie was the Yankees' #4 starter (behind Whitey Ford, Bill Stafford, and Ralph Terry) in his rookie season, starting 21 games and relieving in 14 others.

In 1962, the above-mentioned top 3 starters each made 30-plus starts, while Sheldon and rookie Jim Bouton each started 16 games, and relieved in just as many.



Rollie's ride with the Yankees ended for awhile, as he spent the entire 1963 season and part of 1964 with the Yankees' triple-A Richmond team. He returned to New York and started 12 of his 19 appearances. He also pitched in games 1 and 7 of the World Series.

On May 3, 1965 Sheldon was traded (along with backup catcher Johnny Blanchard) to the Athletics for backup catcher Doc Edwards. How far he had fallen in just 3 years, from being the Yankees' #4 starter to becoming one-half of the players required to obtain the Athletics' backup catcher! But it seems like a good deal for Sheldon, because it kept him in the majors for 2 more seasons.

With Kansas City in 1965, Sheldon and Fred Talbot were the A's top 2 pitchers, each winning 10 games for a bad team.

In 1966, he started 14 games before being traded to the Red Sox in mid-June (with pitcher John Wyatt and OF Jose Tartabull) for pitcher Ken Sanders and outfielder Jim Gosger. Rollie's final major-league game was on September 25, 1966.

After the 1966 season, he was traded to the Reds, and spent the 1967 and 1968 seasons with their triple-A team. In 1969 he played for the triple-A teams of the Tigers, White Sox, and Seattle Pilots, and in 1970 played for the triple-A teams of the Cubs and Padres, before retiring.

Somehow, in spite of being a fulltime minor-leaguer in 1967 and 1968, Topps issued a card for him in 1969:

Final Card: Chuck Schilling

Chuck Schilling (#6) had a short career with the Red Sox in the early 1960s.

Chuck was signed by the Red Sox in 1958, and made his major-league debut in April 1961. His career started off well, as he was Boston's starting 2nd baseman for 157 games, and finished 3rd in Rookie of the Year voting. He also led the American League with 738 plate appearances.

Schilling was the regular 2nd baseman (133 starts) in 1962, but missed over 40 games due to a wrist injury that would hamper him for the rest of his career. He bounced back in 1963 (137 starts at 2nd base) but then started a downward slide.



In 1964, Schilling dropped to #3 in the pecking order at 2nd base, behind rookie infielder Dalton Jones, and journeyman Felix Mantilla. In 1965, Mantilla took over almost completely, making 120 starts at 2nd base to Schilling's 35 starts.

This was the end of the line for Chuck. In April 1966, he was traded to the Twins, but his 1966 season went like this (from Wikipedia):

Coming out of spring training, he was traded to the Minnesota Twins with catcher Russ Nixon for left-handed pitcher Dick Stigman. Schilling began the season on the Twins' 28-man roster, but he never appeared in any games and retired before the rosters were cut to 25 men on May 15.

After baseball, Schilling became a high school math teacher, and also played competitive softball until the age of 69.

Final Card: Merritt Ranew

Merritt Ranew (#62) first came to my attention as one of the characters in Jim Bouton's book Ball Four. A backup catcher, Ranew began and ended his short career with expansion teams (Houston Colt .45s, Seattle Pilots).

Merritt was signed by the Milwaukee Braves in 1957. He played 5 seasons in the Braves' farm system, finally reaching triple-A in 1961. After the 1961 season, he was drafted by the expansion Houston Colt .45s as their 17th pick. The #2 catcher behind ex-Pirate Hal Smith, Merritt started 51 games in his rookie season.

Before the 1963 season, he was traded to the Cubs. Although he was the Cubs 3rd-string catcher, this was the only season where he managed to stay out of the minor leagues.



The next few seasons were spent hopping from one team to another, while playing mostly in the minor leagues: to the Braves in June 1964; to the Giants prior to the 1965 season; sold to the Angels in May 1965; sent to the Yankees prior to 1968; sent to the Pilots prior to 1969. He did not play in the major leagues from 1966 to 1968.

Ranew's final major-league season was in 1969, with the expansion Seattle Pilots. He appeared in 54 games, mostly as a pinch-hitter.

After the 1969 season, he was traded to the Senators for infielder Frank Coggins. Ranew continued in the minors for 2 more seasons before retiring.

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: Frank Kreutzer

Frank Kreutzer (#211) pitched for the White Sox and Senators in the early-to-mid 1960s.

He was signed by the Red Sox in 1961. After only one season in their farm system, he was drafted by the White Sox, spending the next 2 seasons in Chicago's farm system, while pitching 1 major-league game each season.

1964 was Frank's first full season in the major leagues. In July, he went to the Senators as part of the Joe Cunningham-for-Bill Skowron trade.



After another full season (1965) with the Senators, Frank resumed his minor-league career. Although he would appear in 9 games for the Senators in 1966, he spent most of that season, and all of '67 and '68 with Washington's triple-A team.

1969 was his final season. After appearing in 4 games with the Senators, he was traded to the Pirates in May, and spent the remainder of the season with Pittsburgh's triple-A team in Columbus.

Final Card: Julio Navarro

Here's a guy I never heard of until I got his 1966 card within the past year. Julio Navarro (#527) began his career in 1955, spending 8 seasons in the Giants' farm system before the Angels purchased him in September 1962. He pitched 9 games in relief for the Angels that season.

In 1963, Julio was a key member of the Angels bullpen, making 57 appearances and leading the team with 12 saves. This was also his only full season in the majors.

In April 1964, he was traded to the Tigers for outfielder "Wonderful" Willie Smith. During his seasons with the Tigers (1964-66), he spent a good deal of time pitching in the minors.



In June 1966, the Tigers traded him to the Red Sox (with outfielder Don Demeter) for starting pitcher Earl Wilson (one of the best pitchers in the AL at the time) and outfielder Joe Christopher. His time in Boston was short, as he was traded to the Braves after the 1966 season.

Julio remained in the minors until briefly resurfacing with the Braves in 1970.

White Sox Rookies: Tommie Agee / Marv Staehle

This card (#164) is the first of 2 White Sox Rookies cards in the 1966 set.

This is not Tommie Agee's first card, as he previously appeared on an Indians Rookies card in 1965. I don't know who holds the record for most appearances on a "rookie" card, but it isn't Agee. Lou Piniella was on 3 rookie cards (Senators - 1964, Indians - 1968, Pilots - 1969).

Agee was signed by the Indians in 1961, and played in their farm system for 4 seasons before going to the White Sox in a 3-team, 8-player trade in January 1965. He is probably best known for his exploits with the Mets, particularly in their 1969 world championship season. (Topps has spelled his first name incorrectly (twice) on the back of this card.)



Marv Staehle had a less-spectacular career than Agee. He was signed by the White Sox in 1960, and after 7 seasons playing SS and 2B in their farm system, he bounced around to various organizations (Mets, Indians, Pilots) before the Montreal Expos purchased him from the Seattle Pilots late in the 1969 season.

Most of Marv's major-league playing time came during 1970, when the Expos platooned him at 2nd base with Gary Sutherland.

His final major-league season was 1971, with the Braves.

Final Card: Carl Warwick

Here is the final card for outfielder Carl Warwick (#247). Warwick was signed by the Dodgers and played in their minor-league system for 3 seasons (1958-60) before making his major-league debut with the Dodgers on April 11, 1961. A month later, he was traded to the Cardinals, and started 33 games in center field as Curt Flood's backup.

On May 7, 1962, Carl was traded to the Houston Colt .45s for veteran pitcher Bobby Shantz. He immediately became the regular center fielder for the expansion team, starting 104 games in center, including 71 of the next 79 games. In 1963, Warwick moved over to right field, starting 103 games there, while a young Rusty Staub started most of the other games there.



1962 and 1963 were the high points of Warwick's career. Just before the 1964 season, he was traded back to the Cardinals, and faded into a 5th outfielder role. In the '64 World Series, Carl was 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored.

Warwick was sold to the Orioles in late July 1965, but only appeared in 9 games for the rest of the season. Just prior to the 1966 season, he was traded to the Cubs for catcher Vic Roznovsky. Carl appeared in only 16 games for the Cubs that season (the last on June 12th), and spent most of the season in the Cubs' minor-league system.