Final Card: Mike Brumley

This is the last of Mike Brumley's three cards (#29). He was on the Senators Rookies card in the 1964 set (one of Lou Piniella's many rookie cards!), and also had a card in the 1965 set.

Brumley was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1957, and played for 7 seasons in their farm system, before he was purchased by the Senators in October 1963. Mike was Washington's starting catcher as a rookie, catching 132 games (112 as the starter) and was named the Topps all-rookie catcher for 1964.

Unfortunately for Mike, the Senators purchased another catcher from the Dodgers after the 1964 season (Doug Camilli), and they shared the catching assignments in 1965. Veteran infielder Don Zimmer also caught a few dozen games that season.



Still another catcher (Paul Casanova) joined the team in 1966, and that was the end for Brumley. He spent most of the season at triple-A Hawaii (not a bad place to be exiled to!), and played a few games with Washington.

Mike missed the '67 and '68 seasons, and played for the Astros' triple-A Oklahoma City team in 1969 and 1970.

His son Mike Brumley Jr was an infielder for several teams in the early 1990s.

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: Jim Dickson

This is Jim Dickson's final card (#201). He previously appeared on the 1964 Reds Rookies and 1965 Athletics Rookies cards.

Jim was signed by the Pirates in 1958, and spent 4 seasons in the low minors as a starter and reliever. After the 1961 season, he was selected by the expansion Houston Colt .45s in the minor-league draft. Dickson pitched all of 1962 and the first half on 1963 with the Colt 45s' triple-A team in Oklahoma City. He made his major-league debut with Houston on July 2nd, and appeared in 13 games for the Colt 45s, all as a reliever.



Prior to the 1964 season, Jim was traded to the Reds for shortstop (and future Red Sox' manager) Eddie Kasko. Dickson only got into 4 games for the Reds that year, spending most of the season with the Reds' AAA San Diego team.

In November 1964, he was selected by the Athletics in the Rule 5 draft. This required him to stay on the major-league roster for the entire season. (1965 would be his only full season in the majors.) He pitched 85 innings in 68 games, both high points of his short career.

The 1966 season would be his last in the big leagues. He made his final appearance for the Athletics on July 24th, and spent the remainder of the 1966 season, as well as the 1967-70 seasons in the minors.

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.

Final Card: Ron Nischwitz

Ron Nischwitz (#38) had a brief career in the early 1960s, mostly with the Detroit Tigers. He was signed by the Tigers in 1958, and assigned to the class-A Lancaster (PA) Red Roses. Among his teammates that first season were future California Angels Bob Rodgers and Bubba Morton.

Ron compiled some good numbers for his first few years in the minors, and earned a promotion to the Tigers in September 1961. Primarily a starter in the minors, Nischwitz worked out of the bullpen in Detroit. He was with the Tigers for almost all of the 1962 season, in a bullpen featuring stopper Terry Fox and veteran Ron Kline.



After the 1962 season, Ron was traded to the Indians for 3rd baseman Bubba Phillips. Although he played some in Cleveland, Ron spent most of '63 with their AAA team in Jacksonville. 1964 found Nischwitz bouncing around from the Indians' Portland team to the Braves' AAA team in Toronto.

He returned to the Tigers' organization in 1965, splitting his time between Detroit and Syracuse, making his final big-league appearance on September 19th. He wrapped up his career back in Jacksonville in 1966, this time as a Mets' farmhand, pitching in 30 games.

After retirement, Nischwitz coached college baseball for 25 years.

Grady Hatton (#504)

Awhile back, I posted the Luman Harris card. Lum was the Astros' manager in 1965, but was fired in December (about 2 months AFTER most teams conduct their off-season firings!) Topps issued a 2nd manager card for the Astros in 1966. They would do the same in 1969 for the Senators.


Grady Hatton began his major-league playing career as the Reds' regular 3rd baseman from 1946-52. He kicked around with the White Sox, Red Sox, Cardinals, and Orioles from 1954-56, then became a minor-league player-coach until 1961 (which included a short stint in 1960 playing for the Cubs).



In 1962, Grady was hired as the director of player personnel for the expansion Houston Colt 45s. He followed that with 3 seasons as the manager of Houston's AAA Oklahoma City team before getting the call to the big club in 1966.

Hatton's major-league managerial career was brief. After 2 full seasons in 1966 (8th place) and 1967 (9th place), Grady was fired after 61 games in 1968, with his team in 10th place. I guess having the lowly Mets pass them in the standings was just not acceptable! He was replaced by Harry Walker, who had been fired in mid-1967 by the Pirates.

Hatton continued with the Astros as a scout until 1972. He also scouted for the Giants in the 1980s.

Al Kaline (#410)

This is the last of 5 cards donated to this blog by Deans Cards a few months ago. (Dean has also contributed some 1963 and 1970 cards to the cause.)

I first became aware of Al Kaline back in 1967, although at that time I thought his name was pronounced Al Ka-LINE (like the battery). I also knew back then that he never played in the minor leagues. Since I've started blogging here, I've learned that Sandy Koufax, Dick Groat, and Billy O'Dell also never played in the minors. (Has anyone EVER included Sandy Koufax and Billy O'Dell in the same sentence?)

One thing I DID learn recently about Kaline (while researching teammate Charlie Maxwell) is that Al spent several seasons as the Tigers' center fielder.



Kaline was signed as a bonus baby by the Tigers in 1953, and spent his entire 22-year career (1953-74) with Detroit. He appeared in 30 games as a rookie, making his debut on June 23rd. Al only started 4 games that season, and none until September 16th.

Starting in 1954, Kaline became a fixture in the Tigers' outfield, and finished 3rd in the Rookie of the Year voting that season. He also won a gold glove 10 times between 1957 and 1967, and was an all star every season from 1955 to 1967, and again in 1971 and 1974.

As I mentioned above, I always thought Kaline played only right field during his prime. He was the team's regular in right field from 1954-58, 61-64, and 67. In 1959 and 1960, he started most of the games as the center fielder. From 1965-66, he split his time almost evenly between center and right. From 1968-70, Al played mostly right field but also started many games at 1st base. He wrapped up his career in 1974 as the Tigers' full-time designated hitter, playing 144 games there and none in the field.

Kaline played in the 1968 World Series against the Cardinals, batting .379. He finished with a .297 lifetime batting average, and led the American League in batting in 1955, finished 2nd in 1959, 1961, and 1963, and finished 3rd in 1966 and 1967.

Al was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980.

Pete Rose (#30)

Here's an early card of the Hit King, courtesy of Dean's Cards. How early? Let's see: short hair, white Reds' cap, vest-top uniform, position = 2nd base, and career hits under 1000!

Pete Rose began his career as the Reds' regular 2nd baseman in 1963. In 1965 he started all 162 games at 2nd. In 1966, he began the season as the regular 3rd baseman. (I thought he didn't move to 3rd until George Foster showed up in the 1970s.) For the first 15 games, Rose played 3rd base while rookie Tommy Helms played 2nd base. Then, after switching positions with Helms, Rose started every game at 2B for the remainder of the season, except for 4 games off between 9/23 and 9/28.



I always thought he moved to the outfield during the 1966 season, since that was the first season without Frank Robinson, and because Rose's 1967 card shows him at 2B-OF. Not so. Pete moved to the outfield to start the 1967 season, starting 140 games in left field, and 1 in center. His only action at 2B that year was during a stretch of games from 7/2 to 8/4, while shortstop Chico Cardenas was on the DL. Regular 2nd baseman Helms moved over to short, Lee May went from 1st to left, and Deron Johnson was plugged in at 1st base.

Rose was a main cog in the Big Red Machine of the 1970s, and was the player that everyone (outside of Cincinnati) loved to hate. Guess what? Once he became a Phillie, that all magically changed! Once in Philly, Rose became a 1st baseman - the 5th position he would play in an all-star game.

After 2 trips to the World Series with the Phillies, Pete was on the move again, and came full circle back to Cincinnati.

Final Card: Buster Narum

Les "Buster" Narum was born in Philadelphia in 1940. He also attended high school in Clearwater, FL. That's 2 links to the Philadelphia Phillies, although he never played for them.

Buster was signed by the Orioles in 1958, and spent 6 seasons in their farm system, mostly as a starting pitcher. Although he appeared in 7 games for the Orioles in 1963, he was traded to the Senators in March 1964 for a player to be named later (Lou Piniella).

Narum spent 2 full seasons with the Senators in 1964-65 as a key member of their starting rotation. He appeared in 84 games over that span, but compiled records of 9-15 and 4-12 (in his defense, it WAS the Senators!).

(Buster demonstrates his "Live long and prosper" grip!)

For whatever reason, his big-league career evaporated after that. He spent most of the next 2 seasons pitching for the Nats' triple-A team in Hawaii (hey, if you've gotta play in triple-A, that's the place to do it!), while making token appearances in Washington: 3 innings with a 21.60 ERA in 1966, and 2 games in 1967.

In February 1968, Buster was part of a 6-player trade with the White Sox, but spent the entire season at triple-A Buffalo (quite an adjustment from Hawaii). His final season was 1969, toiling with the Cardinals' AAA team in Tulsa, OK.

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: Larry Bearnarth

This is the 4th and final Topps card for Larry Bearnarth (#464).

Larry was signed by the Mets in 1962, and after only one season at triple-A Syracuse (where he fashioned a 2-13 record as a starting pitcher), he made his major-league debut with the Mets on April 16, 1963. During his rookie season, he was one of the Mets' top 3 workhorses in the bullpen (along with Galen Cisco and Jay Hook), pitching 126 innings in 58 games.

In 1964 Larry was the #2 man in the 'pen behind one-year wonder Bill Wakefield. Over the next 2 seasons, Bearnarth again was a member of the Mets' relief corps, but his playing time decreased somewhat, and he spent a portion of both '65 and '66 in the minors.



Larry's last game for the Mets was a 1-inning appearance on August 7th, 1966 against the Cardinals. He would spend the next 4 seasons pitching for the Mets' triple-A teams in Jacksonville (1967-68) and Tidewater (1969-70) as a starter and reliever.

Although Larry's last card appeared in 1966, he did resurface in the majors in 1971 with the Brewers for 2 games. His 18.00 ERA brought a quick return to Milwaukee's triple-A team for the remainder of the season. He also pitched 3 games in 1972 for the Expos' triple-A team before retiring.

Bearnarth later became a pitching coach - I think for the Expos.