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James Louis Fregosi
California Angels
Shortstop
Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 6'1" Weight: 190
Born: April 4, 1942, San Francisco, CA
Signed: Signed by the Boston Red Sox as an amateur free agent before 1960 season
Major League Teams: Los Angeles Angels 1961-1965; California Angels 1966-1971; New York Mets 1972-1973; Texas Rangers 1973-1977; Pittsburgh Pirates 1977-1978
As a Manager: California Angels 1978-1981; Chicago White Sox 1986-1988; Philadelphia Phillies 1991-1996; Toronto Blue Jays 1999-2000
Died: February 14, 2014, Miami, FL (age 71)
A six-time All-Star and a Gold Glove shortstop, Jim Fregosi was the first star of the expansion Los Angeles Angels before his trade to the Mets in December 1971 for future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan (#533). Fregosi led the league in triples with 13 in 1968 and won his Gold Glove in 1967. He held most of the Angels' franchise hitting records until Brian Downing began breaking them in the late 1980s. Over his 18-year career, Fregosi hit .265 with 151 home runs and 706 RBIs. He was inducted into the Angels Hall of Fame in 1989 and the club retired his #11 in 1998.
Following his playing days, Fregosi was a successful manager, leading the Angels to their first playoff berth in 1979 and the Phillies to the World Series in 1993. His 15-year managerial career spanned between 1978 and 2000, earning him a career record of 1028-1094. A baseball lifer, he spent five full decades in the game earning friends at each franchise he joined. Fregosi was the top advance scout for the Braves in 2014 when a series of strokes led to his passing.
Born: April 4, 1942, San Francisco, CA
Signed: Signed by the Boston Red Sox as an amateur free agent before 1960 season
Major League Teams: Los Angeles Angels 1961-1965; California Angels 1966-1971; New York Mets 1972-1973; Texas Rangers 1973-1977; Pittsburgh Pirates 1977-1978
As a Manager: California Angels 1978-1981; Chicago White Sox 1986-1988; Philadelphia Phillies 1991-1996; Toronto Blue Jays 1999-2000
Died: February 14, 2014, Miami, FL (age 71)
A six-time All-Star and a Gold Glove shortstop, Jim Fregosi was the first star of the expansion Los Angeles Angels before his trade to the Mets in December 1971 for future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan (#533). Fregosi led the league in triples with 13 in 1968 and won his Gold Glove in 1967. He held most of the Angels' franchise hitting records until Brian Downing began breaking them in the late 1980s. Over his 18-year career, Fregosi hit .265 with 151 home runs and 706 RBIs. He was inducted into the Angels Hall of Fame in 1989 and the club retired his #11 in 1998.
Following his playing days, Fregosi was a successful manager, leading the Angels to their first playoff berth in 1979 and the Phillies to the World Series in 1993. His 15-year managerial career spanned between 1978 and 2000, earning him a career record of 1028-1094. A baseball lifer, he spent five full decades in the game earning friends at each franchise he joined. Fregosi was the top advance scout for the Braves in 2014 when a series of strokes led to his passing.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #2
March 3, 2018 from a box of 2018 Topps Heritage
This is the only buyback card I'll include in our 1969 Topps set, and the story below was originally posted over at The Phillies Room on Monday, March 5, 2018.
Building the Set / Card #2
March 3, 2018 from a box of 2018 Topps Heritage
This is the only buyback card I'll include in our 1969 Topps set, and the story below was originally posted over at The Phillies Room on Monday, March 5, 2018.
While battling some sort of hybrid cold/flu nonsense on Saturday, I had settled in to watch the Phillies-Orioles [spring training] game on TV when our postal carrier delivered our shipment of 2018 Topps Heritage boxes. The four of us settled in for an afternoon of pack opening, and it was the most fun I've had opening baseball cards in quite a while. The sorting process is still underway, but that's all part of the fun of opening packs of cards.
Each of our boxes had a single card pack as a box topper and the wrapper indicated that an original 1969 Topps buyback card was included within. I was thrilled when the first buyback pack we opened was former Phillies manager Jim Fregosi. I was amused when the second buyback pack we opened was another Fregosi. I was annoyed when the third, fourth, fifth and sixth buyback packs we opened were also Fregosi. I'm chalking this one up to dumb luck and poor collation from Topps. While I would have liked to have added a few different buybacks to my collection, the six Fregosis won't diminish the fun we had opening the boxes.
With six of these Fregosi cards in our collection, I couldn't rationally bring myself to purchase a seventh just so it wouldn't have the gold buyback stamp on the front. So I picked the best of the bunch, and it's now officially part of our 1969 Topps set build.
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Fregosi is showing off his bunting form here, and it's the same exact photo Topps used for his 1968 Topps card. The back of the card highlights his double in the 1968 All-Star Game, Fregosi's fourth Mid-Summer Classic appearance. The American League All-Stars lost the game, 1-0, and Fregosi's double led off the game against National League starter, Don Drysdale (#400). The cartoon depicts one of his two inside-the-park home runs hit at Dodger Stadium, the Angels' home ballpark during their first few years. Fregosi collected those two home runs in 1962 and 1963, the only two inside-the-parkers of his career.
Accuracy Index: This card scores a +1 - five points for depicting Fregosi in the correct uniform, but then minus four points for re-using a photo.
Inserts: Fregosi is included in the 35 card Topps Deckle Edge insert set and is one of 48 decals in the Topps Decals insert set. He's one of 27 players to appear in both insert sets.
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1969 Season
In his seventh full season with the Angels, Fregosi was once again the club's regular shortstop. He appeared in 161 games, making all but the final three starts at shortstop throughout the season. Marty Perez got the call in those final three games with Fregosi starting his offseason a little early. He batted .260 with 12 home runs and 47 RBIs while owning the highest bWAR on the team among position players with a 4.9 mark.
Fregosi was originally hired by the Phillies by his former teammate and friend Lee Thomas on May 29, 1989 as a special assignment assistant to Thomas, the team's general manager. He was serving as a minor league pitching instructor and part-time broadcaster for the Phillies when Nick Leyva was fired in early 1991. Fregosi was named the club's new manager on April 23, 1991, leading them to a third place finish that season, the club's best finish since 1986. He guided the Phillies from a last place finish in 1992 to the World Series in 1993, only to lose the Series on Joe Carter's dramatic walk-off home run off Mitch Williams in Game 6. Fregosi was credited with effectively leading a band of veteran cast-offs to an unexpected and improbable postseason run.
Unfortunately, it was all downhill for Fregosi and the Phillies following the 1993 season and the club wouldn't finish above .500 during the remainder of his tenure. He was fired following the 1996 season, a dismal year in which the Phillies went 67-95 to finish in last place in the division. In six years as Phillies manager, Fregosi had a 431-463 record and his win total is third behind Danny Ozark (594) and Charlie Manuel (780) for the club since 1970.
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First Mainstream Card: 1962 Topps #209
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (27): 1962-1976, 1978-1981, 1986-1989, 1991-1993, 2001
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2002 Topps Archives #40
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 196 in the Beckett online database as of 12/23/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1992 Phillies Media Guide / 1965 Topps Blog / The Phillies Room
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