#108 Tony Taylor - Philadelphia Phillies

Antonio Nemesio Taylor
Philadelphia Phillies
Second Base

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'9"  Weight:  170
Born:  December 19, 1935, Central Alava, Cuba
Signed:  Signed by the New York Giants as an amateur free agent, April 13, 1954
Major League Teams:  Chicago Cubs 1958-1960; Philadelphia Phillies 1960-1971; Detroit Tigers 1971-1973; Philadelphia Phillies 1974-1976

Died:  July 16, 2020, Hialeah, FL (age 84)

A mainstay in the Phillies line-up throughout the 1960s, Tony Taylor became one of the most popular players in franchise history.  15 of Taylor's 19 seasons in the big leagues were with the Phillies, and his 1,003 games played at second base for the Phillies is second behind only Chase Utley's 1,453 games.  He ranks in the top 10 in Phillies franchise records for games played (5th with 1,669) and singles (8th with 1,178) and he was elected into the Phillies Wall of Fame in 2002.  Taylor played in 2,195 games, compiling a lifetime average of .261 with 2,007 career hits.

In 2017, during the Phillies' annual Alumni Weekend, Taylor became an instant favorite for my son Doug as the two of them had a lengthy conversation as we waited outside the Hall of Fame Club suite in which dozens of Phillies alumni had gathered for Saturday night's game.  Doug collected a bunch of autographs, but he'll forever remember the encounter with Taylor.  That was the weekend the Phillies honored three recently departed legends - Jim Bunning (#175), Darren Daulton and Dallas Green - and Taylor was overly emotional when Doug asked him to sign the print featuring the three.  From that night, and as memorialized in a post at The Phillies Room:

Tony Taylor . . . the Phillies great singled out Doug and spent about two minutes talking to him.  He talked about the players on the print, he told Doug to follow his dreams and he told Doug to never give up.  He talked about kindness and helping others and hard work.  He wanted Doug to promise to never throw away the print and to remember everything he had told him.  Finally, he told Doug to pass on everything to his kids and to bring his kids to Phillies games when they were older.  Doug took it all in.  I took it all in.  It was a very cool moment.

Something neither of us will ever forget.  Taylor's card was the first card we purchased when we decided to start collecting the 1965 Topps set in 2019. 

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.

Building the Set / Card #12
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY)
I've posted a complete summary of this fantastic show over at The Phillies Room, and this was one of six cards from the 1969 Topps set I added to our stack of 1965 Topps commons, almost as an afterthought.  Given the importance of Taylor to Doug, as relayed in the story above, it felt good to add this card to our set early in the set-building process.  In total, I added 94 cards to our 1965 Topps set from Uncle Dick's and his neon green binders, six cards from the 1969 Topps set and two 1959 Topps cards for a future set build.  This Taylor card was $1.50.  Composing posts for these six cards will take much less time than it took to compose posts for the 94 cards added to our 1965 Topps set.

The Card / Phillies Team Set / Accuracy Index +5

The photos used for Taylor's 1968 and 1969 Topps cards came from the same photo session, as he's wearing the same sweat-stained Phillies hat in both.  The cartoon on the back highlights his 1.000 average in All-Star Games, since Taylor was 1 for 1 in the second All-Star Game held in 1960, singling off Gary Bell (#377) in the game's ninth inning.  His versatility in the field is mentioned, as is his team-leading 20 doubles in 1968.  Cookie Rojas (#507) nearly caught him with 19 doubles.

Accuracy Index:  Taylor's card scores a solid 5 for depicting him in a Phillies uniform in a photo most likely taken during the 1967 season.

1969 Season
After serving as the club's regular third baseman in 1968, Taylor returned to a super utility role in 1969, appearing in 138 games overall and making 65 starts at third base, 56 starts at second base and 10 starts at first base.  He batted .262 with 24 doubles and 30 RBIs, as the Phillies just missed losing 100 games by going 63-99 under managers Bob Skinner (#369) and George Myatt.

Phillies Career
I've highlighted Taylor's Phillies accolades at the top of this post, but it bears repeating he was one of the most popular players for the club during a decade in which they didn't give their fans much to cheer about.  Originally acquired from the Cubs on May 13, 1960 with Cal Neeman for Ed Bouchee and Don Cardwell (#193), Taylor took over at second base replacing the duo of Pancho Herrera and Bobby Malkmus.  He'd serve as the regular second baseman between 1960 and 1965, still seeing regular playing time in the latter part of the decade before getting traded to the Tigers in June 1971.

He returned to the Phillies as a free agent prior to the 1974 season, and he'd serve in a part-time role (and part-time coach) until retiring as a player in 1976.  Taylor was a coach with the Phillies from 1977 to 1979, and again in 1988 and 1989, and served as a minor league instructor or coach in the years between 1980 and 1987.  His SABR biography appropriately describes him as the "Ernie Banks of the Phillies."

1958 Topps #411

1962 Topps #77

1968 Topps #327

1970 Topps #324

1976 Topps #624

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1958 Topps #411
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (18):  1958-1973, 1975-1976
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2017 Topps Phillies National Baseball Card Day SGA #11
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  113 in the Beckett online database as of 12/29/22.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog / The Phillies Room

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