 |
.jpg) |
Leonardo Lazaro Cardenas
Minnesota Twins
Shortstop
Born: December 17, 1938, Matanzas, Cuba
Acquired: Sent from Tuscon (Arizona-Mexico League) to the Cincinnati Reds in an unknown transaction before 1957 season
Major League Teams: Cincinnati Reds 1960-1968; Minnesota Twins 1969-1971; California Angels 1972; Cleveland Indians 1973; Texas Rangers 1974-1975
World Series Appearances: Cincinnati Reds 1961
Nicknamed "Chico" or "Mr. Automatic," Leo Cardenas was a five-time All-Star, a Gold Glove winner in 1965 and one of the best fielding shortstops of the 1960s. No one else played more games at shortstop in the National League than Cardenas between 1964 and 1966, and he was regularly among the league leaders in all defensive categories. A lifetime .257 hitter, Cardenas played for 16 seasons and tallied 1,941 career games with 1,843 appearances at shortstop. He accumulated 1,725 hits, 285 doubles, 118 home runs and 689 RBIs.
Nicknamed "Chico" or "Mr. Automatic," Leo Cardenas was a five-time All-Star, a Gold Glove winner in 1965 and one of the best fielding shortstops of the 1960s. No one else played more games at shortstop in the National League than Cardenas between 1964 and 1966, and he was regularly among the league leaders in all defensive categories. A lifetime .257 hitter, Cardenas played for 16 seasons and tallied 1,941 career games with 1,843 appearances at shortstop. He accumulated 1,725 hits, 285 doubles, 118 home runs and 689 RBIs.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #23
September 4, 2022 from Deptford Mall Baseball Card Show
On the Sunday afternoon of Labor Day Weekend, Doug and I drove to the Deptford Mall for a mini baseball card show and Bobby Abreu signing. We were among the first in line to secure our Abreu signatures, and then we spent about a half hour browsing the six or so tables set up in the mall. I found one dealer (Cash for Cards, from Delaware) with stacks of vintage commons for sale, adding cards to my then not-yet-officially-collecting 1955 Bowman, 1959 Topps and 1969 Topps sets. This Cardenas card was one of seven cards added to my small stack of 1969 Topps cards, and was less than a dollar.
The Card / Twins Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
1969 Season
On November 21, 1968, Cardenas was traded to the Twins for left-handed starting pitcher Jim Merritt (#661). The Twins were looking to solidify their infield, and with Cardenas at shortstop and Rod Carew (#510) at second base they had an impressive double play combination. Cardenas appeared in 160 games, starting all but three of the Twins' games throughout the entire season. He batted .280 with 24 doubles and 70 RBIs, as the Twins went 97-65 to win the first ever American League West pennant. They'd be swept in three games by the Orioles in the ALCS, with Cardenas batting just .154 (2 for 13) in the postseason.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1960 Topps #119
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (16): 1960-1973, 1975-1976
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1986 TCMA All-Time Cincinnati Reds #7
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 105 in the Beckett online database as of 1/2/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia
September 4, 2022 from Deptford Mall Baseball Card Show
On the Sunday afternoon of Labor Day Weekend, Doug and I drove to the Deptford Mall for a mini baseball card show and Bobby Abreu signing. We were among the first in line to secure our Abreu signatures, and then we spent about a half hour browsing the six or so tables set up in the mall. I found one dealer (Cash for Cards, from Delaware) with stacks of vintage commons for sale, adding cards to my then not-yet-officially-collecting 1955 Bowman, 1959 Topps and 1969 Topps sets. This Cardenas card was one of seven cards added to my small stack of 1969 Topps cards, and was less than a dollar.
The Card / Twins Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
Cardenas is wearing a Reds road jersey here, and the photo was likely taken at the same time as the photo used for his 1968 Topps card. The cartoon on the back mentions his three All-Star Game appearances but Cardenas had appeared in four All-Star Games by this point in his career - 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1968. He'd appear once more in 1971. The note about the Twins acquiring Cardenas during the "interleague winter trading period" intrigued me. I did a cursory Google search, not coming up with anything on this, but it would seem to infer there used to be a period where intraleague deals were allowed and then another period where interleague deals happened?
Accuracy Index: The hatless Cardenas (-3), wearing a Reds jersey (-5) scores a -8.
1969 Season
On November 21, 1968, Cardenas was traded to the Twins for left-handed starting pitcher Jim Merritt (#661). The Twins were looking to solidify their infield, and with Cardenas at shortstop and Rod Carew (#510) at second base they had an impressive double play combination. Cardenas appeared in 160 games, starting all but three of the Twins' games throughout the entire season. He batted .280 with 24 doubles and 70 RBIs, as the Twins went 97-65 to win the first ever American League West pennant. They'd be swept in three games by the Orioles in the ALCS, with Cardenas batting just .154 (2 for 13) in the postseason.
|
|
|
|
|
First Mainstream Card: 1960 Topps #119
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (16): 1960-1973, 1975-1976
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1986 TCMA All-Time Cincinnati Reds #7
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 105 in the Beckett online database as of 1/2/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia
Among the first '69s I ever saw ... I love the "Accuracy Index" feature, by the way.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I wanted to come up with some way to track the beautiful mess that is this set. I don't think I ever appreciated how many hatless photos are in this set.
ReplyDelete