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Elroy Leon Face
Detroit Tigers
First Base
Born: February 20, 1928, Stephentown, NY
Signed: Signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent in 1949
Major League Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates 1953, 1955-1968; Detroit Tigers 1968; Montreal Expos 1969
World Series Appearances: Pittsburgh Pirates 1960
Roy Face was one of the best relief pitchers of his era, compiling an unprecedented record of 18-1 for the 1959 Pirates. Only Max Scherzer has matched that mark since, going 18-1 for the 2013 Tigers. He ended his 16-year career with 191 career saves and 802 games with the Pirates. At the time, only Walter Johnson had pitched in that many games with one team, as Johnson had appeared in 802 games for the Washington Senators.
Face was a three-time All-Star with the Pirates, making the National League squad in 1959, 1960 and 1961. With the help of his forkball, he helped seal the 1960 World Championship with three saves in the Pirates' seven game win over the Yankees. Face led the league in saves three times, including an impressive 28 save season in 1962. He was baseball's all-time saves leader during the 1962 and 1963 seasons before being passed by Hoyt Wilhelm (#565) in 1964.
Roy Face was one of the best relief pitchers of his era, compiling an unprecedented record of 18-1 for the 1959 Pirates. Only Max Scherzer has matched that mark since, going 18-1 for the 2013 Tigers. He ended his 16-year career with 191 career saves and 802 games with the Pirates. At the time, only Walter Johnson had pitched in that many games with one team, as Johnson had appeared in 802 games for the Washington Senators.
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| 1969 Montreal Expos Postcards |
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1956 Topps blog.
The Card / Tigers Team Set / Accuracy Index -10
1969 Season
The Tigers released Face at the end of spring training, on April 3rd, and a little over three weeks later he signed with the expansion Expos. He appeared in 44 games for the Expos, going 4-2 with a 3.94 ERA in 59 1/3 innings pitched. He converted five saves, including his last career save on August 12th against the Reds. The last place Expos weren't going anywhere, and Face had been a reliable reliever all season, but they must have wanted his roster spot for a younger pitcher. On August 15th, the 41-year-old Face was released by the Expos, ending his 16-year big league career.
Phillies Connection
Face was originally drafted by the Phillies and he spent the first two seasons of his professional career (in 1949 and 1950) pitching for the Class D Bradford Blue Wings in the Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York (PONY) League. Face pitched extremely well for the Blue Wings (32-7 with a 2.88 ERA), but the Phillies made the unfortunate decision to leave him unprotected in the annual winter draft. Branch Rickey drafted the young right-hander and added him to the Dodgers stable of young pitchers. In 1954, Rickey, who had moved on to the Pirates, drafted Face again beginning what would become a 15 year relationship between the reliever and Pittsburgh.
I'm not a huge fan of the modern day Bowman releases, but it's cool to think that if prospect sets had been around in the late 1940s/early 1950s, we'd have a card of Roy Face in the 1950 Bowman Draft set, photoshopped into a Phillies uniform.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1953 Topps #246
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (16): 1953-1954, 1956-1969
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2018 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-RFA
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 140 in the Beckett online database as of 2/3/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR
Building the Set / Card #49
January 17, 2023 from Greg Morris Cards - Los Angeles, CA
On the evening of January 8th, I found myself sitting in Terminal C of the Philadelphia International Airport waiting to board my flight to Dallas. Earlier that day, I had enjoyed watching our oldest son Doug at a winter track meet as he pole vaulted for his high school. I was in a good mood despite the the fact that like most flights that day, my flight had been delayed. This was for a work trip, and I was doing my best to stay positive and keep myself in the post-holiday happiness hangover that had lingered into the year's second week. eBay seller Greg Morris Cards, based out of Los Angeles, somehow seems to post cards from various vintage baseball card set breaks on a weekly basis, with the cards typically all in fantastic condition. With time to kill, knowing that bidding on baseball cards was a surefire good mood sustainer, and having only 40 cards so far for our 1969 Topps set, I pleasantly passed the time by bidding on 62 commons, all with no previous bidders, and all ending within the next 30 hours.
January 17, 2023 from Greg Morris Cards - Los Angeles, CA
On the evening of January 8th, I found myself sitting in Terminal C of the Philadelphia International Airport waiting to board my flight to Dallas. Earlier that day, I had enjoyed watching our oldest son Doug at a winter track meet as he pole vaulted for his high school. I was in a good mood despite the the fact that like most flights that day, my flight had been delayed. This was for a work trip, and I was doing my best to stay positive and keep myself in the post-holiday happiness hangover that had lingered into the year's second week. eBay seller Greg Morris Cards, based out of Los Angeles, somehow seems to post cards from various vintage baseball card set breaks on a weekly basis, with the cards typically all in fantastic condition. With time to kill, knowing that bidding on baseball cards was a surefire good mood sustainer, and having only 40 cards so far for our 1969 Topps set, I pleasantly passed the time by bidding on 62 commons, all with no previous bidders, and all ending within the next 30 hours.
The next afternoon, while on a break at our work conference in the Hilton Anatole, I checked on the auctions, noting I had been outbid on a few, but was still the high bidder for most of the 62 cards. That night, as auctions were close to ending, and as I was enjoying a few adult beverages at the fine Rodeo Goat establishment across the street from the Hilton, my Apple Watch began vibrating every few seconds as I was outbid on dozens of auctions. When the dust had settled, I had won 24 new cards at an average price of about $2.50 per card. This Face card was $2.25, and arrived a week after I had made the return trip home from Dallas.
The Card / Tigers Team Set / Accuracy Index -10
This is Face's last Topps flagship set appearance, and Topps can be forgiven for not having a picture of the reliever in a Tigers uniform given he only pitched in two games for the team in 1968. The back of the card is just 15 lines of major league stats. The card was reprinted in the 2001 Topps Archives set, and Face signed another reprinted version of the card for the 2018 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs insert set.
Accuracy Index: There's a lot wrong with Face's last Topps card. He's hatless (-3), in a Pirates uniform (-5) and featured on a team he didn't play for in 1969 (-2).
1969 Season
The Tigers released Face at the end of spring training, on April 3rd, and a little over three weeks later he signed with the expansion Expos. He appeared in 44 games for the Expos, going 4-2 with a 3.94 ERA in 59 1/3 innings pitched. He converted five saves, including his last career save on August 12th against the Reds. The last place Expos weren't going anywhere, and Face had been a reliable reliever all season, but they must have wanted his roster spot for a younger pitcher. On August 15th, the 41-year-old Face was released by the Expos, ending his 16-year big league career.
Phillies Connection
Face was originally drafted by the Phillies and he spent the first two seasons of his professional career (in 1949 and 1950) pitching for the Class D Bradford Blue Wings in the Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York (PONY) League. Face pitched extremely well for the Blue Wings (32-7 with a 2.88 ERA), but the Phillies made the unfortunate decision to leave him unprotected in the annual winter draft. Branch Rickey drafted the young right-hander and added him to the Dodgers stable of young pitchers. In 1954, Rickey, who had moved on to the Pirates, drafted Face again beginning what would become a 15 year relationship between the reliever and Pittsburgh.
I'm not a huge fan of the modern day Bowman releases, but it's cool to think that if prospect sets had been around in the late 1940s/early 1950s, we'd have a card of Roy Face in the 1950 Bowman Draft set, photoshopped into a Phillies uniform.
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First Mainstream Card: 1953 Topps #246
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (16): 1953-1954, 1956-1969
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2018 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-RFA
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 140 in the Beckett online database as of 2/3/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1956 Topps Blog / 1965 Topps Blog
1956 Topps Blog / 1965 Topps Blog
#206 Phillies Rookie Stars / #208 Donn Clendenon - Montreal Expos
The card write-up mentions that Face appeared in 806 games as a Pirate. Yet the card back stats shows that he pitched in 802 games for the Pirates. Did he pinch hit or pinch run in the other 4 games? Or is it a Topps typo? BTW interesting to see a picture of Face in an Expos uniform - glad you posted it.
ReplyDeleteBaseball Reference has him at 807 games as a Pirate in Face's Standard Batting summary. That tally includes 802 games as a pitcher, and 5 games as a pinch-runner. So it's an uncorrected error on the back of the Topps card. Thanks for noticing that!
ReplyDelete