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Andres Antonio Gonzalez
San Diego Padres
Outfield
Born: August 28, 1936, Central Cunagua, Cuba
Signed: Signed as an amateur free agent by the Cincinnati Redlegs before the 1957 season
Major League Teams: Cincinnati Reds 1960; Philadelphia Phillies 1960-1968; San Diego Padres 1969; Atlanta Braves 1969-1970; California Angels 1970-1971
Died: July 2, 2021, Cutler Bay, FL (age 84)
Tony Gonzalez established himself as the regular center fielder for the Phillies throughout the 1960s, playing in over 1,000 games with the club while providing steady defense and consistently batting near or over .300. He enjoyed a career-year in 1967, batting .339 to finish second in the league's batting title race behind Roberto Clemente (#50). His career high in home runs came in 1962 when he had 20, and he drove in over 60 runs three times in his career. Gonzalez finished in the top ten in the league in triples in three different seasons.
A fine fielder, he led the league three times for fielding percentage among outfielders, going errorless for the entire 1962 season. He was also prone to being hit by pitches, finishing in the top ten in that category in eight different seasons. His proclivity for getting plunked led to him being the first player in the majors to wear a new batting helmet with a premolded earflap. Following his years with the Phillies, Gonzalez played with the Padres, Braves and Angels, seeing his only postseason play in 1969 with the Braves. He batted .357 (5 for 14) in the 1969 NLCS in a losing effort against the Mets. Gonzalez played 19 games in Japan along with 24 games in Mexico in 1972 and attempted a comeback with the Reading Phillies in 1973 before retiring as a player. He'd serve as a coach in the Phillies minor league system through 1976.
Tony Gonzalez established himself as the regular center fielder for the Phillies throughout the 1960s, playing in over 1,000 games with the club while providing steady defense and consistently batting near or over .300. He enjoyed a career-year in 1967, batting .339 to finish second in the league's batting title race behind Roberto Clemente (#50). His career high in home runs came in 1962 when he had 20, and he drove in over 60 runs three times in his career. Gonzalez finished in the top ten in the league in triples in three different seasons.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #67
February 13, 2023 from Wenonah, NJ (Gar Miller Cards)
Given my chosen profession, I sit through an inordinate amount of work meetings, which are now almost all virtual in this post-pandemic world. On some occasions, these meetings are admittedly a combination of boring, unneeded, too lengthy or some combination of all three. During a recent early February virtual work meeting, and after it became apparent the meeting had derailed into matters unimportant to me personally, I bought a bunch of old baseball cards. Gar Miller is a noted hobby luminary, and he still sells vintage baseball cards via his online store, Gar Miller Cards. I navigated over to his website, picking up a small stack of cards from this 1969 Topps set build and a few bonus cards for our not yet officially collecting 1955 Bowman and 1959 Topps sets. For those watching me on screen during the virtual work meeting, I had the appearance of someone smiling, nodding appreciatively and following along attentively. But in reality, I was adding baseball cards to my online cart, including this Gonzalez card which was $3.
The Card / Padres Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
This is one of 23 cards from the set's fifth series available as either "yellow letter" or "white letter" variations, with the yellow letter variations being more prevalent. This is the more prevalent yellow letter variation with Gonzalez's first name printed in yellow.
Building the Set / Card #67
February 13, 2023 from Wenonah, NJ (Gar Miller Cards)
Given my chosen profession, I sit through an inordinate amount of work meetings, which are now almost all virtual in this post-pandemic world. On some occasions, these meetings are admittedly a combination of boring, unneeded, too lengthy or some combination of all three. During a recent early February virtual work meeting, and after it became apparent the meeting had derailed into matters unimportant to me personally, I bought a bunch of old baseball cards. Gar Miller is a noted hobby luminary, and he still sells vintage baseball cards via his online store, Gar Miller Cards. I navigated over to his website, picking up a small stack of cards from this 1969 Topps set build and a few bonus cards for our not yet officially collecting 1955 Bowman and 1959 Topps sets. For those watching me on screen during the virtual work meeting, I had the appearance of someone smiling, nodding appreciatively and following along attentively. But in reality, I was adding baseball cards to my online cart, including this Gonzalez card which was $3.
The Card / Padres Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
Gonzlaez is wearing a Phillies road jersey here. The back of the card highlights his .339 average from the 1967 season.
Accuracy Index: The Phillies jersey (-5) coupled with Gonzalez being hatless (-3) and it's another score of -8. I have a feeling that may be the most prevalent score throughout the set.
Inserts: Gonzalez is included as one of the 48 decals in the Topps Decals insert set.
1969 Season
With Larry Hisle (#206) waiting to take over in the outfield for the Phillies, Gonzalez was left unprotected in the expansion draft. He was the 37th pick by the Padres in the 1968 expansion draft, ending his nine-year run in Philadelphia. He was the Padres' first ever center fielder on opening day, sharing the outfield that day with Ollie Brown (#149) in right field and Larry Stahl (#271) in left field. On June 13th, he was on the move again, traded to the Braves for Walt Hriniak, Van Kelly and minor leaguer Andy Finlay. Gonzalez batted .294 in 89 games for the Braves, helping the club to the first ever National League West pennant. He split time in left field with Rico Carty (#590) and in center field with Felipe Alou (#300). In the first NLDS, and as mentioned above, Gonzalez batted .357 (5 for 14), starting all three games in center field for the Braves as his team was swept by the Mets.
Phillies Career
The Phillies acquired Gonzalez from the Reds with Lee Walls on June 15, 1960 for Harry Anderson, Wally Post and Fred Hopke. He'd be a mainstay with the club until left unprotected and selected by the Padres in the 1968 expansion draft, prior to the start of the 1969 season.
1969 Season
With Larry Hisle (#206) waiting to take over in the outfield for the Phillies, Gonzalez was left unprotected in the expansion draft. He was the 37th pick by the Padres in the 1968 expansion draft, ending his nine-year run in Philadelphia. He was the Padres' first ever center fielder on opening day, sharing the outfield that day with Ollie Brown (#149) in right field and Larry Stahl (#271) in left field. On June 13th, he was on the move again, traded to the Braves for Walt Hriniak, Van Kelly and minor leaguer Andy Finlay. Gonzalez batted .294 in 89 games for the Braves, helping the club to the first ever National League West pennant. He split time in left field with Rico Carty (#590) and in center field with Felipe Alou (#300). In the first NLDS, and as mentioned above, Gonzalez batted .357 (5 for 14), starting all three games in center field for the Braves as his team was swept by the Mets.
The Phillies acquired Gonzalez from the Reds with Lee Walls on June 15, 1960 for Harry Anderson, Wally Post and Fred Hopke. He'd be a mainstay with the club until left unprotected and selected by the Padres in the 1968 expansion draft, prior to the start of the 1969 season.
Among all Phillies players throughout the decade of the 1960s, Gonzalez ranks third in games played (1,118) behind Johnny Callison (#133) with 1,432 and Tony Taylor (#108) with 1,342. He ranks third in hits (1,110) behind that duo and third in home runs (77) and RBIs (438) behind Callison and Dick Allen (#350).
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1960 Topps #518
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (12): 1960-1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1971 Topps #256
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 73 in the Beckett online database as of 2/15/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
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First Mainstream Card: 1960 Topps #518
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (12): 1960-1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1971 Topps #256
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 73 in the Beckett online database as of 2/15/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog / The Phillies Room
1965 Topps Blog / The Phillies Room
#500 Mickey Mantle - New York Yankees / #502 Minnie Rojas - California Angels
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