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Diego Pablo Segui
Seattle Pilots
Pitcher
Born: August 17, 1937, Holguin, Cuba
Signed: Signed by the Cincinnati Redlegs as an amateur free agent before 1958 season
Major League Teams: Kansas City Athletics 1962-1965; Washington Senators 1966; Kansas City Athletics 1967; Oakland Athletics 1968; Seattle Pilots 1969; Oakland Athletics 1970-1972; St. Louis Cardinals 1972-1973; Boston Red Sox 1974-1975; Seattle Mariners 1977
World Series Appearances: Boston Red Sox 1975
Diego Segui was a durable right-handed pitcher who played in parts of 15 big league seasons, spending most of his career with the Athletics in three separate stints. Left unprotected by the Athletics, Segui was chosen as the 14th pick in the 1968 expansion draft by the Pilots, and he was the team's top reliever during their only year of existence. Segui appeared in a team-leading 66 games for the Pilots, going 12-6 with 12 saves, and his teammates named him the club's MVP following the season. He didn't move with the Pilots to Milwaukee however, as the team dealt him back to the Athletics in December 1969. Known for his forkball, Segui led the American League in ERA in 1970 with a 2.56 mark.
Segui would continue as an effective reliever in the early 1970s for the Cardinals and Red Sox, and in 1977 he joined the expansion Mariners, becoming the only player to appear for both Seattle Major League Baseball franchises. He struggled with the Mariners, going 0-7, and Segui's big league career ended. However, he continued to pitch in the Mexican league for another 10 seasons, throwing a no-hitter in 1978. And if that wasn't all enough, Segui managed to pitch in 15 seasons in the Venezuelan Winter League between 1962 and 1983. He was inducted into the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2003. His son David played for 15 seasons in the majors (1990-2004) with seven different teams, most notably the Orioles.
Diego Segui was a durable right-handed pitcher who played in parts of 15 big league seasons, spending most of his career with the Athletics in three separate stints. Left unprotected by the Athletics, Segui was chosen as the 14th pick in the 1968 expansion draft by the Pilots, and he was the team's top reliever during their only year of existence. Segui appeared in a team-leading 66 games for the Pilots, going 12-6 with 12 saves, and his teammates named him the club's MVP following the season. He didn't move with the Pilots to Milwaukee however, as the team dealt him back to the Athletics in December 1969. Known for his forkball, Segui led the American League in ERA in 1970 with a 2.56 mark.
Segui would continue as an effective reliever in the early 1970s for the Cardinals and Red Sox, and in 1977 he joined the expansion Mariners, becoming the only player to appear for both Seattle Major League Baseball franchises. He struggled with the Mariners, going 0-7, and Segui's big league career ended. However, he continued to pitch in the Mexican league for another 10 seasons, throwing a no-hitter in 1978. And if that wasn't all enough, Segui managed to pitch in 15 seasons in the Venezuelan Winter League between 1962 and 1983. He was inducted into the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2003. His son David played for 15 seasons in the majors (1990-2004) with seven different teams, most notably the Orioles.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #68
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 Segui card which was $7.
The Card / Pilots Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
1969 Season
As mentioned above, this was one of Segui's best seasons and as the Pilots' closer in their only season in existence he can call himself one of the best pitchers in Pilots' history. Athletics owner Charlie Finley immediately regretted leaving Segui unprotected in the expansion draft, and on December 9th he was sent back to Oakland with Ray Oyler (#178) for Ted Kubiak (#281) and George Lauzerique (#358). At that point, the Pilots had already moved to Milwaukee to become the Brewers.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1963 Topps #157
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (13): 1963-1966, 1968-1975, 1977
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1990 Pacific Legends #104
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 64 in the Beckett online database as of 2/15/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
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 Segui card which was $7.
The Card / Pilots Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
Segui is wearing an Athletics jersey here. I find the cartoon on the back to be bizarre. "Diego was once the property of the Cincinnati Reds," seems like a really odd fact to hone in on, especially for a pitcher who had been around for seven seasons at that point. Segui had originally been signed by the Reds before the 1958 season and released that spring on April 21st.
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 Segui's first name printed in yellow.
Accuracy Index: Segui scores the standard -8 for wearing an Athletics jersey (-5) and being hatless (-3).
1969 Season
As mentioned above, this was one of Segui's best seasons and as the Pilots' closer in their only season in existence he can call himself one of the best pitchers in Pilots' history. Athletics owner Charlie Finley immediately regretted leaving Segui unprotected in the expansion draft, and on December 9th he was sent back to Oakland with Ray Oyler (#178) for Ted Kubiak (#281) and George Lauzerique (#358). At that point, the Pilots had already moved to Milwaukee to become the Brewers.
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First Mainstream Card: 1963 Topps #157
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (13): 1963-1966, 1968-1975, 1977
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1990 Pacific Legends #104
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 64 in the Beckett online database as of 2/15/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog
1965 Topps Blog
#510 Rod Carew - Minnesota Twins / #512 Cleon Jones - New York Mets
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