 |
.jpg) |
Edgar Leon Kirkpatrick
Kansas City Royals
Outfield
Born: October 8, 1944, Spokane, WA
Signed: Signed by the Los Angeles Angels as an amateur free agent before 1962 season
Major League Teams: Los Angeles Angels 1962-1965; California Angels 1966-1968; Kansas City Royals 1969-1973; Pittsburgh Pirates 1974-1977; Texas Rangers 1977; Milwaukee Brewers 1977
Major League Teams: Los Angeles Angels 1962-1965; California Angels 1966-1968; Kansas City Royals 1969-1973; Pittsburgh Pirates 1974-1977; Texas Rangers 1977; Milwaukee Brewers 1977
Died: November 15, 2010, Mission Viejo, CA (age 66)
Ed Kirkpatrick put together a solid 16-year big league career, playing every position except pitcher and middle infield, on mostly small market teams. Signed at just 17 years old, Kirkpatrick toiled in the Angels system for seven seasons, appearing in a then career-high 117 games in 1966. He was included in the first-ever trade for the expansion Royals, dealt with Dennis Paepke to Kansas City for Hoyt Wilhelm (#565). With the Royals, Kirkpatrick found his greatest success and he was one of their most regularly used catchers in the early 1970s. He reached single season career highs in 1970 with 18 home runs and 62 RBIs and batted a career-high .275 in 1972. Kirkpatrick was traded to the Pirates following the 1973 season, and he'd help that team win division titles in 1974 and 1975. He finished his career in 1977 with 49 games for the Pirates, Rangers and Brewers, serving mainly as a pinch or designated hitter.
Ed Kirkpatrick put together a solid 16-year big league career, playing every position except pitcher and middle infield, on mostly small market teams. Signed at just 17 years old, Kirkpatrick toiled in the Angels system for seven seasons, appearing in a then career-high 117 games in 1966. He was included in the first-ever trade for the expansion Royals, dealt with Dennis Paepke to Kansas City for Hoyt Wilhelm (#565). With the Royals, Kirkpatrick found his greatest success and he was one of their most regularly used catchers in the early 1970s. He reached single season career highs in 1970 with 18 home runs and 62 RBIs and batted a career-high .275 in 1972. Kirkpatrick was traded to the Pirates following the 1973 season, and he'd help that team win division titles in 1974 and 1975. He finished his career in 1977 with 49 games for the Pirates, Rangers and Brewers, serving mainly as a pinch or designated hitter.
Nicknamed "Spanky," Kirkpatrick had a knack for being in the middle of several bench-clearing brawls, including an incident in September 1965 against the Athletics and another in 1974 against the Reds in which he got into a physical altercation with Reds' manager Sparky Anderson. Kirkpatrick played in 1,311 big league games, collecting 824 hits while batting .238 with 85 home runs and 424 RBIs.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #61
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 Card / Royals Team Set / Accuracy Index +10
1969 Season
Kirkpatrick was the opening day and first ever left fielder for the Royals. The versatile Kirkpatrick would make 29 starts in right field, 27 starts in left field, 19 starts in center field and one start each at catcher, first base and third base. In 120 games overall, he batted .257 with 14 home runs and 49 RBIs. He just topped first baseman Mike Fiore (#376) for the highest position player bWAR on the team with 3.0 to Fiore's 2.9. Kirkpatrick's home run tally led the club, making him, for a short time, the Royals all-time home run leader.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1963 Topps #386
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (16): 1963-1978
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 Topps #77
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 62 in the Beckett online database as of 2/12/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia
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 Kirkpatrick card was $1.51, and arrived a week after I had made the return trip home from Dallas.
There are 28 Royals cards in the 1969 Topps set, and collectors wouldn't get their first look at a Royals uniform on cardboard until finding the Dennis Riband (#463) card in packs. Kirkpatrick is one of nine cards featuring players in the expansion Royals uniform, 11 if you count the two Rookie Stars cards. He looks to be sneering here. The back of the card references his trade from the Angels for Wilhelm. His first major league hit came on April 13, 1963 agains the White Sox. With no score, runners on first and second, and two outs in the bottom of the 15th, Kirkpatrick singled to left off White Sox pitcher Gary Peters (#34) to score Bob Sadowski as the winning run.
Accuracy Index: Kirkpatrick tops out at a 10 for wearing the expansion Royals uniform.
1969 Season
Kirkpatrick was the opening day and first ever left fielder for the Royals. The versatile Kirkpatrick would make 29 starts in right field, 27 starts in left field, 19 starts in center field and one start each at catcher, first base and third base. In 120 games overall, he batted .257 with 14 home runs and 49 RBIs. He just topped first baseman Mike Fiore (#376) for the highest position player bWAR on the team with 3.0 to Fiore's 2.9. Kirkpatrick's home run tally led the club, making him, for a short time, the Royals all-time home run leader.
|
|
|
|
|
First Mainstream Card: 1963 Topps #386
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (16): 1963-1978
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 Topps #77
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 62 in the Beckett online database as of 2/12/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia
No comments:
Post a Comment