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James Hoyt Wilhelm
California Angels
Pitcher
Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 6'0" Weight: 190
Born: July 26, 1922, Huntersville, NC
Acquired: Purchased by the Boston Braves from Mooresville (North Carolina State), October 28, 1947
Major League Teams: New York Giants 1952-1956; St. Louis Cardinals 1957; Cleveland Indians 1957-1958; Baltimore Orioles 1958-1962; Chicago White Sox 1963-1968; California Angels 1969; Atlanta Braves 1969-1970; Chicago Cubs 1970; Atlanta Braves 1971; Los Angeles Dodgers 1971-1972
Born: July 26, 1922, Huntersville, NC
Acquired: Purchased by the Boston Braves from Mooresville (North Carolina State), October 28, 1947
Major League Teams: New York Giants 1952-1956; St. Louis Cardinals 1957; Cleveland Indians 1957-1958; Baltimore Orioles 1958-1962; Chicago White Sox 1963-1968; California Angels 1969; Atlanta Braves 1969-1970; Chicago Cubs 1970; Atlanta Braves 1971; Los Angeles Dodgers 1971-1972
World Series Appearances: New York Giants 1954
Died: August 23, 2002, Sarasota, FL (age 80)
Hall of Fame Induction: 1985
Hoyt Wilhelm served during World War II, seeing action at the Battle of the Bulge, before making his big league debut with the Giants in 1952 at the age of 29. On the strength of his resiliency and his knuckle ball, he went on to have a Hall of Fame career over the next 21 seasons, pitching until he was nearly 50 years old. His sole postseason action came in 1954 when his Giants swept the Indians in four games in the World Series. Wilhelm was an eight-time All-Star and his league's ERA leader in 1952 with the Giants and 1959 with the Orioles. He threw a no-hitter with the Orioles in 1958 and 1959 was perhaps his best season as he appeared in 32 games and went 15-11 with a 2.19 ERA and a career-high 139 strikeouts. He appeared with nine different teams, spending the most time with the White Sox. Between 1963 and 1968 with the White Sox, Wilhelm went 41-33 with a 1.92 ERA and 99 saves. He was the oldest player in the majors between 1966 and his retirement in 1972.
Wilhelm holds the major league record for wins in relief (124) and he was also the first pitcher in major league history to reach the 200 save plateau and to appear in 1,000 games. For his career, Wilhelm was 143-122 in 1,070 games pitched (currently 6th all-time) with 228 saves (43rd) and 1,610 strikeouts. Upon his retirement, he had the lowest career ERA (2.52) of any pitcher since 1927 (Walter Johnson) with at least 2,000 innings pitched. He briefly managed in the minor leagues following his retirement, and then was a minor league pitching coach with the Yankees for 22 years. Wilhelm was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame in 2002.
Died: August 23, 2002, Sarasota, FL (age 80)
Hall of Fame Induction: 1985
Hoyt Wilhelm served during World War II, seeing action at the Battle of the Bulge, before making his big league debut with the Giants in 1952 at the age of 29. On the strength of his resiliency and his knuckle ball, he went on to have a Hall of Fame career over the next 21 seasons, pitching until he was nearly 50 years old. His sole postseason action came in 1954 when his Giants swept the Indians in four games in the World Series. Wilhelm was an eight-time All-Star and his league's ERA leader in 1952 with the Giants and 1959 with the Orioles. He threw a no-hitter with the Orioles in 1958 and 1959 was perhaps his best season as he appeared in 32 games and went 15-11 with a 2.19 ERA and a career-high 139 strikeouts. He appeared with nine different teams, spending the most time with the White Sox. Between 1963 and 1968 with the White Sox, Wilhelm went 41-33 with a 1.92 ERA and 99 saves. He was the oldest player in the majors between 1966 and his retirement in 1972.
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Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #74
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 Wilhelm card which was $12.
The Card / Angels Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
1969 Season
Wilhelm, at 46 years old, was left unprotected by the White Sox in the expansion draft and selected by the Royals as the 49th pick on October 15, 1968. He'd never wear a Royals uniform, as the team traded him to the Angels on December 12, 1968 for Ed Kirkpatrick (#529) and Dennis Paepke. Wilhelm, along with closer Ken Tatum, was one of the Angels' better relievers, going 5-7 with a 2.47 ERA in 44 games. He pitched 65 2/3 innings, saving 10 games. On September 8th, Wilhelm was traded to the Braves with Bob Priddy (#248) for Clint Compton and Mickey Rivers. The Braves were attempting to win the National League West pennant, and Wilhelm may have been the player to put them over the top. In eight games with the Braves, Wilhelm was 2-0 with a 0.73 ERA, striking out 14 in 12 1/3 innings. He converted four saves as the Braves would win the pennant. Acquired too late for postseason eligibility, Wilhelm had to watch from the dugout as the Braves were swept in three games in the NLDS by the Mets.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1952 Topps #392
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (20): 1952-1954, 1956-1972
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2022 Topps Now Turn Back the Clock #116
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 493 in the Beckett online database as of 2/21/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Building the Set / Card #74
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 Wilhelm card which was $12.
The Card / Angels Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
Wilhelm is wearing a White Sox jersey here, and the photo appears to come from the same session as the photo used for his 1965 Topps card. The back of the card is nothing but glorious statistics for the future Hall of Famer.
Accuracy Index: Wilhelm receives a -8 for the White Sox jersey (-5) and the logo-less hat (-3).
Inserts: Wilhelm is included in the 35 card Topps Deckle Edge insert set and is one of 48 decals in the Topps Decals insert set. He's one of 27 players and one of only eight future Hall of Famers to appear in both insert sets. Given the composition of the Deckle Edge checklist, and while Wilhelm's hat is logo less, his card here was meant to be a Royals card. When he was traded to the Angels, Topps pulled the Wilhelm card and replaced him with Joe Foy so that the Royals could be represented by someone actually on their team. (See below and my Deckle Edge Insert Set page for more detail.)
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1969 Season
Wilhelm, at 46 years old, was left unprotected by the White Sox in the expansion draft and selected by the Royals as the 49th pick on October 15, 1968. He'd never wear a Royals uniform, as the team traded him to the Angels on December 12, 1968 for Ed Kirkpatrick (#529) and Dennis Paepke. Wilhelm, along with closer Ken Tatum, was one of the Angels' better relievers, going 5-7 with a 2.47 ERA in 44 games. He pitched 65 2/3 innings, saving 10 games. On September 8th, Wilhelm was traded to the Braves with Bob Priddy (#248) for Clint Compton and Mickey Rivers. The Braves were attempting to win the National League West pennant, and Wilhelm may have been the player to put them over the top. In eight games with the Braves, Wilhelm was 2-0 with a 0.73 ERA, striking out 14 in 12 1/3 innings. He converted four saves as the Braves would win the pennant. Acquired too late for postseason eligibility, Wilhelm had to watch from the dugout as the Braves were swept in three games in the NLDS by the Mets.
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First Mainstream Card: 1952 Topps #392
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (20): 1952-1954, 1956-1972
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2022 Topps Now Turn Back the Clock #116
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 493 in the Beckett online database as of 2/21/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
National Baseball Hall of Fame
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog
#564 Gil Hodges MG - New York Mets / #566 Ron Hansen - Chicago White Sox
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