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Zoilo Casanova Versalles
San Diego Padres
Shortstop
Born: December 18, 1939, La Habana, Cuba
Signed: Signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent before 1958 season
Major League Teams: Washington Senators 1959-1960; Minnesota Twins 1961-1967; Los Angeles Dodgers 1968; Cleveland Indians 1969; Washington Senators 1969; Atlanta Braves 1971
World Series Appearances: Minnesota Twins 1965
Died: June 9, 1995, Bloomington, MN (age 55)
A two-time All-Star, a two-time Gold Glove winner and the improbable 1965 A.L. MVP, Zoilo Versalles has been described as the catalyst for the 1965 Twins team, leading them to their first World Championship. During that career year, he led the league in runs scored (126), doubles (45) and triples (12) while hitting 19 home runs and driving in a career-high 77. He also had a .273 batting average which almost topped his career high of .280 from the 1961 season. He received 19 out of the 20 first place votes for A.L. MVP, with his teammate Tony Oliva (#600) receiving the other first plate vote. Some of the credit for his successful season has been attributed to Twins' third base coach Billy Martin (#547). The Twins lost to the Dodgers in the World Series in seven games, with Versalles hitting .286 with a home run and four RBIs.
Following that magical 1965 season, Versalles began a steady decline. Over the next five seasons, he'd hit .217 in 588 games, spending time with the Twins, Dodgers, Indians, expansion Senators and finally the Braves. Despite his prior Gold Gloves, he led the league in errors three times - 1965, 1966 and 1967. Towards the end of his career, he spent a season playing in the Mexican League in 1970 and another season in Japan with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in 1972. In 1,400 big league games, Versalles hit .242 with 95 home runs and 471 RBIs. He was posthumously elected to the Twins Hall of Fame in 2006.
Died: June 9, 1995, Bloomington, MN (age 55)
A two-time All-Star, a two-time Gold Glove winner and the improbable 1965 A.L. MVP, Zoilo Versalles has been described as the catalyst for the 1965 Twins team, leading them to their first World Championship. During that career year, he led the league in runs scored (126), doubles (45) and triples (12) while hitting 19 home runs and driving in a career-high 77. He also had a .273 batting average which almost topped his career high of .280 from the 1961 season. He received 19 out of the 20 first place votes for A.L. MVP, with his teammate Tony Oliva (#600) receiving the other first plate vote. Some of the credit for his successful season has been attributed to Twins' third base coach Billy Martin (#547). The Twins lost to the Dodgers in the World Series in seven games, with Versalles hitting .286 with a home run and four RBIs.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #96
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
The Card / Padres Team Set / Accuracy Index -16
1969 Season
On October 14, 1968, Versalles was the 20th pick by the Padres in the expansion draft, left unprotected by the Dodgers. A month and a half later, on December 2nd (according to Baseball Reference), Versalles was sent to the Indians as the player to be named later in a deal that had sent first baseman Bill Davis (#304) to the Padres. Topps cites the Padres receiving two players for Versalles, but Baseball Reference lists only Davis. Versalles was the opening day third baseman for the Indians, and he'd appear in 72 games, batting .226. On July 26th, he was sold to the Senators, where he'd finish out the season. In 31 games with Washington, Versalles batted .267, making 15 starts at shortstop and third base.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1961 Topps #21
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (11): 1961-1970, 1975
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2006 SP Legendary Cuts #98
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 85 in the Beckett online database as of 5/16/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Building the Set / Card #96
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set. That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon. I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.
This is the 19th of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York. My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside. After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far. With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298. The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards, with this card costing me $1.25. If I stick to composing posts five times a week, and I'm already slipping off that pace a little, I should go through the stack and be caught up by the week of January 22, 2024!
If an alien landed on Earth and wanted to understand why the 1969 Topps set is considered one of the worst in the seven-decade run of Topps flagship sets, I'd show this card. This is one of the 1969 Topps-iest cards in the set. Even Versalles looks confused and suspicious. This has to be a Twins uniform he's wearing here, as his 1968 team (the Dodgers) didn't wear pinstripes. Topps would go back to this exact photo for some reason for Versalles' 1970 card.
On the back, Topps cleverly uses Zorro in the cartoon to highlight his 1965 A.L. MVP win, as that was Versalles' nickname. The brief write-up on the back alerts collectors Versalles is no longer on the Padres, which raises the question, why couldn't the front of the card have been updated too?
Accuracy Index: Versalles climbs the leaderboard with a -16 score, compiled as follows - never played for the Padres (-6), former team uniform (-5), hatless (-3) and not the correct 1969 team (-2).
1969 Season
On October 14, 1968, Versalles was the 20th pick by the Padres in the expansion draft, left unprotected by the Dodgers. A month and a half later, on December 2nd (according to Baseball Reference), Versalles was sent to the Indians as the player to be named later in a deal that had sent first baseman Bill Davis (#304) to the Padres. Topps cites the Padres receiving two players for Versalles, but Baseball Reference lists only Davis. Versalles was the opening day third baseman for the Indians, and he'd appear in 72 games, batting .226. On July 26th, he was sold to the Senators, where he'd finish out the season. In 31 games with Washington, Versalles batted .267, making 15 starts at shortstop and third base.
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First Mainstream Card: 1961 Topps #21
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (11): 1961-1970, 1975
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2006 SP Legendary Cuts #98
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 85 in the Beckett online database as of 5/16/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
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