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Danny Anderson Cater
Oakland Athletics
First Base
Born: February 25, 1940, Austin, TX
Signed: Signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent, June 8, 1958
Major League Teams: Philadelphia Phillies 1964; Chicago White Sox 1965-1966; Kansas City Athletics 1966-1967; Oakland Athletics 1968-1969; New York Yankees 1970-1971; Boston Red Sox 1972-1974; St. Louis Cardinals 1975
Danny Cater tallied at least 500 plate appearances in six straight seasons as an everyday first baseman for the White Sox, Athletics and Yankees. He was a tough batter to strike out, but his lack of speed resulted in Cater finishing in the top ten of double plays grounded into in six different seasons. Cater finished second in the American League in batting in 1968 with a .290 average during the Year of the Pitcher. He also led all American League first baseman in fielding percentage that season (.995) and his .994 career fielding percentage is currently 72nd all-time for the position. Cater was involved in a lopsided trade in March 1972, with the Yankees shipping him and Mario Guerrero to the Red Sox for Sparky Lyle (#311). Lyle would enjoy three All-Star seasons with the Yankees and win the American League Cy Young Award in 1977.
Cater was released by the Cardinals on July 26, 1975, ending his playing career. In 1,289 career games, Cater batted .276 with 1,229 hits, 66 home runs and 519 RBIs. He briefly served as a minor league hitting instructor for the Yankees in 1976 before leaving baseball behind and returning to his home state of Texas.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #100
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
The Card / Athletics Team Set / Accuracy Index +2
1969 Season
Once again the team's regular first baseman, Cater's batting average came back down in 1969, as he batted .262 over 152 games. He started off hot, batting .302 through June 1st, but he'd slump over the summer months, batting just .244 over his final 107 games. Cater hit 10 home runs and collected a career-high 76 RBIs for the second place club. That RBI total was third on the team behind right fielder Reggie Jackson (#260) and third baseman Sal Bando (#371), who had 118 and 113 respectively. On December 5th, Cater and Ossie Chavarria were traded to the Yankees for Al Downing (#292) and Frank Fernandez (#557).
Phillies Career
Cater was one of six rookies to make the Phillies opening day roster in 1964 after having been invited to spring training as a non-roster player. He was the club's opening day left fielder, and served in a platoon with Wes Covington until breaking his arm on July 22nd. Cater collided with the Braves' Joe Torre (#460) on a play at first base, fracturing his arm near the wrist. He'd miss all of August and return September 1st, making only three starts that month during the club's epic collapse. On November 29th, the Phillies acquired Dick Stuart from the Red Sox and Cater became expendable. He was dealt to the White Sox a few days later. Cater appeared in 60 games for the Phillies, batting .296 with 45 hits, a home run and 13 RBIs. During his short time with the club, he played all three outfield positions and both corner infield positions.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #482
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (12): 1964-1975
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2003 Upper Deck Yankees Signature Series #18
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 64 in the Beckett online database as of 5/29/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
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 23rd 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 less than a dollar. 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!
This is the third (and final?) card featuring Cater I've added to our set. He's on the first card of the set (#1), featuring the 1968 A.L. Batting Leaders, and he's also on one of the four combo cards in the set (#556), featuring him with teammates Sal Bando (#371) and Bert Campaneris (#495). The back of the card highlights his runner-up status in the 1968 batting race. The photo used here is similar to the photo used for his 1968 Topps card, but Cater's crew cut is a little shorter here.
Accuracy Index: While Cater is wearing an Athletics' jersey here (+5), Topps had to go with a hatless photo (-3) given the team's move to Oakland for the 1968 season. That drops Cater from a 5 down to a 2.
1969 Season
Once again the team's regular first baseman, Cater's batting average came back down in 1969, as he batted .262 over 152 games. He started off hot, batting .302 through June 1st, but he'd slump over the summer months, batting just .244 over his final 107 games. Cater hit 10 home runs and collected a career-high 76 RBIs for the second place club. That RBI total was third on the team behind right fielder Reggie Jackson (#260) and third baseman Sal Bando (#371), who had 118 and 113 respectively. On December 5th, Cater and Ossie Chavarria were traded to the Yankees for Al Downing (#292) and Frank Fernandez (#557).
Cater was one of six rookies to make the Phillies opening day roster in 1964 after having been invited to spring training as a non-roster player. He was the club's opening day left fielder, and served in a platoon with Wes Covington until breaking his arm on July 22nd. Cater collided with the Braves' Joe Torre (#460) on a play at first base, fracturing his arm near the wrist. He'd miss all of August and return September 1st, making only three starts that month during the club's epic collapse. On November 29th, the Phillies acquired Dick Stuart from the Red Sox and Cater became expendable. He was dealt to the White Sox a few days later. Cater appeared in 60 games for the Phillies, batting .296 with 45 hits, a home run and 13 RBIs. During his short time with the club, he played all three outfield positions and both corner infield positions.
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First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #482
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (12): 1964-1975
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2003 Upper Deck Yankees Signature Series #18
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 64 in the Beckett online database as of 5/29/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
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