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Paul Edward Popovich
Los Angeles Dodgers
Second Base-Shortstop
Born: August 18, 1940, Flemington, WV
Signed: Signed by the Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent, June 17, 1960
Major League Teams: Chicago Cubs 1964, 1966-1967; Los Angeles Dodgers 1968-1969; Chicago Cubs 1969-1973; Pittsburgh Pirates 1974-1975
Paul Popovich spent parts of eight seasons in the major leagues, spending the most time with the Cubs as a frequently used back-up infielder. Popovich appeared in just three games with the Cubs between 1964 and 1966 before coming up to stay in 1967. His best season came in 1968 with the Dodgers as the team's regular second baseman. In 134 games (a career high), Popovich batted .232 with a pair of home runs and 25 RBIs. He was on the move the following season when he was sent to the Expos, and then immediately flipped back to the Cubs, with Maury Wills (#45) returning to Los Angeles.
Over the next four seasons with the Cubs, Popovich settled into a reserve role, seeing time at all three infield positions and frequently being called upon to pinch-hit. He spent his final two seasons with the Pirates, seeing his only postseason time in 1974 in the NLCS against his former Dodgers team. Popovich batted .600 (3 for 5) in the NLCS, although his Pirates fell to the Dodgers in four games. Popovich played in 682 big league games, batting .233 with 403 hits, 14 home runs and 134 RBIs.
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 25th 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!
The Card / Dodgers Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
Master set builders have three versions of this card to track down. There's the "thick airbrush, smooth" version, a "light airbrush version" and finally a version where the "C on helmet is slightly visible through airbrushing." Our set now includes the "thick airbrush, smooth" version and I won't be chasing the other two varieties. Popovich is wearing a Cubs uniform here, and his two Topps flagship cards featuring him on the Dodgers (1968 and 1969) don't actually picture him in a Dodgers uniform. The back of the card highlights his fielding skills and mentions the trade that brought him to the Dodgers. On November 30, 1967, the Cubs traded Popovich and Jim Williams to the Dodgers for outfielder Lou Johnson (#367).
Accuracy Index: -8 is the score for a card featuring an old uniform (-5) and a blacked out logo on a hat (-3), or helmet in this case.
1969 Season
Popovich began the season with the Dodgers, appearing in 28 games, and batting .200 while making 12 starts at second base and one start at shortstop. On June 11th, he and Ron Fairly (#122) were traded to the Expos for Wills and Manny Mota (#236). Popovich spent no time with the Expos as he dealt back to the Cubs on that same day for Jack Lamabe and Adolfo Phillips (#372). Back with his original club, Popovich played in 60 games and batted .312, by far the best stretch of his big league career. The Cubs would finish in second place behind the Mets, eight games below the top spot.
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First Mainstream Card: 1967 Topps #536
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (9): 1967-1975
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1975 Topps #359
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 35 in the Beckett online database as of 5/29/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia
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