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Roland Thomas Jackson
Atlanta Braves
Shortstop
Born: July 9, 1944, Washington, DC
Signed: Signed by the Houston Colt .45s as an amateur free agent before the 1963 season
Major League Teams: Houston Colt .45s 1963-1964; Houston Astros 1965-1967; Atlanta Braves 1968-1974
Sonny Jackson played in parts of 12 seasons with the Astros and Braves, finishing second in the N.L. Rookie of the Year voting in 1966 behind Tommy Helms (#70). That was also his best season statistically when he stole 49 bases, and led the league in singles (160) and sacrifice hits (27). Following the 1967 season, Jackson was dealt to the Braves with Chuck Harrison (#116) in exchange for Denny Lemaster (#96) and Denis Menke (#487). He'd get regular playing time as the Braves' shortstop, although he'd lead the league in both 1966 and 1967 in errors committed at the position. Jackson was a member of the 1969 National League West Champion Braves team. In 1971, Jackson shifted to center field to make room for Marty Perez and he put together one of his finest seasons, batting .258 over 149 games. He last played in the majors in 1974, attempting comebacks in 1975 and 1976 while playing for the top farm teams of the Padres and White Sox. In 936 big league games, Jackson batted .251 with 126 stolen bases.
Jackson would later coach in the majors with the Braves (1982-1983) and Giants (1997-2002), serving under his former teammates Joe Torre (#460) and Dusty Baker.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #106
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
The Card / Braves Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
1969 Season
Jackson was again the opening day shortstop for the Braves, pairing up most frequently throughout the season with second baseman Felix Millan (#210). As the season progressed, and Jackson's average dipped, Gil Garrido (#331) received the majority of starts at short for the Braves. Garrido would also start all three NLCS games against the Mets, with Jackson only playing the final half-inning at shortstop in Game 3 before the Mets completed the three-game sweep. Jackson batted .239 for the season in 98 games, and his 12 stolen bases tied him for second on the team with Orlando Cepeda (#385). Millan had the team lead with 14 stolen bases.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1965 Topps #16
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1965-1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2003 MLB Showdown Strategy #S6
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 71 in the Beckett online database as of 6/2/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / 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 29th 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!
The Card / Braves Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
Jackson is wearing an Astros uniform here, and you can see the top orange line of the Astros logo peaking through at the very bottom right of the card. The photo is likely from the same session as photos used for his 1967 and 1968 Topps cards. The back of the card refers to Jackson's injury-riddled 1968 season in which he appeared in 105 games but batted only .226
Accuracy Index: Jackson's card scores a -8 for the Astros jersey (-5) and the smudged out logo on his hat (-3).
1969 Season
Jackson was again the opening day shortstop for the Braves, pairing up most frequently throughout the season with second baseman Felix Millan (#210). As the season progressed, and Jackson's average dipped, Gil Garrido (#331) received the majority of starts at short for the Braves. Garrido would also start all three NLCS games against the Mets, with Jackson only playing the final half-inning at shortstop in Game 3 before the Mets completed the three-game sweep. Jackson batted .239 for the season in 98 games, and his 12 stolen bases tied him for second on the team with Orlando Cepeda (#385). Millan had the team lead with 14 stolen bases.
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First Mainstream Card: 1965 Topps #16
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1965-1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2003 MLB Showdown Strategy #S6
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 71 in the Beckett online database as of 6/2/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia
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