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Milton Steven Pappas
Atlanta Braves
Shortstop
Born: May 11, 1939, Detroit, MI
Signed: Signed by the Baltimore Orioles as an amateur free agent, June 26, 1957
Major League Teams: Baltimore Orioles 1957-1965; Cincinnati Reds 1966-1968; Atlanta Braves 1968-1970; Chicago Cubs 1970-1973
Died: April 19, 2016, Beecher, IL (age 76)
Long-time pitcher Milt Pappas was a three-time American League All-Star who won at least 10 games or more in all but three of his 17 seasons in the majors. Pappas was a mainstay in the Orioles' pitching rotation between 1958 and 1965, and he was the starting pitcher for the American League in the 1965 All-Star Game. Following the 1965 season, Pappas was part of the often criticized trade that sent Frank Robinson (#250) to the Orioles. Pappas endured 2 1/2 mediocre seasons with the Reds, never quite able to shake the resentment of Cincinnati fans after Robinson found immediate success in Baltimore. Pappas made his sole postseason appearance with the Braves in 1969, pitching 2 1/3 innings in relief against the Mets.
Sold by the Braves to the Cubs in June 1970, Pappas enjoyed perhaps the best consecutive years of his career in 1971 and 1972 when he won 17 games in each season. On September 2, 1972, Pappas was one strike away from a perfect game against the Padres when home plate umpire Bruce Froemming called two straight balls against pinch-hitter Larry Stahl (#271) - both borderline pitches. Stahl walked, ruining the perfect game, but Garry Jestadt popped up and Pappas had pitched a no-hitter. Pappas was released by the Cubs before the 1974 season and he retired with a record of 209-164, an ERA of 3.40 and 1,728 career strikeouts. His 43 career shutouts currently rank him 37th on baseball's all-time leaderboard. He was also a fine fielder, having four seasons with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. Pappas was inducted into the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame in 1985.
Long-time pitcher Milt Pappas was a three-time American League All-Star who won at least 10 games or more in all but three of his 17 seasons in the majors. Pappas was a mainstay in the Orioles' pitching rotation between 1958 and 1965, and he was the starting pitcher for the American League in the 1965 All-Star Game. Following the 1965 season, Pappas was part of the often criticized trade that sent Frank Robinson (#250) to the Orioles. Pappas endured 2 1/2 mediocre seasons with the Reds, never quite able to shake the resentment of Cincinnati fans after Robinson found immediate success in Baltimore. Pappas made his sole postseason appearance with the Braves in 1969, pitching 2 1/3 innings in relief against the Mets.
Sold by the Braves to the Cubs in June 1970, Pappas enjoyed perhaps the best consecutive years of his career in 1971 and 1972 when he won 17 games in each season. On September 2, 1972, Pappas was one strike away from a perfect game against the Padres when home plate umpire Bruce Froemming called two straight balls against pinch-hitter Larry Stahl (#271) - both borderline pitches. Stahl walked, ruining the perfect game, but Garry Jestadt popped up and Pappas had pitched a no-hitter. Pappas was released by the Cubs before the 1974 season and he retired with a record of 209-164, an ERA of 3.40 and 1,728 career strikeouts. His 43 career shutouts currently rank him 37th on baseball's all-time leaderboard. He was also a fine fielder, having four seasons with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. Pappas was inducted into the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame in 1985.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #128
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
This is the 51st 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.
The Card / Braves Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
1969 Season
Pappas made 24 starts for the Braves in 1969, and made two relief appearances, going 6-10 with a 3.63 ERA for the National League West pennant winners. He struck out 72 and walked 44 in 144 innings of work. He missed a chunk of time in July with a back injury. The lone postseason appearance of his career came during Game 2 of the NLCS against the Mets. With the Braves trailing 4-0, Pappas relieved Paul Doyle in the third inning. He'd give up three runs of his own, including a two-run home run to Ken Boswell (#402), in the eventual 11-6 loss.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1958 Topps #457
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (17): 1958-1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2021 Topps Heritage Baseball Flashbacks #BFB-MP
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 161 in the Beckett online database as of 9/15/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Building the Set / Card #128
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.
The Card / Braves Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
This photo dates from the 1964 season and Pappas is wearing a road Orioles jersey. The patch worn by the Orioles in 1964 can barely be seen on Pappas' shoulder, celebrating the sesquicentennial of the Star-Spangled Banner, composed in 1814. Brooks Robinson is modeling the patch in a photo shared on Twitter by Baseball by BSmile. The cartoon on the back highlights Pappas' start in the 1965 All-Star Game.
On June 11, 1968, the Braves acquired Pappas, Ted Davidson and Bob Johnson (#261) from the Reds in exchange for Clay Carroll (#26), Tony Cloninger (#492) and Woody Woodward (#142). Pappas' 10 wins with the Braves in 1968 actually placed him fourth on their pitching staff, behind Ron Reed (#177), Phil Niekro (#355) and Pat Jarvis (#282), who led Atlanta with 16 wins.
Accuracy Index: Pappas loses points for the Orioles jersey (-5) and for being hatless (-3).
1969 Season
Pappas made 24 starts for the Braves in 1969, and made two relief appearances, going 6-10 with a 3.63 ERA for the National League West pennant winners. He struck out 72 and walked 44 in 144 innings of work. He missed a chunk of time in July with a back injury. The lone postseason appearance of his career came during Game 2 of the NLCS against the Mets. With the Braves trailing 4-0, Pappas relieved Paul Doyle in the third inning. He'd give up three runs of his own, including a two-run home run to Ken Boswell (#402), in the eventual 11-6 loss.
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First Mainstream Card: 1958 Topps #457
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (17): 1958-1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2021 Topps Heritage Baseball Flashbacks #BFB-MP
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 161 in the Beckett online database as of 9/15/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog
1965 Topps Blog
#78 Tom Satriano - California Angels / #80 Norm Cash - Detroit Tigers
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