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Richard Raymond Nye
Chicago Cubs
Pitcher
Born: August 4, 1944, Oakland, CA
Drafted: Drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 14th round of the 1966 amateur draft, June 7, 1966
Major League Teams: Chicago Cubs 1966-1969; St. Louis Cardinals 1970; Montreal Expos 1970
Rich Nye made his debut with the Cubs the same year he was drafted from the University of California, Berkeley in 1966. He'd have his best season in the majors in 1967, going 13-10 with a 3.20 ERA in 35 games, 30 starts and a career-high 205 innings pitched. Nye struck out 119 that season - also a career high. He'd make 20 starts in 1968 and was mostly used in relief thereafter. His final season in the majors was 1970, a year he spent with both the Cardinals and Expos. Nye pitched in the minor leagues in 1971, but retired after pitching in the Expos, Pirates and Indians organizations, his career curtailed by injuries. He was 26-31 lifetime with a 3.71 ERA in 113 games pitched.
After retiring from baseball, Nye became a commodities trader and later an exotic bird expert, founding Midwest Bird and Exotic Animal Hospital in Westchester, Illinois.
Building the Set / Card #133
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 56th 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 less than a dollar.
The Card / Cubs Team Set / Accuracy Index +1
This card uses the same photo as Nye's 1968 Topps card, just cropped a little tighter. The TCDB lists this card as an uncorrected error, noting Nye's career ERA on the back should be 3.37 and not 3.83. Per Baseball Reference, it's actually 3.38. How anyone originally finds these "UERs" is a mystery to me. The cartoon on the back of the card highlights Nye's hitting abilities. He was a career .190 batter (30 for 158) with four doubles, all coming in 1967.
Accuracy Index: Nye's score is a +1 given the accurate uniform (+5) but the fact collectors had seen that exact photo before (-4).
1969 Season
Nye spent the entire season on the Cubs' pitching staff, pitching in 34 games, including five starts. He was 3-5 with a 5.11 ERA over 68 2/3 innings pitched for the second place Cubs. Nye spent stretches of the summer being barely used by manager Leo Durocher (#147), and between May 25th and June 11th, he pitched just one inning in a start in which he gave up a pair of home runs before getting a quick hook. Nye threw a complete game on April 27th in a 3-0 losing effort against the Mets.
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First Mainstream Card: 1967 Topps #608
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (4): 1967-1970
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2019 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-RN
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 20 in the Beckett online database as of 9/16/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
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