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John Eugene Billingham
Montreal Expos
Pitcher
Born: February 21, 1943, Orlando, FL
Signed: Signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent, June 12, 1961
Major League Teams: Los Angeles Dodgers 1968; Houston Astros 1969-1971; Cincinnati Reds 1972-1977; Detroit Tigers 1978-1980; Boston Red Sox 1980
World Series Appearances: Cincinnati Reds 1972, 1975-1976
Jack Billingham pitched in parts of 13 seasons, but he's best remembered as a workhorse starting pitcher for the Big Red Machine of the mid-1970s. He won at least 10 games each season between 1970 and 1979, reaching a career-best 19 wins in both 1973 and 1974. Billingham's best year came in 1973 when he was 19-10 with a 3.04 ERA, while leading the league in games started (40), shutouts (7) and innings pitched (293 1/3). He was selected to his lone All-Star team that season as well. The Reds won pennants in 1972, 1975 and 1976, winning World Series titles in the latter two years. Billingham's World Series ERA of 0.36 in those three World Series appearances (1 earned run in 25 1/3 innings) was the lowest in Fall Classic history until surpassed by the Giants' Madison Bumgarner in 2014.
Billingham's playing career ended mid-way through the 1980 season, and he retired with a 145-113 career record, a 3.83 ERA and 1,141 strikeouts. He threw 74 complete games, including 27 shutouts. Following his playing days, Billingham was a pitching coach in the Astros' minor league system for 18 years, and he was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 1984.
Jack Billingham pitched in parts of 13 seasons, but he's best remembered as a workhorse starting pitcher for the Big Red Machine of the mid-1970s. He won at least 10 games each season between 1970 and 1979, reaching a career-best 19 wins in both 1973 and 1974. Billingham's best year came in 1973 when he was 19-10 with a 3.04 ERA, while leading the league in games started (40), shutouts (7) and innings pitched (293 1/3). He was selected to his lone All-Star team that season as well. The Reds won pennants in 1972, 1975 and 1976, winning World Series titles in the latter two years. Billingham's World Series ERA of 0.36 in those three World Series appearances (1 earned run in 25 1/3 innings) was the lowest in Fall Classic history until surpassed by the Giants' Madison Bumgarner in 2014.
Billingham's playing career ended mid-way through the 1980 season, and he retired with a 145-113 career record, a 3.83 ERA and 1,141 strikeouts. He threw 74 complete games, including 27 shutouts. Following his playing days, Billingham was a pitching coach in the Astros' minor league system for 18 years, and he was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 1984.
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 58th 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 / Expos Team Set / Accuracy Index -16
Billingham is wearing a Dodgers jersey and hat here, and the photo was likely taken at the same time as the photo used for his 1968 Topps rookie card. As mentioned below, Billingham would never play for the Expos. The cartoon on the back highlights his save tally in 1968, second on the Dodgers behind Jim Brewer (#241), who had 15 saves. This is an uncorrected error, as Billingham had eight saves in 1968 and not the six per the cartoon.
Accuracy Index: Demerits all over the place here - never played for team (-6), didn't play for team in 1969 (-2), former team uniform (-5), logo-less hat (-3).
1969 Season
Billlingham was left unprotected by the Dodgers for the expansion draft and he was selected by the Expos as the 10th pick. He went to spring training with Montreal but was dealt to the Astros on April 8th as one of two replacement players for Donn Clendenon (#208), who had refused to report to the Astros after the Expos had traded him on January 22nd. Billingham would be one of the Astros' most used relievers, appearing in 52 games overall and going 6-7 with a 4.25 ERA and a pair of saves.
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First Mainstream Card: 1968 Topps #228
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (13): 1968-1980
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1994 Fleer ProCards #1155
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 64 in the Beckett online database as of 10/1/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
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