#96 Denver Lemaster - Houston Astros

Denver Clayton Lemaster
Houston Astros
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  182
Born:  February 25, 1939, Corona, CA
Signed:  Signed by the Milwaukee Braves as an amateur free agent, June 16, 1958
Major League Teams:  Milwaukee Braves 1962-1965; Atlanta Braves 1966-1967; Houston Astros 1968-1971; Montreal Expos 1972

Denny Lemaster made his major league debut on July 15, 1962, and joined the Braves' starting pitching rotation on a regular basis in 1963.  Lemaster first exceeded the 200-innings pitched mark in 1963, and he'd reach that milestone in five different seasons.  He attained his career highs in strikeouts with 190 in 1963 and in wins with 17 in 1964.  Lemaster set a then Braves team record with 14 strikeouts in a game in 1966, and he was one of the team's representatives, along with Henry Aaron (#100) and Joe Torre (#460), at the 1967 All-Star Game.  He was traded to the Astros following that 1967 season with Denis Menke (#487) for Chuck Harrison (#116) and Sonny Jackson (#53).  In Houston, Lemaster solidified a young starting pitching rotation, winning 10 games in 1968 and 13 games in 1969.  An excellent fielder, Lemaster was errorless in four different seasons between 1964 and 1969, leading all National League pitchers with a 1.000 fielding percentage.  He pivoted to the bullpen in 1971 and pitched 42 games in relief as one of the Astros' better relievers.

Lemaster spent one last season in the majors with the Expos in 1972 before retiring.  In 357 career games, including 249 starts, Lemaster was 90-105 with a 3.58 ERA and 1,305 strikeouts in 1,787 2/3 innings pitched.

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.

Building the Set / Card #138
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 61st 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.

The Card / Astros Team Set / Accuracy Index -8

This picture could be from way back in 1964, as it looks similar to the picture used for Lemaster's 1965 Topps card.  He's wearing a Braves uniform here, despite having joined the Astros following the 1967 season.  The write-up on the back refers to him as "The southpaw slants of Denver," and I've never before heard the word slants in reference to a pitcher.  His seven complete games in 1968, the Year of the Pitcher, were fifth on the Astros' staff behind Dave Giusti (#98), Mike Cuellar (#453), Larry Dierker (#411) and Don Wilson (#202).

Accuracy Index:  The Lemaster card gets the now fairly standard -8 given his Braves jersey (-5) and blank hat (-3).

1969 Season
Dierker and Lemaster formed a solid one-two punch atop the Astros' starting pitching rotation.  Lemaster was 13-17 with a 3.16 ERA in 38 games overall, with 11 complete games and a shutout.  With 244 2/3 inning pitched, he was one of three starters on the Astros' staff to cross the 200-inning plateau, along with Dierker and Wilson.

1963 Topps #74

1965 Topps #441

1967 Topps #288

1971 Topps #636

1972 Topps #371

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1963 Topps #74
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10):  1963-1972
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1978 TCMA The 1960s I #17
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  49 in the Beckett online database as of 10/1/23.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog

#95 Johnny Bench - Cincinnati Reds / #97 Buddy Bradford - Chicago White Sox