#115 Bill Hands - Chicago Cubs

William Alfred Hands
Chicago Cubs
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  185
Born:  May 6, 1940, Hackensack, NJ
Signed:  Signed by the San Francisco Giants as an amateur free agent before 1959 season
Major League Teams:  San Francisco Giants 1965; Chicago Cubs 1966-1972; Minnesota Twins 1973-1974; Texas Rangers 1974-1975

Died:  March 9, 2017, Orlando, FL (age 76)

Drafted by the Giants, Bill Hands would pitch in four games for San Francisco in 1965 before a trade to the Cubs gave him a home and steady work for the next seven seasons.  The Giants dealt Hand and Randy Huntley (#347) to the Cubs on December 2, 1965 for Don Landrum and Lindy McDaniel (#191), in what's regarded as one of the better Cubs trades in recent franchise history.  Hands was used almost exclusively as a starting pitcher for the Cubs and was a 20-game winner in 1969, his best season in the majors.  He won at least 11 games each season between 1968 and 1972, surpassing or nearing the 200-inning mark in each of those seasons as well.  Hands spent the final three seasons of his big league career pitching in the American League with the Twins and Rangers.

In 374 games, including 260 starts, Hands was 111-110 with a 3.35 ERA.  He struck out 1,128 over 1,951 innings pitched.

Building the Set / Card #152
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 75th 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 / Cubs Team Set / Accuracy Index +5

The pictures used for Hands' 1967, 1968 and 1969 Topps cards were all taken at the same time, with his pose varied for each.  The back of the card highlights his 16 career-high wins from 1968, which would be surpassed in 1969.

Accuracy Index:  Hands' card gets a solid +5 score.

1969 Season
As mentioned above, this was Hands' career year and his Cubs team nearly missed going to the NLDS, finishing eight games behind the pennant-winning Mets.  Hands and Fergie Jenkins (#640) were both 20-game winners for the Cubs, with Hands going 20-14 with a 2.49 ERA.  He hit career highs in just about every major pitching category, including starts (41), complete games (18), shutouts (3), innings pitched (300) and strikeouts (181).

1966 Topps #392

1967 Topps #16

1970 Topps #405

1973 Topps #555

1976 Topps #509

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1966 Topps #392
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (11):  1966-1976
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1976 Topps #509
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  47 in the Beckett online database as of 10/19/23.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database

#114 Yankees Rookie Stars / #116 Chuck Harrison - Kansas City Royals