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Ronald Ray Fairly
Los Angeles Dodgers
Outfield
Born: July 12, 1938, Macon, GA
Signed: Signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent, June 24, 1958
Major League Teams: Los Angeles Dodgers 1958-1969; Montreal Expos 1969-1974; St. Louis Cardinals 1975-1976; Oakland Athletics 1976; Toronto Blue Jays 1977; California Angels 1978
World Series Appearances: Los Angeles Dodgers 1959, 1963, 1965-1966
Died: October 30, 2019, Palm Desert, CA (age 81)
There are players from the 1960s and 1970s that I know little to nothing about, but I know I should learn about them. Ron Fairly was one of those players. He played for an incredible 21 seasons, accumulating 215 home runs and a .266 average over 2,442 games. He appeared in every Topps flagship release for the entire decade of the 1960s and the 1970s, and I'm very curious to know if anyone else accomplished that feat. He served as a broadcaster for the Angels, Giants and Mariners between 1979 and 2006, meaning he was active in Major League baseball for 48 seasons.
Fairly won three World Series rings with the Dodgers in 1959, 1963 and 1965. But his best seasons came later in his career with the expansion Expos, and he was named to his first All-Star team in 1973 at the age of 34. He hit his career high mark for home runs with 17 in both 1972 and 1973. He earned his second All-Star nod in 1977 for the Blue Jays, becoming the first All-Star in that franchise's history. Fairly tallied 1,913 career hits and 1,044 RBIs over his career and he was the oldest player in the majors at 39 in 1978 when he retired.
Died: October 30, 2019, Palm Desert, CA (age 81)
There are players from the 1960s and 1970s that I know little to nothing about, but I know I should learn about them. Ron Fairly was one of those players. He played for an incredible 21 seasons, accumulating 215 home runs and a .266 average over 2,442 games. He appeared in every Topps flagship release for the entire decade of the 1960s and the 1970s, and I'm very curious to know if anyone else accomplished that feat. He served as a broadcaster for the Angels, Giants and Mariners between 1979 and 2006, meaning he was active in Major League baseball for 48 seasons.
Fairly won three World Series rings with the Dodgers in 1959, 1963 and 1965. But his best seasons came later in his career with the expansion Expos, and he was named to his first All-Star team in 1973 at the age of 34. He hit his career high mark for home runs with 17 in both 1972 and 1973. He earned his second All-Star nod in 1977 for the Blue Jays, becoming the first All-Star in that franchise's history. Fairly tallied 1,913 career hits and 1,044 RBIs over his career and he was the oldest player in the majors at 39 in 1978 when he retired.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #158
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
The Card / Dodgers Team Set / Accuracy Index +5
1969 Season
Fairly was the opening day first baseman for the Dodgers, his final opening day start for the team. In his last 30 games with the Dodgers, Fairly batted .219 with no home runs and eight RBIs. On June 11th, along with Paul Popovich (#47), he was traded to the expansion Montreal Expos for former Dodgers Manny Mota (#236) and Maury Wills (#45) returning to Los Angeles. Fairly hated the trade, but he'd enjoy a career resurgence with the Expos. For the duration of the 1969 season, he'd get starts at first base, center field and left field, playing in 70 games for the Expos. Fairly batted .289 with 12 home runs and 39 in his first action with Montreal.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
irst Mainstream Card: 1959 Topps #125
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (21): 1959-1979
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2001 Upper Deck Decade 1970s #131
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 124 in the Beckett online database as of 10/29/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
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 81st 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 surprisingly costing me less than a dollar.
The Card / Dodgers Team Set / Accuracy Index +5
This card and Fairly's 1968 Topps card use photos from the same spring training photo session, likely from 1967. The cartoon on the back highlights his .300 (12 for 40) World Series batting average, accomplished during his four postseason appearances with the Dodgers. His 22 RBI performance from September 1966 is highlighted, although Baseball Reference shows him with 19 RBIs that month with four more RBIs in October 1966.
Accuracy Index: Fairly's card receives a solid +5.
1969 Season
Fairly was the opening day first baseman for the Dodgers, his final opening day start for the team. In his last 30 games with the Dodgers, Fairly batted .219 with no home runs and eight RBIs. On June 11th, along with Paul Popovich (#47), he was traded to the expansion Montreal Expos for former Dodgers Manny Mota (#236) and Maury Wills (#45) returning to Los Angeles. Fairly hated the trade, but he'd enjoy a career resurgence with the Expos. For the duration of the 1969 season, he'd get starts at first base, center field and left field, playing in 70 games for the Expos. Fairly batted .289 with 12 home runs and 39 in his first action with Montreal.
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irst Mainstream Card: 1959 Topps #125
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (21): 1959-1979
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2001 Upper Deck Decade 1970s #131
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 124 in the Beckett online database as of 10/29/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
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