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William John McCool
San Diego Padres
Pitcher
Born: July 14, 1944, Batesville, IN
Signed: Signed by the Cincinnati Reds as an amateur free agent before 1963 season
Major League Teams: Cincinnati Reds 1964-1968; San Diego Padres 1969; St. Louis Cardinals 1970
Died: June 8, 2014, Summerfield, FL (age 69)
Billy McCool was a successful closer for the Reds for three seasons at the start of his career, and served as one of the more reliable relievers for the expansion Padres in their first season towards the end of his career. He pitched for seven seasons, compiling a lifetime record of 32-42 over 292 games, with a 3.59 ERA and 58 career saves. He was named The Sporting News N.L. Rookie Pitcher of the Year in 1964, the same year he was named the left-handed pitcher on the Topps All-Star Rookie Team. His best season came in his All-Star season of 1966 when he saved 18 games and had a 2.48 ERA. He finished in second place for saves among N.L. relievers in both 1965 and 1966.
McCool was an original Padre, and the franchise's first closer, selected from the Reds in the 1968 expansion draft. He played in the Cardinals, Twins and Royals systems in 1970 and 1971 before retiring from baseball at the age of 26.
Billy McCool was a successful closer for the Reds for three seasons at the start of his career, and served as one of the more reliable relievers for the expansion Padres in their first season towards the end of his career. He pitched for seven seasons, compiling a lifetime record of 32-42 over 292 games, with a 3.59 ERA and 58 career saves. He was named The Sporting News N.L. Rookie Pitcher of the Year in 1964, the same year he was named the left-handed pitcher on the Topps All-Star Rookie Team. His best season came in his All-Star season of 1966 when he saved 18 games and had a 2.48 ERA. He finished in second place for saves among N.L. relievers in both 1965 and 1966.
McCool was an original Padre, and the franchise's first closer, selected from the Reds in the 1968 expansion draft. He played in the Cardinals, Twins and Royals systems in 1970 and 1971 before retiring from baseball at the age of 26.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #164
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
The Card / Padres Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
1969 Season
McCool was left unprotected by the Reds and was the 46th pick in the 1968 expansion draft by the Padres. As mentioned above, he was the franchise's first regular closer, although the honor of recording the first save in Padres' history went to Tommie Sisk (#152) who recorded a save on April 9th. McCool would record the first of his team-leading seven saves the following day, on April 10th. Lefty McCool and righty Sisk were used interchangeable by manager Preston Gomez (#74) to close out games, until towards the end of the season when Sisk was used more as a starting pitcher.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #356
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7): 1964-1970
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1981 TCMA The 1960s I #351
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 42 in the Beckett online database as of 11/5/23.
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 87th 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 / Padres Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
McCool is wearing a Reds uniform here, and the photo is likely from the same session as the photo used for his 1968 Topps card. His Rookie Pitcher of the Year win is commemorated in cartoon form on the back of the card. I like that Topps refers to him as a "portside flamethrower."
Accuracy Index: McCool's card loses points for the Reds' jersey (-5) and the lack of a hat (-3).
1969 Season
McCool was left unprotected by the Reds and was the 46th pick in the 1968 expansion draft by the Padres. As mentioned above, he was the franchise's first regular closer, although the honor of recording the first save in Padres' history went to Tommie Sisk (#152) who recorded a save on April 9th. McCool would record the first of his team-leading seven saves the following day, on April 10th. Lefty McCool and righty Sisk were used interchangeable by manager Preston Gomez (#74) to close out games, until towards the end of the season when Sisk was used more as a starting pitcher.
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First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #356
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7): 1964-1970
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1981 TCMA The 1960s I #351
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 42 in the Beckett online database as of 11/5/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog
1965 Topps Blog
#128 Tommie Aaron - Atlanta Braves / #130 Carl Yastrzemski - Boston Red Sox
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