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James Allan Britton
Atlanta Braves
Pitcher
Born: March 25, 1944, North Towawanda, NY
Signed: Signed by the Baltimore Orioles as an amateur free agent before 1962 season
Major League Teams: Atlanta Braves 1967-1969; Montreal Expos 1971
Jim Britton pitched in parts of four seasons with the Braves and Expos, with arm troubles curtailing his career. Britton made his big league debut on September 20, 1967 and in the sixth inning of that game he surrendered a three-run home run to Reds' catcher Johnny Bench (#95), the first of the future Hall of Famer's career. He spent all of 1968 and 1969 on the Braves pitching staff, serving as a reliever and spot starter. Britton pitched in a career-high 34 games in 1968, making nine starts and throwing a pair of complete game shutouts. In 1969 he pitched in 24 games, making 13 starts and winning a career best seven games.
Dealt to the Expos following the 1969 season, Britton missed all of 1970 with an arm injury and returned in 1971 to pitch in the final 16 games of his big league career. He spent all of 1972 with Montreal's top farm team in Peninsula before retiring. In 76 major league games, including 30 starts, Britton was 13-16 with 4.02 ERA.
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 106th 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 / Braves Team Set / Accuracy Index +5
Britton's rookie card came way back in the 1964 Topps set, and he'd wait until the 1968 Topps set to receive a second card. This is his first solo Topps flagship card. Britton is shown wearing #49 here, but his Baseball Reference page indicates he wore only #41 and #42 while in game action for the Braves.
On the back, Topps mentions Britton pitching his Richmond Braves team to victory in the International League playoffs in 1967. What Topps doesn't mention, and what seems incredibly cruel, is that Britton's father passed away from a fatal heart attack while watching the game in the stands. Just truly awful.
Accuracy Index: Britton's card scores a +5 for the accurate depiction in a Braves uniform.
1969 Season
Britton was 7-5 with a 3.78 ERA, with two complete games, a shutout and a save. He saw his sole postseason action in NLCS Game 2 against the Mets, recording just one out in the sixth inning in an eventual 11-6 win by the Mets. On December 2nd, he was dealt with minor leaguer Donald Johnson to the Expos for lefty pitcher Larry Jaster (#496).
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First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #94
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (5): 1964, 1968-1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1971 Topps #699
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 17 in the Beckett online database as of 11/16/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia
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