#155 Pete Ward - Chicago White Sox

Peter Thomas Ward
Chicago White Sox
Third Base-Outfield

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  185
Born:  July 26, 1937, Montreal, Canada
Signed:  Signed by the Baltimore Orioles as an amateur free agent before 1958 season
Major League Teams:  Baltimore Orioles 1962; Chicago White Sox 1963-1969; New York Yankees 1970

Died:  March 16, 2022, Lake Oswego, OR (age 84)

Born in Montreal, Pete Ward is the son of former professional hockey player Jimmy Ward, who played 11 seasons in the NHL.  Ward came up through the Orioles system, but with Brooks Robinson (#550) ahead of him in the team's third base depth chart, a change of scenery was needed.  He was swapped to the White Sox before the 1963 season with Hoyt Wilhelm (#565), Ron Hansen (#566) and Dave Nicholson (#298) for Luis Aparicio (#75) and Al Smith.  Ward had a fantastic rookie season in 1963, batting .295 with 22 home runs and 84 RBIs and finishing second in the A.L. Rookie of the Year voting behind teammate Gary Peters (#34).  He had an even better season in 1964, batting .282 with career highs in both home runs (23) and RBIs (94), finishing in sixth place in the league's MVP voting.  His production fell off after that season and the rest of his playing days were marred by a back injury.  Ward played in 973 big league games, batting .254 with 776 hits, 98 home runs and 427 RBIs.

After playing a final year with the Yankees in 1970, he stayed with the club as a minor league manager between 1972 and 1977.  Ward also served on the big league staff of manager Bobby Cox (#237) with the Braves in 1978.  He was a long-time manager of the Portland Beavers and was ultimately inducted into both the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

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

Building the Set / Card #184
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 107th 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 / White Sox Team Set / Accuracy Index +5

Ward is posed in front of the White Sox batting cages, showing off his swinging motion while looking into the sun.  If the player behind him is wearing #4, that's infielder Hansen who wore that number with White Sox between 1964 and 1968.  The cartoon on the back is a little misleading.  Peters won the official Rookie of the Year Award, with Ward being named The Sporting News American League Rookie of the Year in 1963.  His 15 home runs in 1968 did in fact lead the White Sox, and amazingly enough, given it was the "Year of the Pitcher," Ward and Tommy Davis (#135) led the White Sox with only 50 RBIs.

Accuracy Index:  Ward scores a solid +5 and his pose here works really well with the 1969 Topps card design.

Inserts:  Ward is one of 48 decals in the Topps Decals insert set.  

1969 Season
In his final season with the White Sox, Ward served in a super utility role, playing first base, third base, right field and left field.  He appeared in 105 games, but made only 46 starts throughout the season.  Ward batted .246 with six home runs and 32 RBIs, and found great success as a pinch-hitter, batting .370 (17 for 46) with a pair of home runs.  On December 18th, the White Sox sent him to the Yankees in exchange for lefty reliever Mickey Scott and cash.

1963 Topps #324

1964 Topps #85

1965 Topps #215

1966 Topps #25

1971 Topps #667

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1963 Topps #324
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (9):  1963-1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1978 TCMA The 1960s I #120
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  83 in the Beckett online database as of 11/18/23.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog

#154 Jim Britton - Atlanta Braves / #156 Astros Rookie Stars