#161 John Purdin - Los Angeles Dodgers

John Nolan Purdin
Los Angeles Dodgers
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  185
Born:  July 16, 1942, Lynx, OH
Signed:  Signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent before 1964 season
Major League Teams:  Los Angeles Dodgers 1964-1965, 1968-1969

Died:  March 28, 2010, Charleston, SC (age 67)

John Purdin had an eventful 1964, as he was signed by the Dodgers, pitched a seven-inning perfect game for the Class A Salisbury Dodgers over the summer and made his big league debut in Dodger Stadium in September.  Purdin dazzled for the Dodgers that September, including a two-hit complete game shutout against the Cubs in his first big league start.  He'd struggle in 11 games for the Dodgers in 1965, and he wouldn't return to the club until 1968.  That was to be his career year, as Purdin appeared in 35 games and was one of the club's better relievers with a 3.07 ERA over 55 2/3 innings pitched.  He'd last appear in the majors in 1969, pitching in a final nine games for the Dodgers.  Purdin would spend time in the Angels, White Sox and Padres organizations, retiring following the 1972 season.  In 58 major league games, Purdin was 6-4 with a 3.90 ERA over 110 2/3 innings pitched.

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

Building the Set / Card #188
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 111th 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 / Dodgers Team Set / Accuracy Index +5

The photo used here hadn't been seen before and could be from the mid-1960s.  The back of the card focuses on Purdin's minor league success, including the perfect game he threw in 1964.

Accuracy Index:  Purdin's card scores a +5.

1969 Season
I'm assuming it was an injury that limited Purdin to only nine games with the Dodgers and six games with the Triple-A Spokane Indians in the Pacific Coast League in 1969.  His Dodgers' appearances were sporadic - 1 in April, 2 in May, 1 in June, 4 in July and a final appearance on August 1st.  He had no record with the Dodgers and a 6.06 ERA in 16 1/3 innings pitched.

1965 Topps #331

1968 Topps #336

1971 Topps #748

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #331
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (4):  1965, 1968-1969, 1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1971 Topps #748
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  17 in the Beckett online database as of 11/18/23.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog

#160 Vada Pinson - St. Louis Cardinals / #162 1968 World Series Game 1