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Raymond Francis Oyler
Seattle Pilots
Shortstop
Born: August 4, 1937, Indianapolis, IN
Signed: Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent before 1960 season
Major League Teams: Detroit Tigers 1965-1968; Seattle Pilots 1969; California Angels 1970
World Series Appearances: Detroit Tigers 1968
Died: January 26, 1981, Redmond, WA (age 43)
The light hitting Oyler holds the distinction of having the lowest career batting average (.175) of any position player with at least 1,000 at-bats in modern baseball history. He hit a career "high" .207 in 1967 and he lost his starting shortstop job to regular center fielder Mickey Stanley (#13) during the 1968 World Series as manager Mayo Smith (#40) needed more offense than defense. Oyler appeared in four World Series games as a late inning defensive replacement at shortstop, and delivered a sacrifice bunt in his sole plate appearance. The Tigers would win in seven games over the Cardinals.
Died: January 26, 1981, Redmond, WA (age 43)
The light hitting Oyler holds the distinction of having the lowest career batting average (.175) of any position player with at least 1,000 at-bats in modern baseball history. He hit a career "high" .207 in 1967 and he lost his starting shortstop job to regular center fielder Mickey Stanley (#13) during the 1968 World Series as manager Mayo Smith (#40) needed more offense than defense. Oyler appeared in four World Series games as a late inning defensive replacement at shortstop, and delivered a sacrifice bunt in his sole plate appearance. The Tigers would win in seven games over the Cardinals.
Following the World Series, Oyler was left unprotected in the 1968 expansion draft and was the third overall pick by the Pilots. He was the opening day shortstop for the Pilots, starting 93 games in their only year of existence. Oyler was dealt to the Athletics following the 1969 season, and while he'd go to spring training with the club, he never played for them as he was sold to the Angels on April 17, 1970. He'd play in 24 games with the Angels before his big league career came to an end.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #193
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
The Card / Pilots Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
1969 Season
As mentioned above, Oyler was the Pilots' opening day shortstop, but he lost more playing time as the season went on due to his lack of hitting and a knee injury suffered in August. Ron Clark (#561) and Fred Stanley saw more playing time at short than Oyler as the 1969 season came to a close. Oyler finished the season with a .165 average and a career-high seven home runs, largely due to the home run friendly Sick's Stadium in Seattle. On December 7th, Oyler and Diego Segui (#511) were traded to the Athletics for Ted Kubiak (#281) and George Lauzerique (#358).
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1965 Topps #259
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6): 1965-1970
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1983 Galasso 1969 Seattle Pilots #29
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 33 in the Beckett online database as of 11/22/23.
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 116th 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 me $1.25.
The Card / Pilots Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
Oyler is shown hatless and wearing a Tigers jersey. The cartoon on the back cleverly shows Oyler switching out of his military uniform and into his new tiger stripes. He had served in the U.S. Marines between 1956 and 1959. The write-up mentions his light hitting, his fine fielding and his "top-notch" bunting skills.
Accuracy Index: Oyler's Tigers jersey (-5) and lack of a hat (-3) drops his score to a -8.
1969 Season
As mentioned above, Oyler was the Pilots' opening day shortstop, but he lost more playing time as the season went on due to his lack of hitting and a knee injury suffered in August. Ron Clark (#561) and Fred Stanley saw more playing time at short than Oyler as the 1969 season came to a close. Oyler finished the season with a .165 average and a career-high seven home runs, largely due to the home run friendly Sick's Stadium in Seattle. On December 7th, Oyler and Diego Segui (#511) were traded to the Athletics for Ted Kubiak (#281) and George Lauzerique (#358).
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First Mainstream Card: 1965 Topps #259
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6): 1965-1970
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1983 Galasso 1969 Seattle Pilots #29
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 33 in the Beckett online database as of 11/22/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
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