#197 Dick Selma - San Diego Padres

Richard Jay Selma
San Diego Padres
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  160
Born:  November 4, 1943, Santa Ana, CA
Signed:  Signed by the New York Mets as an amateur free agent, May 28, 1963
Major League Teams:  New York Mets 1965-1968; San Diego Padres 1969; Chicago Cubs 1969; Philadelphia Phillies 1970-1973; California Angels 1974; Milwaukee Brewers 1974

Died:  August 29, 2001, Clovis, CA (age 57)

Dick Selma pitched for a decade in the majors, and was the opening day starter during the Padres' inaugural season.  Selma found some success with the Mets in the mid to late 1960s, and in his second career start on September 12, 1965, he threw a complete game, 12-inning shutout, striking out 13 Braves batters.  He'd go 17-21 with a 3.16 ERA in 105 games with the Mets, pitching mostly out of the bullpen.  Selma was one of the first pitchers selected in the 1968 National League expansion draft, the fifth player overall taken.  He'd claim the first victory in Padres' franchise history on April 8, 1969, and was dealt to the Cubs less than three weeks later in exchange for three players, including Joe Niekro (#43).

April 8, 1969 - Selma, catcher Chris Cannizzaro and manager Preston Gomez

Selma joined the Phillies in 1970 and enjoyed a career year as the closer for the fifth place team.  He was arguably the team's MVP, earning 22 saves and pitching to a 2.75 ERA in 73 games and 134 1/3 innings pitched.  He'd not repeat the success found in 1970, lasting three more seasons with the Phillies and pitching his final season in the majors with the Angels and Brewers in 1974.  Selma continued to pitch in the minors, for the Dodgers' top farm team, and spent a season in Mexico, before retiring in 1977.  He was 42-54 lifetime, with a 3.62 ERA and 681 strikeouts over 840 2/3 innings pitched.  Selma had 31 career saves, most of which came during the 1970 season.

Building the Set / Card #206
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 129th 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 less than a dollar.

The Card / Padres Team Set / Accuracy Index -8

Selma is wearing a Mets uniform here, with the front of his Mets hat completely blacked out.  The back of the card explains how Selma came to find himself on the Padres, and the cartoon celebrates his 1963 Rookie of the Year win while a member of the California League's Salinas Mets club.

Accuracy Index:  It's another -8 for this Selma card, given the Mets uniform (-5) and the hat with no logo (-3).

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

1969 Season
It was an odd year for Selma who made just four appearances with the Padres before his trade to the Cubs on April 25th for Niekro, Frankie Libran and Gary Ross (#404).  He appeared in 36 games for the Cubs, making 25 starts, and was 10-8 with a 3.63 ERA and one save.  His biggest contribution to the contending Cubs team was his cheerleading efforts, leading the faithful Bleacher Bums in cheers from the Wrigley Field bullpen.  The Cubs' playoff hopes fell short, with Selma going 0-6 in his final 11 appearances with the team.  On November 17th, he was traded again, this time to the Phillies with Oscar Gamble, in exchange for Johnny Callison (#133) and a player to be named later (Larry Colton - #454).

Phillies Career

Selma came to the Phillies in the deal that sent franchise favorite Callison to the Cubs.  His career year resulted from manager Frank Lucchesi moving him full-time to the bullpen where his 73 games pitched were second in the league behind Ron Herbel's (#251) 76 appearances.  Selma struck out 153 during the season, relying almost exclusively on his fastball.  His 5.2 bWAR was by far the tops on the team, with third baseman Don Money (#454) coming in second with a 3.5 bWAR mark.  Overuse in the 1970 season likely contributed to arm problems in 1971 and throughout the rest of Selma's Phillies career.

After just 17 appearances in 1971, he'd rebound to 46 appearances in 1972, although he owned a 5.56 ERA for the team that would lose 97 games and cost Lucchesi his job.  He pitched in just six games for the Phillies in 1973 before the team released him on May 8th.  In 142 games with the Phillies, the most appearances for any of the six teams he played with, Selma was 11-21 with a 3.93 ERA and 26 saves. 

1966 Topps #67

1967 Topps #386

1971 Topps #705

1972 Topps #726

1973 Topps #632

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1966 Topps #67
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8):  1966-1973
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1973 Topps #632
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  39 in the Beckett online database as of 12/16/23.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
The Phillies Room

#196 Lum Harris MG - Atlanta Braves / #198 Willie Smith - Chicago Cubs