#199 Jim French - Washington Senators

Richard James French
Washington Senators
Catcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'8"  Weight:  180
Born:  August 13, 1941, Warren, OH
Signed:  Signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent before 1963 season
Major League Teams:  Washington Senators 1965-1971

A back-up catcher who played his entire seven year big league career with the Senators, Jim French was a reliable backstop with a strong arm.  French spent each season between 1965 and 1968 playing at both the minor and major league levels, staying in the big leagues for full seasons in 1969 and 1970.  He provided steady back-up to regular catcher Paul Casanova (#486), appearing in a career-high 69 games in 1970.  He led all American League catchers in 1969 and 1970 in caught stealing percentages, with 50.0% and 55.6%, respectively in those back-to-back seasons.  French retired from baseball following the 1971 season, having batted .196 for his career with five home runs and 51 RBIs.

Building the Set / Card #207
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 130th 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 / Senators Team Set / Accuracy Index +5

This is French's first solo Topps card, and his second overall.  He had appeared on a Rookie Stars card with Joe Coleman (#246) way back in the 1966 Topps set.  Topps sums up French's baseball skills with the line on the back, "Jim has an A-1 arm & is a good catcher."

Accuracy Index:  French's card scores a solid +5.

1969 Season
French appeared in 63 games, making 56 starts behind the plate, with Casanova starting the other 106 games for Ted Williams' (#650) Senators.  He batted .184 with a pair of home runs and 13 RBIs, while throwing out 31 would-be base stealers, good for third in the league.  As mentioned above, his overall 50.0% caught-stealing percentage led the league.

1966 Topps #333

1970 Topps #617

1971 Topps #399

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1966 Topps #333
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (4):  1966, 1969-1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2020 Topps Heritage Senators Final Season Autographs #WSFS-JF
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  11* in the Beckett online database as of 12/16/23.

*There appears to be some mislabeling of French's cards in the Beckett database, so this count is lower than reality.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database

#198 Willie Smith - Chicago Cubs / #200 Bob Gibson - St. Louis Cardinals