#201 Russ Snyder - Cleveland Indians

Russell Henry Snyder
Cleveland Indians
Outfield

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  190
Born:  June 22, 1934, Oak, NE
Signed:  Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent before 1953 season
Major League Teams:  Kansas City Athletics 1959-1960; Baltimore Orioles 1961-1967; Chicago White Sox 1968; Cleveland Indians 1968-1969; Milwaukee Brewers 1970

World Series Appearances:  Baltimore Orioles 1966

Russ Snyder spent his best major league seasons with the Orioles and in 1966 helped the club to its first World Championship.  Originally drafted by the Yankees, Snyder was dealt to the Athletics before the 1959 season and then to the Orioles following the 1960 season.  Snyder had finished third in the 1959 A.L. Rookie of the Year voting behind Bob Allison (#30) and Jim Perry (#146).  Snyder settled in as a regular with the Orioles, serving as their opening day right fielder in 1961.  He'd split time in left field with Boog Powell (#15) beginning in 1962 and his .305 batting average led the club.  Snyder got off to a hot start in 1966, leading the league in batting with a .347 average at the All-Star break.  A steady fielder, Snyder made a diving catch on September 22, 1966 to clinch the pennant for the Orioles and he saved two runs with a diving catch in Game 1 of the World Series against the Dodgers.  He was dealt to the White Sox with Luis Aparicio (#75) on November 29, 1967 as the Orioles were in need of pitching help.

In his final season, Snyder was the opening day center fielder in the first game in Brewers franchise history, batting second.  He had a mediocre year for the Brewers and was released during spring training in 1971.  Snyder played in 1,365 career games and collected 984 hits to go along with his .271 average.

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

Building the Set / Card #208
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 131st 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 / Indians Team Set / Accuracy Index -8

Snyder is wearing an Orioles uniform here, and the photo could date back from 1964 as it's similar to photos used on his 1965 and 1966 Topps cards.  The write-up on the flip side summarizes how Snyder came to the Indians.  On November 29, 1969, the White Sox traded him to Cleveland in exchange for Leon Wagner (#187).  The cartoon references a game against the Athletics on April 29, 1962.  Snyder pinch-hit for pitcher Wes Stock to lead off the seventh, and batted for the second time later in the inning as the Orioles batted around.  In his second pinch-hit at-bat of the inning, Snyder connected for an RBI-single.  He hit the home run off Dan Pfister, and the single off Dave Wickersham (#647).  Athletics' catcher Billy Bryan makes a cameo in the cartoon too as he was behind the plate that day for Kansas City.

Accuracy Index:  Snyder scores a -8 for the Orioles jersey (-5) and for being hatless (-3).

1969 Season
Snyder was the fourth outfielder on the last place Indians, making 27 starts in left field, 24 starts in center field and eight starts in right field.  Jose Cardenal (#325) and Ken Harrelson (#240) were the regulars in center and right field, respectively, and the Indians searched all season long for a regular left fielder, using nine different starters throughout the season.  Snyder appeared in 122 games overall, batting .248 with a pair of home runs and 24 RBIs.

1960 Topps #81

1962 Topps #64

1966 Topps #562

1970 Topps #347

1971 Topps #653

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1960 Topps #81
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (12):  1960-1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1978 TCMA The 1960s I #136
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  62 in the Beckett online database as of 12/17/23.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog

#200 Bob Gibson - St. Louis Cardinals / #202 Don Wilson - Houston Astros