#204 Jack Hiatt - San Francisco Giants

Jack E. Hiatt
San Francisco Giants
Catcher-First Base

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  190
Born:  July 27, 1942, Bakersfield, CA
Signed:  Signed by the Los Angeles Angels as an amateur free agent, March 7, 1961
Major League Teams:  Los Angeles Angels 1964; San Francisco Giants 1965-1969; Montreal Expos 1970; Chicago Cubs 1970; Houston Astros 1971-1972; California Angels 1972

Jack Hiatt was a back-up catcher in the majors for parts of nine seasons, playing the bulk of his career with the Giants.  Originally drafted by the Angels, he was traded to the Giants on November 21, 1964 for Jose Cardenal (#325).  His best season came in 1968 when he appeared in a  career-high 90 games and batted .232 with 34 RBIs, while splitting time behind the plate with Dick Dietz (#293).  In 1969, Hiatt hit a career-high seven home runs again while filling in for Dietz.  Hiatt's last action in the majors came in 1972, but he'd play three more seasons in the minors with the Padres and Cubs organizations.  He began his minor league managerial career with the GCL Cubs in 1975, and he'd spend time managing in the Angels, Astros and Giants organizations.  Hiatt served as the Giants director of player development between 1991 and 2007.

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

Building the Set / Card #210
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 133rd 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 / Giants Team Set / Accuracy Index +1

Topps recycled the exact photo already used for Hiatt's 1967 Topps card here.  Oddly enough, even without the green circle present on his 1967 Topps card, the photo is still cropped too far to the left back then.  The back of the card notes Hiatt can play five positions, but in the majors he only played catcher and first base with two appearances in left filed in 1967.  The pinch-hit grand slam came on July 31, 1967 at Candlestick Park with Hiatt's blast breaking a 4-4 tie in the eighth inning.  Roy Face (#207) was on the mound for the Pirates.

Accuracy Index:  Hiatt's card slips to a +1.  Even though he's in the correct uniform (+5), collectors had seen this photo two years before (-4).

1969 Season
Hiatt played in 69 games for the Giants, making 57 starts behind the plate.  Dietz with 69 starts and Bob Barton (#41) with 33 starts rounded out the trio of catchers used by Clyde King's (#274) team throughout most of the season.  Hiatt batted just .196, and was sold to the Expos right before the start of the 1970 season.

1965 Topps #497

1967 Topps #368

1970 Topps #13

1972 Topps #633

1973 Topps #402

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #497
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (9):  1965-1973
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1988 ProCards #2101
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  33 in the Beckett online database as of 12/29/23.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog

#203 Dave Johnson - Baltimore Orioles / #205 Rick Reichardt - California Angels