#205 Rick Reichardt - California Angels

Frederic Carl Reichardt
California Angels
Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'3"  Weight:  210
Born:  March 16, 1943, Madison, WI
Signed:  Signed by the Los Angeles Angels as an amateur free agent, June 24, 1964
Major League Teams:  Los Angeles Angels 1964-1965; California Angels 1966-1970; Washington Senators 1970; Chicago White Sox 1971-1973; Kansas City Royals 1973-1974

Rick Reichardt was the regular left fielder for the Angels between 1967 and 1969, and for the White Sox in 1971.  He enjoyed a career year in 1968, batting .255 while attaining career highs in both home runs (21) and RBIs (73).  Reichardt, who was a college baseball and football star at the University of Wisconsin, sparked a bidding war for his services and his $200,000 signing bonus from the Angels was a record at the time.  The messy process to land Reichardt led to Major League Baseball instituting an amateur player draft, with Rick Monday (#105) becoming the first ever player selected (by the Athletics).  Reichardt's career was hampered after the removal of a kidney in 1966, and while he peaked a few years later his decline was swift.  He retired in 1974 at the age of 31 after one at-bat (an infield single) with the Royals.  In 997 career games, Reichardt hit .261 with 116 home runs and 445 RBIs.

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

Building the Set / Card #211
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 134th 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 / Angels Team Set / Accuracy Index +5

This is a newly seen photo, but it's from the same session as the photos used for Reichardt's 1967 and 1968 Topps cards.  Topps would go back to the same well one more time in 1971 for Reichardt's final Topps card (see below).  Written on the brim of the helmet is presumably the helmet size - 7 1/4.

The write-up on the back highlights his successful 1968 season, which was by far his career year.  His 13 hit by pitches led the American League in 1966, a category Reichardt finished within the top ten in five different seasons.  With no context, or knowledge of whether or not Reichardt crowded the plate, I wonder if he was plunked so often due to resentment over his large signing bonus in 1964?

Accuracy Index:  Reichardt barely gets a +5 since Topps used a slightly different photo than his 1967 and 1968 cards.

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

1969 Season
In his final season as a regular for the Angels, Reichardt played in 137 games, making 132 starts in left field.  He batted .254 with 13 home runs and 68 RBIs, leading the team in both power categories.  His partners in the outfield most frequently were Jay Johnstone (#59) in center field and Bill Voss (#621) in right field.

1965 Topps #194

1966 Topps #321

1967 Topps #40

1970 Topps #720

1971 Topps #643

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #194
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7):  1965-1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1981 TCMA The 1960s II #337
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  54 in the Beckett online database as of 12/29/23.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog

#204 Jack Hiatt - San Francisco Giants / #206 Phillies Rookie Stars