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Frederick Joseph Patek
Pittsburgh Pirates
Shortstop
Born: October 9, 1944, Oklahoma City, OK
Drafted: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 22nd round of the 1965 amateur draft, June 8, 1965
Major League Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates 1968-1970; Kansas City Royals 1971-1979; California Angels 1980-1981
Short in stature but fleet of foot, Freddie Patek was a three-time All-Star and twice stole over 50 bases in a season. Blocked by veteran All-Star shortstop Gene Alley (#436) in Pittsburgh, Patek was part of a six-player deal with the Royals in December 1970. In his first season in Kansas City, he hit for the cycle on July 9th and led the American League with 11 triples. He batted a career-high .267 in 1971 and was selected to his first All-Star Game in 1972. Patek was a key member of the Royals teams that won three consecutive American League West pennants between 1976 and 1978, falling each time to the powerhouse Yankees. He stole at least 30 bases in eight consecutive seasons between 1971 and 1978, leading the league with 53 stolen bases in 1977. He returned to the All-Star Game in 1976 and 1978.
Patek retired in 1981 following two seasons in a utility role with the Angels. He batted .242 for his career, with 1,340 hits and 385 stolen bases. Inducted into the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame in 1992, Patek is still among franchise leaders in games played (tied for 9th), runs scored (9th) and stolen bases (3rd).
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 144th 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 a little over $2.
I honestly hadn't known Patek began his career with the Pirates, as I'd assumed he'd been a lifelong Royal. It's also impressive Topps had a picture of Patek in a Pirates uniform for his rookie card, given he'd made his debut in 1968 during the ongoing MLBPA boycott of Topps. The back of the card summarizes Patek's strengths - stealing bases, laying down bunts and providing steady defense at shortstop.
Patek signed reprints of this card for the 2018 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs set.
Accuracy Index: Patek's card scores a surprising +5.
1969 Season
In his first full season, Patek made 141 starts at shortstop, replacing All-Star Alley who was dealing with a lingering shoulder injury. In 147 games overall, he batted .239 with five home runs, 32 RBIs and 15 stolen bases, second on the team behind Matty Alou (#490) and his 22 steals. His defense was still a work in progress, as he was second in the league among shortstops with 30 errors. The Expos' Bobby Wine (#648) led the league with 31.
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First Mainstream Card: 1969 Topps #219
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (14): 1969-1982
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2018 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs High Number #ROA-FP
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 75 in the Beckett online database as of 1/14/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
#218 John Roseboro - Minnesota Twins / #220 Sam McDowell - Cleveland Indians
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