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Roger Eugene Nelson
Kansas City Royals
Pitcher
Born: June 7, 1944, Altadena, CA
Signed: Signed by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent before 1963 season
Major League Teams: Chicago White Sox 1967; Baltimore Orioles 1968; Kansas City Royals 1969-1972; Cincinnati Reds 1973-1974; Kansas City Royals 1976
Originally signed by the White Sox, Roger Nelson was a September call-up in 1967 before being dealt to the Orioles following the season in the trade that brought Luis Aparicio (#75) back to Chicago. Nelson spent a season with the Orioles and would be left unprotected in the 1968 expansion draft, where the Royals made him the first overall pick. Nelson and fellow starting pitcher Wally Bunker (#137) were arguably the MVPs for the Royals in their inaugural season, and definitely the team's top two pitchers. Dealing with injuries the next two seasons, Nelson turned in a career year in 1972 when he was 11-6 with a 2.08 ERA, fifth best in the league. That performance led the Royals to sell high on one of their original members, dealing Nelson and Richie Scheinblum (#479) to the Reds in November 1972 for Hal McRae and Wayne Simpson.
Nelson would pitch in only 28 games for the Reds over two seasons. In the A's minor league system for all of 1975, he'd make a brief comeback with the Royals in 1976, pitching in his final three big league games. Nelson would pitch in the minor leagues for the Royals and Pirates through the 1979 season before retiring. In 135 career games, he was 29-32 with a 3.06 ERA, and 371 strikeouts over 636 1/3 innings pitched.
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
In mid-March last year, over a year ago at this point, 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 181st 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 $1.25.
The Card / Royals Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
Nelson is wearing a White Sox uniform here, likely in a photo taken in 1966 or 1967 during spring training. The back of the card contains the prediction that Nelson would be a leading contender for ace of the Royals staff, which proved to be accurate.
Accuracy Index: The White Sox uniform and blank hat drop Nelson to a -8.
1969 Season
Bunker started on opening day for the Royals, with Nelson getting the second start in franchise history. Nelson was 7-13 overall with a 3.31 ERA in 29 starts, throwing eight complete games, including a shutout on May 21st against the Indians.
Bunker started on opening day for the Royals, with Nelson getting the second start in franchise history. Nelson was 7-13 overall with a 3.31 ERA in 29 starts, throwing eight complete games, including a shutout on May 21st against the Indians.
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First Mainstream Card: 1968 Topps #549
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7): 1968-1971, 1973-1975
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1981 TCMA The 1960s II #396
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 34 in the Beckett online database as of 3/8/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia
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