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Theodore Rodger Kubiak
Oakland Athletics
Shortstop
Born: May 12, 1942, New Brunswick, NJ
Signed: Signed by the Kansas City Athletics as an amateur free agent before 1961 season
Major League Teams: Kansas City Athletics 1967; Oakland Athletics 1968-1969; Milwaukee Brewers 1970-1971; St. Louis Cardinals 1971; Texas Rangers 1972; Oakland Athletics 1972-1975; San Diego Padres 1975-1976
World Series Appearances: Oakland Athletics 1972-1973
Ted Kubiak was a middle infielder with a decade of major league experience, best remembered as a member of the Athletics' dynasty that won three consecutive World Series titles between 1972 and 1974. Kubiak came up with the Kansas City Athletics in 1967, moving with the team to Oakland for the 1968 season. He'd play as a back-up until a trade to the Seattle Pilots in late 1969 gave him the chance to appear every day. With the Pilots moving to Milwaukee soon after Kubiak's arrival, he was the opening day shortstop in the Brewers' inaugural game in 1970. He'd bat .252, a career best, while also collecting 41 RBIs, also a career best. Reacquired by the Athletics in July 1972, Kubiak was a key bench player for the club, appearing in 15 postseason games and batting .250 overall (3 for 12).
Ted Kubiak was a middle infielder with a decade of major league experience, best remembered as a member of the Athletics' dynasty that won three consecutive World Series titles between 1972 and 1974. Kubiak came up with the Kansas City Athletics in 1967, moving with the team to Oakland for the 1968 season. He'd play as a back-up until a trade to the Seattle Pilots in late 1969 gave him the chance to appear every day. With the Pilots moving to Milwaukee soon after Kubiak's arrival, he was the opening day shortstop in the Brewers' inaugural game in 1970. He'd bat .252, a career best, while also collecting 41 RBIs, also a career best. Reacquired by the Athletics in July 1972, Kubiak was a key bench player for the club, appearing in 15 postseason games and batting .250 overall (3 for 12).
Following a few final years with the Padres, Kubiak retired in 1976 with a .231 lifetime average. He returned to baseball in 1989 as a minor league manager with the Athletics, and he'd remain in the game as a minor league manager and coach through the mid-2010s.
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
Home stretch with this haul - finally! 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 183rd 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.
Kubiak's Baseball Reference page shows his uniform number with the Athletics between 1967 and 1969 as #14, and not the #25 shown on the photo here. I'm assuming #25 was Kubiak's number during spring training in either 1966 or 1967. There's a coach with a white hat standing behind Kubiak. The back of the card highlights the increase in Kubiak's average from .157 in 1967 to .250 in 1968. Kubiak began switch-hitting in 1962, with Topps still showing him as a left-handed hitter on the back of the card.
Accuracy Index: Most Astros or Athletics players have been receiving a +2 for the accurate uniform (+5) but a logo less hat (-3).
1969 Season
Kubiak appeared in 92 games for the Athletics, batting .249 with a pair of home runs and 27 RBIs. He made 37 starts at shortstop, filling in for Bert Campaneris (#495), and 28 starts at second base, filling in for Dick Green (#515). He hit his first major league home run on June 22nd against the Twins' Jim Kaat (#290). On December 7th, Kubiak and George Lauzerique (#358) were traded to the Pilots for Ray Oyler (#178) and Diego Segui (#511).
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First Mainstream Card: 1968 Topps #79
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1968-1977
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1994 Fleer ProCards #3133
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 59 in the Beckett online database as of 3/11/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
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