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Jose Milages Tartabull
Boston Red Sox
Outfield
Born: November 27, 1938, Cienfuegos, Cuba
Signed: Signed by the San Francisco Giants as an amateur free agent before 1958 season
Major League Teams: Kansas City Athletics 1962-1966; Boston Red Sox 1966-1968; Oakland Athletics 1969-1970
World Series Appearances: Boston Red Sox 1967
A light-hitting outfielder, Jose Tartabull played in parts of nine seasons in the majors, but he's best remembered for a throw to the plate during the Impossible Dream season in 1967 for the Red Sox. Tartabull was originally drafted by the Giants and traded to the Athletics in late 1961. He'd appear in 107 games as a rookie in 1962, serving as the fourth outfielder on the ninth place Athletics team. Dealt to the Red Sox in June 1966, Tartabull would again settle in as a back-up to regular outfielders Carl Yastrzemski (#130), Reggie Smith (#660) and Tony Conigliaro (#330). On August 27, 1967, with the Red Sox battling the Twins and White Sox for the league lead, the Red Sox held a 4-3 lead over the White Sox heading to the bottom of the ninth inning. With the tying run on third base, Duane Josephson (#222) lofted a soft line drive to right, caught by Tartabull, who wasn't known for a strong throwing arm. Tartabull's throw home was high, causing catcher Elston Howard to leap in the air, but Howard caught the ball and came down on home plate in time to catch the runner. The Red Sox won the game, briefly taking possession of first place, with the throw serving as an impetus for the team and their fans.
Tartabull played for three more big league seasons following his heroics in 1967, and he'd retire in 1972 after playing in Mexico. In 749 games, Tartabull batted .261 with a pair of home runs, 107 RBIs and 81 stolen bases. His son, Danny Tartabull, played for 14 seasons with the Mariners, Royals, Yankees, Athletics, White Sox and Phillies. The younger Tartabull was an All-Star with the Royals in 1991.
A light-hitting outfielder, Jose Tartabull played in parts of nine seasons in the majors, but he's best remembered for a throw to the plate during the Impossible Dream season in 1967 for the Red Sox. Tartabull was originally drafted by the Giants and traded to the Athletics in late 1961. He'd appear in 107 games as a rookie in 1962, serving as the fourth outfielder on the ninth place Athletics team. Dealt to the Red Sox in June 1966, Tartabull would again settle in as a back-up to regular outfielders Carl Yastrzemski (#130), Reggie Smith (#660) and Tony Conigliaro (#330). On August 27, 1967, with the Red Sox battling the Twins and White Sox for the league lead, the Red Sox held a 4-3 lead over the White Sox heading to the bottom of the ninth inning. With the tying run on third base, Duane Josephson (#222) lofted a soft line drive to right, caught by Tartabull, who wasn't known for a strong throwing arm. Tartabull's throw home was high, causing catcher Elston Howard to leap in the air, but Howard caught the ball and came down on home plate in time to catch the runner. The Red Sox won the game, briefly taking possession of first place, with the throw serving as an impetus for the team and their fans.
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| 1993 Pinnacle #478 |
Building the Set / Card #265
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 188th 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.
It looks as if the photos used for Tartabull's 1967, 1968 and 1969 Topps cards were all taken at the same time by the batting cages. Credit to the Topps' cartoonist here for demonstrating what it would have looked like when Tartabull originally signed with the Giants. The game-winning pinch-hit mentioned in the write-up happened on April 29, 1967 at Fenway Park. The Athletics had taken a 10-9 lead in the top of the 15th when Rick Monday (#105) hit a solo home run. Reliever Jack Aker (#612) couldn't retire the Red Sox, loading the bases and giving up Tartabull's game-winning single to score Conigliaro.
Accuracy Index: Tartabull loses points for the former team's uniform (-5) and since he didn't play for the Red Sox in 1969 (-2).
1969 Season
Despite batting .281 in 1968, Tartabull was left off the Red Sox opening day roster in 1969, beginning the season with the Triple-A Louisville Colonels. He was batting .216 in 14 games with the Colonels when the Red Sox sold him to the Athletics on May 7th. Tartabull appeared in 75 games for Oakland, batting .267 with 11 doubles and 11 RBIs. He gained more regular playing time as the season progressed, ultimately starting 34 games in center field and 21 games in left field.
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First Mainstream Card: 1962 Topps #451
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8): 1962-1964, 1966-1970
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1993 Pinnacle #478
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 37 in the Beckett online database as of 3/18/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
#286 Dock Ellis - Pittsburgh Pirates / #288 Ken Holtzman - Chicago Cubs
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