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Kenneth Dale Holtzman
Chicago Cubs
Pitcher
Born: November 3, 1945, St. Louis, MO
Drafted: Drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 4th round of the 1965 amateur draft, June 8, 1965
Major League Teams: Chicago Cubs 1965-1971; Oakland Athletics 1972-1975; Baltimore Orioles 1976; New York Yankees 1976-1978; Chicago Cubs 1978-1979
World Series Appearances: Oakland Athletics 1972-1974
Playing in 15 seasons in the majors, Ken Holtzman's career highlights include a pair of no-hitters and three World Series rings as part of the early 1970s Oakland A's dynasty. Holtzman was drafted by the Cubs in June 1965, and made his big league debut that September after only 12 games in the minor leagues. His no-hitters came against the Braves on August 19, 1969, and against the Reds on June 3, 1971. Holtzman was a 17-game winner in both 1969 and 1970, and in November 1971 he was dealt to the surging Athletics in exchange for Rick Monday (#105). Holtzman was an All-Star in both 1972 and 1973, winning 19 and 21 games, respectively, each season. He'd win another 19 games in 1974 as Oakland clinched its third straight World Series title. Always dependable in the postseason, Holtzman was 4-1 in eight World Series appearances, pitching to a 2.55 ERA over 35 1/3 innings.
Over the latter part of his career, Holtzman served as a swingman for the Yankees, winning a fourth World Series ring in 1977 when his team defeated the Dodgers in six games. He retired at the age of 33 following a return stint with the Cubs in 1978 and 1979. Holtzman was 174-150 for his career, owning 127 complete games and 31 shutouts, which is currently 103rd on the all-time leaderboard. He had a 3.49 ERA in 451 games pitched, striking out 1,601 over 2,867 1/3 innings.
Playing in 15 seasons in the majors, Ken Holtzman's career highlights include a pair of no-hitters and three World Series rings as part of the early 1970s Oakland A's dynasty. Holtzman was drafted by the Cubs in June 1965, and made his big league debut that September after only 12 games in the minor leagues. His no-hitters came against the Braves on August 19, 1969, and against the Reds on June 3, 1971. Holtzman was a 17-game winner in both 1969 and 1970, and in November 1971 he was dealt to the surging Athletics in exchange for Rick Monday (#105). Holtzman was an All-Star in both 1972 and 1973, winning 19 and 21 games, respectively, each season. He'd win another 19 games in 1974 as Oakland clinched its third straight World Series title. Always dependable in the postseason, Holtzman was 4-1 in eight World Series appearances, pitching to a 2.55 ERA over 35 1/3 innings.
Over the latter part of his career, Holtzman served as a swingman for the Yankees, winning a fourth World Series ring in 1977 when his team defeated the Dodgers in six games. He retired at the age of 33 following a return stint with the Cubs in 1978 and 1979. Holtzman was 174-150 for his career, owning 127 complete games and 31 shutouts, which is currently 103rd on the all-time leaderboard. He had a 3.49 ERA in 451 games pitched, striking out 1,601 over 2,867 1/3 innings.
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 189th 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.
Topps didn't have many photos to use for Holtzman, as this photo had already been used - three times - in the 1968 Topps set. Collectors saw this photo the year before on his base card, on the 5th Series checklist card, and on his All-Star card. The back of the card focuses on Holtzman's early career highlights, including his team-leading 11 wins in 1966 and his perfect 9-0 record in 1967.
The card was reprinted in 2002 as part of the limited Topps Wrigley Field Edition set.
Accuracy Index: The repeat photo drops Holtzman to +1, and it could have gone lower if I tallied up each time the same photo had already been used in the 1968 Topps set.
1969 Season
In one of his finest seasons, Holtzman was 17-13 with a 3.58 ERA in 39 starts for the Cubs. He was a solid number three starter behind 20-game winners Fergie Jenkins (#640) and Bill Hands (#115). His first career no-hitter came on August 19th against Phil Niekro (#355) and the Braves. Aided by the Wrigley Field wind, Henry Aaron (#100) seemingly hit a home run in the seventh inning that was blown back into the park and caught by left fielder Billy Williams (#450). Holtzman didn't record any strikeouts during his no-hitter, only the third time in baseball history that had happened, and the first time it had happened since 1923.
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First Mainstream Card: 1967 Topps #185
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (14): 1967-1980
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2013 Topps Archives Chicago Cubs #CUBS-63
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 107 in the Beckett online database as of 3/18/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
#287 Jose Tartabull - Boston Red Sox / #289 Bart Shirley - Los Angeles Dodgers
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