#359 Dick Kelley - San Diego Padres

Richard Anthony Kelley
San Diego Padres
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Left  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  174
Born:  January 8, 1940, Brighton, MA
Signed:  Signed by the Milwaukee Braves as an amateur free agent before 1959 season
Major League Teams:  Milwaukee Braves 1964-1965; Atlanta Braves 1966-1968; San Diego Padres 1969, 1971

Died:  December 11, 1991, Northridge, CA (age 51)

Lefty Dick Kelley pitched in parts of seven seasons as a swingman for the Braves and Padres.  Appearing in two games with the Braves in 1964, Kelley split the 1965 and 1966 seasons between the major and minor leagues.  He'd come up to stay in 1967, appearing in 39 games for the Braves, including nine starts.  Kelley had a decent season with the Braves in 1968, but was left unprotected for the expansion draft and selected by the Padres.  He'd enjoy a career year with the Padres in their inaugural season, going 4-8 with a 3.57 ERA in a career-high 136 innings pitched.  After spending all of 1970 recovering from a shoulder injury, Kelley returned to the Padres in 1971, pitching in 48 games.  In the role of a lefty specialist seeking only an out or two, he pitched just 59 2/3 innings over those 48 games.

Kelley pitched in the Rangers' system in 1972 before retiring.  He owned a lifetime record of 18-30 with a 3.39 ERA in 188 games and 520 innings pitched.

Building the Set / Card #285
September 23, 2023 from The Philly Show (Ed's Old Baseball Cards)
Given the massive haul of 193 cards acquired for our 1969 Topps set at the March Philly Show, I held off on adding more cards throughout the summer of 2023.  We weren't even going to go to the Philly Show last September, but our oldest son's baseball tournament was rained out, and we found ourselves with a free weekend.  I wrote about the show originally over at The Phillies Room.

I added just 15 cards to our set build at this show, all from the same dealer, Ed's Old Baseball Cards out of the Buffalo area.  Technically, the cards I bought were from Ed's associate, Gary, who explained he was along for the ride and brought a bunch of his vintage cards for sale.  I picked four needed star cards first, and Gary gave us a nice discount on the purchase, so we went back after securing a few autographs.  I picked 11 more commons and semi-stars from his modest selection of 1960s Topps cards for sale, including this Kelley card.  Posting for these 15 cards took me a lot less longer than what it took to get through the box of cards brought home from the March 2023 Philly Show.

The Card / Padres Team Set / Accuracy Index -8

Kelley is wearing a Braves uniform and hat here, with the Braves logo blacked out.  The back of the card references his six straight strikeouts in relief on September 8, 1967.  This came against the Phillies, and his victims were Bobby Wine (#648), Rick Wise (#188), Tony Taylor (#108), John Briggs (#73), Johnny Callison (#133) and Tony Gonzalez (#501).

Accuracy Index:  Kelley gets a -8 for the Braves jersey (-5) and logo-less hat (-3).

1969 Season
As mentioned above, this was Kelley's best season in the majors.  He appeared in 27 games, making 23 starts and was a solid fourth starter for the Padres behind Clay Kirby (#637), Joe Niekro (#43) and Al Santorini (#592).  Kelley threw a complete game shutout on July 6th against the Astros, allowing just an infield hit to Denis Menke (#487) in the second inning.

1964 Topps #476

1967 Topps #138

1968 Topps #203

1970 Topps #474

1972 Topps #412

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1964 Topps #476
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7):  1964, 1966-1970, 1972
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1972 Topps #412
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  28 in the Beckett online database as of 4/17/24.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database

#358 Athletics Rookie Stars / #360 Jim Wynn - Houston Astros