#406 Phil Ortega - Washington Senators

Filomeno Coronada Ortega
Washington Senators
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  170
Born:  October 7, 1939, Gilbert, AZ
Signed:  Signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent before 1959 season
Major League Teams:  Los Angeles Dodgers 1960-64; Washington Senators 1965-68; California Angels 1969

After a few cups of coffee with the Dodgers in each season between 1960 and 1963, Phil Ortega got a chance to pitch a full season with the club in 1964 and he did not disappoint.  Ortega went 7-9 with a 4.00 ERA, pitching three complete game shutouts along the way.  He was dealt to the Senators following the 1964 season, where he'd spend the next four seasons and the bulk of his 10-year big league career.  His best season statistically came in 1967, when he was 10-10 with a 3.03 RA in 34 starts, reaching career highs in innings pitched (219 2/3) and strikeouts (122).  In 204 games with the Dodgers, Senators and his brief final year stint with the Angels, Ortega was 46-62 with a 4.43 ERA.

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.

Building the Set / Card #369
December 3, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)

Doug and I returned to The Philly Show in early December, once again held inside the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania.  eBay has taken over sponsorship of the show, with the quaint, bubble-lettered Philly Show logo that had been in place since the 1980s replaced with a more modern logo, keeping with the times.  I wrote about the show in a post over at The Phillies Room.

Similar to my strategy from March, I wanted to focus on accumulating commons and having found success with Uncle Dick's Cards before, I didn't mess around and headed right for the neon green binders.  I pulled 145 cards from the binder containing cards 301 to the end of the set, stopping when I reached 500.  This card was the 77th of 145 cards purchased for our set, and after the dealer discount due to my bulk purchase, it cost me less than a dollar.

The Card / Senators Team Set / Accuracy Index -7

This is Ortega's final appearance in a Topps set, and the photo for this card and the photo used for his 1968 Topps card were taken at the same time during a prior year's spring training.  The cartoon on the back references the big Dodgers-Senators trade that brought Ortega to Washington.  On December 4, 1964, the Senators traded John Kennedy (#631), Claude Osteen (#528) and $100,000 to the Dodgers for Ortega, Frank Howard (#170), Ken McMullen (#319), Pete Richert (#86) and player to be named later Dick Nen.

Accuracy Index:  Ortega's card scores a -7 since he didn't play with the Senators in 1969 (-2), and he's wearing his former team's uniform (-5).

1969 Season
Ortega was sold to the Angels on April 5th, right before the start of the regular season.  He was hit hard in all but one of his five relief appearances, earning a 10.13 ERA in eight innings pitched.  The Angels demoted him to the minors in early May, and he'd spend the rest of the season with the Hawaii Islanders.  Ortega's big league career was finished, but he'd hang on in the minors and in Mexico for three more seasons.

1962 Topps #69

1964 Topps #291

1966 Topps #416

1967 Topps #493

1968 Topps #595

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1962 Topps #69
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8):  1962-1969
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1981 TCMA The 1960s II #390
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  32 in the Beckett online database as of 9/9/24.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog

#405 Lee May - Cincinnati Reds / #407 Tom Egan - California Angels