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Dennis Dean Higgins
Washington Senators
Pitcher
Born: August 4, 1939, Jefferson City, MO
Signed: Signed by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent before 1958 season
Major League Teams: Chicago White Sox 1966-67; Washington Senators 1968-69; Cleveland Indians 1970; St. Louis Cardinals 1971-72
Died: November 3, 2023, Jefferson City, MO (age 84)
Dennis Higgins played for eight seasons in the minor leagues, before earning a spot on the White Sox pitching staff at the start of the 1966 season. He appeared in 42 games his rookie year, pitching to a 2.52 ERA with five saves in 93 innings pitched. Following a sophomore slump in 1967, Higgins was dealt to the Senators, where he'd have the two best seasons of his big league career. He pitched to a 3.25 ERA in 59 relief appearances in 1968, and bolstered manager Ted Williams' (#650) bullpen again in 1969. Higgins was Williams' primary closer in 1969, leading the team in saves (16) and relief appearances (55). He was on the move again following the season, spending a year in Cleveland, where he led the Indians in both saves (11) and relief appearances (58) for the 1970 season.
Dennis Higgins played for eight seasons in the minor leagues, before earning a spot on the White Sox pitching staff at the start of the 1966 season. He appeared in 42 games his rookie year, pitching to a 2.52 ERA with five saves in 93 innings pitched. Following a sophomore slump in 1967, Higgins was dealt to the Senators, where he'd have the two best seasons of his big league career. He pitched to a 3.25 ERA in 59 relief appearances in 1968, and bolstered manager Ted Williams' (#650) bullpen again in 1969. Higgins was Williams' primary closer in 1969, leading the team in saves (16) and relief appearances (55). He was on the move again following the season, spending a year in Cleveland, where he led the Indians in both saves (11) and relief appearances (58) for the 1970 season.
Higgins pitched briefly for the Cardinals in 1971 and 1972 before his pitching career came to an end. In 241 major league games, he was 22-23 with a 3.42 ERA and 46 saves. All but two of his career appearances came in relief.
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 97th of 145 cards purchased for our set, and after the dealer discount due to my bulk purchase, it cost less than a dollar.
The Card / Senators Team Set / Accuracy Index +5
Collectors were starting to see players in more recent photos in this set's fifth series and this photo of Higgins was likely taken during spring training in 1968. The back highlights Dennis' success as a high school pitcher, which would have come 10 years prior to the issuance of this card. Higgins doesn't yet have a biography entry on the SABR website, so I wasn't able to find out anything more on the "eye ailment" mentioned in the write-up.
This is one of 23 cards available in the set's fifth series available as either "yellow letter" or "white letter" variations, with the yellow letter variations being more prevalent. This is the more prevalent yellow letter variation with Higgins' last name printed in yellow.
This is one of 23 cards available in the set's fifth series available as either "yellow letter" or "white letter" variations, with the yellow letter variations being more prevalent. This is the more prevalent yellow letter variation with Higgins' last name printed in yellow.
Accuracy Index: Higgins' card scores a +5, a score we'll likely see a lot more of as we move into the higher series of the set.
1969 Season
This season and Higgins' rookie season of 1966 were his two best seasons in the majors. He was 10-9 with a 3.48 ERA, recording 71 strikeouts in 85 1/3 innings pitched in 1969. Higgins was one of four pitchers with at least 10 wins for Williams' surprising fourth place club, joining Dick Bosman (#607), Joe Coleman (#246) and Casey Cox (#383).
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First Mainstream Card: 1966 Topps #529
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7): 1966-72
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1972 Topps #278
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 24 in the Beckett online database as of 10/29/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
#440 Willie McCovey - San Francisco Giants / #442 Ty Cline - Montreal Expos
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