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Robert Tolan
Cincinnati Reds
Outfield
Born: November 19, 1945, Los Angeles, CA
Signed: Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent before 1963 season
Major League Teams: St. Louis Cardinals 1965-68; Cincinnati Reds 1969-70, 1972-73; San Diego Padres 1974-75; Philadelphia Phillies 1976-77; Pittsburgh Pirates 1977; San Diego Padres 1979
World Series Appearances: St. Louis Cardinals 1967-68; Cincinnati Reds 1970, 1972
Bobby Tolan enjoyed a 13-year major league career, playing in four World Series and winning a ring with the Cardinals in 1967. He had his best seasons with the Reds as their regular center fielder, reaching the World Series with the club in 1970 and 1972. Tolan attained career highs in home runs (21) and RBIs (93) in 1969 and then led the league with 57 stolen bases in 1970 while batting a career high .316. After rupturing his Achilles tendon and missing the entire 1971 season, Tolan won the Comeback Player of the Year award in 1972, batting .283 with 82 RBIs and 42 stolen bases.
Bobby Tolan enjoyed a 13-year major league career, playing in four World Series and winning a ring with the Cardinals in 1967. He had his best seasons with the Reds as their regular center fielder, reaching the World Series with the club in 1970 and 1972. Tolan attained career highs in home runs (21) and RBIs (93) in 1969 and then led the league with 57 stolen bases in 1970 while batting a career high .316. After rupturing his Achilles tendon and missing the entire 1971 season, Tolan won the Comeback Player of the Year award in 1972, batting .283 with 82 RBIs and 42 stolen bases.
After his time with the Reds, Tolan played for the Padres, Phillies and Pirates, serving as mainly a pinch-hitter or back-up first baseman. He played in Japan with the Nankai Hawks in 1978. Tolan appeared in 1,282 games, batting .265 with 86 home runs, 497 RBIs and 193 stolen bases. He later served as a coach with the Padres (1980-83) and Mariners (1987) and was player/manager of the St. Petersburg Pelicans in the Senior baseball league (1989-90).
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #396
December 3, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
The Card / Reds Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
1969 Season
On October 11, 1968, the Cardinals traded Tolan and Wayne Granger (#551) to the Reds for Vada Pinson (#160). As the regular center fielder for the Cardinals, and as mentioned above, Tolan reached his best power numbers with 21 home runs and 93 RBIs. He batted .305, and was in the top five in the league for hits (194), triples (10) and stolen bases (26). He led all National League outfielders with 362 putouts. Only Pete Rose (#120), Johnny Bench (#95) and Tony Perez (#295) had a higher bWAR on the Reds than Tolan.
Phillies Career
Released by the Padres on February 12, 1976, Tolan signed with the Phillies right before the start of the season on April 1st. He filled in as the team's regular first baseman in May with Dick Allen (#350) out with an injury. A valuable utility player for the eventual National League East pennant winners, Tolan started 41 games at first base, 11 games in center field, seven games in left field and two games in right field. In 110 total games, he batted .261 with five home runs and 35 RBIs. In the NLCS against his former Reds team, Tolan went 0 for 3.
He started the 1977 season with the Phillies, appearing in 15 games and batting .125 (2 for 16) before being released on May 25th. The Pirates picked him less than a month later.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1965 Topps #116
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (14): 1965-77, 1980
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2002 Topps Super Teams #84
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 92 in the Beckett online database as of 11/10/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia
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 104th of 145 cards purchased for our set, and after the dealer discount due to my bulk purchase, it cost a little over $1.
The Card / Reds Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
Tolan is wearing a Cardinals' jersey here. The back of the card explains how Tolan came to Cincinnati from St. Louis (see below).
Accuracy Index: Topps can't really be faulted for not having a photo of Tolan in his new Reds' uniform, although at this point in the set we've started to see photos from spring training in 1969. It's back to -8 for Tolan's score.
1969 Season
On October 11, 1968, the Cardinals traded Tolan and Wayne Granger (#551) to the Reds for Vada Pinson (#160). As the regular center fielder for the Cardinals, and as mentioned above, Tolan reached his best power numbers with 21 home runs and 93 RBIs. He batted .305, and was in the top five in the league for hits (194), triples (10) and stolen bases (26). He led all National League outfielders with 362 putouts. Only Pete Rose (#120), Johnny Bench (#95) and Tony Perez (#295) had a higher bWAR on the Reds than Tolan.
Released by the Padres on February 12, 1976, Tolan signed with the Phillies right before the start of the season on April 1st. He filled in as the team's regular first baseman in May with Dick Allen (#350) out with an injury. A valuable utility player for the eventual National League East pennant winners, Tolan started 41 games at first base, 11 games in center field, seven games in left field and two games in right field. In 110 total games, he batted .261 with five home runs and 35 RBIs. In the NLCS against his former Reds team, Tolan went 0 for 3.
He started the 1977 season with the Phillies, appearing in 15 games and batting .125 (2 for 16) before being released on May 25th. The Pirates picked him less than a month later.
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First Mainstream Card: 1965 Topps #116
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (14): 1965-77, 1980
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2002 Topps Super Teams #84
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 92 in the Beckett online database as of 11/10/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia
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