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Alfred John Ferrara
San Diego Padres
Outfield
Born: December 22, 1939, Brooklyn, NY
Signed: Signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent before 1959 season
Major League Teams: Los Angeles Dodgers 1963, 1965-68; San Diego Padres 1969-71; Cincinnati Reds 1971
World Series Appearances: Los Angeles Dodgers 1966
Died: November 15, 2024 (age 84)
Al Ferrara was a colorful character who was an accomplished pianist as a teenager, had cameos in episodes of Gilligan's Island and Batman, and also happened to play parts of eight seasons in the major leagues. He was a member of the 1963 and 1965 Dodgers teams that won World Series titles, although he didn't appear in any of those postseason games. Ferrara's best season came in 1967 when he appeared in 122 games for the Dodgers and batted .277 with 16 home runs and 50 RBIs. Selected by the Padres in the expansion draft, he appeared in 138 games in both the 1969 and 1970 seasons as a back-up outfielder and pinch-hitter. After a brief stint with the Reds in 1971 almost exclusively as a pinch-hitter, Ferrara retired from baseball. In 574 career games, he batted .259 with 51 home runs and 198 RBIs.
Died: November 15, 2024 (age 84)
Al Ferrara was a colorful character who was an accomplished pianist as a teenager, had cameos in episodes of Gilligan's Island and Batman, and also happened to play parts of eight seasons in the major leagues. He was a member of the 1963 and 1965 Dodgers teams that won World Series titles, although he didn't appear in any of those postseason games. Ferrara's best season came in 1967 when he appeared in 122 games for the Dodgers and batted .277 with 16 home runs and 50 RBIs. Selected by the Padres in the expansion draft, he appeared in 138 games in both the 1969 and 1970 seasons as a back-up outfielder and pinch-hitter. After a brief stint with the Reds in 1971 almost exclusively as a pinch-hitter, Ferrara retired from baseball. In 574 career games, he batted .259 with 51 home runs and 198 RBIs.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #399
December 3, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
The Card / Padres Team Set / Accuracy Index +10
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 107th of 145 cards purchased for our set, and after the dealer discount due to my bulk purchase, it cost a little less than $1.
The Card / Padres Team Set / Accuracy Index +10
Ferrara holds the distinction of owning the first baseball card to feature the expansion Padres' uniform. Up until this point in the team set, Padres cards featured players either hatless or with dark blotches on their caps, covering their former team's logos. Not counting Rookie Stars cards, there would be only two more cards in the set showing off the Padres' brown and gold uniforms - Jose Arcia (#473) and Johnny Podres (#659).
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 Ferrara's first name printed in yellow.
Accuracy Index: Ferrara's card earns a high score of +10.
Inserts: Ferrara is included in the 35 card Topps Deckle Edge insert set. Topps recycled the same photo used for his 1967 Topps card for the insert.
1969 Season
Ferrara was the 30th pick in the 1968 expansion draft, moving from the Dodgers to the Padres. He was the most regularly used left fielder for manager Preston Gomez (#74), making 95 starts at the position. Ferrara batted .260 with 14 home runs and a career-high 56 RBIs. His most frequent outfield partners were Cito Gaston (#304) in center field and Ollie Brown (#149) in right field.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #337
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8): 1964-71
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2020 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-AF
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 52 in the Beckett online database as of 11/17/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
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Ferrara was the 30th pick in the 1968 expansion draft, moving from the Dodgers to the Padres. He was the most regularly used left fielder for manager Preston Gomez (#74), making 95 starts at the position. Ferrara batted .260 with 14 home runs and a career-high 56 RBIs. His most frequent outfield partners were Cito Gaston (#304) in center field and Ollie Brown (#149) in right field.
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First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #337
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8): 1964-71
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2020 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-AF
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 52 in the Beckett online database as of 11/17/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog
1965 Topps Blog
#451 Rich Rollins - Seattle Pilots / #453 Mike Cuellar - Baltimore Orioles
Ferrara passed away just last week.
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