 |
 |
Dennis Joseph Ribant
Kansas City Royals
Pitcher
Born: September 20, 1941, Detroit, MI
Signed: Signed by the Milwaukee Braves as an amateur free agent before 1961 season
Major League Teams: New York Mets 1964-66; Pittsburgh Pirates 1967; Detroit Tigers 1968; Chicago White Sox 1968; St. Louis Cardinals 1969; Cincinnati Reds 1969
Died: April 24, 2023, Newport Beach, CA (age 81)
Dennis Ribant pitched for six different teams over a big league career that spanned six seasons. His best season came in 1966 when he went 11-9 with a 3.20 ERA for the Mets, finishing the year with the highest bWAR (3.5) on a club that lost 95 games. Ribant has the distinction of being the first full-time starting pitcher in Mets history to finish a season with a winning record. He also pitched in 14 games for his home-town Tigers in 1968, the year they won the World Series in seven games over the Cardinals. Ribant was traded to the White Sox on July 26, 1968 and never got the chance to appear in the postseason. He last appeared in the majors in 1969 and spent the last four seasons of his professional career pitching in the minor league systems of the Pirates, Padres and Phillies between 1970 and 1973.
Dennis Ribant pitched for six different teams over a big league career that spanned six seasons. His best season came in 1966 when he went 11-9 with a 3.20 ERA for the Mets, finishing the year with the highest bWAR (3.5) on a club that lost 95 games. Ribant has the distinction of being the first full-time starting pitcher in Mets history to finish a season with a winning record. He also pitched in 14 games for his home-town Tigers in 1968, the year they won the World Series in seven games over the Cardinals. Ribant was traded to the White Sox on July 26, 1968 and never got the chance to appear in the postseason. He last appeared in the majors in 1969 and spent the last four seasons of his professional career pitching in the minor league systems of the Pirates, Padres and Phillies between 1970 and 1973.
For his career, Ribant was 24-29 with a 3.87 ERA over 149 games. He struck out 241 batters over 518 2/3 innings.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
The Card / Royals Team Set / Accuracy Index +2
1969 Season
Ribant was sold by the White Sox to the Tigers in October 1968. Less than two months later, on December 15, 1968, the Tigers sold him to the Royals. He'd have a strong winter in Puerto Rico, and a solid spring training, but the Royals didn't have a spot for him on their pitching staff. Ribant requested a trade, and the Royals sold him to the Cardinals - the third time his contract had been purchased in a five-month span.
Building the Set / Card #407
December 3, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
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 115th of 145 cards purchased for our set, and after the dealer discount due to my bulk purchase, it cost a little over a dollar.
The Card / Royals Team Set / Accuracy Index +2
In a strange turn of events, the first player to appear in a Royals uniform on a baseball card never actually pitched for the Royals in a regular season game. Ribant's 1969 journey is summarized below. The phrasing on the cartoon on the back of the card is off, but the gist of it is that Ribant had played professional hockey for a farm team of the Detroit Red Wings. He'd eventually give up hockey to focus on his pitching career.
Accuracy Index: This is a uniquely scored card, as it earns a +10 for the expansion uniform, but Ribant didn't play for the Royals in 1969 (-2) or ever (-6).
1969 Season
Ribant was sold by the White Sox to the Tigers in October 1968. Less than two months later, on December 15, 1968, the Tigers sold him to the Royals. He'd have a strong winter in Puerto Rico, and a solid spring training, but the Royals didn't have a spot for him on their pitching staff. Ribant requested a trade, and the Royals sold him to the Cardinals - the third time his contract had been purchased in a five-month span.
Ribant began the season with the Triple-A Tulsa Oilers, and earned a promotion to the Cardinals in early June. He'd pitch in just one game for the Cardinals, and pinch-run in another, before they dealt him to the Reds on June 14th for Aurelio Monteagudo. With the Reds, Ribant made seven relief appearances as a September call-up, earning a 1.08 ERA in 8 1/3 innings. Those were the final innings of Ribant's big league career.
Phillies Connection
Ribant's last stop in the minor leagues was with the Eugene Emeralds, the Phillies top farm team in 1973 in the Pacific Coast League. Under manager Jim Bunning (#175), Ribant appeared in only 10 games with no record and a 7.36 ERA. His short-term teammates included future Phillies Alan Bannister, Mike Rogodzinski and Larry Christenson.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1965 Topps #73
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (5): 1965-69
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1981 TCMA The 1960s II #443
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 20 in the Beckett online database as of 11/24/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Phillies Connection
Ribant's last stop in the minor leagues was with the Eugene Emeralds, the Phillies top farm team in 1973 in the Pacific Coast League. Under manager Jim Bunning (#175), Ribant appeared in only 10 games with no record and a 7.36 ERA. His short-term teammates included future Phillies Alan Bannister, Mike Rogodzinski and Larry Christenson.
|
|
|
|
First Mainstream Card: 1965 Topps #73
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (5): 1965-69
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1981 TCMA The 1960s II #443
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 20 in the Beckett online database as of 11/24/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog
1965 Topps Blog
#462 Red Schoendienst MG - St. Louis Cardinals / #464 Dave Marshall - San Francisco Giants
No comments:
Post a Comment