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Donald Stetson Mason
San Francisco Giants
Infield
Born: December 20, 1944, Boston, MA
Signed: Signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent before 1965 season
Major League Teams: San Francisco Giants 1966-70; San Diego Padres 1971-73
Died: June 19, 2018, Yarmouth, MA (age 73)
Originally drafted by the Senators, Don Mason's first year of professional baseball was perhaps his best. For the Geneva Senators of the New York-Penn League in 1965, Mason batted .285 with 18 home runs and 60 RBIs, leading to his selection by the Giants in the annual rule 5 draft. Forced to stay on the big league roster for the entire 1966 season, Mason batted just .120 in 42 games with the Giants. He spent most of 1967 and 1968 back in the minor leagues, then appeared in 104 games for the Giants as a back-up infielder in 1969. Dealt to the Padres following the 1970 season, Mason started more games at second base for the Padres than any other player in 1971 and played in a career-high 113 games.
Originally drafted by the Senators, Don Mason's first year of professional baseball was perhaps his best. For the Geneva Senators of the New York-Penn League in 1965, Mason batted .285 with 18 home runs and 60 RBIs, leading to his selection by the Giants in the annual rule 5 draft. Forced to stay on the big league roster for the entire 1966 season, Mason batted just .120 in 42 games with the Giants. He spent most of 1967 and 1968 back in the minor leagues, then appeared in 104 games for the Giants as a back-up infielder in 1969. Dealt to the Padres following the 1970 season, Mason started more games at second base for the Padres than any other player in 1971 and played in a career-high 113 games.
His last big league action came in 1973 and he'd spend a year with the Padres' top farm team in Hawaii in 1974 before retiring from baseball. In parts of eight seasons in the majors, Mason batted .205, collecting 143 hits.
December 15, 2024 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
On Sunday, December 15th, Doug and I attended the latest Philly Show, spaciously spread out inside Hall A of the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. I wrote a full show report over at The Phillies Room, including some thoughts on attending the show with our oldest son, who first graced the Philly Show floors back in 2012.
Having had success the prior two shows at Uncle Dick's Cards with his well-organized, neon common binders, I opted to pull up a chair once again at the friendly dealer's array of tables. The aim was simple: Clear out Uncle Dick's 1969 Topps commons, starting off where I had left off the year before with card #501 and going through the end of the set, card #664. In less than 25 minutes, I completed my quest, and this is the 48th of 98 commons pulled from the binder. After a generous dealer discount due to my bulk purchase, this card cost me less than a dollar.
The Card / Giants Team Set / Accuracy Index +5
Mason returns to a Topps set for the first time since 1966, and the photo here could be from as long ago as that 1966 season. The back of the card leans heavily into Mason's fine fielding skills.
Accuracy Index: Mason's card scores a +5.
1969 Season
In his first full season in the majors since 1966, Mason batted .228 in 104 games. He made 57 starts in the field - 41 at second base, 15 at third base and one at shortstop. Mason drove in 13 runs, the high-water mark of his big league career.
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First Mainstream Card: 1966 Topps #524
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (4): 1966, 1969, 1971-72
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1972 Topps #739
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 11 in the Beckett online database as of 4/27/25.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia
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