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Ruben Amaro
California Angels
Shortstop-First Base
Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 5'11" Weight: 170
Born: January 6, 1936, Nuevo Laredo, Mexico
Signed: Signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent before 1954 season
Major League Teams: St. Louis Cardinals 1958; Philadelphia Phillies 1960-65; New York Yankees 1966-68; California Angels 1969
Born: January 6, 1936, Nuevo Laredo, Mexico
Signed: Signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent before 1954 season
Major League Teams: St. Louis Cardinals 1958; Philadelphia Phillies 1960-65; New York Yankees 1966-68; California Angels 1969
Died: March 31, 2017, Weston, FL (age 81)
A 1964 Gold Glove winner for his fine defense at shortstop, Ruben Amaro played 11 seasons in the major leagues, hitting just .234 but fielding well across the entire infield. His Gold Glove season was also one of his top seasons at the plate as he hit career highs in batting average (.264) and RBIs (34) over 129 games, placing 21st in the National League's MVP voting. Over a career totaling 940 games, Amaro hit .234 with the Cardinals, Phillies, Yankees and Angels.
His father, Santos Amaro, was a star in the Cuban and Mexican baseball leagues for almost three decades spanning the late 1920s through the mid-1950s. His son, Ruben Jr., played in eight big league seasons and was the general manager for the Phillies between 2009 and 2015.
Following his playing career, the elder Amaro served as a scout, coach or manager within the Phillies, Cubs, Tigers, White Sox and Astros organizations between 1972 and 2016. He was the Phillies first base coach in 1980 and 1981, earning a World Series ring with the team in 1980. Amaro was elected into the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986.
A 1964 Gold Glove winner for his fine defense at shortstop, Ruben Amaro played 11 seasons in the major leagues, hitting just .234 but fielding well across the entire infield. His Gold Glove season was also one of his top seasons at the plate as he hit career highs in batting average (.264) and RBIs (34) over 129 games, placing 21st in the National League's MVP voting. Over a career totaling 940 games, Amaro hit .234 with the Cardinals, Phillies, Yankees and Angels.
His father, Santos Amaro, was a star in the Cuban and Mexican baseball leagues for almost three decades spanning the late 1920s through the mid-1950s. His son, Ruben Jr., played in eight big league seasons and was the general manager for the Phillies between 2009 and 2015.
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Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
The Card / Angels Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
Building the Set / Card #503
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.
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 59th of 98 commons pulled from the binder. After a generous dealer discount due to my bulk purchase, this card cost me a little less than $2.
The Card / Angels Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
Amaro is shown in a Yankees uniform, although he did wear #12 with the Angels. The back of the card highlights his Gold Glove win and his status as a "slick fielding veteran." Topps has him coming to the Angels a few weeks earlier than Baseball Reference (see below).
Accuracy Index: Amaro's card scores a -8, and it's the first "hat, no logo" card I've added in quite a while.
1969 Season
The Yankees sold Amaro's contract to the Angels on November 6, 1968, as the Angels were looking for a back-up for Jim Fregosi (#365). In his final season in the big leagues, Amaro appeared in 41 games, batting .222 with six singles. He made five starts throughout the year - four at second base and one at third base. Fregosi ended up starting the first 160 games of the season at shortstop, sitting for the final three, so Amaro never ended up filling in for him. Amaro was released by the Angels on October 22nd.
Phillies Career
I had always assumed Amaro was a lifetime Phillie, not realizing he had been originally drafted by the Cardinals. The Phillies acquired Amaro from St. Louis on December 3, 1958 for Chuck Essegian. He spent the entire 1959 season playing for the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, and he made his Phillies debut on June 14, 1960. He'd spend the next decade in the majors, not returning to the Phillies' minor league system until 1970 when he was trying to make it back to the big leagues following his release from the Angels in October 1969. With the Phillies, Amaro split time at shortstop with Bobby Wine (#648) between 1960 and 1965 and had more games at short than Wine in 1960 and 1961. He was traded to the Yankees on November 29, 1965 for Phil Linz.
Amaro appeared in 668 games for the Phillies over six seasons and hit .234 with 135 RBIs. After retiring as a player, Amaro had three different stints serving as a Phillies scout, coach and minor league manager between 1972 and 1982, 1999 and 2006, and finally between 2008 and 2009. When he passed away in 2017, I paid tribute to him with a post over at The Phillies Room.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1959 Topps #178
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1959, 1961-69
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2003 Upper Deck Yankees Signature #74
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 72 in the Beckett online database as of 5/13/25.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
The Yankees sold Amaro's contract to the Angels on November 6, 1968, as the Angels were looking for a back-up for Jim Fregosi (#365). In his final season in the big leagues, Amaro appeared in 41 games, batting .222 with six singles. He made five starts throughout the year - four at second base and one at third base. Fregosi ended up starting the first 160 games of the season at shortstop, sitting for the final three, so Amaro never ended up filling in for him. Amaro was released by the Angels on October 22nd.
I had always assumed Amaro was a lifetime Phillie, not realizing he had been originally drafted by the Cardinals. The Phillies acquired Amaro from St. Louis on December 3, 1958 for Chuck Essegian. He spent the entire 1959 season playing for the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, and he made his Phillies debut on June 14, 1960. He'd spend the next decade in the majors, not returning to the Phillies' minor league system until 1970 when he was trying to make it back to the big leagues following his release from the Angels in October 1969. With the Phillies, Amaro split time at shortstop with Bobby Wine (#648) between 1960 and 1965 and had more games at short than Wine in 1960 and 1961. He was traded to the Yankees on November 29, 1965 for Phil Linz.
Amaro appeared in 668 games for the Phillies over six seasons and hit .234 with 135 RBIs. After retiring as a player, Amaro had three different stints serving as a Phillies scout, coach and minor league manager between 1972 and 1982, 1999 and 2006, and finally between 2008 and 2009. When he passed away in 2017, I paid tribute to him with a post over at The Phillies Room.
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First Mainstream Card: 1959 Topps #178
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1959, 1961-69
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2003 Upper Deck Yankees Signature #74
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 72 in the Beckett online database as of 5/13/25.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog / The Phillies Room
1965 Topps Blog / The Phillies Room
#597 American League Rookie Stars / #599 John Boozer - Philadelphia Phillies
Jim, I assume you've seen the TV series "The Goldbergs" that was set in the Philly area in the 1980s, and one of the characters is a teenage Ruben Amaro Jr. I thought it was a funny episode where the real Ruben Amaro Jr has a cameo role as the Ruben Amaro Sr character.
ReplyDeleteVery cool - I'll have to check that out!
ReplyDelete