 |
 |
Albert John Weis
New York Mets
Second Base-Shortstop
Born: April 2, 1938, Franklin Square, NY
Signed: Signed by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent before 1959 season
Major League Teams: Chicago White Sox 1962-67; New York Mets 1968-71
World Series Appearances: New York Mets 1969
Al Weis was a successful middle infielder in the majors for ten seasons, starting his career with the White Sox and winning a World Series ring with the Mets in 1969. Weis saw regular playing time at second base for the White Sox in 1964, taking over that position following the trade of Nellie Fox to the Colt .45s. Weis appeared in a career-high 133 games, batting .247 with 22 stolen bases, the second most in the league behind Luis Aparicio (#75). He returned to a bench role in 1965 and 1966, providing steady defense whenever Don Buford (#478) wasn't starting. Weis hit a career low .155 in 1966 over 129 games. The following year, his season was prematurely ended on June 27, 1967 when Frank Robinson (#250) broke his leg when sliding into second base to break up a double play.
Weis was traded to the Mets following the 1967 season, and he'd be used by manager Gil Hodges (#564) mostly as a late inning defensive replacement. Before the Amazin' 1969 season, his most memorable moment with the club was allowing a ground ball to go through his legs in the 24th inning of his Mets debut on April 15, 1968. The Astros won the contest 1-0 as a result of Weis' error. Not known for having much power, Weis hit a solo home off Orioles pitcher Dave McNally (#340) in the bottom of the seventh inning during Game 5 of the 1969 World Series. The home run tied the game 3-3, and the Mets would go on to win the game and the series. Weis was a career .219 hitter over 800 big league games and he retired from baseball after being released by the Mets on July 1, 1971.
Al Weis was a successful middle infielder in the majors for ten seasons, starting his career with the White Sox and winning a World Series ring with the Mets in 1969. Weis saw regular playing time at second base for the White Sox in 1964, taking over that position following the trade of Nellie Fox to the Colt .45s. Weis appeared in a career-high 133 games, batting .247 with 22 stolen bases, the second most in the league behind Luis Aparicio (#75). He returned to a bench role in 1965 and 1966, providing steady defense whenever Don Buford (#478) wasn't starting. Weis hit a career low .155 in 1966 over 129 games. The following year, his season was prematurely ended on June 27, 1967 when Frank Robinson (#250) broke his leg when sliding into second base to break up a double play.
Weis was traded to the Mets following the 1967 season, and he'd be used by manager Gil Hodges (#564) mostly as a late inning defensive replacement. Before the Amazin' 1969 season, his most memorable moment with the club was allowing a ground ball to go through his legs in the 24th inning of his Mets debut on April 15, 1968. The Astros won the contest 1-0 as a result of Weis' error. Not known for having much power, Weis hit a solo home off Orioles pitcher Dave McNally (#340) in the bottom of the seventh inning during Game 5 of the 1969 World Series. The home run tied the game 3-3, and the Mets would go on to win the game and the series. Weis was a career .219 hitter over 800 big league games and he retired from baseball after being released by the Mets on July 1, 1971.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #610
September 21, 2025 from The Philly Show (Vintage Sports)
The Card / Mets Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
1969 Season
Weis played in 103 games for the Mets, batting .215 during the regular season with nine doubles, a pair of home runs and 23 RBIs, tying his career high set in 1964. But he was a surprisingly shocking force in the World Series. From his SABR biography, written by Michael Cahill:
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1963 Topps #537
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (9): 1963-71
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2018 Topps Heritage Miracle of '69 #MO69-AW
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 58 in the Beckett online database as of 1/6/26.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
September 21, 2025 from The Philly Show (Vintage Sports)
On Sunday morning, September 21st, I made the hour-long drive to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania for the latest installment of the Philadelphia Sports Card & Memorabilia Show, known to its friends as The Philly Show. The show has a legitimate official sponsor (eBay) and the advertisement for the event notes the show is in its 50th year. I hadn't attended a baseball card show since the last Philly Show in December, and I was flying solo to this one as our oldest son is in his first month of college at Villanova. I posted a full summary of the show over at The Phillies Room.
I made stops at six tables at the show, all yielding needed cards for our 1969 Topps set, and I left the show with just 16 more cards to go for my version of a complete set. My second stop was the aptly named Vintage Sports table. I always appreciate a dealer with clear signage explaining their pricing method, and Vintage Sports had a marker in their selection of 1969 Topps cards laying out that cards without a sleeve were $1 and cards with a sleeve were $2. I had one "high number" in a sleeve, and that was a whopping $4.
I found 28 commons needed before moving on to my third stop. This was the 16th of 28 total cards bought from Vintage Sports, and the 51st of 91 cards for the set added overall on the day. Sleeved, this card cost less than $2 after a dealer discount, a bargain for a Mets card from the set.
The Card / Mets Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
Weis is wearing a White Sox jersey and hat here, and there's a really good chance the photo came from the same session as the photos used for his 1965, 1966 and 1968 Topps cards. The back of the card lets collectors know how Weis had joined the Mets. On December 15, 1967, the White Sox traded Weis and Tommie Agee (#364) to the Mets for Buddy Booker, Tommy Davis (#135), Jack Fisher (#318) and Billy Wynne.
Accuracy Index: It's our second -8 in a row for the former team jersey and logo-less hat.
1969 Season
Weis played in 103 games for the Mets, batting .215 during the regular season with nine doubles, a pair of home runs and 23 RBIs, tying his career high set in 1964. But he was a surprisingly shocking force in the World Series. From his SABR biography, written by Michael Cahill:
Among the Miracle Mets there was none more miraculous than Al Weis. He led both teams' regulars in the Series with a batting average of .455, more than double his regular season average. He had a 5-for-11 Series with a home run, four singles, four walks, and three RBI - one of which won Game Two and other tied Game Five. His slugging percentage was .727 and his on-base average was .563.
Donn Clendenon (#208), with three home runs, received the Series MVP Award. Weis's achievement did not go unnoticed, however. The New York chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America voted him their Series MVP award, known as the Babe Ruth Award. It marked only the fourth time that the Babe Ruth Award, given out annually since 1949 (compared with the Series MVP that had been doled out since 1955), had not gone to the same man who won the MVP.
|
|
|
|
|
First Mainstream Card: 1963 Topps #537
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (9): 1963-71
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2018 Topps Heritage Miracle of '69 #MO69-AW
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 58 in the Beckett online database as of 1/6/26.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog
1965 Topps Blog
#268 Al Spangler - Chicago Cubs / #270 Mickey Lolich - Detroit Tigers
No comments:
Post a Comment