#564 Gil Hodges MG - New York Mets

Gilbert Raymond Hodges
New York Mets
Manager

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  200
Born:  April 4, 1924, Princeton, IN
Signed:  Signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent, September 6, 1943
Major League Teams:  Brooklyn Dodgers 1943, 1947-57; Los Angeles Dodgers 1958-61; New York Mets 1962-63

World Series Appearances:  Brooklyn Dodgers 1947, 1949, 1952-53, 1955-56, 1959
As a Manager:  Washington Senators 1963-67; New York Mets 1968-71
Died:  April 2, 1972, West Palm Beach, FL (age 47)

Hall of Fame Induction:  2022

Jackie Robinson called Gil Hodges, "The core of the Brooklyn Dodgers."  Originally a catcher, Hodges moved to first base for the Dodgers in the late 1940s where he'd be a mainstay for the club throughout the next decade, including their move west to Los Angeles.  Hodges had seven straight seasons of 100 RBIs or more between 1949 and 1955, and his bat helped lead the Dodgers to World Series titles in 1955 and 1959.  He never won an MVP, but the eight-time All-Star was a perennial MVP vote getter.  Considered one of the finest defensive first baseman of his era, he won three Gold Gloves.  His 361 career home runs are second on the Dodgers' all-time list behind Duke Snider's 389 and he finished his playing career as a member of the expansion Mets.  In 1,921 career games he hit .273 with 370 home runs and 1,274 RBIs.

Hodges retired as an active player when the Mets traded him to the Senators on May 23, 1963 for Jim Piersall, and Hodges assumed managerial duties for the departed Mickey Vernon.  His years with the Senators were fairly dismal as the team never finished above sixth place.  He took over at the helm for the Mets in 1968 and led the club to their first improbable World Championship title in 1969 with a miraculous victory over the heavily favored Orioles.  Hodges passed away unexpectedly during spring training 1972, felled by a heart attack after a round of golf with his Mets coaches.

His #14 was retired by the Mets in 1973 and he was elected into the Mets Hall of Fame in 1982.  Hodges was finally elected in the Hall of Fame in December 2021 by the Golden Days Era Committee, and was inducted posthumously in 2022.

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.

Building the Set / Card #645

September 21, 2025 from The Philly Show (Crazy Boxes)

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.  I'm not even sure how best to describe the fifth table I visited.  I typically steer clear of tables that look incredibly disorganized or tables that look as if the dealer put minimal effort into his/her display.  This table was both.  But the crudely designed, hand-made sign advertising "Entire Table is 50% Off" made me stop and at least look at what was in the 1969 Topps hodgepodge of cards.  And I'm glad I did.  It took me a solid 20-25 minutes to go through the cards that were loosely in order, but I found seven cards I needed with either mislabeled prices (?) or prices that hadn't been updated since the 1980s.  I paid $1 for this Hodges card, the fifth of seven cards purchased from what I'm calling the Crazy Boxes table, and I wished I had made this table my first stop.

The Card / Mets Team Set / Accuracy Index +1

Collectors had already seen this exact same photo on Hodges' card in the 1968 Topps set, and the card would appear again in the 1989 Topps set on a Turn Back the Clock subset card.  Topps reprinted the full card for its 2002 Topps Archives set.  With not a lot of managerial highlights to date, Topps celebrated the four home runs Hodges hit in one game in 1950 on the back of the card.

Accuracy Index:  Hodges' card loses points for the duplicate photo.

1969 Season
From his SABR biography, written by John Saccoman: 

Hodges' first winning season as manager came with the 1969 Mets, a team that went 100-62, 27 wins more than the previous year.  They were led by rising star pitchers Tom Seaver (#480), Jerry Koosman (#90), and promising youngster Nolan Ryan (#533), as well as left fielder Cleon Jones (#512) and center fielder Tommie Agee (#364) . . . 

Hodges' level-headedness and humor were certainly a factor in guiding the team through this season . . . What is truly remarkable about Hodges' managerial achievement, besides the 27-win improvement from the previous season, was the fact that the Mets only had two players (Jones and Agee) who had enough plate appearances to qualify for a batting title. In fact, Hodges platooned at catcher, right field, and all the infield positions.  While the Mets did not finish above the league average in any major offensive statistic, they had one more run allowed than the league leading St. Louis Cardinals. 

Projecting wins based on runs scored and runs allowed (Bill James' Pythagorean Projection), the Mets were expected to have 92 wins. They wound up with an even 100.  The Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, with four future Hall of Famers on its roster, in three straight games in the NL playoffs . . . Hodges and the Mets defeated the heavily-favored Baltimore Orioles (also with four future Hall of Famers, including manager Earl Weaver - #516) in five games in the World Series, making the Mets the first expansion team ever to participate in and win a World Series.  

Hodges was voted Manager of the Year for turning the lovable losers into World Champions.

1949 Bowman #100

1952 Topps #36

1959 Topps #270

1972 Topps #465

1989 Topps #664

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1949 Bowman #100
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (22):  1951-52, 1954-72, 1989
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2025 Topps Living #861
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  585 in the Beckett online database as of 3/1/26.

Update Cards

For my 1965 Topps blog, I used the team card posts to come up with five or six candidates per team for an imaginary update series.  With no team cards in the 1969 Topps set, I'll use each manager card for this exercise, and come up with a list of deserving cards to be included in an 8th/update series.  They're not all attractive cards, but the Mets are already fairly represented in the 1969 Topps set.

• Wayne Garrett (3b) - Wayne Garrett played in 124 games, batting just .218 but starting more games at third base (63) than any other Mets player.
• Rod Gaspar (of) - Back-up outfielder Rod Gaspar batted .228 in 118 games.  Garrett's and Gaspar's rookie cards are in the 1970 Topps set.
• Donn Clendenon (1b) - I'd give Donn Clendenon his third card in the set (#208), as he was previously featured with the Astros and Expos, but he's justifiably best remembered as a member of the Mets.
• Gary Gentry (rhp) - Gary Gentry shared a Rookie Stars card with Amos Otis (#31), but only Seaver started as many games as he did with 35.
• Bobby Pfeil (3b) - Bobby Pfeil appeared in 62 games, the most of his two seasons in the majors.
• Yogi Berra (coach) - And coach Yogi Berra gets a card in my update set.  The Mets' first base coach, he'd take over for Hodges when the popular manager died suddenly of a heart attack on April 2, 1972.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference - Hodges / Baseball Reference - 1969 Mets / SABR / Wikipedia

National Baseball Hall of Fame
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1956 Topps Blog / 1965 Topps Blog

#563 Marty Pattin - Seattle Pilots / #565 Hoyt Wilhelm - California Angels

#465 Tommy John - Chicago White Sox

Thomas Edward John
Chicago White Sox
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'3"  Weight:  180
Born:  May 22, 1943, Terre Haute, IN
Signed:  Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent, June 12, 1961
Major League Teams:  Cleveland Indians 1963-64; Chicago White Sox 1965-71; Los Angeles Dodgers 1972-74, 1976-78; New York Yankees 1979-82; California Angels 1982-85; Oakland Athletics 1985; New York Yankees 1986-89

World Series Appearances:  Los Angeles Dodgers 1977-78; New York Yankees 1981

Tommy John was a veteran of 26 major league seasons, split between his first 12 seasons and his final 14 seasons by the pioneering arm surgery that now unofficially bears his name.  His longevity is topped only by Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan (#533) and Cap Anson, who both played for 27 seasons.  He was the opening day starting pitcher for the White Sox in 1966 and the Yankees in 1989, a four-time All-Star and a 20-game winner three times in 1977, 1979 and 1980.  John tore his ulnar collateral ligament in 1974 and underwent an experimental surgery to replace the ligament in his left elbow with a tendon from his right arm.  After a lengthy recovery and rehabilitation, John returned to the Dodgers to start the 1976 season.  He'd win 164 more games, throwing over 2,500 innings following the surgery.

John's reconstructed arm allowed him to pitch until the age of 46 with the Yankees.  He finished with a career record of 288-231 over 760 games, a 3.34 ERA and 2,245 strikeouts.  His 288 wins are currently 26th on the all-time list with all other pitchers above him from the modern era, other than Roger Clemens, currently in the Hall of Fame.  Following his playing career, John coached in the minor league systems for the Expos and Yankees and managed the Bridgeport Bluefish in the independent Atlantic League between 2007 and 2009.

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.

Building the Set / Card #409
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 117th of 145 cards purchased for our set, and after the dealer discount due to my bulk purchase, it cost a little over $2.

The Card / White Sox Team Set / Accuracy Index +5

This is one of the better-looking cards in the set, and John's pose works well with the floating name and position circle.  The only thing that could be improved upon is if John had remembered to take the ball out of his glove while miming a pitch.  The back of the card gives accolades to his recent success with the White Sox.  A veteran of seven seasons when this card appeared, collectors likely would not predict he'd pitch for 20 more years.

Accuracy Index:  John's card scores a solid +5.

1969 Season
John slumped a little following a successful 1968 campaign, going 9-11 with a 3.25 ERA in 33 starts.  Still, his 5.1 bWAR led a White Sox team that lost 94 games and would have finished last in the American League West if not for the expansion Pilots.

1964 Topps #146

1970 Topps #180

1975 Topps #47

1981 Topps #550

1989 Topps #359

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1964 Topps #146
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (26):  1964-89
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2023 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs High Number #ROA-TJ
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  428 in the Beckett online database as of 11/25/24.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog

#464 Dave Marshall - San Francisco Giants / #466 John Boccabella - Montreal Expos

#377 Gary Bell - Seattle Pilots

Wilbur Gary Bell
Seattle Pilots
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  196
Born:  November 17, 1936, San Antonio, TX
Signed:  Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent before 1955 season
Major League Teams:  Cleveland Indians 1958-67; Boston Red Sox 1967-68; Seattle Pilots 1969; Chicago White Sox 1969

World Series Appearances:  Boston Red Sox 1967

Pitching as a starter, a reliever and an occasional closer, Gary Bell was a four-time All-Star over 12 major league seasons.  Arm problems hampered him early in his career, but Bell was a 16-game winner in 1959 and made his first two All-Star teams in 1960.  Serving as the Indians' closer in 1965, he converted a career-high 16 saves.  His best season came in 1966 when he was 14-15 with a 3.22 ERA for the Indians in 40 games, including 37 starts.  He pitched a career best 254 1/3 innings that season and made his third All-Star team.  After a decade in Cleveland, Bell was dealt to the Red Sox in June 1967 to help with their pennant hopes.  When the Impossible Dream team improbably clinched the American League pennant, Bell appeared in three World Series games, starting Game 3 against the Cardinals' Nelson Briles (#60).  The Cardinals would prevail in seven games.

Bell made his final All-Star team in 1968 with the Red Sox and was selected by the Pilots following the season in the expansion draft.  He'd play one last season in 1969 with the Pilots and White Sox.  Bell earned a career record of 121-117 over 519 games, with a 3.68 ERA and 50 saves.

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.

1989 Pacific Legends II #213

Building the Set / Card #351
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 59th of 145 cards purchased for our set, and after the dealer discount due to my bulk purchase, it cost me less than $1.

The Card / Pilots Team Set / Accuracy Index -8

Bell is wearing an Indians jersey here, in a photo that could date back to 1964.  He's modeling an impressive head of hair here too.  This would be his final appearance in a Topps flagship set.  The back of the card touts his credentials as an All-Star Game and World Series veteran, with the cartoon harking back to his basketball playing days while attending San Antonio College.

Accuracy Index:  It's another -8 for Bell's card.

1969 Season
Bell started the home opener for the Pilots, pitching a shutout in the first major league game to be played in Seattle.  That was to be the season highlight for Bell, as he'd go 2-6 with a 4.70 ERA in 13 games for the Pilots.  As one of the flurry of moves made by the team throughout the season, Bell was dealt on June 8th to the White Sox for Bob Locker (#548).  In Chicago, he had no record and a 6.28 ERA in 23 appearances and 38 2/3 innings pitched.  Bell would see his final big league action that September.

1959 Topps #327

1962 Topps #273

1965 Topps #424

1966 Topps #525

1968 Topps #43

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1959 Topps #327
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (11):  1959-69
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1989 Pacific Legends II #213
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  63 in the Beckett online database as of 8/31/24.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog

#376 Royals Rookie Stars / #378 Jose Herrera - Montreal Expos

#316 Hal Lanier - San Francisco Giants

Harold Clifton Lanier
San Francisco Giants
Shortstop

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  180
Born:  July 4, 1942, Denton, NC
Signed:  Signed by the New York Giants as an amateur free agent before 1961 season
Major League Teams:  San Francisco Giants 1964-1971; New York Yankees 1972-1973

As a Manager:  Houston Astros 1986-1988

Hal Lanier was a light-hitting infielder who played most of his 10-year big league career with the Giants.  He was the son of All-Star pitcher Max Lanier, who played for 14 seasons between 1938 and 1953, mostly with the Cardinals.  The younger Lanier hit his career peak with a .274 batting average during his rookie season of 1964, leading to his inclusion on the 1964 Topps All-Star Rookie team.  Lanier was the opening day second baseman for the Giants in 1965 through 1967 and then the team's opening day shortstop from 1968 through 1971.  His defense improved steadily throughout his playing career and Lanier finished second among National League second baseman in fielding percentage in 1966 and first among National League shortstops in fielding percentage in 1968.  He was sold to the Yankees before the 1972 season.  Lanier played for the Yankees for two seasons and then spent the 1974 and part of the 1975 seasons with the Triple-A Tulsa Oilers in the Cardinals' system as a player/coach.  In 1,196 career major league games, Lanier batted .228 with 843 hits.

Lanier's first managerial job came with the St. Petersburg Cardinals in 1976, and he'd manage or coach professionally for the next 40 years.  He was promoted to the Cardinals as their third base coach in 1981, and he'd win a World Series ring with the club in 1982.  He departed St. Louis after the 1985 season to take over as manager for the Astros.  Guiding Houston to their best record (96-66) in franchise history up to that point, Lanier won National League Manager of the Year honors.  He was dismissed following the 1988 season with a lifetime managerial record of 254-232.  Lanier coached for the Phillies in 1990 and 1991 and he continued to manage in independent baseball leagues through the 2018 season.

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.

Building the Set / Card #304
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 12th of 145 cards purchased for our set, and after the dealer discount due to my bulk purchase, it cost me a little over $1.25.

The Card / Giants Team Set / Accuracy Index +5

This is a good baseball card, as it works well with the design elements and doesn't look strangely cropped.  The back of the card highlights Lanier's fine fielding, but also calls attention to his 163 hits from the 1963 season.

Accuracy Index:  Lanier's card scores a +5.  Lanier is wearing a mock turtleneck under his jersey, meaning it's from a different photo session than the photos used for his 1965 through 1968 Topps cards.

1969 Season
Lanier was in the middle of his run as an everyday player for the Giants, appearing in 150 games overall and making 147 starts at shortstop.  Tito Fuentes took over for two weeks in July and I'm assuming Lanier was out with an injury.  Lanier batted .228 with nine doubles and made up for his light hitting with his stellar defense.  He was second in the league among shortstops for fielding percentage, putouts, assists and double plays turned.

Phillies Career
Hal Lanier was named manager Nick Leyva's bench coach for the 1990 season, replacing John Vukovich who moved from the dugout to become the team's third base coach.  He remained with the club through the entire 1991 season, despite Leyva's quick dismissal that April.  New manager Jim Fregosi (#365) kept Lanier on the team's staff through the end of the year, and on the final game of the 1991 season Lanier was informed he wouldn't be brought back for 1992.  Consulting my 1991 Phillies Scrapbook, a fairly depressing artifact, there's an article clipped from the Philadelphia Daily News with then GM Lee Thomas explaining that Lanier was former manager "Nick's guy," and that the Phillies wanted to make a change.

Lanier appeared in the 1990 and 1991 Phillies team-issued photo card sets, his only baseball card appearances with the club.

1965 Topps #118

1966 Topps #271

1971 Topps #181

1974 Topps #588

1989 Topps #164

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #118
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (14):  1965-1974, 1986-1989
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1989 Topps #164
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  74 in the Beckett online database as of 5/28/24.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog / The Phillies Room

#315 Eddie Fisher - California Angels / #317 Bruce Look - Minnesota Twins

#254 Joe Schultz MG - Seattle Pilots

Joseph Charles Schultz
Seattle Pilots
Manager

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  180
Born:  August 29, 1918, Chicago, IL
Signed:  Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent before 1939 season
Major League Teams:  Pittsburgh Pirates 1939-1941; St. Louis Browns 1943-1948

As a Manager:  Seattle Pilots 1969; Detroit Tigers 1973
Died:  January 10, 1996, St. Louis, MO (age 77)

When I decided to collect the 1969 Topps set and work on this blog as the cards were added, I knew I also wanted to finally read Jim Bouton's diary of the 1969 season documenting his time with the Seattle Pilots during their one and only year of existence.  I was not disappointed, thoroughly enjoying the book Ball Four, and wondering why it had taken me so long to pick up.  Among the many, many colorful characters Bouton covers in his book, Pilots' manager Joe Schultz stuck out for me and when I added this card to my collection, Schultz looked almost exactly as I had pictured him in my mind while I was reading.  Bouton highlights Schultz's sense of humor, his love of profanity and his postgame ritual of "pounding some Budweisers."

Before he managed the Pilots in their only year of existence, Schultz played for nine seasons with the Pirates and Browns as a back-up catcher and pinch-hitter.  He batted .259 in 240 games, collecting 85 hits, 13 doubles and a single home run.  Schultz coached with the Browns (1949), Cardinals (1963-1968), Athletics (1970) and Tigers (1971-1976), briefly managing the Tigers in 1973 following the dismissal of Billy Martin (#547).

Building the Set / Card #291
November 18, 2023 from The TWP Card Show - Sicklerville, NJ (Sal's Sports Cards & Memorabilia)

I wrote about this show back in December at The Phillies Room.  My wife Jenna found an announcement on Faceback for a baseball card show to be held at St. Charles Borromeo Hall in Sicklerville, New Jersey on November 18th.  That Saturday, I gathered my lists and we made the short drive to what the organizers called the "First Ever Sports Card Show" in Washington Township, which I find hard to believe given the number of baseball card stores in the area back in the 1980s and 1990s.  Potential mislabeling aside, it was a decent-sized show with mostly modern stuff and slabbed Pokemon cards. 

I found the one dealer selling vintage cards, and cleaned him out of every 1969 Topps card I needed for our set, along with a few 1959 Topps cards for our next set build.  This Schultz card was one of seven cards added to our 1969 Topps set.  Credit to Jenna for finding the show, and if it happens again, I'll gladly make the 10 minute drive over there.

The Card / Pilots Team Set / Accuracy Index -8

Given his years as a Cardinals' coach in the 1960s, I'd say Schultz is wearing a Cardinals jersey in this photo.  The back of the card covers Schultz making his professional pitching debut as a 13-year-old.  His father, also Joe Schultz, was managing the Houston Buffaloes of the Class A Texas League and the younger Schultz was serving as the team's batboy.  At some point during the 1932 season, father inserted son into the line-up as a pinch-hitter, with Schultz recording an out.

Accuracy Index:  Like a lot of Pilots cards, Schultz's card scores a -8 for the former team uniform (-5) and lack of a hat (-3).

1969 Season
Honestly the best summary of Schultz's 1969 season can come from a reading of Ball Four.  The expansion Pilots were 64-98-1, showing promise throughout the season and reaching third place in the new American League West as late as August 17th.  Right fielder Mike Megan (#577) was arguably the team MVP, batting a team-leading .292.  First baseman Don Mincher (#285) led the team with 25 home runs, and left fielder Tommy Davis (#135) was the team RBI leader with 80.

Gene Brabender (#393) was the club's top starter, going 13-14 with a 4.36 ERA in 40 games overall and 29 starts.  Diego Segui (#511) led the team with 12 saves, while Bouton was 2-1 with a 3.91 ERA in 57 appearance before a trade in late August sent him to the Astros.  Schultz was fired as Pilots' manager in mid-November and replaced by Dave Bristol (#234).  Weeks before the start of the 1970 season, an investment group led by Bud Selig purchased the Pilots and moved them to Milwaukee.

1947 Tip Top (D323)

1973 Topps #323

1983 Galasso 1969 Seattle Pilots #2

1989 Pacific Legends II #162

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1947 Tip Top (D323)
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (2):  1969, 1973
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1989 Pacific Legends II #162
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  27 in the Beckett online database as of 5/9/24.

Update Cards

For my 1965 Topps blog, I used the team card posts to come up with five or six candidates per team for an imaginary update series.  With no team cards in the 1969 Topps set, I'll use each manager card for this exercise, and come up with a list of deserving cards to be included in an 8th/update series.

53 different players suited up for the Pilots in 1969.  And while 33 of those players have cards in the 1969 Topps set, only 22 cards have the Pilots team designation.  There was a more than normal amount of deserving candidates from the Pilots in need of update cards.

• Jim Bouton (rhp) - The former All-Star and World Series hero who gave us an inside look at the Pilots' one and only season definitely deserves an update card.
• John Donaldson (2b) - Regular second baseman John Donaldson (#217) has a card with the Ahtletics, but he'd appear in the update set with the Pilots.
• Gene Brabender (rhp) - Brabender and the next two starters appear in the set with the former teams.  Brabender appears with the Orioles.
• Fred Talbot (rhp) - Fred Talbot (#332) appears with the Yankees.
• George Brunet (lhp) - And George Brunet (#645) appears with the Angels.
• Steve Hovley (of) - The final card goes to Steve Hovley, Bouton's roommate while with the Pilots with the nickname "Orbie," short for Orbit.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference - Schultz / Baseball Reference - 1969 Pilots / SABR / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database

#253 Jerry Johnson - Philadelphia Phillies / #255 Steve Carlton - St. Louis Cardinals

#216 Don Sutton - Los Angeles Dodgers

Donald Howard Sutton
Los Angeles Dodgers
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  185
Born:  April 2, 1945, Clio, AL
Signed:  Signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent, September 11, 1964
Major League Teams:  Los Angeles Dodgers 1966-1980; Houston Astros 1981-1982; Milwaukee Brewers 1982-1984; Oakland Athletics 1985; California Angels 1985-1987; Los Angeles Dodgers 1988

World Series Appearances:  Los Angeles Dodgers 1974, 1977-1978, 1982
Died:  January 18, 2021, Rancho Mirage, CA (age 75)
Hall of Fame Induction:  1998

Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton starred for the Dodgers throughout the 1970s, appearing in four World Series with the club between 1974 and 1982.  Sutton began his career in the same pitching rotation as Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale (#400) in 1966, and ended his career in 1988 in a Dodgers' rotation including Orel Hershiser and Fernando Valenzuela.  He was a workhorse, rarely missing a start, and compiling 15 straight seasons with 200 or more innings pitched between 1966 and 1980, and then crossing the 200 innings pitched plateau for five more seasons between 1982 and 1986.  He finished in the top five for Cy Young Award voting each season between 1972 and 1976, winning at least 18 games in four of those seasons.  A four-time All-Star, he was the starting pitcher and MVP of the 1977 All-Star Game, pitching three scoreless innings and striking out four.  Sutton won an ERA title in 1980 with a 2.20 mark.

Sutton pitched in 23 seasons and earned a career mark of 324-256 with a 3.26 ERA and 3,574 career strikeouts.  He's currently 14th on the all-time wins leaderboard and 7th all-time in strikeouts.  Sutton's 58 career shutouts are currently 10th all-time.  He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998, with the Dodgers retiring his #20 that same year.  Sutton was a longtime television announcer, mostly with the Atlanta Braves, between 1989 and 2018.

Building the Set / Card #218
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)

In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania.  My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set.  That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon.  I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.

This is the 141st of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York.  My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside.  After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far.  With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298.  

The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards, with this card costing me around $3.50.  I was surprised to see this Sutton card in the binder of commons and minor stars, and even more surprised the card cost less than $4.  It was one of the three "priciest" cards acquired out of the lot of 193, along with the 1st Series Checklist (#57) and the World Series Game 6 card (#167), both of which also had a price tag of $4 before the dealer discount.  Seems as if this card should have been more expensive?

The Card / Dodgers Team Set / Accuracy Index +5

Sutton's photo was likely taken at the same time as the photo used for his 1967 Topps card, and this is one of an amazing 23 years of appearances by Sutton in Topps flagship sets.  On the back, Topps summarizes Sutton's professional career to date, including his successful minor league career and his 1966 National League Rookie Pitcher of the Year win, which may have been an honor bestowed by Topps?  There's no such award listed in his SABR biography, and he didn't place in the actual Rookie of the Year voting.

Topps created a variation of Sutton's 1969 Topps card for its 2003 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites set.

Accuracy Index:  Sutton's card scores a solid +5.

1969 Season
Claude Osteen (#528) and Bill Singer (#575) were both 20-game winners for the Dodgers in 1969, with Sutton going 17-18 with a 3.47 ERA.  The youngest of the three, Sutton made 41 starts and struck out 217 over 293 1/3 innings pitched.  His starts and innings pitched totals were both career highs.  He threw 11 complete games, including four shutouts.  He also tossed his first of five career one-hitters on May 1st, giving up an eighth-inning double to the Giants' Jim Davenport (#102).

1966 Topps #288

1973 Topps #10

1978 Topps #310

1984 Topps #35

1989 Topps Wax Box #N

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1966 Topps #288
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (23):  1966-1988
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2023 Topps Heritage 1974 Topps Stamps High Number #74S-61
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  745 in the Beckett online database as of 1/11/24.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia

National Baseball Hall of Fame
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database

#215 Rico Petrocelli - Boston Red Sox / #217 John Donaldson - Oakland Athletics