#521 Gary Geiger

And we are back to some high number series cards with Gary Geiger. Black replaced green on the reverse of these high numbers. Elsewhere it has been stated that the switch was done as part of Topps' efforts to gear up for the printing of their 1959 football cards. Sounds logical to me.

Gary Geiger was a standout player for Gorham high school in rural Illinois and was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1954. He began as a pitcher and, after a rough first year, was a twenty game winner in 1955. He was having some success as a reliever in '56 when the Cards decided that given their pitching depth and Geiger's bat, speed and continued control problems as a hurler that he would help them more as an outfielder. And so he was switched.

He struggled with his hitting at the AAA level in 1957 and the Cards ended up exposing him to the Rule 5 draft that winter. In an interesting twist it was Frank Lane who, as Cardinal's GM made the decision to risk losing Geiger....and it was the same Frank Lane who, having taken the same position with the Cleveland Indians, selected Geiger in that draft in his first act with his new club.

Geiger hit .231 as the fourth outfielder with the Indians in 1958, a year during which he had to remain on the big league roster or be returned to St. Louis. In winter ball later that year he injured his neck and came home to the states over Lane's objections. He was then traded to the Red Sox where he would play next to two Hall of Fame outfielders, Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski over the course of his seven seasons in Fenway.

Geiger turned out to be injury prone and had trouble putting full seasons together. But he had speed and some power and was even able to hit over .300 in 1960 playing in nearly half the games. But much more was expected of him given the talent he flashed and in the end the Sox let him get drafted away by the Braves where he spent two seasons. Geiger finished his career with a couple of years in Houston after spending 1968 in the minors.

In 1996 Geiger died of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of just 59. He had lived the last 20 years of his life battling alcoholism. His family says his issues were a result of his fear of flying. He used drink to calm his nerves and in the end the habit caught up with him.

Gieger's SABR bio is the 'go to' place for more insight on his interesting life and career. This obit from a local paper is a quicker but also interesting read. Lots of stories from his family and friends in that one.

This card and the other 'light green' card (the previously posted #545 Tom Morgan) in the high number series have a distinct 'lime green' look about them. It's certainly a different shade of light green than that which is seen on the lower series cards. For a comparison here are the Geiger and Dale Long cards scanned side by side. The difference seems more pronounced when viewing the cards in person but it is plain enough to see in the scans.

#371 Dick Brodowski

Only 30 cards remain in the 1959 Topps set after this one of Dick Bordowski is posted. There is one superstar's card, a couple of All Star cards and a bunch of the high number series cards remaining. If I can keep to my regular every-other-day posting habits I should complete the cards before Opening Day, which would be 55 years after the set was first issued.

New Jersey born right-hander Dick Bordowski signed with the Red Sox straight out of high school in 1951 and made an immediate splash in their minor league system with a 21-5 season at the 'D' level. He pitched well the next season at AAA and was rewarded with a June call-up to the Sox. He had one good, one OK and one bad outing right off the bat but when called upon to start late in the month he rewarded the Sox with a pair of complete game wins. He had a roller coaster season after that and ended up with a 5-5 record and an ERA of 4.40 with 12 starts over 20 appearances.

He was in the service for the next two years and interestingly he didn't pitch much even though he was a member of the Army's baseball team. Instead he played second base. He had originally been signed as a duel position player (inf/p) and over his career he was a good hitter. Bordowski was back with the Sox for the '55 season and was generally ineffective. He was traded to Washington in 1956 and the Indians in 1958. Over those four years after his Boston days he was up and down between the majors and minors every season.

After one poor outing in 1960 he was out of the game as a player. After baseball Bordowski worked as a salesman, an insurance agent and in security. The Baseball Historian blog has a neat interview with him. He's sharp, funny and has some interesting Ted Williams stories. The interview is here and it's worth a look.

#311 Norm Zauchin

Big Norm Zauchin, the pride of Royal Oak, Michigan once had a dream of starring for his hometown Detroit Falcons of the brief lived Basketball Association of America. But when that league folded he set his sights on his 'other' sport, baseball, and the Detroit Tigers. In 1948 he was promised a contract by well known Tiger scout Wish Egan. But Zauchin ended up waiting fruitlessly for Egan to follow-up and decided to strike a deal with the Boston Red Sox instead.

He climbed steadily up though the Sox chain as a power hitting first baseman and got a taste of the majors in 1951 before spending two years in the military. He returned to baseball in '54 with another year of seasoning and made the Sox in 1955. He took over the first base job a few weeks into the season and went on to hit 27 homers and drive in 93 runs. He managed to bat only .239 and led the A.L. in strike outs but overall he was impressive enough to garner Rookie of the Year votes, finishing third behind winner Herb Score and his teammate Billy Klaus.

Like Klaus, he has credited another service returnee, the great Ted Williams, with showing him how to be more selective and become a better hitter. On May 27 of the 1955 season Zauchin had his best game as a major leaguer going 4 for 5 with three dingers and a double and driving in 10 runs in a 16-0 bashing of the Senators. Despite all that Zauchin lost ground career-wise in the next few seasons.

He averaged about 100 plate appearances the next two seasons, suffered some injuries and was traded to the Senators before the '58 season. He had a hot start with the Nats but when his bat cooled off and he missed time with an injury his commitment to the club was questioned my manager Cookie Lavagetto. By the following May, probably by the time this card was issued, he had been sold to the Orioles' organization and he was soon out of the game.

Following his baseball days Zauchin was a pro bowler for awhile and managed a bowling center in Birmingham which had become his home during his minor league days. He died in 1999. His SABR bio is, as always, a good place to find his full story. He is a member of the Birmingham Barons Hall of Fame alongside the likes of Willie Mays, Rollie Fingers, Reggie Jackson and Pie Traynor.

His card shows him in his Senators home duds in Griffith Stadium.

#534 Faye Throneberry

Faye Throneberry, brother of Marv Throneberry whose card was featured earlier, had a very similar career to his younger brother. They had similar career lengths and not so dissimilar numbers when they were finished. And each finished his career with an expansion club.

Faye signed with the Boston Red Sox in 1950 and put together respectable stats in the minors before debuting with the BoSox in 1952. Ted Williams' U.S. Marine stint opened some playing opportunities in the Red Sox' outfield that season. He had over 300 at bats and hit .258 in nearly 100 games. Uncle Sam came calling in December and Faye served two seasons in the military. When he returned to Boston he was used sparingly for a couple of seasons before being traded to the Senators in late April of 1957. With the Nats he experienced his best season when, in 1959, he hit .251 but had career highs with 10 homers and 42 RBI in 117 games.

He had about half as many at bats in 1960 and that December he was acquired by the fledgling Los Angeles Angels after the draft ended. He served mostly as a pinch-hitter for the Halos before he was farmed out in July and after another year plus a few games in the minors he retired.

After his playing days Faye Throneberry became  successful professional bird dog trainer in Tennessee. Details, of course, are provided in his SABR bio.

Griffith Stadium provides the backdrop for this card on a day the Senators hosted the Yankees.

#168 Carroll Hardy

For a guy who only had one real season as a full time player in the majors Carroll Hardy accomplished quite a bit on various athletic fields (and off the field as well).

1) He was All Big 7 Conference in football and baseball at the University of Colorado in the early 50s and also lettered in track. He was named to the CU all-time football team, is the schools all time batting average leader, earned a total of ten varsity letters and is a member of the Buffs' Hall of Fame.

2) He was a third round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in 1955 and played one year catching 12 passes from Y.A. Title, four for touchdowns. He went back to his first love, baseball, after that one season.

3) While with the Boston Red Sox in September of 1960 he became the only player to ever pinch hit for Ted Williams. The story behind that at-bat is a good read on this Boston.com page. He also pinch hit for Carl Yastrzemski and Roger Maris during his career. Hardy hit his first major league homer in that at-bat.

4) He spent most of 1965 through 1968 toiling in the minors but after his baseball days he went to work for the Denver Broncos and, as a player personnel executive, helped shape the famous Orange Crush defense.

All in all Hardy played for four clubs after being signed by the Cleveland Indians in 1955. He only hit .225 for his career that consisted of eight seasons, but he sure has a few stories to tell. 

Oh, he also looks like Chuck Connors. Well, sort of.

#7 Al Pilarcik

Al Pilarcik is yet another player who spent time in the minors then did military duty before being dealt to a second organization with whom he made his major league debut.

Pilarcik, an Indiana boy, was signed by the Yankees in 1948. He spent four years in their system then went to Korea for the '53-'54 seasons. Upon his return the talent-rich Yanks traded him to Kansas City and he debuted with the A's in July of that year. After the season he was traded to the Orioles and he spent four season in Baltimore.

He was a starting outfielder for the Orioles for much of that time, hitting a career high .282 in 1959. It was in the 1960 season that he got a 'brush with greatness' when he caught the flyball that Ted Williams hit in his next to last at bat (Ted's final out) and was in rightfield when Williams homered over his head in his final at bat before retiring. 

Pilarcik spent the 1961 season back with the A's and then the White Sox before retiring himself. He earned a masters from Purdue University and taught and coached for the next 31 years. Al Pilarcik died in 2001. He's a member of the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame.

You can catch a brief (and I do mean brief) view of Al Pilarcik as the Ted Williams homer sails over his head and into the Sox bullpen.

                             

#248 Boston Red Sox team

Take a look at the front of this Red Sox team card. Look closely at the top row, guy at the right end of that row. Yup, Ted Williams. Whats special about that is that he had signed a contract with Fleer for 1959 and they put out a complete set of Ted Williams cards. So this is all you'll see of The Splendid Splinter in the '59 set (unless he shows up in the background of another card someplace).

Here is what appears to be the original print from which this Topps card was produced. I've highlighted Ted's head, pun intended.

This is the first of the 16 team cards to be posted from the 1959 set. The 1959 Boston Red Sox finished fifth in the A.L. going 75-79 under three different managers. They were at or above the A.L. average in most hitting categories except batting average and at or below average in most pitching categories. Williams had a lousy year, hitting in the .250s with just 10 homers. his lowest complete season total. but he wasn't completely washed up. He bounced back for one more good season in 1960 and retired to concentrate on fishing, hunting and later managing the Washington Senators.

As with most of the team/checklist cards in my '59 set, the front looks somewhat better than the back. I don't remember actually marking the checklists but apparently a lot of collectors did because it seems like most of the ones I come across are marked. This gem even has a huge ass check on the back. Maybe the kid put that mark there when he completed the series. In this case it's the 3rd series.