#482 Russ Meyer

Ol' Russ Meyer looks benign in this, his last Topps card. But in his heyday he had a reputation for being more than just slightly 'off the wall'. He had issues with anger and an inability to keep himself out of trouble. Not legal trouble but, well, 'baseball trouble'. I mean his nickname was the 'Mad Monk'... and he got it as a schoolboy so that should tell you a little about him.

Pitching in his hometown of Peru, Illinois Meyer attracted scouts and he signed with his 'close to home' club, the White Sox, in 1942. After a season in the minors he was called to military duty and ended up on a service baseball team. He collapsed on the mound during one outing and was diagnosed with a burst appendix. Complications kept him in the hospital for months and got him a medical discharge.

Returning to civilian ball Meyer signed with the Cubs (apparently the White Sox had not listed his absence correctly) and moved up through their chain as a starter/reliever and got a quick big league look in 1946. That was enough to earn him a spot on the club in 1947 and he spent two years in the North Side winning 10 games in '48 after being given a spot in the rotation.

He was sold to the Phils after that and he won 47 games in four years including a 17-9 year in 1949. He pitched briefly in two games in the 1950 Series against that Yankees. He took the loss in Game Three when, after entering a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the ninth, he got two quick outs before allowing three straight hits and the Yanks' winning run.

Meyer was involved in a complicated four team deal prior to the 1953 season and found himself in Brooklyn pitching for the Dodgers. His antics no doubt amused the fun loving Brooklyn fans. From his SABR bio:

[Robin] Roberts in his autobiography recalled an incident in 1953, after the Phillies traded Meyer to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Pitching against the Phillies in Connie Mack Stadium, Meyer walked Richie Ashburn with the bases loaded, forcing in the go-ahead run. Meyer charged off the mound to protest to umpire Augie Donatelli. Meyer’s language got him ejected by Donatelli. But he returned to the mound and just refused to leave until manager Charlie Dressen came out to get him. Finally Russ stomped off the mound. As he stomped off the mound he flipped the rosin bag into the air with disgust. The rosin bag flew 30 feet in the air and came down directly on Meyer’s head. White powder flew everywhere, and even Monk had to laugh a little, Roberts said.Monk wasn’t through, however. When he got to the dugout, Roberts said, he yelled at Donatelli and grabbed his crotch. Unfortunately, the game was the television Game of the Week, and a camera in the dugout caught the whole episode and displayed it to the nation. The network switchboard lit up like a Christmas tree. For about the next ten years baseball had a “Meyer” Rule that forbade cameras in the dugout. And Meyer was fined and suspended for three days, one of at least three suspensions he received during his career.

With the Bums Meyer went 26-11 over his first two seasons but his other numbers don't look as impressive and the strong Brooklyn teams helped that win total. He won and lost World Series' with Brooklyn. In the '55 series he entered Game Five with the bases loaded in the third and promptly gave up a grand slam to Mickey Mantle.

Fresh off the '55 Series win he was traded to the Cubs and spent the next few seasons bouncing around the majors with three teams and had a minor league stint before leaving the game and not pitching in 1958. Meyer returned to pitch for the A's in 1959 and he is airbrushed into their cap for this card. He was released in July of that year after 18 appearances.

He went on to coach for the Yankees in their minor league system and for a season as bench coach. He retired in 1992 to operate a bowling alley.

His N. Y. Times obit (he died in 1997) contains this interesting tidbit:

In June 1981, Meyer returned to Brooklyn with his former teammates Carl Erskine and Sandy Amoros to promote a quest to bring the Dodgers back from Los Angeles. But in renewing old times, he lost his treasured rewards from his Dodger days: He was held up at gunpoint and had his 1953 and 1955 Dodger World Series rings stolen. At least it did not happen in Brooklyn -- the scene of the crime was Lexington Avenue and East 25th Street.

Meyer's SABR bio is, as you might expect, an interesting read.

Dodger history fans might enjoy this photo archive site I stumbled across while looking for Meyer facts. Here is one photo and the text that accompanies it:

Close-up of manager and pitcher conferring, apparently on pitcher's mound, with manager pointing finger at pitcher's chest. Caption on verso: "Temper, Temper: Russ Meyer, left, newest Dodger and explosive right-handed pitcher, gets the word to straighten up and fly right from manager Charley Dresses at Vero Beach (Fla.), training camp."

#412 Stan Lopata

That crouch that Stan Lopata is in on this card's picture isn't just a random pose. Lopata used that stance to become a better hitter after some advice from legendary hitter Rogers Hornsby. The story as relayed to us in Lopata's obituary:

When a baseball legend like Rogers Hornsby gave a hitter advice, he'd be wise to take it.
Stan Lopata, something of a legend himself as a Phillies catcher in the '50s, was having problems at the plate in 1954 when he and outfielder Johnny Wyrostek ran into Hornsby during a road trip.
Referring to Lopata, Wyrostek asked Hornsby, "What do you think about this kid?"
The Hall of Fame infielder (.358 career batting average, 2,930 hits), said that he had seen Lopata on TV and that he missed the ball too many times.
"He said you should get a piece of the ball every time you swing the bat - not necessarily a base hit, but get a piece of it," Lopata said.
Stan took the advice to heart and worked on his stance, getting lower and lower, until he developed his famous crouch, and he concentrated on getting a piece of the ball.
As a result, Stan Lopata became one of the best power-hitting catchers in the National League in the mid-'50s.

And so it was that Lopata was able to emerge from behind Andy Semminick and Smokey Burgess to become the Phil's #1 catcher during the 1955 season. His time as a Phillie stretched from 1948 through 1958 but he had just a three year run as a starter. But he made the most of it. He made the NL All Star squads in '55 and '56. That '56 season was clearly his best as he had 32 homers and 95 RBI. Injuries marred his '57 season and he was back to having a reserve role in 1958.

Lopata, a native of the Detroit area, had originally signed with the Phils in 1946. That was following a military stint during World War II that saw him receive a Bronze Star and Purple Heart earned while serving in Marseilles, France. Once back home he played three seasons in the minors, got a short look in 1948 and then getting some significant time as a reserve in 1949 and 1950. That later edition of the Phils was the 'Whiz Kids' club that took the NL pennant. Lopata got one at bat in the Series against the Yanks. With two out in the ninth he struck out while pinch hitting for Robin Roberts in Game Four and thus ended the Series as the Yanks swept the Phils.

Lopata was in the minors for much of the next season but in '52 he was up to stay. The card-back notes that he was traded to the Braves in March of 1959. He played sparingly for the Braves for two seasons while mixing in some time back in the minors and retired after the 1960 season.

After his playing days Lopata worked for IBM in the Detroit area and then in the concrete business in Philadelphia. He died this past summer and his death reduced the number of living members of that '50 Whiz Kid club to four. Lopata's SABR bio is chock full of stories from his career. Interesting to note that he was the first catcher to wear glasses. The stadium lights bothered him with their glare so he adopted tinted glasses.

That's a Connie Mack Stadium shot on this card. Love the seafoam green frame with the red of the stadium and Lopata's uniform. This is one of my favorite cards in the set. And here are a couple of pix I found on the 'net that show his exaggerated crouch and his tinted glasses (which can be seen on his '57 Topps)..

#379 Bob Miller

There have been four guys named 'Bob Miller' to play in the big leagues, all of them pitchers and three of them nearly pitched in the bigs at the same time. Our featured Bob Miller, the only one to appear on a '59 Topps, was a member of the 'Whiz Kids' Phillies club of 1950. That was his first full season in the majors and he won 11 games as he finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting. Late that season, after beginning the year 8-0, Miller hurt his back and his effectiveness diminished.

He started (and lost) the fourth and final game of the World Series. In that game he allowed two runs (just one earned) on a pair of hits and a wild pitch. A game opening error contributed to his demise. With the Phils facing elimination he was on a very short leash that day.

His back woes continued to plague him into 1951 and in fact he was never able to match that rookie year. He spent 1952 in the minors and then returned to the Phillies and pitched through 1958, pitching primarily as a starter for a couple of years before moving to the bullpen. On August 9, 1953 Miller tossed a six hit shutout and had four hits of his own in a 7-0 win over the Cubs.

He finished his career with a 42-42 mark and a 3,96 ERA. He had been signed out of the University of Detroit by the Phils and he had served (and pitched) in the Army before his pro career began. After his playing days he went back to coach his old team at the University of Detroit for 39 years and worked in the insurance business. A very nice interview with Bob Miller appeared last summer on MLB.com.

He's pictured on this card as a Cardinal but he was only a member of that club for a short time and he never pitched for them. Late in 1958 he was sent to St. Louis in a conditional deal but the Cards returned him to the Phils the following April. He pitched in the minors very briefly that year before hanging up his glove. Topps re-used a picture of Miller that had been around for awhile and just airbrushed in a St. Louis cap logo.

Here are some of the cards of Miller that used that same photo:

1950 Bowman

1952 Topps

1958 Topps

#255 Del Ennis

Now THAT'S an airbrush job! And not a very good one at that. Del Ennis played just five games for the Reds in 1959 after being acquired from the Cards after the 1958 season and he was dealt off to the White Sox in early May.

Ennis made his name in Philadelphia playing with the Phillies for eleven very productive seasons. He was a hometown boy, signed in 1943. After a season in the minors and a bit over two years in the military Ennis debuted late in April of 1946. His 17/73/.313 line earned him Top Ten MVP votes and he made the All Star squad. 1946 was a year before The Sporting News began their Rookie of the Year awards but he surely would have garnered some consideration. The Baseball Writers voted him the honor although what we think of as the R-O-Y was not yet recognized.

He went on to be an integral part of the "Whiz Kids" who won the NL pennant in 1950. Ennis led the National League with 126 RBI that season and he was fourth in the NL with a batting average of .311, and fifth with 31 home runs. He finished fourth in the MVP balloting. 

But Philadelphia, being Philadelphia, never really warmed up to the big hitting native son. A smart philly.com article discusses this phenomenon and another one makes the case for giving Ennis his due. A Google search turned up well written entries that name him as one of the most underrated Philly athletes of all time and one that puts him at #16 on the list of 100 Greatest Phillies.

In Phillies history Ennis ranks 3rd in Home Runs, 3rd in RBIs, 4th in hits, 3rd in total bases, 7th in doubles, 5th in games played, 9th in runs scored. Makes you wonder why he was never really appreciated in his hometown.

He co-owned a bowling center, Del Ennis Lanes, for 33 years before he closed it in 1991.