#40 Warren Spahn

Noting perks up a blogger in a rut like posting a card of a superstar, particularly one of the blogger's favorites. So I'm really happy to present the regular issue card of Warren Spahn!

A native of Buffalo, N.Y., Spahn was signed in 1940 and came to the majors with Boston in 1942. The Bees' manager at that time, Casey Stengel, questioned the young Spahn's 'guts' when he refused to throw at the Dodgers' Pee Wee Reese. After spending three years in the military serving in Europe during World War II (and receiving a Purple Heart among other decorations), Spahn returned to the majors in 1942 after Stengel had been fired. He stayed for two decades and finished a remarkable run with the Braves with a final season split between the Giants and Mets in 1965.

He became the winningest left handed pitcher in the history of baseball (and fifth over-all) with 363 victories. He could likely have had 400 had he pitched during the three years he had served but Spahn said he 'matured' in the service and it helped him in his career.

Some highlights as listed on his Baseball Reference Bullpen page:

• 14-time NL All-Star (1947, 1949-1954, 1956-1959 & 1961-1963)
• ML Cy Young Award Winner (1957)
• 3-time NL ERA Leader (1947, 1953 & 1961)
• 8-time NL Wins Leader (1949, 1950, 1953 & 1957-1961)
• NL Winning Percentage Leader (1958)
• 4-time NL Innings Pitched Leader (1947, 1949, 1958 & 1959)
• 4-time NL Strikeouts Leader (1949-1952)
• 9-time NL Complete Games Leader (1949, 1951 & 1957-1963)
• 4-time NL Shutouts Leader (1947, 1951, 1959 & 1961)
• 15 Win Seasons: 16 (1947-1951 & 1953-1963)
• 20 Win Seasons: 13 (1947, 1949-1951, 1953, 1954, 1956-1961 & 1963)
• 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 17 (1947-1963)
• 300 Innings Pitched Seasons: 2 (1949 & 1951)
• Won a World Series with the Milwaukee Braves in 1957
• Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1973

There are many places to read about Spahn on the web including his Hall of Fame page, NY Times obit, and his SABR entry. If nothing else read this Sports Illustrated article that is an adaptation of a book which chronicles the epic 16 inning(!) pitching duel between Spahn and Juan Marichal on July 2, 1963. Great stuff!

Here is a newsreel video of Spahn's 300th win. Good Stuff!

And don't miss this commercial he did for Post Grape Nuts and his endorsed practice bat and ball offer.

And in parting I'll leave you with what has to be one of the best Sports Illustrated covers, ever!

Behold the magnificence of Warren Edward Spahn, circa 1956.

#42 Murray Wall

Dallas native Murray Wall was a standout at the University of Texas, twice being named and All American pitcher and helping the Longhorns to a pair of national titles. Signed by the Boston Braves in 1950 he actually made an appearance for the Bees that summer.But then it was off to the minors for the righthander. He spent six seasons as a starter working his way back to the majors having been traded to the Giants and then sold to the Red Sox with whom he re-emerged in 1957 as a reliever.

In 1958 he pitched in 52 games (2nd most in the A.L.) with 8 wins and 10 saves out of the pen. The Red Sox traded Wall to the Senators in June of 1959 in a deal that sent Dick Hyde to the Sox. He pitched once for the Nats before being returned to the Red Sox when the trade as voided due to a sore arm that Hyde had been enduring.

After '59 Wall never returned to the majors, spending some time in the Reds and Angels organizations and then retiring. He then went into the banking business in Dallas. Sadly he died of a self inflicted gunshot wound in 1971 at the age of 45.

One of my favorite cartoons graces the back of this card, Wall snaps away at a demonstrative ump. The photo, of course, was taken at Yankee Stadium.

#553 Orlando Cepeda The Sporting News All Star

Can't blame The Sporting News and Topps for putting the up and coming Orlando Cepeda on the NL All Star card. He's a logical choice coming off his impressive rookie season of 1958. And unlike a couple of players in this subset (Wes Covington comes to mind) Cepeda actually made the '59 All Star team. He started the first of the two ASGs held that summer going 0-4 but he can say that he started while Stan Musial and Frank Robinson, both selected as first basemen, sat and watched. Cepeda did not play in the second of those games a month later.

He played on eight All Star teams in all. won the ROY as mentioned, an MVP trophy (1967), a World Series ring (also 1967, with St. Louis) and a Hall of Fame plaque. Not a bad career I'd say.

His regular card in this set is a nice one and while I'm not crazy about the design of these All Star cards this one gets points for a nice posed shot taken at Seals Stadium. I don't know why Topps didn't use this same 'show the background inside the frame' design on the team and special multi-player cards in '59. Or have you heard me gripe about that before?

#37 Gene Green

Gene Green signed as an outfielder with the Cardinals in 1952 and spent six productive seasons in their system before his brief 1957 debut. Along the way he had learned to use the 'tools of ignorance' and in his big league career he split time between catching and rightfield.

In 1958 Green had the most at bats of his career when he got into 137 games hitting .281 to go with 13 homers and 55 RBI. Back in the minors for the bulk of the next two seasons he did appear in one game for the Orioles in 1960 after coming over in a trade. He was selected by the Senators in the expansion draft after that year and played quite a bit for the first year club in 1961. His stat line read 18/62/.280 in 110 games. He also led the league in double plays....grounded into. He had done that in 1958 for the Cards as well. That makes him one of the few to complete that dubious, well... double play. A very quick peek at Baseball Reference shows that Miguel Tejada also accomplished this feat.

Green carried his gloves to Cleveland and Cincinnati for a couple final seasons, doing a lot of pinch hitting, and retired after 1963. He died in 1981 at the age of 47.

Pink card with a shot taken in the Polo Grounds. Decent shape, too.

#340 Roy Sievers

First I need to apologize for giving Roy Sievers the brush-off when I posted his Baseball Thrills card from this set two years ago. That done I'll now try to give his his due with his regular card up in the queue. Fair enough?

In 1947 Sievers signed with his hometown St. Louis Browns and spent two very productive seasons in the minors before an auspicious debut with the Browns in 1949. His 16/91/.306 stat line earned him Rookie of the Year honors and he seemed on his way to stardom in the Gateway City. But it wasn't to be all roses for him. He struggled at the plate and with injuries before he re-established himself, at least to a point, in 1953.

He came oh-so close to being a Baltimore Oriole but he was dealt to the Washington Senators just a few months before the Browns transformed themselves into the Birds in 1954. That trade, btw, although almost understandable at the time (Sievers didn't appear to be capable of recapturing his rookie form), turned out to be a boon for Sievers and a bust for the Orioles.

He became the face of the Senators' franchise while the player sent to the Orioles, Gil Coan, never contributed much in his years' worth of games for Baltimore. Sievers meanwhile flashed the power he had showed in the minors and had six straight seasons for the Nats with 20+ dingers including a league leading 42 in 1957. He also led the league in RBI that year with 114. In his run with the Nats from '54 through '59 he had 176 homers and 565 RBI.

But he wasn't through. Traded to the White Sox in 1960 he put together two more 25+ homer/90+ RBI seasons. He moved over to the Phillies for three seasons and, until his numbers slid in 1964, had a nice run with them as well.

In July of 1964 Sievers was brought back to Washington and played for the expansion Senators until he was released in early 1965. In all he played on four All Star squads and finished in the Top Ten in MVP votes three times. After his playing days he coached for the Reds and managed in the minors before leaving the game to work for Yellow freight. A nice fan page has more on Roy Sievers including stories and quotes.

As you can see from this page Sievers is still active and making appearances.  Looks to be Washington's Griffith Stadium in the background. And the home Nats uni doesn't look airbrushed. Always nice to see a photo taken someplace besides Yankee Stadium.

Roy Sievers appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in May of 1958.

#224 Claude Osteen

Yup, it's 'Gomer'. Claude Osteen got that nickname because folks thought he resembled TV character Gomer Pyle, played by Jim Nabors. I don't know about that but I do know that for me Osteen was, and always will be, associated with the Dodgers.

Osteen signed with the Reds in 1957 and after a few appearances with their minor league team in Nashville (he was a Tennessee native, btw) found himself pitching with the Reds that very year. He pitched four innings  at the tender age of 17.

He spent 1958 and most of '59 back in the minors.  He got into 20 games in 1960 with the big club and then spent most of 1961 down on the farm before being dealt to the Senators. Beginning in 1962, at the still young age of 22, he grabbed himself a spot in the Nats' rotation and held it for three seasons. He won 33 games (15 in 1964) and posted a 3.46 ERA for some lousy Nats clubs.

Traded to the Dodgers for 1965 in a deal that sent Frank Howard to Washington Osteen established himself  as a workhorse in their rotation as he started 335 games in nine seasons and both won and lost in double digits each season. He twice won 20 games and made three All Star squads. He pitched in both the 1965 and 1966 World Series going 1-2 and winning a championship ring.

He spent '74 with the Astros and Cards and 1975 with the White Sox before calling it a career. After his playing days Osteen served in several coaching capacities and currently lives in Arlington, Texas.

As always some good stuff can be found at SABR and this article from a local Tennessee paper tells some of his story in his own words. Although he pitched in the shadows of more famed teammates like Koufax, Drysdale and Sutton, Claude Osteen had a career he can be proud of.

#196 Billy Moran

Second-baseman Billy Moran played seven seasons in the bigs and had his best seasons with the fledgling Los Angeles Angels in 1962 and '63. In those two campaigns, his only two as a full time starter, Moran hit .282 and .275 and made the AL All Star squad in '62. He led the league in multiple fielding categories those years as well.
He began his career (and ended it as well) with the Indians. He didn't get many opportunities with Cleveland during either stint with the club, a fact he discussed with Tom Owens in an entry on the fun Baseball by the Letters blog. Check it out.
Kind of a neat card. I like seeing the three decks of Yankee Stadium behind Moran. Reminds me of my many trips there. And Moran is showing off the Indians stirrups which were classic. Behind Moran we can see the Indians' #32 which would be either Chuck Churn or Morrie Martin depending on when this shot was taken in 1958.