#414 Dale Long

What a great baseball card. I love the perspective that makes Dale Long's bat loom into the foreground. The sig balancing Long's body, the fence behind him, the pale green border. It's one of my favorite cards profiled so far.

Dale Long probably went through several sets of luggage during his career. He played for six clubs and in the system of two others. In 1944 he played for Casey Stengel as a member of the minor league independent Milwaukee Brewers. He was property of the Reds, Red Sox, Tigers, and Yankees before he made his big league debut with the horrid 1951 Pirates. He was dealt to the equally horrid St Louis Browns mid-season.

Seems that Long was a 'bat for hire'  as he spent time with the Pirates (again), the Cubs, Giants, Yankees (again) the Senators and the Yankees (one more time).

Along the way he carved out a place in baseball lore by hitting homers in eight consecutive games (Don Mattingly has since equaled that) in 1956 and becoming one of the major's last left-handed catchers when he played for the Cubs in 1957.

1956 was Longs best season as he knocked out 27 homers and 91 RBIs. He played in a couple of World Series for the Yanks and got a ring in 1962. He retired after some final minor league duty in 1964 and went on to umpire in the minors. He served as a minor league executive as well.

#535 Ruben Gomez

When you are known in your native land as "El divino loco (the divine fool)" as Ruben Gomez was in his native Puerto Rico, it says something about you. And it's probably not good. But according to his Baseball Reference Bullpen page Gomez was loved there. 

He likely had a reputation there much like the one he cultivated here in the States, an erratic beanballer. Googling Gomez turned up stories of him nailing Carl Furillo and Joe Adcock with both encounters turning ugly. Also mentions is a beanball war with Sam Jones of the Cardinals in 1957 and his KO of Frank Robinson that ended with Robby in a hospital bed. 

Then there was this much ballyhoo'd squabble he had with stateside teammate Willie Mays when the two were also together  members of the Santurce Crabbers in winter ball. 

(Sidebar of Irony: Frank Robinson managed the Santurce club to a couple of championships during the early 80's.)

Anyhow, when Gomez wasn't denting heads or dusting chins he was winning 71 games for the Giants between 1953 and 1958. He led the league in walks once and finished as high as second in hit-batsmen twice. He was traded to the Phillies for 1959 but by then his career was winding down, at least in the USA. He pitched several seasons in Mexico after some 1962 looks with the Indians and Twins. He reappeared in 1967 to pitch 7 times for the Phils and was, at that point, the oldest player in the NL. 

Topps was kind enough to airbrush Gomez into Phillie duds for this card. They even added pinstripes. It's a high number and in about average condition for my cards of that series. They cost more to upgrade than I'm willing to spend for the most part. This one will do just fine.

#481 Charlie Maxwell

Charlie Maxwell, a.k.a. "Paw Paw" (he was from Paw Paw, Michigan which honored him in 2010) was known as a clutch hitter who was especially dangerous on Sundays.

Maxwell was originally signed by the Red Sox in 1947 and bounced around their minor league chain, making three limited appearances with the big club, though 1953. He spent the '54 season in Boston, was purchased by the Orioles for the '55 season, made four pinch hitting attempts for the Birds and was sold to the Tigers in May of that year.

He came into his own with the Tigers and played was a solid left fielder there for the better part of eight years. He made a couple of All Star squads and even garnered a few MVP votes here and there. He hit .326 in 1956 to go along with 28 dingers and 87 RBI. He topped that power output with career high homer (31) and RBI (95) totals in 1959. He holds the major league record for extra inning homers in a season. He had five of those in 1960.

In Maxwell's best day at the plate he hit four homers in consecutive at bats in a doubleheader against the Yankees at Briggs Stadium. It was a Sunday doubleheader. Not long after Maxwell was traded to the White Sox in 1962 I was at Yankee Stadium to see him hit three homers in a doubleheader against the Yankees. I remember my Dad, lifelong Yankee fan that he was, being none too thrilled. And yes, it was a Sunday!

My '59 Maxwell card is obviously miscut. Seriously obviously miscut. But it's got Smokey The Bear on the back. 'Smokey' was Maxwell's other nickname. So it's cool.

#147 Cubs' Clubbers

Here we have Dale Long and Walt Moryn, a couple of Cubs who were coming off nice seasons but, while not quite at the end of their careers, could see it from where they were standing. Both had very respectable numbers, hitting over 100 big league dingers and batting around .266.

Dale Long's '59 card is cued up for posting. Walt Moran has one as well. Both are much better cards than this spot filling 'special'. I wish Topps had carried their design for the regular cards through to these specials. Have the circle show the background instead of cropping the players (poorly) onto a color background.

Oh, the other guy on this card? The one in the middle? I've seen him somewhere recently I think.

#139 Ed Sadowski The Sporting News Rookie Star

The back of Ed Sadowski's Rookie Stars card claims he'd be fighting for the regular catcher's job with the Red Sox. Fact is that Ed didn't get that chance and was in the minors in 1959. He made the Sox roster in 1960, got about 100 plate appearances, had more minor league time and was lost to the fledgling Los Angeles Angels in the expansion draft for the '61 season. 

The Pittsburgh native spent three years as a part timer with the Angels, revisited the buses in the minors, was traded to the Braves and finally finished up with a 1966 'cup of coffee' in Atlanta in 1966. 

Ed comes from a baseball family. His two brothers, Bob and Ted, were major leaguers in the '60s and his nephew, Jim played for the Pirates in 1974.

Topps did Ed Sadowski no favors with the way they cropped his photo for the '59 card. Looks like they airbrushed his hat, and chopped the side of his head. Makes him look like Frankenstein. They reused the picture for his 1960 card. This time they used the background (is that a minor league park?). 

He's half the catching duo on the 1964 'Angel Backstop' card. There is a certain charm to a pair of squatting catchers, and Bob 'Buck' Rodgers had a nice career as an Angel player, manager and broadcaster. But Ed Sadowski was back in the minors when this card was issued and never appeared in an Angel uni again.

#167 Duke Maas

Ring...ring...ring..."Good Morning, Kansas City Athletics, Mr. Selkirk's office. How can I help you?"

"Hello, Marge? George Weiss of the Yankees here. Is Selkirk in?"

"No, Mr. Weiss, but he told me to give you anything you wanted, just like he always does."

"Sounds great, Marge, we need a pitcher or two. Send me Duke Maas."

"Sure thing Mr. Weiss. Would you like Virgil Trucks, too? I just saw him walk past."

"Sounds good, Marge. I'll send something your way. Won't be much but they'll be breathing, probably. My best to Ol' Selkirk. Always nice ripping...err...doing business with the A's!"

"Bye, Mr. Weiss, call again when the Yanks need something. We're here to serve" ...click...

And so it went through the 50's.The Yanks needed to fill a hole, the A's obliged. In 1958 it was Duke Maas.  He was coming off a couple of double digit win seasons for the Tigers, had settled in with some nice numbers for the punch-less A's and then, bingo, off he went to the Yanks to help them in their drive to the American League pennant in 1958. 

Actually I thought Duke Maas had a really reat name. And any card that shows off the various decks of Yankee Stadium (including my frequent upper deck perch) qualifies as cool. That's Jerry Lumpe (#11) in the background waiting for his BP cuts. (Lumpe rode the KC/NY Express the other way when the Yanks brought over Hector Lopez and Ralph Terry in 1959.)

After minor league and military duty (in Korea) Maas broke in with the Tigers in 1954. He was dealt to KC in '58 and ended up on the Yanks. He pitched in two World Series with New York.

His best year, at least record-wise, came in 1959 with the Yanks when he went 14-8. He was drafted by the Angels in the December 1960 expansion draft but traded back to the Yanks for the '61 season which he spent nearly all of in the minors before he hung it up.

Duane Fredrick "Duke" Maas died in 1976 at the young age of 47. 

#306 Jim Gilliam

Jim 'Junior' Gilliam peers out of a pink framed '59 Topps in a picture taken during the Dodgers' first year on the West Coast. Gilliam was a Tennessee native who, after some semi-pro and Negro 'minor' league experience,  began his major pro career with the Baltimore Elite Giants in 1948. He played three seasons in Charm City, learning to switch hit, and making the All Star squad each time. Prior to the 1950 season Gilliam had been given a 'look' by the Cubs but he returned to the Elite Giants.

The young infielder was purchased by the Dodgers and played in Montreal for a couple of years putting up numbers that are very much like those he'd post with the Dodgers. He debuted with the Dodgers in Brooklyn in 1953 and promptly made his presence felt. 

Phil Gurnee of True Blue L.A. list some of Gilliam's highlights:

•     Won NL Rookie of the Year and Sporting News Rookie of the Year 1953
•     Led the league in triples and scored 125 runs that same year
•     scored over 100 runs in each of his first 4 years
•     batted .300 and made the All-Star team in 1956
•     led the NL in putouts and fielding percentage in 1957
•     led the NL in walks and again was an All-Star in that year

Gilliam was part of the Boys of Summer era and also the pitching strong Dodger clubs following their move to L.A. Gilliam went on to play on 7 National League champion teams and won four World Series rings. He played with the Dodgers until his retirement after the 1966 season. He had made two All Star teams and twice was among the top six in MVP voting. He coached for the Dodgers following his playing career using the experience he gained while serving as a player/coach in the final active years of his career. In all Junior Gilliam spent half his life in a Dodger uniform. 

I just can't do justice to Junior Gilliam in a hurried blog post. There are some 'must reads' for anyone with an interest in his career both here on the SABR site and here in an ESPN feature..

From that ESPN site I loved this excerpt from a column by the great Jim Murray:

 ... You might say Jim is with the Dodgers but not of them. The distinction is important. He starts every season in the dugout. He sleeps every night with his bag packed at his feet and rumors of a trade swirling around in his dreams. He lives his life in a kind of limbo midway between the Dodgers and the rest of the National League. 
Then the season starts and some "phenom" begins to leak at the seams, the stuffing oozing out of him at every trip to the plate. The manager sets a hysterical search amid the bat bags, locker room towels and press clippings of his wunderkind — and there sits Jim Gilliam, waiting. ... 
When the Dodgers came to L.A., they brought Jim along with all the enthusiasm of a man asking his mother-in-law on the honeymoon. They had a hot-shot third baseman named Dick Gray, and began to offer Gilliam around like a claiming horse until Gray began to leak like a sieve in the field and strike out on balls the catcher couldn't get his glove on. 
Gilliam became a third baseman and the Dodgers became World Champions ...

The full column is found here in the LA Times historical city blog.  Other notable facts on Junior Gilliam.... He's the only Dodger to have his number retired who is not a Hall of Famer. He hit two homers in the '53 World Series even though he wasn't known for power. His favorite baseball card color was pink. (OK, that's bullshit)

His son Darryl played briefly in the Dodger minor league system in the mid 80s. Here is an LA Times interview with Darryl.