#68 Dick Schofield

The first of a three generation baseball family, Dick 'Ducky' Schofield began his baseball life as a 'bonus baby' with the St. Louis Cardinals and as such spent the 1953 and 1954 seasons languishing on the Cards' bench. After playing most of the next two seasons in the minors Schofield became the Cards utility infielder before being dealt to the Pirates in 1958.

He played a key role in the Bucs' 1960 pennant run when he filled in admirably for  Dick Groat at shortstop in September after the soon-to-be MVP was sidelined with a broken wrist. Schofield hit .400 in his sub role but with Groat back for the World Series Schofield was back to being a bench rider. He did get a championship ring for his troubles, though. His .333 average for the year, even as a part timer, was easily his best ever.

He was handed the full time shortstop job for a couple of seasons in Pittsburgh and hit .246 in both '63 and '64. He was dealt to the Giants in 1965 and started most of that season as well. After that he was shuffled around the majors never again playing full time. After runs with the Dodgers, Yanks, Red Sox and twice more with the Cardinals he ended his career with the Brewers in 1971.

His son, also named Dick Schofield, had a long career in the 80s and 90s, mostly with the Angels. Grandson Jason Werth is a current Washington National.

Interesting interview with Ducky Schofield appeared in a St. Louis paper a few years back. Schofield has some strong opinions on the game today and the article explains the intricate Schofield/Werth family tree which is chock full of athletes and athletic accomplishments. His granddaughter played volleyball for the Nebraska Cornhuskers and was a team standout.

This is a Seals Stadium shot. And it has a pink frame. I like action cards, even the 'posed' action cards. Seems like I've had a ton of portrait cards lately.

#241 Billy Muffett

Billy Muffett's mark on the game wasn't made during his long minor league career or even his six seasons (or parts thereof) in the majors. Muffett was far more accomplished as a major league pitching coach than he was as a hard throwing but control challenged righty.
Signed by the Cubs in 1955 after a few seasons of independent minor league baseball and a couple of years in the service, Muffett was traded and debuted with the Cardinals in August of 1957. He had perhaps his best string of major league pitching that season but he also suffered his most inglorious moment when he allowed a homer to Hank Aaron in the bottom of the 11th in Milwaukee on September 23rd. That blast was the shot that clinched the pennant for the Braves.
Muffett pitched for the Cards again in 1958 and then the Giants in '59. He was traded to the Red Sox for 1960 and they turned him into a starter. He split two of the next three seasons between the Sox and the minors. 1962 was his only full season of MLB service. He finished with time in the Yankee and Cardinal chains.
After retiring as a player Muffett interned as a minor league pitching coach for a season in Tulsa. Then he became the Cardinals' pitching coach before moving on to the Angels and finally the Tigers under Sparky Anderson. He worked with Anderson for 10 mostly successful seasons and they both retired after the 1994 season. Muffett died in 2008.
The black frame surrounds Muffett's pensive skyward gaze. Topps liked this look.

#244 Dick Gray

Infielder Dick Gray signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1950 and began a long climb to the big leagues with a military service detour during the Korean Conflict. He debuted in 1958 as a 27 year old rookie with the newly transferred Los Angeles Dodgers as their opening day third baseman. In the second game of the season he became the first Los Angeles Dodger to hit a homer (or collect an RBI for that matter... they'd been shutout on Opening Day). Two days later be became the first Dodger to hit a home run in the city of Los Angeles. The Giants' Hank Sauer had become the first major leaguer to homer there earlier in the game.

Gray ended up splitting that season between the Dodgers and the minors. He returned to the bigs for 1959 but was traded to the St. Louis in June so he missed out on the Dodgers' title run that year. He stayed with the Cardinals until may of 1960 when he was dealt to Pittsburgh but he never made it out of their chain and retired in 1962. Looking back a few posts it appears Gray followed the same Dodgers-->Cardinals-->Pirates trail blazed by Gino Cimoli in the 1958 thru 1960 seasons. But all the moves look to be separate transactions.

Gray had a career .239 average in 124 games with a dozen homers. He worked for the Buena Park, California school system after his baseball days.

#469 Hustler Banks Wins M.V.P. Award

Ernie Banks makes his third appearance on this blog. We've seen his regular card and his All Star card already. This Baseball Thrill subset entry commemorates his 1958 MVP award. As the card notes he won as a member of a 5th place Cub team. He repeated the same feat with a very similar season in 1959. He was the first NL player to win in back-to-back years.

As I like to do I dug around and found the original photograph that Topps used to produce this card. And again I found it on good ol' Corbis. The shot was taken on September 8, 1957 in a game the Cubs won in 10 over the Braves in Milwaukee. Ernie's run was the go-ahead tally in the 5-3 game. Here it is with the original caption:

Ernie Banks Sliding Safely Into HomeChicago Cubs shortstop Ernie Banks (center) slides into home scoring in the tenth inning off a pinch-hit single by Bob Will in a Chicago-Milwaukee Braves game at County Stadium. Braves centerfielder Hank Aaron fielded the ball and threw to catcher Del Crandall (right). The ball went through Crandall's legs allowing Banks to score. The Cubs defeated the Braves in 10 innings. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 8, 1957.

And here is the Corbis original cropped to include only the action that Topps used:

#503 Jim Owens

Jim Owens' major league career covered 12 years and three National League teams. After some outstanding minor league seasons, a couple of looks in a big league uni and nearly two full seasons in the military Owens latched on to a job in the Phils' rotation in 1959.

That season turned out to be his best as he went 12-12 in 31 starts and compiled a 3.21 ERA. His numbers quickly fell off in subsequent years and after three seasons of getting shelled the Phils gave up on Owens and shipped him to Cincinnati for 1963. He briefly held the record for most balks in and inning (three!) which he set in an April game in '63. The mark lasted only until Bob Shaw tied it with three in an inning on May 4 and a total of five balks in the game. Owens split that year between the Reds' bullpen and the minors and was then drafted via Rule Five by the Astros.

He saved 16 games out of the Astros' pen over four seasons before calling it a career in the middle of the 1967 campaign. He served as Houston's pitching coach from then until 1972.

Research note.... shockingly not everything you read on the internet is true. Owens' BR Bullpen page states that Shaw broke Owens' record with five balks in an inning. Yet the game page shows it was three and a total of five in the game.

I have stated my love for the black framed cards in this set before. Owens 'all business' look is a good one here in the paint retouched photo. And you have to love Topps' back of the card write-up spin on his one inning of work in 1958. He 'limited' the Braves to four hits in that inning. Correction thanks to a comment. It was four hits in 'winning' not 'inning'.

#418 Gino Cimoli

Gino Cimoli was a ballplayer of Italian decent out of the San Francisco Bay area. So was Joe DiMaggio. And although Cimoli had a nice career the comparison stops there. After signing with the Dodgers in 1949 he spent about half a decade in their chain putting up good numbers for the most part but unable to crack the star laden major league roster. Of course getting to play four seasons in Montreal, one of the world's greatest cities (IMHO) isn't a bad way to enjoy your minor league time.

According to at least one blog Cimoli, who had garnered a reputation for being a hothead who didn't work very hard, apparently received a jolt when his wife and kids were involved in a car wreck in 1955. He made the Dodgers in 1956 but was used sparingly before he grabbed a regular outfield slot in 1957.  That year he made the NL All Star team while hitting .293 with 10 dingers.

In 1958 he found himself with the Dodgers in LA and he became the first major league hitter to bat with a West Coast team. The Dodgers opened that first season in California against the Giants at Seals Stadium in San Francisco. Cimoli struck out against the Giants' Ruben Gomez to lead off the game.

He was traded to the Cards for 1959 (he missed the Dodgers' World Series season) and then on to the Pirates for 1960 where he won himself a championship while being used as the 4th outfielder. During the '61 season Cimoli was dealt to the Braves and he went on to play for the A's, Orioles and Angels before retiring after 1965. In 1962 he had led the AL in triples. After his retirement from baseball he drove for more than two decades for UPS.

Looks like Cimoli had a Cards' cap logo airbrushed on for this card. It's a pic taken at the LA Coliseum and the Dodger lettering on his jersey can be seen peeking out. Nice card anyway. Blue Cardinal cards are pretty sweet.

#24 Red Wilson

Robert "Red" Wilson is another of the multi-sport standouts who chose a baseball career. As a star football player out of the University of Wisconsin Wilson was drafted by Paul Brown's Cleveland Browns in 1950 but opted to sign with the White Sox instead.

After three seasons in the Sox chain during which he displayed a fine batting stroke (he hit .290 or better each season) he made the club in 1953 as a platoon catcher. Wilson was traded to Detroit in 1954 and that's where he spent the bulk of his career. He never became an everyday starter but split time during six seasons in Detroit while becoming Frank Lary's 'personal catcher'.

Together they were a Yankee Killing duo. In 21 starts together against the Bombers Lary went 16-3 while Wilson hit .354. Quite impressive from a guy who had a .258 lifetime average.

During his Tiger days Wilson had some nice moments. He .299 in 1958 going hitless in the season's final game to slip under .300. And he was behind the plate for Jim Bunning's no hitter that same season.

Wilson hung on in his role as a platoon option until he was traded to the Indians in July of his final season, 1960. He worked for several decades as a bank loan officer and president. He has an extensive bio on the SABR site.

Like so many other cards of Tiger players in the '59 set Wilson poses inside a red frame. Even more common is the Yankee Stadium background.