#541 Bob Thurman

If you are like me and know little to nothing about Bob Thurman you are missing out on one of the more interesting players included in this set. Coming out of the military in 1945 Thurman spent four seasons with the Homestead Grays and the Kansas City Monarchs, pitching and playing outfield alongside the future Hall of Famers Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, Buck Leonard, Buck O'Neil and Josh Gibson. He attracted the eye of Yankee scouts who signed him in 1949 thinking he was 26 years old. Thurman is quoted in his SABR bio in regards to his true age:

"Many Baseball clubs like to put players ages back a few years. Mine was put back several times, so much so, that I always use the baseball age. Even when I joined the pension, I didn't think of [using] my correct age. So my real [birth date] is May 14, 1917."

Meanwhile Thurman had played in the Winter League in Puerto Rico and became a star on the island. He was sold by the Yankees to Cubs and he eventually landed with San Francisco of the PCL. In 1953 he signed with a start-up league in Puerto Rico and was banned from organized ball in the US. You can see the 'suspended' notation on the back of his Topps card.

After two years in MLB 'limbo' he was reinstated and joined the Cincinnati Reds for the 1955 season. He displayed power as a part time outfielder and pinch hitter in four years with the Reds but had only a few pinch hitting appearances in 1959 before returning to the minors. He retired after the 1961 season and began a new career as a scout working for the Twins, Reds, Royals and the Major League Scouting Bureau. He died in 1998 of Alzheimer's at the age of 81.

My humble little recap just can't do justice to the career of this special player. You'll need to read his SABR bio to appreciate him. Thurman is a member of the Puerto Rico Baseball Hall of Fame.

#544 Lee Tate

This is infielder Lee Tate's one and only baseball card, at least among major company issues. It's a Topps 'high number' which I haven't posted a lot of lately. Of course it's easy to spot given the red and black printing on cream colored stock that Topps used as they transitioned to football card production in 1959.

Beginning with a stint with independant clubs in 1951, Tate was a long time minor leaguer. He played 15 seasons riding the buses from Utah to Richmond and everywhere in between. After seven seasons in the minors during which he hit fairly well for a middle infielder the Cardinals gave him a couple of tastes of the majors. He got into 51 games with nearly a hundred plate appearances in 1958 and 1959. But he failed to catch on and spent nearly all of the rest of his career in AAA. He played his last games in Austin in the Texas League in 1965.

He hit .273 in 1660 minor league games and spent many of his winters toiling in the Cuban Leagues. No telling how many at bats he actually had outside of the bigs.

#148 Mike McCormick

As alluded to in the card's cartoon, Mike McCormick was one of the 'bonus baby' signees back when he was penned to a big contract by the New York Giants in 1956. McCormick was fresh out of high school and only 17 years old when he joined the club for his mandated two year roster stay. In those two years he had a total of 27 appearances including 7 starts. In '56 he didn't get into a game until September 3rd. 

He took a spot in the Giants' rotation beginning in 1958 and had double digit wins for four straight seasons. He led the NL in ERA in 1960 and was a member of the NL All Star teams in 1960 and 1961. He developed shoulder problems the next season and was traded to the Orioles for whom he pitched for two seasons. 

Traded again, this time to the Senators proved a tonic for McCormick and his numbers improved. In December of 1966 the Nats traded him back to the Giants for Cap Peterson and Bob Priddy. Turned out to be a steal for San Francisco. McCormick had the best season of his career in 1967 winning 22 games, posting a 2.85 ERA and winning the Cy Young. 

I found two interesting facts about McCormick's '67 season. He was the first Cy Young winner for the Giants' franchise and the only one prior to Tim Lincecum. Hard to believe that Juan Marichal never took home that hardware. Burden of pitching in the pitching-rich 1960s I guess. And McCormick was one of 17 pitchers to win the award without having made their league's All Star team in that season. This article lists those pitchers. It's from 2010 but I have checked the subsequent seasons.

McCormick had a couple of solid seasons following his 1967 zenith and then his numbers fell off. He finished his career with short stints with the Yanks and Royals before pitching in the minors to close out his active career. 

Two final tidbits:

On July 14, 1968 McCormick gave up Hank Aaron's 500th homer.

On June 12, 1959 he threw a rain-shortened "no-hitter" versus the Phillies. He allowed a hit in the 6th, which was eliminated from the official records as rain cancelled the game and the official game became a five inning affair.

The red railings in the stands behind McCormick on this card signify Seals Stadium.

#134 Jim McDaniel

Because he never played in the majors I had trouble finding info on Jim McDaniel until I found him listed as 'Jimmie' on the Baseball Reference 'Bullpen' site. Oddly he's not linked there from his BR minor league page. But be that as it may, McDaniel was a big swinging outfielder for numerous organizations during the 1950s and early '60s. Hit about 120 homers in the four seasons prior to this card being issued and that's likely what prompted Topps to include him in the Rookie Star subset as a 26 year old.
Topps states on the back of the card that McDaniel 'has a fine chance to break into the Pirates outfielder as a regular [in 1959]. With Bob Skinner, Bill Virdon and Roberto Clemente already holding down spots I'm not sure where he would have fit in.
McDaniel played for 12 different clubs over 14 minor league seasons. He broke into professional ball with the Reno Silver Sox and soon thereafter the Class C Riverside Rubes. Really. He did a bit of pitching along the way which I suspect wasn't unusual in those days, particularly when it came to independent minor league teams.
This is his only Topps card.
:::update:::
I kept digging for stuff on Jimmie McDaniel and found a tidbit on the SABR page which is basically an excerpt from the 1952 California League press guide:

James (Jimmie) Ray McDaniel is single and lives in Coachella, California per the 1952 California League Gold Book (Fourth Edition). He graduated from Coachella Valley High School in 1950 and was a member of the baseball, basketball, football, swimming and track teams. He is a surveyor during the off-season. His hobby is cars. His previous professional experience has been as a pitcher primarily.Information is from the 1952 California League Gold Book (Fourth Edition)

#281 Walt Craddock

West Virginia native Walt Craddock signed with the Philadelphia A's in 1954 out of Syracuse University. The lefty pitched in the Athletics' farm system for the better part of two years with better numbers than his results indicated.

That got him a taste of the bigs late in 1955... and got lit up. He repeated that in 1956, his late season cup of coffee resulted in him getting lit up. He had a great season in AAA in 1957, leading the International League with 18 wins and then spent the whole 1958 season in Kansas City, for the most part getting lit up.

That was his last season in the big leagues. By the time this card was issued he'd been dealt off to Reds. He spent two seasons in the Reds system, pitched very well, but then retiring. He finished with an 0-7 big league mark.

But he did get to be photographed in Yankee Stadium and had this one Topps card.

#283 Russ Heman

Victimized with a terribly airbrushed hat, righthander Russ Heman was still a couple of seasons away from making his major league debut when this card was issued. Heman had banged around in several organizations from 1952 through 1960 before he won a job in the Indians' bullpen in 1961. He made six appearances early that season before being traded to the Angels in June. He made six appearances in ten days as an Angel before being traded to the minor league Toronto club and he never returned to the bigs.

In those twelve games he pitched 20 innings, allowed 12 hits and had a nice 2.70 ERA. He had no decisions but did pick up a save.

His card features one of those brutally honest cartoons that states he is troubled by wildness at times. Great cartoon, too.

This is Heman's only Topps card but I found a couple of pics that I thought I'd share. After all he had a 1.100 WHIP which is slightly better than Sandy Koufax's 1.106. I also found a story about a no-hitter he pitched for San Diego in 1959.

#540 Willy Miranda

Before the 'Mendoza Line' there might well have been the 'Miranda Line'. Willy Miranda was the prototypical 'good field/no hit' 50s shortstop. In 9 seasons he hit .221 with six homers. That's really not terrible but there are a couple of great quotes that show how Miranda's hitting prowess was viewed. 

These are from his Baltimore Sun obit:

A newspaper columnist wrote that Mr. Miranda was the only "Major Leaguer to hit three ways -- righty, lefty and seldom."Manager Richards fumed that Mr. Miranda couldn't hit a ball with any consistency until one afternoon in Cleveland, when he got three straight hits. When he was replaced by a pinch hitter, Mr. Miranda inquired as to why."You already have three hits and it defies logic to think you're going to get four," said Mr. Richards.

But there are also quotes, found in that same obit, that give a glimpse of how Miranda's glove was viewed:

He was called "Ringling Brothers" by Orioles' Manager Paul Richards, who said he had "the hands of a pickpocket."Gus Triandos, a catcher during those years, described Mr. Miranda as "flashy a phenomenon" whose arm was almost "abnormal for such a small guy.""Had he been able to hit, he would have been a greater player than he was," Mr. Triandos said yesterday from his home in San Jose, Calif."He was a wizard with a glove -- and you need a strong glove like his when you play the most demanding position on the field," said Orioles Manager Davey Johnson, who said Mr. Miranda's death was a "personal tough loss.""He was the best defensive shortstop I've ever seen and I've seen plenty," said recently retired Los Angeles Dodgers Manager Tommy Lasorda, who played ball with him in Cuba. "This guy could do it all."

In 1948 Miranda was signed out his native Cuba by the Washington Senators.  He later defected to the U.S. by hiding in the cockpit of a Pan Am airliner with the help of the crew. He helped Cuban nationals leave as part of the Mariel 'boatlift' in 1980. He received honors from the city of Baltimore in the mid 70s for rescuing a man from a burning house. Seems like he could do everything...except hit.

In his career he played for the Senators, White Sox, Browns/Orioles and Yankees. His two years as a regular came with the Orioles in 1955/56. He played two more seasons as a platoon player in Charm City. During the 12 months from October 1951 through October 1952 he was involved in four separate transactions that saw him bounce from the nats to the White Sox to the Browns and back again a few times. He ended his career with a couple of minor league seasons. He later managed in the Mexican League.

As is usually the case SABR is the go-to site for details on this most interesting player.

When I pulled this card for scanning I noticed that the Orioles logo appeared 'different'. 

Here is the logo from Gene Woodling's card. The red stitches are black on Miranda's card and the Bird's face is only partially colored. it appears this was consistent over all the '59 Miranda cards I've seen.