#368 Don Mueller

Don Mueller is pictured on this card as a member of the White Sox but he spent the bulk of his very successful career with the New York Giants. In eight full and two partial seasons with the Giants Mueller earned a reputation for timely hitting and the ability to put the ball into play.  He was given the nickname 'Mandrake the Magician' for his batting prowess. He also was know for almost never drawing a walk. In fact he struck out only 137 times and drew 156 walks in over 4400 plate appearances with New York.

Mueller signed with the Giants in 1944 and played part-time for their minor league club in Jersey City, New Jersey while mainly doing his duty as a member of the U.S. Merchant Marines. In 1948 and '49 he was a full time ballplayer and hit well enough to get extended looks by the Giants in both of those seasons.

He took over an outfield post with the Giants in 1950 and played for eight seasons compiling a .298 average for them. He went 7 for 18 in the 1954 World Series against the Indians as he helped his club win the title. That was the year he led the league with 212 hits and made the first of his two straight NL All Star squads.

Mueller played a part in the third and deciding 1951 playoff game against the Dodgers. The Hardball Times recaps the details. Dodger fans should look away at this point:

Oct. 3, 1951: It might be the most famous game in baseball history and Mueller helps kick off its most famous inning. The Giants and Dodgers split the first two games of the playoff, and in this winner-take-all contest, Brooklyn takes a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning. After Alvin Dark leads off with an infield single, Mueller comes to the plate. So far Mueller is 1-for-12 in the series, but he laces a single out to bring the tying run to the plate.
When Lockman doubles a few minutes later, Mueller breaks his ankle sliding into third. Thus pinch runner Clint Hartung scores a little bit later when Bobby Thomson homers to win the pennant for the Giants. Mueller will not, obviously, play in the World Series, which the Giants lose in six games to the Yankees.

Mueller's numbers declined over the course of his final seasons with the Giants and he was sold to the White Sox prior to 1958 and therefore missed playing for the Giants in San Francisco. He played part time in 1958 but was ailing and got just four at-bats in '59 before he was released by Chicago in May.

Mueller, the son of Pirates outfielder Walter Mueller, raised cattle on his family farm, did some scouting for the Giants and worked in insurance after his playing days. His son Mark played minor league ball.

#363 Bobby Avila

Bobby Avila may not be the most obscure batting champ since WWII (I'd go with Bill Mueller who I've never heard of till now) but he's among them. And that's too bad because Avila had a pretty solid career in the 50s. Growing up in Mexico his well-to-do family wanted him to be a lawyer like his father but the teenage 'Beto' Avila played soccer and well as baseball.

He signed to play in the Mexican leagues and began there at age 19 in 1943. His play caught the attention of big league scouts but Avila turned down several offers before finally signing with the Cleveland Indians in 1948. He spent that season with the Indians' top farm club in Baltimore and then sat on the Indians bench for a good bit of 1949 as a bonus baby. In 1950 he got over 200 at bats and hit .299 as he moved into the Indians lineup at second base.

Beginning in 1951 he held down the teams' keystone spot for eight seasons. He made three AL All Star squads during that time, three times hit .300 or better and twice finished in the top ten in MVP voting. He was a good fielder and bunter and led or tied for the league lead in sacrifice hits twice. His best season was 1954 which not so coincidentally was the year the Indians went to the World Series. Avila won the batting crown that season with a .341 average despite playing for about half the year with a thumb broken in a baseline collision with Hank Bauer. He had career highs in homers and RBIs that year as well. According to unofficial numbers 13 of his 15 homers either tied the game for the Indians or gave them a win.

By 1958, as an 34 year old, his playing time and skills were slipping and he was traded to the Orioles for the '59 season. He played 20 games for the Birds before being waived and picked up by the Red Sox in May. In July he was waived again and this time he was claimed by the Braves where he finished out the year. He was active in the Mexican League in 1960, had a very good and probably very satisfying final season, and then retired.

Following his playing days Avila bought into a Mexican League club and went on to become the league president. He later got into politics and was elected mayor of his native Vera Cruz. He is a member of both the Mexican and Latin American Halls of Fame.

Avila died in 2004.

#376 Hal Naragon

Catcher Hal Naragon spent all or part of 10 seasons in the majors between 1951 and 1962. He averaged about fifty games a year in his eight complete big league campaigns. Signed by the Indians in 1947 Naragon worked his way through the team's minor league system while hitting adequately but without any power.

In 1951 he got a look at big league pitching with a late season call-up but then proceeded to spent the next two years in the military. He returned in 1954 just in time to play behind Jim Hegan on the Indians' A.L. championship club. He continued to spell Hegan for most of his time with the Indians through 1957. He was farmed out for much of '58 and was traded to the Senators in May of 1959.

He managed to play a bit more than he was used to with the Nats that year and ended up with over 240 plate appearances. He played sparingly through the franchise's move to Minnesota, mostly sitting while Earl Battey played, and ended his active career after the '62 season.

He stayed on with the Twins as bullpen coach through their 1965 Series effort and then moved on to do the same job with the Tigers. He earned a ring in Detroit in 1968. On both clubs he worked with pitching coach Johnny Sain. He also lost both jobs when Sain lost his after having issues with the clubs' managers.

He currently resides in Ohio where he was raised and the high school stadium in his hometown of Barberton is named for him. His SABR bio is here and you can here his opinions on the 2013 Indians in a recent interview on and Ohio TV station site.

Yet another Yankee Stadium shot with Naragon resplendent in the classic Indian uni of the era.

Here is Hal Naragon going into the crowd to try for a foul ball.

#63 Jim Hearn

In 1959 pitcher Jim Hearn was at the end of his baseball trail. He pitched in 6 games, didn't win any and was released by the Phillies in May, a few months after this Series One card was released. But he'd had a pretty nice career previously, winning 108 games with a solid 3.81 ERA and getting himself a World Series ring with the 1954 Giants.

In 1942 the Cards signed Hearn, a native of Atlanta, out of Georgia Tech and he had a good season of Class B baseball before he was off to the military for three years during WWII.

When he returned in '46 he got in another year in the minors and debuted with the Cardinals in 1947. He went 12-7 that season, slid just a bit in '48, split the '49 campaign between the Cards and the minors and found himself waived to the Giants in July 1950.

He returned to his rookie form with the Giants, went 11-3 the rest of that '50 season, pitched five shutouts and won the NL ERA crown. Not a bad year for a guy who was essentially a late inning mop-up man for the first three+ months of the season.

In 1951 the Giants relied on Hearn as a #3 starter behind 20 game winners Sal Maglie and Larry Jansen. Hearn won 17 games and went on to win his only start in the Series that year against the eventual champion Yankees.  

Hern remained a part of the Giants' rotation through 1956 and won 14 games in '52 and '55. In the Giants 4 game sweep of the Indians in that year's World Series Hearn, by now the clubs' fourth starter, didn't see the field.

Despite a nice ERA he went 5-11 for New York in 1956 and was traded to the Phillies that October. He spent two seasons pitching out of the Phils' bullpen and then, as noted, was released in 1959. He was charged with a loss, the final decision of his career months after his release due to a May game being suspended. He was 'on the hook' for that game and when it was completed in July he took the loss.

Hearn hit two inside-the-park home runs in his career. One came in a game in July of 1955 in which he also hit fence-clearing homer. Pretty remarkable to have two 'leg' homers given that here have been only a total of eight hit by pitchers since 1954. 

Hearn's card features a view that you don't see often (or ever?) in this set. Behind him looms the far left field/center field grandstands of Connie Mack Stadium. Over Hearn's left shoulder is the scoreboard which is topped by the Ballantine Beer sign. 

"Make that three ring sign, Ask the man for Ballantine"

#500 Vic Wertz

Getting the obvious out of the way first... yes, this is the guy that hit the shot in the 1954 World Series that Willie Mays pulled in for one of the most famous baseball plays ever.

But Vic Wertz is much more than a trivia answer. He's a four time All Star and a four time Top 10 MVP vote getter. He's also a World War II vet, a 17 season American Leaguer and a guy with an 8 for 16 World Series batting mark. A Pennsylvania native Wertz spent three seasons in the minors after signing with the Detroit Tigers in the early 40s. He sandwiched in an Army stint and then made the Tigers major league squad in 1947.

As an outfielder Wertz put up some solid seasons with good power for the Tigers until he was traded to the Browns in 1953. He moved with the Browns to Baltimore for 1964 but a slow start prompted a trade to the Indians. He took over at first base for the Tribe and helped them reach the World Series against the Giants. In that Series Wertz batted .500 and hit a homer. Even though the Giants swept the Series Wertz must have been thanking his lucky stars for the trade that had brought him from a team on its way to a 100 loss season to the American League champs.

Wertz continued to star for the Indians until, as noted on the back of his card, he lost most of the 1958 season to a broken ankle. He was traded to the Red Sox where he had some hitting success. As his career wound down he was back in Detroit and finally a short stay with the Twins in 1963.

He finished with 266 homers and a .277 career average. Although he never led the league in an significant category he had many top five and top ten totals in power numbers throughout his career.

Vic, in his Indians gear (now disguised) gazes towards the upper deck at Yankee Stadium from the usual spot in front of the third base side dugout. If the shot was from about three or four years later I'd say he was looking up at me and my father.

Oh, yes... The Catch

#464 Mays' Catch Makes Series History

This may not be the best catch in baseball history, even Willie Mays said he made better ones himself, but it's surely the most famous. As the back of the card states Willie made this nab on a ball hit by Vic Wertz in Game One of the 1954 World Series between the Giants and Indians. He snared it with his back to the plate, wheeled and threw to the infield forcing Al Rosen to return to first. The Giants won the game in 10 innings and swept the Series.

What has added to the fame of the catch is the fact that it was televised in a era when TV was still a bit away from being the universal presence that it is nowadays. Watching the Series on the tube was an opportunity that was hard to pass up. Thus Willie's effort was seen by many. 

The best catch I've ever seen live was made by Roberto Clemente at Shea Stadium on September 20, 1969. With two out in the sixth inning Bob Moose seemed about to lose a no hit bid on a drive to the deep right field corner by Wayne Garrett. But Clemente ran/flew/dove and somehow speared the ball before if hit the warning track. It was the most athletic play I've ever seen. And yes, Bob Moose went on to finish his no hitter, the only one I've ever witnessed in person.