#566 Roy Sievers The Sporting News All Star

This is the last card from any of the '59 set's subsets. And it's the last of Roy Sievers' four cards in the set. Here is his regular card and we had his Baseball Thrills card and the Directing the Power special which he shared with Nats' Manager Cookie Lavagetto and Jim Lemon.

Roy, whose nickname was 'Squirrel', made four AL All Star Squads and played in three of the games. He represented the Senators in 1956, '57 and '59. He made the club as a White Sox in 1961. He did not appear in the 1957 game and got one plate appearance in '56 and in one of the two games played in '59 and '61. He drew a walk in the 1st game in '59 and that was the only time he reached base as an All Star.

This card has Griffith Stadium as a background and is sort of rough around the edges (like me in many ways) and that's an acceptable condition to me. I hadn't noticed until I scanned it but someone wrote a "3" to the right of Roy's name on the card. That's fitting since.....

We are winding down with just

cards still to be posted.

#520 Don Elston

Ohio native Don Elston spent eight seasons as a starting pitcher in the Cubs' farm system after he signed with them in 1948. Those years were pretty impressive as a whole and one wonders what kept him 'down on the farm', especially in an organization as mediocre as the Cubs were at the time. The answer is likely his lack of control.

He did get a brief two game look at the end of the 1953 season and was banged around pretty hard. After pitching (and going 17-6) in the tough PCL as property of the Cubs in 1955 Elston was dealt to the Dodgers. Another season in AAA followed and then he made the Brooklyn staff in 1957.

That didn't last long however and after just a single one inning appearance in Ebbets Field in May he was traded back to the Cubs. He finished out that year as a starter/reliever on Chicago's North Side and then in 1958 he emerged as one of the better relief pitchers in the NL. He led the league with 69 appearances, had 10 saves (for a club with just 72 wins) and teamed with lefty Bill Henry to form an effective left/right closing combo.

In 1959 he made the NL All Star squad, pitched an inning and got the save in the first of the two ASGs played that year. He allowed a two out single to Nellie Fox in the top of the ninth at Forbes Field but got Harvey Kuenn to pop out to end it and preserve the NL's 5-4 win. that season he had career highs in wins (10) and saves (13). The save category for pitchers was reportedly created by Chicago newspaperman Jerome Holtzman as a way to show Elston's contributions. Holtzman saw Elroy Face getting wins after blowing leads with the Pirates and thought Elston's work as a reliever was better and deserved recognition.

Elston remained the club's workhorse for several more seasons although his numbers never again matched his '58/'59 run. After spending the 1965 season pitching in the minors Elston retired as an active player although he did manage briefly in the Cubs' system. He then spent the rest of his life in sales and working on behalf of Chicago area charities including the Chicago Baseball Cancer Charities organization for which he served as co-chairperson with another Chicago pitching standout, Billy Pierce.

Elston died at the age of 65 from heart failure in 1995. He had a long history of heart problems extending back to the beginning of his playing days, a fact he never shared with his teammates.

His Chicago Tribune obit has a lot of background and stories from his playing days. This big chunk of that work is worthy of being repeated here:

Don Elston, who died Monday at the age of 65, was like many pitchers of his time. He couldn't get Willie Mays out. Having exhausted his usual repertoire, Elston tried a spitter. Mays hit it over the fence in left center. Next time he threw a knuckler. Again, Mays connected-into the center-field bleachers, a few feet below the Wrigley Field scoreboard. "I don't know what we're going to do with him," catcher Dick Bertell told Elston."And Don said, `Tell him what's coming. He won't believe it, anyway.' "And so Bertell, when he went into his catcher's crouch, asked Mays: "What do you want to hit?"As Bertell recalled Wednesday, Willie didn't reply. "He just gave me a funny look. So I said, `It's going to be a curveball.' And for the rest of that at-bat, I called every pitch."Did Willie take Elston deep again?"No," Bertell replied. "He popped up. From then on, I wouldn't say Don had Willie in his pocket but he didn't get any more big hits off him."

#473 Mike Fornieles

Mike Fornieles (full name: Jose Miguel Fornieles Torres) is another in a long line of native Cubans that were signed by Senators scout Joe Cambria over the course of several decades as he worked for owner Clark Griffith. Fornieles came to the U.S. after signing in 1950 and began his career as a righthanded starter in Big Spring, Texas.

Having been through Big Spring it's hard to imagine being a 19-year-old from Cuba and finding yourself in the middle of west central Texas at the beginning of the 1950s. But a look at the 1951 Big Springs Broncs' roster would lead you to believe that Fornieles had plenty of countrymen around to keep him from getting lonely. And his 17-6 season would tend to back up that theory.

After another standout campaign in 1952 (with the Nats' Havana affiliate) Forneiles got a late season call-up and he debuted in Washington on September 2. In that first game he pitched and won a one hit shutout of the Philadelphia A's. He fanned four and worked around six walks for the victory. A week later he got another start and took a loss but pitched decently enough to get a couple more looks as a reliever. In his final appearance he went eight innings in relief of Julio Moreno and allowed only three hits as the Nats rallied to get him the win.

That winter he was traded to the White Sox for Chuck Stobbs as Washington tried to pick up some left handed pitching help. He spent the next four seasons as a spot starter and reliever for the Sox and Orioles who traded him to the Red Sox in 1957. He had six seasons in Boston and in 1960, by now a full time reliever, Fornieles won 10 games and led the AL in appearances and saves.

In '61 he made his only All Star squad and was called on in the first of two ASGs that year. He allowed a homer to George Altman, the first man he faced. After getting Willie Mays to fly out he was touched for a hit by Frank Robinson and was taken out of the game in favor of Hoyt Wilhelm.

He stayed with Boston until they dealt him to the Twins in 1963 after which he retired to become a car salesman in Florida. SABR has a detailed look at his career. He passed away at 66 in 1998.

That is, of course, the iconic Yankee Stadium serving as background in the pic. I appreciate those cards on which the frieze (a.k.a. 'facade') is shown.

#567 Del Crandall The Sporting News All Star

This Del Crandall card is the next to last All Star card to be posted here. Crandall, who was featured on his own '59 card (posted here), was a eight time NL All Star, a four time Gold Glove winner and 1949 Rookie of the Year runner-up.

Known for his defensive and pitcher handling abilities Crandall was a decent hitter who had a couple of .290+ seasons. He was probably ranked second only to Roy Campanella at his position during the decade of the fifties.

Crandall played in 8 All Star games and while he hit only .200 in those games (4 for 20) he did homer for the NL off the Red Sox' Bill Monbouquette at Kansas City's Municipal Stadium in the first of two All Star games in 1960.

The red railing tips us off that Crandall is posing in San Francisco's Seals Stadium in the photo on this card.

#560 Luis Aparicio The Sporting News All Star

Luis Aparicio makes his third appearance in the 1959 Topps set with this All Star card. It follows his regular issue card and his Keystone Combo special card appearance alongside Nellie Fox.In his career Looie make 8 All Star squads appearing in 10 games. His Hall of Fame career is not reflected in his All Star game numbers as he went 2 for 25 with one stolen base in those 10 games.

No way to tell if this shot was taken at the same time as his regular issue card photo but they were both taken at Yankee Stadium.

#569 Bob Friend The Sporting News All Star

Poor miscut, badly scanned Bob Friend. Seems his '59 All Star card can't catch a break. This is his third and final appearance in this set. He had his regular card featured here in 2011 and then he showed up on a special multi-player card, Buc Hill Aces, with Ron Kline, Vern Law and Roy Face last year.

Friend made the NL All Star team in 1956, '58 and '60. He started in 1956 and 1960 (first of two games) and got the win both times. He didn't allow a run in either of those games going three inning both times. In 1958 he came out of the bullpen and went 2 1/3, allowed four hits and two walks taking the loss.

I hadn't realized that he started the fateful ninth inning in Game 7 of the 1960 Series. He came in with a shot to close it out but quickly allowed two hits before he was replaced by Harvey Haddix. Haddix allowed those runners to score and the Yanks to tie the game at 9-9. We all know what happened in the bottom of that inning. The card of the central figure in that dramatic game is queued to post in a few days.

As is the case with most of the Pirates photographed around this time, Friend is shown wearing a batting helmet. The batting helmet was designed by Charlie Muse, an executive of Branch Rickey's company and Rickey, at the time the Pirates' president, decided that all his players would wear one both at bat and in the field.

#557 Ken Boyer The Sporting News All Star

A second look at Ken Boyer in the Topps '59 set. His regular card, a pink framed beauty, featured a Polo Grounds shot. So does this one. And maybe it's the angle but I think he looks so much like his brother Clete in this shot. More so that usual.

Ken Boyer was a seven time All Star. He played in 10 games total and hit .348 with two dingers. He went 0-fer-2 as the starting third baseman in the second of the two 1959 All Star games. As a pinch hitter in the first one he singled off Whitey Ford in the bottom of the eighth and scored the tying run on Hank Aaron's hit. The NL won 5-4.

#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?

#101 Alex Kellner

Signed out of Tenssesse by the Cincinnati Reds in 1941 lefty Alex Kellner only had time to pitch one year of (pretty good) minor league ball before the U.S. Navy became his four year home during WWII. After his service in the Pacific (details are here) he briefly returned to semi-pro baseball and then was back in the pros with the A's organization in 1947.

He got a taste of the bigs in 1948 but had an outstanding true rookie season in 1949 in Philadelphia. That year he won 20 games (of the teams' 81 under Connie Mack) and made the All Star club. He was the first to win 20 for the A's since Lefty grove in 1933. Even for a war-seasoned, not-so-young rookie that had to be heady stuff. He was second to Roy Sievers in Rookie of the Year balloting in the A.L.

He remained a member of the A's starting staff (in Kansas City) through 1957. Although he managed to pull down double digit win seasons along the way (and one 20 loss season) he never re-captured the magic of that rookie season. For parts of two seasons he had his brother Walt Kellner as a teammate.

In 1958 he was waived and picked up by the Reds and then traded, despite doing some of his best pitching in half a decade, to the Cards for 1959. He pitched his last innings in June of '59. This card represent the last season and final stop in a respectable career. He was a good hitting pitcher, hitting .215 with four homers.

This picture, with Kellner in a Red's road top, has the L.A. Coliseum in the background so it was shot on one of the Reds trips to the Coast after he was traded from the A's in 1958. The Reds were in L.A. in July and August.

#556 Nellie Fox The Sporting News All Star

Nellie Fox has got that chaw thing going, doesn't he? This is his third card in the '59 set following his regular issue and the combo card he shared with his DP partner, Luis Aparicio. And I find it the least appealing, probably because he should be wearing the interlocking S-O-X cap. He was born to wear that so very nice cap.

He was an eleven year All Star playing in 13 games. He went 14 for 38 for a .368 average. His hits were all singles. And this card is seriously mis-cut. There is the edge of a red NL All Star card showing up on the left side.

And so it goes. And yes, I'm tired tonight and I'm mailing this one in.

#286 Dean Stone

Dean Stone was a Cubs signee who put in quite a few minor league innings before earning a job with the Senators in 1954, He went on to have a three year run as a spot starter/reliever in D.C. That 1954 season was his best, by far. He earned 12 of his career 29 wins that year. He earned an All Star berth and became the first pitcher to win an All Star Game without retiring a single batter (He threw out Duke Snider trying to steal home). The story is contained in this Washington Post article which ran when the same thing happened with Nats' reliever Tyler Clippard in 2011. 

Stone kicked around the majors pitching briefly for the Orioles, Colt .45s, Red Sox, Cardinals and White Sox through 1963. He finished his active career with a year in Japan in 1964.  

This card appears to be a 'painted' retouching of a photo taken somewhere other than Yankee Stadium. It has stone in home Red Sox duds but whether or not that's what the original picture showed is debatable. This copy is clean and well centered. Nice card.

#571 Warren Spahn '59 All Star Selection

This is one of the most off-center cards in my set. I doubt I'll upgrade it because 1) the All Star cards command a bit of a premium and 2) I'm not that big a fan of the design anyway.

The immortal Warren Spahn didn't pitch in either of the 1959 All Star games. But he did start the '58 game in Baltimore. The AL touched him up for 5 hits and a couple of runs but he didn't get a decision. Oddly in 1960 he wasn't selected to the NL squad but finished second in Cy Young voting. He must have been hurt. 

#570 Bob Turley '59 All Star Selection

"Bullet Bob" Turley was coming off his best season when 1959 dawned. His exploits explain why he was selected to appear as the right handed pitcher for the AL All Star subset. But he didn't make the All Star squad that year and, in fact, his best pitching was behind him.

The '58 All Star game in Baltimore was his third and last. He was KO'd in the second inning having given up three hits, two walks and three runs in an inning and two thirds. But better things were in store for him in 1958. Those will be discussed in the next post.

The '59 card was his second straight appearance on one of these specials. He showed up as an All Star selection in the '58 Topps set. Defying almost all logic I prefer the '58 All Star cards. My '59 is about par for the course condition-wise., decent corners and somewhat mis-cut.

#564 Mickey Mantle '59 All Star Selection

Mickey Mantle played in both of the All Star Games held in 1959. In the first he pinch ran for Gus Triandos in the 8th inning and played rightfield. In the second game he started in center and went one for three. His hit was a bunt single off Don Drysdale.

In his career Mantle was a sixteen time All Star. He certainly didn't have 'Mantle type' numbers in the Mid Summer Classics. He hit .233 with 2 homers and 17 whiffs in 43 at bats.

Any Mantle card is a nice Mantle card, don't you think? I was able to find this one reasonably and it's in better shape than some of the more expensive ones I came across.

My favorite Mantle All Star card, by far, is the '58. I've bid on more than a dozen of those. One day I'll get lucky on one.

#563 Willie Mays '59 All Star Selection

Willie Mays played in 24 All Star games covering 20 years (two games each year in 1959 through 1962). He hit .307 in those games and an OBP of .366.

When his regular card comes up there will be a lot more to say about Willie, one of the all time greats and my childhood best friend's favorite player.

My copy is, as you can see, far from pristine. But its Willie Mays, so its cool. Here's a another cool shot of Say Hey. this from his early career in New York.

#558 Frank Malzone The Sporting News All Star

All this time I was under the impression that Frank Malzone had hit the first home run I'd seen live at Memorial Stadium. Not sure why I believed that but I always recalled it that way. I finally did some digging, knowing that it was the same night Boog Powell had hit his titanic 'hedge row' homer. The records show that in the first game of the doubleheader on June 22, 1962 Carl Yaztrzemski homered off Milt Pappas in the fourth inning. That was the homer I saw and my Uncle almost caught. The Orioles' Jackie Brandt had homered earlier but I'm pretty sure we hadn't made it to the ball park for that one.

Boog's blast was in the second game off Don Schwall. I have no memory lapses concerning that one. It made quite an impression an all of us.

#561 Hank Aaron The Sporting News All Star

Again an miscut, but this one is still nice. Sharp corners and nice colors. Plus, it's Hammerin' Hank Aaron! What's not to love, right?

But there's a backstory to this one. Over the Christmas holidays I had a flurry of activity going on eBay. Grabbed several small lots of '59's, made a bunch of outright buys, grabbed more on Check Out My Cards and through the Beckett site. At some point I acquired an Aaron All Star for a decent price. Or I thought I did. I had marked it off my checklist but in late January when I went through my stack, putting cards in my binder, it wasn't there. I went back through my email, found the confirmed sale notice, the PayPal receipt and the "Your card has been shipped!" alert. It was obvious to me that I'd somehow lost the card. Looked all over for it and finally declared it 'gone', a casualty of overzealous spending and careless card accounting.

Back to eBay and won another one. Not a bad card and the price was right. Back came the Aaron All Star off the 'wanted' list and I wrote it all off to a lesson learned. But ...(can you see this coming?)... one week ago a padded envelope arrives. One I'm not expecting. Yes, my original #561 Aaron All Star. No explanation of why the card, supposedly shipped exactly three months ago, was just now arriving. I thought about it and decided not to bother asking the seller about it. What would be the point?

So now I have two Aaron All Stars. Could be worse. Could be two Kansas City A's team cards.

If you are interested I'd swap one of them for some decent 57's, 58's or 60's Topps. Nothing graded. Maybe an All Star card from the 1960 set. I like those a lot.