#203 Ozzie Virgil

Lets get technical for a moment. Just the other day I mentioned the Felipe Alou "is credited with being the first Dominican player in the majors". I suppose that depends on how you define 'Dominican'. That's because Ozzie Virgil, also a Dominican, made his debut on September 23, 1956. Felipe Alou's first appearance in a major league game came on June 8, 1958. 


Ozzie Virgil was born in the Dominican Republic but his family emigrated to the U.S, when Ozzie was a teen. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, N.Y. He also served in the Marine Corp. He was more "American-ized(?). Alou, on the other hand, came to the states specifically to play ball. So, flip a coin. 


It really doesn't matter. Both players blazed trails. Virgil broke the color barrier on the Tigers when he went to Detroit in 1958 following his year or so with the Giants. He was never a regular but could handle his glove well and was able to play part time in the bigs through 1969. The fact that he could (and did) play anywhere except the mound helped him land spots with the Pirates, A's, Orioles and (again) the Giants. 


He played for the Orioles for exactly one game in 1962, pinch hit in the bottom of the ninth for pinch hitter Marv Breeding and drew an intentional walk. He therefore has an OBP of 1.000 for my Birds. Good for Ozzie!


Following his playing days he served as a coach for various teams for nearly two decades. He had been a player/coach for the Phoenix Giants in 1968. He also managed in winter ball and held several front office and scouting jobs. His son, Ozzie Jr. caught in the majors in the 80s, primarily for the Phils and Braves.


ESPN has an article/interview online that deals with Ozzie Sr. on the anniversary of his MLB debut. It's worth a read. 


This is another one of those "posing in Yankee Stadium while standing in front of the visitor's dugout" shots that seem to predominate the 59 set. 




Here's Ozzie circa 1958


                                                                     

Here is my Portuguese grandfather circa 1957.

 What say you?

#50 Willie Mays

Attempting to write a relevant post on Willie Mays is pretty silly. What can I had that can't be seen in about 5,000 other places, and much more comprehensively? Hell, even his page on the Hall of Fame's site refers readers to Baseball Reference!

I'll just do what I've done with superstars before, toss out someone else's list of the Say Hey Kid's accomplishments and talk about what I saw of Mays and a bit about this card.

Try these on for size... cribbed from Willie's Baseball Reference Bullpen page:

Notable Achievements

• 1951 NL Rookie of the Year Award
• 20-time NL All-Star (1954-1973)
• 2-time NL MVP (1954 & 1965)
• 1963 All-Star Game MVP
• 1968 All-Star Game MVP
• 12-time Gold Glove Winner (1957/ML-CF, 1958-1960/NL-CF & 1961-1968/NL-OF)
• NL Batting Average Leader (1954)
• 2-time NL On-Base Percentage Leader (1965 & 1971)
• 5-time NL Slugging Percentage Leader (1954, 1955, 1957, 1964 & 1965)
• 5-time NL OPS Leader (1954, 1955, 1958, 1964 & 1965)
• 2-time NL Runs Scored Leader (1958-1961)
• NL Hits Leader (1960)
• 3-time NL Total Bases Leader (1955, 1962 & 1965)
• 3-time NL Triples Leader (1954, 1955 & 1957)
• 4-time NL Home Runs Leader (1955, 1962, 1964 & 1965)
• NL Bases on Balls Leader (1971)
• 4-time NL Stolen Bases Leader (1956-1959)
• 20-Home Run Seasons: 17 (1951, 1954-1968 & 1970)
• 30-Home Run Seasons: 11 (1954-1957, 1959 & 1961-1966)
• 40-Home Run Seasons: 6 (1954, 1955, 1961, 1962, 1964 & 1965)
• 50-Home Run Seasons: 2 (1955 & 1965)
• 100 RBI Seasons: 10 (1954, 1955 & 1959-1966)
• 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 12 (1954-1965)
• 200 Hits Seasons: 1 (1958)
• Won a World Series with the New York Giants in 1954
• Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1979

Wanna read about Willie Mays? Try this page on Amazon. 

Here's a look at his famous 1954 World Series catch for the one guy who's been held captive on a remote island for 60 years:

My best friend growing up was a Giant fan, as was his father. I made lots of trips out to Shea Stadium when the Giants were in town. My friend, of course, idolized Willie Mays. I was pretty much just awed by him. (My favorite Giant was Jim Ray Hart.)

My copy of this card, as you can see, isn't among my best from the set. It's got one dinged corner and suffers from some discoloration. But over-all it's very presentable. If your going to collect a vintage set and not sell off most of your assets you have to make some compromises when it comes to the big ticket cards.

This was likely a '58 shot of Mays. I wonder if he missed New York at that point?

#3 Don McMahon

Don McMahon pitched in 874 major league games over 18 seasons.He made only two starts. He made his first save in 1957 and his last in 1974. His professional career ran from 1950 when he debuted with the Owensboro Oilers, the Class D Boston Braves affiliate in the K-I-T League, until he pitched a couple of innings for the Giants against the Dodgers in June of 1974. That's 25 seasons. I think that's pretty cool. 

McMahon pitched for seven clubs over the course of his career and made the post-season with three of them. As a member of the Braves he pitched in the 1957 and '58 Series' against the Yankees. He was particularly effective in the '57 Classic, pitching 5 innings over three games and finishing all three. He never got a decision of a save in the post-season but he did come away with two rings, the second with the Tigers in 1968.

For his career McMahon was 90-68 with a 2.96 ERA and 153 saves. He led the NL with 15 saves in 1959. That speaks to how different pitching roles were back then. He had been an All Star the previous year but that was his only All Star selection. I think he deserved more.

Following his retirement as an active player McMahon served a pitching coach for the Giants, Twins and Indians for many years. He was a special assignments scout for the Dodgers after that.

McMahon died of a heart attack in 1987 at the age of only 57 while pitching batting practice at Dodger Stadium. 

#235 Valmy Thomas

Oh, the stuff one learns. I was vaguely aware of Valmy Thomas only because he was once, briefly (8 games qualifies as 'briefly'), an Oriole. His home was the U.S. Virgin Islands although he was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico because his mother wanted what she believed would be better medical care. He's considered the first native of the Virgin Islands to play in the bigs.

Thomas, a catcher, played in Canada and across the Caribbean between the late 40's and 1951 when he played for the Pirates minor league club north of the border. A pay cut prompted him to 'retire' and he starred in the Dominican Republic for several seasons. SABR has a cool story of his years there online. 

He emerged as a Giants farmhand in 1956 after a year back in Canada for the Pirate chain. He debuted in 1957 for the Giants in New York. He travel to the West Coast when the Giants moved and played for the Phillies, Orioles and Indians in the three subsequent years. By doing do he became the only player to play in five cities in five seasons.

After his playing days he was a successful businessman and public servant in his native Virgin Islands. He passed away in 2010 and was honored by the Congressional Delegate from his homeland. Here is another article which highlights his life and career.

One odd note.... Thomas was shot and nearly killed by another ballplayer in a dispute over a woman in 1962. The link goes to a Sarasota Herald story that's a real eye opener, in several ways.

I'm guessing that the picture of Valmy Thomas on his '59 card was taken while he was a member of the Giants. I'm fairly certain that the Los Angeles Coliseum provides the background. As with the Ruben Gomez card of a few days ago this one has been re-done with a Phillies cap and pinstripes. My scanner cut off the top of the card, it's not as miscut as it appears.

Here's Valmy in his later years.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Ellie Hendricks, another native of VI who became a catcher for the Orioles. Try and find and O's fan who didn't love Ellie. 

Here is Ellie:

Two proud sons of the Virgin Islands.

#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.

#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.

#87 Danny O'Connell

It's a bonus St. Patrick Day post!

Danny O'Connell.... does it get any more Irish than that? First things first, though.... I really need to adjust those scanner settings. The gray cardboard backs of some of these cards looks bright enough to read by. Jeez.

Anyway, Danny O'Connell broke into pro ball with the independent Bloomingdale Troopers of the North Atlantic League. I mention that because I think it's just a great name for a franchise.  He was soon a Brooklyn Dodger signee, but the Dodgers had more good infielders in their chain than they could count and he was traded to the Pirates prior to 1950 and debuted with them that season. He finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting playing mostly shortstop. After a couple of years in the military during the Korean conflict he was back in the bigs in 1953. After another good season he was dealt to the Braves where he beame their regular second baseman.

He was sent on to the Giants for the 1957 season, just in time to miss out on the Braves championship NL run. He finished his career in the AL with a couple of seasons with the Senators. He died in 1969 at the young age of 49. He was from the area I grew up in, the Clifton-Nutley-Patterson New Jersey region. He'd been a high school ref and I wonder if he ever did any of our games.

#411 Whitey Lockman

Another '59er that looks like your uncle, Whitey Lockman was a baseball 'lifer'. He was playing in the minors at 16 and spent pretty much the entirety of his life in the game in one position or another.

Lockman began his major league career as an 18 year old New York Giant in 1945. After spending the next season in the military he returned and played for the Giants right up through 1958 and their move to the west coast. He did take a detour to St. Louis and played the second half of the '56 season with the Cardinals after a mid-season trade but the Giants, perhaps missing his wavy reddish locks, traded for him in time for 1957.

Playing the outfield and first base Lockman put together a very respectable resume with the Giants making the 1952 All Star Game and challenging the .300 mark fairly regularly. He scored the tying run in the famous 'Shot Heard 'Round the World' Giants-Dodgers 1951 playoff game. He had reached base before the Bobby Thomson blast that ended it. 

As reflected on this card he emerged with the Orioles for 1959 but was dealt to the Reds in June. He was brought back to Cincy in 1960 but played sparingly before being released for good in July.

After his playing days he became a coach for the Reds and then worked his way through the Cubs organization in nearly every capacity possible culminating with his being named their manager in 1972, a job he held into 1974. He continued in the game in the front offices of the Cubs, Expos and Marlins through 2001.

Yahoo Sports ran a nice obit/story after Lockman died in 2009. It's a tribute to a baseball life well lived.

This is a recently upgraded copy of the Whitey Lockman card. Since I have one in my Topps Orioles run I guess I have at least three now. I'm pretty much Whitey Lockman'd out.