#123 Don Dillard The Sporting News Rookie Stars

This is the first of three consecutive 'rookie star' cards that Topps put out for Don Dillard. Dillard was a Cleveland Indians signee in 1955 and the outfielder spent six seasons banding around in their system with more good seasons than bad. He got a taste of the majors in both 1959 and 1960 before he earned a job as a fourth outfielder and pinch hitter in 1961.

He held that job for two seasons. In '61 he had seven dingers to go with a .272 average in almost 150 at bats. He was somewhat busier in 1962 but not as effective and the Tribe shipped him off to Milwaukee as part of the deal that brought them Joe Adcock in November of that year.

You'll note that the cardback mentions that Dillard has 'good speed'. But in his career he was 0-fer-3 in steal attempts. In his defense he had lots of doubles and triples in his minor league career so maybe he just never got the green light in Cleveland and Milwaukee. Base stealing was confined to a relative few players back then.

His one full season with the Braves didn't do anything to revive his numbers and he spent most of 1964/65 in the minors with a second half call up by the Braves in '65. After two more minor league seasons he was out of the game and starting his 'second life' as a businessman owning a marina and a sporting goods business. He later was co-owner of a baseball camp.

Dillard currently resides in his native South Carolina. His other two rookie star cards were issued in '60 and '61. The 1960 version used the same photo as this one. Here they are fresh from the 'net:

That 1960 rookie card design is one I like very much but the 1961 Dillard has a cool Colavito-esgue vibe don't you think? 

#132 Don Lee The Sporting News Rookie Star

Geeky high school teacher: "I'll take 'Fathers and Sons' for $200, Alex."

Thornton Lee and Don Lee

Geeky high school teacher: "What duo gave up homers to Ted F'ing Williams 21 years apart?"

"Correct!"


And, btw, according to Wikipedia Ted is the only one to do that.

Anyway righthanded pitcher Don Lee signed with the Detroit Tigers out of the University of Arizona in  1956 and pitched in a dozen games for them in '57/'58. Half of those were starts. Traded to the Senators in 1960 he stayed with the Nats/Twins into 1962 when he was dealt to the Angels. That '62 season was his best, he won 11 games.

He pitched for the Astros and Cubs in '65/'66 and then spent the 1967 season in the minors. He finished with a 40-44 record and a 3.61 ERA. His father, the aforementioned Thornton Lee won 117 games in 16 big league seasons between 1933 and 1948. His ERA was nearly the same as his son's, 3.56.

#124 Dan Dobbek The Sporting News Rookie Star

Dan Dobbek signed with the Senators in 1955 and, after a side trip to the military, rose through the minors with a reputation as a power hitting outfielder. He never did produce at the major league level and was gone from the bigs after 1961.

Dobbek was called up by the Senators in September of 1959, put in rightfield as the starter and spent the final month of the season in that role. He hit his first (of 15 total) big league homer off Billy O'Dell that month. He was a semi regular in 1960 and got into 110 games hitting .218 with ten homers. In an April game against the Red Sox he tied a major league record by receiving three intentional walks.

His final season came after the Nats moved to Minneapolis/St. Paul and became the Twins in 1961. That year on May 19th he hit the first grand slam in Metropolitan Stadium. That was the second two homer game of his career, both came against the Athletics.

He was dealt to the Reds after that but never made it back to the majors. He says his career was cut short by a collision with the outfield wall against the Athletics. He finished as a pro with a couple more minor league seasons and then retired. Baseball Reference reports that he lives in Oregon.

#121 Bob Conley The Sporting News Rookie Stars

After signing with the Phils out of Kentucky in 1953 Bob Conley pitched his way up the minor league ladder until he was called up for a September look in 1958.

A seven inning, six hit debut versus the Dodgers was followed by an early KO at the hands of the Cubs a few days later. And that was all there was to Conley's career. He threw for a couple more seasons in the minors before hanging up his glove in 1960.

Not surprisingly Conley info is hard to find. He reportedly worked in the restaurant business after his retirement and lived in New Jersey. That's all I got.

#128 Bob Hartman The Sporting News Rookie Stars

Bob Hartman had two Rookie Star cards, the featured one and another the following season in the 1960 set, pictured below. That's two more cards than he had wins in the majors. He played parts of two seasons in the bigs. In '59 he made three appearances for the Braves and, after being dealt to Cleveland, pitched in 8 games for the Indians in 1962. He lost his only decision but he should have had a win in his first start that year.

On June 26 in Detroit in the second game of a twin bill Hartman got the ball and went 10 very strong innings. He allowed only a run on three hits while fanning 7 Tigers. The only run he allowed was a homer in the bottom of the first by Bubba Morton. Meanwhile the Tribe was banging out hits but couldn't push across more than a single run. Hartman was lifted for a pinch hitter in the eleventh and the Indians finally took the game in 12, winning for Gary Bell in relief. Five days later Hartman got another start aginst the White Sox and was KO'd early, taking the loss. After six more relief appearances in July he was off to the minors where he played a few more seasons.

But Topps can't be faulted for giving him a Rookie Star card in 1959. He was a 20 game winner for the Braves' Atlanta farm club in 1958. Baseball Digest had a feature story on him that season. Hartman appeared to have a bright future. Just wasn't to be.

After more minor league work in the early 60's Hartman retired to Kenosha, Wisconsin and was a youth baseball official. He passed away in 2010.

My copy of this one is pretty weak with soft corners and a kid's initials printed on the front. I've got a few cards from this same kid's collection, all with his initials (I guess they are initials, could be a code). Since I'm not a big fan of these Rookie Cards this will end up being one of my last 'upgrades', if I bother at all. No disrespect to Bob Hartman intended.

#144 Jerry Walker The Sporting News Rookie Star

Jerry Walker had a brief but meteoric major league career that began almost immediately after signing with the Orioles as a 18 year old 'bonus baby' out of Ada, Oklahoma.

After pitching in 13 games for the O's in '57 Walker spent most of 1958 in the minors but in 1959 he opened the season in a rush and found himself on the mound starting (and winning) the first 1959 All Star Game for the American League. He finished the season at 11-10 which proved to be his best season. 

Walker was the youngest Opening Day starter in franchise history at the age of 21 years, 67 days. He gained notoriety as a member of the so-called Kiddie Corps, the Orioles' young front liners along with Steve Barber, 22, Chuck Estrada, 22, Jack Fisher, 21, and Milt Pappas, 21.

But Walker was only 3-4 for the '60 Orioles and in 1961 he found himself in Kansas City. He went 6-14 and by 1963 was pitching in Cleveland. He ended his major league career in 1964 but hung around in the minors until 1967.

Post playing career found Walker serving as a minor league manager in the Yankees' chain, scout major league pitching coach and front office executive including a stint as the Tigers' GM. He currently is a VP and special assistant to Red's GM Walt Jocketty. 

The colors on my copy of this card are just a touch faded but the corners are strong and it's truly one of my favorites. Jerry Walker's youthful, happy face smiling from the colorful background and the Orioles uni make it special. I'm not the biggest fan of these Rookie Star cards but if I could keep only one, this would be it. 

#126 Eddie Haas The Sporting News Rookie Star

Surely Eddie Haas isn't ruling his eyes and looking bemused because my scanning skills (and laziness) have given him a card front and card back that slant in different directions. Ya think? Maybe he's just expressing  his disbelief that he was chosen by The Sporting News as a 'Rookie Star of 1959'.

Haas actually showed some promise in the minors as he climbed through the Cubs system after signing in '53. He made it to the majors in 1957 and played in a handful of games. Traded to the Braves before the 1958 season he made a few appearances that season as well. Because of a broken leg it wasn't until 1960 that he returned to the Braves and got his last experience with the big club. He hit his one major league homer in July of 1960, against the Cubs naturally.

Haas went on to coach in the Braves organization, working his way up to manager of the Atlanta Braves in 1985. He was fired in August of that year with his club in 5th place.

He then scouted for both the Expos and Red Sox. Eddie has a brother, two sons and a couple of cousins that worked/played in pro baseball.

#125 Ron Fairly

That baby-faced Dodger smiling on the card above had a lot of baseball in his future. Ron Fairly broke in with LA in 1958 and spent 21 years as a solid major leaguer and 27 years as a broadcaster. That totals over 7000 games. Now that is a full life in the game!

He won 3 World Series rings in four chances with the Dodgers and really performed in the '65 Series against the Twins batting .379 with eleven hits including a pair of homers.

Most interestingly Fairly appeared to be winding down and easing into retirement in 1977 when, after five seasons as a platoon/bench player with four clubs, he grabbed a full time spot in the Blue Jays' outfield and made the A.L. All Star team.

My copy of this Sporting News Rookie Stars card has really nice corners but displays the off centered look that seems to become common in my collection.

#137 Dick Ricketts (Rookie Star)

Here we have our first 'special' card out of the '59 set. I'm not overwhelmed by the Sporting News Rookie Stars cards but I don't find them hideous either. I think Topps improved on them in 1960 (the orange background cards) and 1961 (newsprint style cards).

EDIT.........my original post for this card was wrong. I had this card on the top of my stack, assumed it was 'Dave' Ricketts (he's the Ricketts brother I was familiar with) and wrote away, oblivious to the fact it was 'Dick' Ricketts' card I had just uploaded. What a stupid I am. Mike Clark caught my embarrassing gaffe and was kind enough to provide the Dick Ricketts background in the comments section without pointing out that I was/am such a dumbass. I'm reposting this using the info Mike provided. So I guess that makes him my first guest blogger! Take it away Mike Clark......................

Dave was Dick's brother, I believe - both played for the Cardinals - one was a pitcher (Dick) the other caught (Dave). Dave had the longer MLB career. Wikipedia says:Richard James Ricketts, Jr. (December 4, 1933–March 6, 1988) was an American professional basketball player.
A 6'7" forward from Duquesne University, Ricketts was selected by the St. Louis Hawks with the first pick of the 1955 NBA Draft. He played three seasons in the NBA with the Hawks and the Rochester and Cincinnati Royals and scored 1,974 career points. Ricketts, a strong 225-pounder, was drafted #1 overall by the NBA Hawks because he was also property of the Major-League baseball Cardinals. Pitching largely for the Rochester Red Wings, Ricketts became part of that NBA franchise there as well. When the team relocated to Cincinnati, the forward/center played the 1957-58 season there. Ricketts was affected by the tragic injury of teammate Maurice Stokes in March, 1958 and retired from pro basketball following that season.
Ricketts was also signed as an amateur free agent pitcher by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1955. In 1959 he appeared in 12 games for the Cardinals, including 9 starts. He had a 1-6 record, with a 5.82 ERA in 55 2/3 innings. His brother Dave Ricketts played six years in the major leagues.

The part about Dick being affected by the injury to Maurice Stokes is real interesting, isn't it? I remember seeing Stokes appear as a guest at some NBA games in the early 60s and his story being featured on the ABC broadcasts of NBA games during that time. Here is his page at Wikipedia.


Again, thanks to Mike Clark for his input and I hope anyone reading this with an interest in 59s won't be put off by my rookie blogger mistake.