#260 Early Wynn

I present Hall of Famer and 300 game winner Early Wynn. Does this guy personify 1950's baseball or what? By the 1959 season Wynn had long ago established his resume. He'd had numerous 20 win seasons, an AL championship ring, many All Star appearances, etc. He'd pretty much split his time in the bigs between the Senators and Indians and served a year (1945) in the military during WWII. Along the way he had built a reputation as a durable hard-nosed headhunter with a blazing fastball as well as a variety of other pitches.

Some thought he was on the decline when the Indians traded him to the White Sox for 1958 (although it should be noted a lot of Indian fans disagreed). Wynn showed that he had some life left in his powerful arm and led the Sox to the '59 World Series to cap off a year that saw him win the Cy Young Award. He had a good year again in 1960, winning 14, but by '63 he was hooking on with the Indians again at mid-season in an effort to get his elusive 300th win. He picked it up on July 13 in Kansas City with a shaky five inning effort. It was his last win. He retired after the '63 season and spent time as a pitching coach and broadcaster for several big league clubs.

Wynn is another guy who is identified with different club by different people. To me he's an Indian mainly due to my managing the '54 Tribe in Strat-O-Matic. This despite having seen him live as a White Sox starter. 

That's the Yankee Stadium scoreboard to the right of this shot on the '59 card. Can't quite make out the Ballantine sign or the Longines clock but they are there someplace. The White Sox cap with the red outlined S-O-X took me years to track down in my size (or any size for that mater). I don't consider it traitorous to my Oriole roots. It's just a great cap. I have a Milwaukee Braves cap, too. 

Finally, here is the Bowman Early Wynn card from their 1953 set. No other comment needed.

#114 Earl Battey

Earl Battey spent the first third of his career with the White Sox backing up Sherm Lollar and doing a lot of catching in the Sox system. A trade to Washington for the 1960 season kick started his late blooming career and  Battey became a standout receiver for the Senators and then the Twins.

Between '60 and his retirement following the '67 season Battey made four AL All Star squads, won three Gold Gloves (primarily for his terrific throwing arm) led all catchers in putouts and assists four times and finished in the top ten among MVP vote getters three times.

Not bad for a guy who seemed to have no future as a White Sox benchwarmer for half a decade. The really nice 1965 Twins tribute page Cool of the Evening, which I've referenced here before, has some interesting nuggets about Earl Battey... he spoke Spanish which he learned playing on semi pro clubs, was interested in a journalism career as a teen, had a radio show in D.C. while with the Senators and had thyroid issues which led to his 'roundish' stature.

Second straight orange-framed card with a Yankee Stadium background. But Earl Battey's signature is a whole lot nicer that Andy Carey's.

#413 Camilo Pascual

This card looks to be another Yankee Stadium shot with the righthander in a classic follow through pose in a red frame. Pretty nice copy of this one as well. Of course, it's somewhat off center. I hardly even notice after awhile.

Not to pick on Topps but, c'mon.... you spelled Cuban-born  Camilo Pascual's name wrong on both sides of his card, in two different ways! It's as if they said "OK, we stuck your face on Lumenti's card so we'll balance things out by screwing up your card." Pascual, to this point, had been a hard working, fairly average pitcher on lousy Nats clubs for about four or five seasons. He turned his game around in 1959 and won 17, more than twice as many as in any previous season. He made the first of his five A.L. All Star teams as well.

I saw him pitch live a couple of times as a Twin, the most memorable by far coming on a Sunday in 1963. It was another Yankee Stadium doubleheader. Pascual started the first game and in the bottom of the second inning a group of demonstrators jumped out on the field from near the Twins dugout and ran to the mound, wrapping him in a Cuban flag. I remember the incident and being aware of the whole Cuba/Castro vibe playing out at that time but it sure was a surprise. This was way before Morganna made running out onto the field chic. For years I searched for some documentation of the day. Finally, a few years ago, I found this page that discusses it as part of the larger issue of Cuban exiles in American baseball.  Then the other day I Googled the incident again and found gold! This was the picture I knew had to be out there somewhere but I'd never found. Corbis has the photo and even the original caption. I friggin' love the internet! Here's the shot:

#316 Ralph Lumenti (variation)

Poor old Ralph Lumenti can't catch a break. First of all, that's not even Ralph pictured on the card. Topps stuck about-to-be Nats ace Camilo Pascual on this one. In 1959 the two pitchers were going in different directions. The old bonus rule had Lumenti on the Nats' roster for '57 and '58 but he saw little work. He made a couple of brief appearances in late 1959 and was sent back to the Washington farm system where he kicked around for a few more seasons before entering the witness protection program*. Heck, he isn't even represented on his own cartoon! The guy sitting in the student chair is supposedly getting conked on the noggin with a blast we can only assume has been served up by Ralph. Either that or it's a wild throw he's uncorked. I wonder if Ralph got facial ticks from all this.

The Lumenti card was issued with and without the "Optioned to Chattanooga in March 1959" line below the cartoon. The 'with' version is more common. My example is pretty much beaten up, with very soft corners, stained, creased and scuffed. And, adding insult to injury, my Lumenti was 'autographed' by one of the card's former owners, Mike Howard. Did he do that with every card in his collection? Mike, you out there? I'm feeling like I need to upgrade this one, just to honor Ralph Lumenti. Just to see what he looked like here is his 1958 Topps card.

Meanwhile Camilo Pascual did a career 180 in '59 but I have a cool story that I'm saving concerning him. We'll see all that in a day or so.


*=I'm kidding. According to Wikipedia Ralph is still alive and I'm assuming has recovered from his slights at the hands of Topps.