#433 Billy Harrell

This card of Cardinals' infielder Billy Harrell seems pretty mundane with the hatless subject staring out into the middle distance from what I'm guessing is the visitors' dugout in Yankee Stadium. But some of the most mundane cards reveal some of the coolest stories.

Billy Harrell has one such story. The Norristown, Pennsylvania native played basketball for Sienna College from 1949 through 1952. He was very good at it, too. So good that he was known as 'The Flash', received UPI All American honorable mention honors and he led Sienna to the National Catholic Invitational Tournament championship in 1950. Don't sell that short. The NCIT was considered a top tournament back in those days, right up there with the NIT (then the most prestigious postseason prize) and NCAA tournaments.

The tournament was still in it's infancy then and was scheduled to he held in Baltimore until it was learned that the area hotels would not allow the black players to stay at their establishments. Sienna, who had already received their invite as the #3 seed, offered to host and Harrell and his teammates ran the table (Harrell apparently was a hellacious rebounder) and took home the trophy.

As an interesting aside, City College of New York won both the NIT and NCAA tourneys that year (the only team to ever pull that off) but had both crowns were spoiled by a point shaving scandal that erupted within a year.

Harrell finished his Sienna career as the schools season rebounding record holder, a record that was only broken in 2011. His #10 was the first uniform number ever retired by the school.

Harrell moved on to pro sports after his Sienna days and played baseball for the Birmingham Barons of the Negro Leagues and hoops for the ABL's Saratoga Harlem Yankees. He had previously rejected offers from the Minneapolis Lakers and Harlem Globetrotters. Eventually he signed with the Cleveland Indians and spent six seasons in their system. He had call-ups in 1956 and 1957 and hit pretty well. He spent the entire season with Cleveland in 1958 and played some at shortstop getting almost 250 at bats. He hit only .218 and the Indians waived him that winter and he was claimed by St. Louis.

Although shown as a Cardinal Harrell never made the team and spent two full seasons at the AAA level. His bat (he hit ..293 in 1960) attracted the Red Sox and they took him in the minor league draft and used him a bit in 1961 but after that he was never able to rise past the AAA level and remained there until he retired in 1966. The cardback has a line indicating St. Louis sending him down before the season.

Billy Harrell is (unofficially) the only player to have played in three countries over a span of two days. With Rochester in 1960 he played past midnight in a doubleheader in Havana before catching the 'red eye' to Toronto for the International League All Star Game that evening. He then rejoined his teammates for a home game stateside the next day.

At last report Harrell is retired in Albany, NY, where he had been employed with the State Youth Division in placement and counseling. An article/interview that focused on him and the plight of other former players who fell outside the old baseball pension guidelines can be found here.

Here is a small pic of Harrell playing for Sienna.

#307 Curt Barclay

After signing with the Giants in 1952 out of the University of Oregon Curt Barclay finished that season with a nine game taste of pro baseball before he spent 1953 in the military. Returning to the States in '54 Barclay ascended the Giants' farm system with three impressive seasons.

He made the Giants staff in 1957 and was the #3 starter, finished second on the team in wins (9) and had the best ERA among the starting staff. He moved with the club to San Francisco but injured his shoulder early in the '58 campaign and spent most of that year and the next trying to work his way back up to the Giants from their AAA club. After his injury he managed to appear in just seven games for the Giants. His last big league appearance was a rocky 1/3 of an inning that he had in April of '59. He finished out his career with 12 games of minor league ball in 1960.

After his playing days Barclay worked for a lumber manufacturer. He died at the age of 53 in 1985. During his days at Oregon he played alongside Earl Averill on the ball field and was a starter on the basketball team that featured 'Jungle Jim' Loscutoff who played on seven Celtic NBA title teams. 

#353 Robin Roberts

From 1950 through 1955 Robin Roberts was a truly dominant force in the National League. He won 138 games over that six year stretch, made the All Star game each season and finished in the top 7 of MVP balloting five times.

Not that he was slouch for the rest of his 19 year Hall of Fame career but on the mound during the first half of the decade he was damned impressive.

From his Baseball Reference Bullpen page:

• 7-time NL All-Star (1950-1956)
• 4-time NL Wins Leader (1952-1955)
• 5-time NL Innings Pitched Leader (1951-1955)
• 2-time NL Strikeouts Leader (1953 & 1954)
• 5-time NL Complete Games Leader (1952-1956)
• NL Shutouts Leader (1950)
• 15 Wins Seasons: 10 (1949-1956, 1958 & 1959)
• 20 Wins Seasons: 6 (1950-1955)
• 25 Wins Seasons: 1 (1952)
• 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 14 (1949-1960, 1963 & 1964)
• 300 Innings Pitched Seasons: 6 (1950-1955)
• Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1976

After signing with the Phillies in 1948 Roberts pitched a very strong half season in Class B Wilmington before a call-up in June of that year. He had decent results but he didn't quite show any sign of what was to come. A 15-15 year in 1949 led to a 20 win season in 1950 as the 'Whiz Kids' made it to the World Series where they fell in four to the Yankees. Roberts pitched a 10 inning Game Two and lost a 2-1 decision to a Joe DiMaggio homer.

Roberts never made it back to the postseason but he did make it to Cooperstown after nearly two decades in baseball. After 14 years with the Phils Roberts had stints in Baltimore (four years), Houston and Chicago with the Cubs. He finished with 286 wins while pitching for some pretty sad teams.

After his final major league game in 1966 Roberts pitched for the Reading Phillies in 1967. He later coached for nearly a decade at the University of South Florida.

Little known Robin Roberts facts: He was sold to the Yankees for 1962 and was on their roster but didn't appear in a game before being released and signed by the Orioles in late May. He's the only pitcher to have beaten the Braves in Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta. He had a traveling basketball troupe during the baseball off-seasons and frequently faced the Globetrotters. His hometown of Springfield, Illinois has a stadium named for him.

Roberts poses here in a shot taken at Connie Mack Stadium. Nice break from the Yankee Stadium shots that dominate this set. 

#176 Preston Ward

Handy but light hitting Preston Ward was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1944 and climbed through their loaded minor league system before getting a shot with them in 1948. He hit a respectable .260 in 62 games but was back in the minors the following year and then sold to the Cubs.

He was a semi-regular with Chicago in 1950 but his baseball career was put on hold with a military stint in '51/'52. When he returned the Cubs dealt him to the Pirates and, after a few years as a platoon 1B/outfielder he moved on to the Indians in '56 and Athletics in 1958. His numbers in 1958 reflect his best season as he hit .281 with 10 homers in 400+ at bats splitting tine between the Indians and A's. 1959 was his last shot in the majors.

Ward was another of the many ballplayers in the '59 set that left a basketball career in the dust to sign a major league contract. Ward was a captain and All-Conference selection at Missouri State in the late 40s.

#492 Gene Conley

Wikipedia states that Gene Conley is the only man to play for championship teams in two of the major sports. Until proven otherwise that's good enough for me. 

On Oklahoma native, he grew up in Washington state and played for Washington State University, Conley was a basketball, track and field (high jump) and baseball star who signed with the Boston Braves in 1949. He had been scouted by and had offers from many MLB clubs as well as pro basketball teams. Interestingly Conley was not drafted to serve in Korea as were many of his contemporaries. The Army considered him 'too tall' at 6'8"

After putting up some excellent minor league numbers he had a taste of the bigs with the Braves in 1952 and made the team in 1954, breaking in with a splash. He went 14-9 that year with a 2.96 ERA, making the first of three All Star squads and finishing third in R-O-Y balloting. 

Meanwhile he signed a pro basketball contract to play in the off season. Conley went on to play for six seasons in the NBA winning titles with the Celtics in '59, '60 and '61. He finished his basketball career with a couple of seasons with the Knicks.

On the diamond Conley's career with the Braves was highlighted by winning the 1958 World Series. But his numbers hadn't matched that rookie season. He pitched in the 1957 Series against the Yankees, getting roughed up in one short appearance.

He moved on to both the Phils and Red Sox before retiring in 1964 and had some success in both cities. Along the way he had some interesting times which are chronicled here in a Boston Globe story, well worth the read. His wife has written a book about his career(s) and their life that can be seen by scrolling down on this page.  

                                     

Pretty cool when you think about the fact that he got to win titles playing with both Hank Aaron and Bill Russell! And his WSU Huskies team was ranked #2 in college hoops in 1950.

Conley founded and ran a paper company after his playing days. Pretty sweet pictures below of Conley on the mound. His size makes him quite an intimidating sight for batters.

The 1959 Topps Conley is a red Phillies card, one of only two issued. He is shown in his Braves uni as he had come over from them prior to the season. And as an aside, Gene Conley looks like a much taller version of my father when he was young.