#551 Fred Haney '59 All Star Selection

Fred Haney began his baseball career in 1918(!) as a member of the PCIL's Portland Buckaroos. 39 years later he managed the Milwaukee Braves to a World Series title in seven games over the Yankees. In between he played quite a bit of minor league ball in Los Angeles with the Hollywood Stars and original Los Angeles Angels, played 622 major league games, mostly as an infielder for the Tigers and Red Sox, managed in the minors, managed the Browns and Pirates and broadcast games for the LA Angels of the PCL.

With the Braves he earned two world Series trips in three seasons, winning the '57 title as mentioned. His Braves, featuring Hank Aaron, Eddie Matthews, Warren Spahn, et al, returned to the Series in '58 only to lose to the Yanks. That trip earned him an All Star Game managerial gig in '59 and this terrific baseball card.

He was fired after the 1959 season for the grave mistake of tying for first place with the Dodgers in the NL and then losing in a playoff thus dropping his chance for a third consecutive World Series. Tough deal, I'd say.

Haney landed on his feet though. Hired on as the first general manager of the expansion Los Angeles Angels after a short gig broadcasting games for NBC, Haney got to work in his hometown once again. His final job was as a consultant to the Angels in the late 60s.

This is a favorite of mine from the '59 set. I don't hide my love of the Braves unis, the card is in nice condition (relative to most of the other higher numbers I own) and how can you NOT love the 'nice guys' reference on the back? 

I couldn't resist adding a couple of pictures of Fred. Call it a salute to a baseball life well lived.

First here is Fred Haney wearing the Hollywood Stars (in)famous short uni pants. This was long before the White Sox made the same mistake.

And finally a great dugout portrait of a baseball lifer:

#372 Jim Hegan

If this really is a Phils uni on Jim Hegan (and not an elaborate and really good airbrush job) than the pic was taken in 1958 after he came to Philadelphia. That would make him 37. That's not old but he sure looks younger than that, no? 

Hegan began his big league career in 1941 with the Indians and hit .319 in 18 games. He never came close to matching that. Following another partial season with the Tribe and three years serving in the Coast Guard during WWII Hegan established himself behind the plate and was known as a master behind the plate. He combined quickness and smarts to help Cleveland to two American League Championships (1948 and 1954). He helped them win a ring with a Series title over the Braves in '48. 

Even though he never was much of a hitter he was a good enough backstop to make five All Star games in the  40s/50s. And every single Hegan bio contains quotes from members of the famed Indians' pitching crew of that era praising his ability and giving him credit for much of the club's success. 

Hegan caught three no-hitters and garnered some MVP votes along the way indicating the regard he was held in despite his weak hitting.

At the end of his long career he toured for brief spans with the Tigers, Cubs, Giants and, obviously, the Phils. He's also known as Mike Hegan's dad.

My copy has some scuffing and is way off center. But the blue frame is sweet.

#46 Bill Henry

Like me, Bill Henry is a University of Houston alum. Among that elite and talented group only Doug Drabek and Woody Williams had more wins as a major league pitcher. And his 90 career saves in the majors is by far the most by any ex-Cougar. Good for him. And he lives just over the bridge from me here in east Houston's petroleum corridor. LOL

From 1952 through 1969 Henry fashioned a career with six big league clubs, made it to an All Star Game (1960) and pitched in the 1961 World Series with the Reds.

He began with the Red Sox and divided his time between a starting job, the bullpen and trips back down to the minors.

Henry hit his stride in 1959, a year after being acquired by the Cubs and settling full time in the 'pen. He won a career high 9 games that season and was the NL's busiest pitcher with 65 appearances.

That 1959 season began a stretch of five consecutive double digit saves seasons, four of them with the Reds. He had a terrific year in 1964 allowing just 31 hits in 52 innings, striking out 28 against just 12 walks and compiling an 0.87 ERA. Despite that he was dealt to the Giants early in the '65 season and began an odyssey that took him through Pittsburgh and, briefly, Houston before he hung 'em up in 1969.

An amazing story about Bill Henry was chronicled in Sports Illustrated by Rick Reilly a few years back. Seems some other 'Bill Henry' had been passing himself off as 'Bill Henry the baseball player' for years, even to his family. When the guy died the real Bill Henry's wife got condolence calls and the story came to light. Reilly is always a good read. Check it out.

The green frame is been kind of rare so far. Despite a couple of soft corners it shows off the devilishly handsome (all UH grads are devilishly handsome) in his best light. I actually upgraded this card last month at the Houston TriStar show but I'm too lazy to re-scan.

#302 Don Mossi

No cheap Don Mossi jokes from me. Sure he had those big ears and sad, hound dog looks but he was a very good major league pitcher for a number of years. And by all accounts he was a darn nice guy to boot.  There are plenty of places to get a chuckle at Mossi's expense. Just google him and you'll find clever stuff about Mossi written by nearly every blogger and Bill James, too.

OK, so he isn't Don Drysdale, he was a guy who answered the call for several American League clubs in the 50s and 60s and did a nice job in whatever role he was asked to fill.

Mossi originally signed with the Indians in 1949 and worked his way through the minors, debuting in 1954 with the Tribe. That was a nice year to debut since Cleveland made it to the World Series. After a season where he went 6-1 with 7 saves and a sub 2.00 ERA Mossi got into three games in the Series, pitched four innings and didn't allow a run. 

After a couple more seasons working out of the Indians bullpen as a lefty compliment to righty Ray Narleski, Mossi was handed a starters slot in 1957 and he won 11 games. Then it was back to the pen for 1958 and following that a trade to the Tigers for 1959.

He started for five seasons in Detroit, winning 59 games then rounded out his career with a season each with the White Sox and Athletics. He wound up with 101 wins along with 80 losses, and All Star appearance (1957) and that World Series experience. All in all, not a bad career.

Red framed, airbrushed shot in Yankee Stadium. Seen these before. I will give credit to the Topps airbrush guy. He restrained what had to be an overwhelming urge to tinker with stuff other than Mossi's cap logo. Does that count as a cheap Don Mossi joke?

#261 Gene Stephens

OK, it was just a throw away line on Gene Stephens' Wikipedia page:

 On June 18, 1953 Stephens became the first major leaguer in the modern era (since 1900) to have 3 hits in a single inning. The record was matched in 2004 by Johnny Damon, who coincidently also accomplished this feat as a Red Sox as well.

I mulled that over for a few seconds, impressed. Then I looked closer and saw the same info is part on his cardback cartoon. Then It dawned on me.... they batted around...twice! Wow! I gotta check that out. I did and I was pretty amazed/amused.

Click the box score page from Baseball Reference. Scroll down to the bottom of the seventh. I'll sum it up if you are too lazy: Sox lead the Tigers 5-3 as the Sox come to bat. Then this happens.....Single, single (that's Stephens' first hit and he steals 2nd), single, strikeout, double, intentional walk, single, homer, single, walk, wild pitch, double (that's Stephens' second hit), walk, single, flyout, single, walk, walk, single, single, single (there goes Stephens' third hit), another single, another walk, and then mercifully, George Kell flys out to leftfield. The damage: 17 runs on 14 hits and 6 walks. Yikes. Oddly George Kell made two of the outs.

Tiger righty Steve Gromeck took most of the pounding. He'd been a Tiger for just three days after being acquired from the Indians on June 15! I wonder what Tiger management was thinking as that inning ended. Gromeck entered the game with a 3.27 ERA and exited with 9.75. LOL

Stephens was a fourth outfielder and defensive caddy for Ted Williams for the bulk of his career. He broke in with the Red Sox in 1952 and stuck with the big club beginning in '55. In 1960 he was traded to the Orioles and then spent pieces of the next three seasons with the White Sox and A's. After a minor league stint in 1967 Stephens hung up his glove for good.

He finished with a .240 batting average and 34 homers as well as a feature role in that amazing 1953 game. A very far reaching interview and bio of Stephens is available here.

Interesting that fellow Red Sox outfielder Johnny Damon is the only other player since 1900 that has three hits in an inning. He pulled it off on June 27, 2003. Waaay back in 1883 three Chicago White Stockings players, Tom Burns, Ned Williamson and Fred Pfeffer all (yes, all) had three hits in the same inning. But those guys were playing rounders back then. I don't know how that record even was recorded.

You gotta like the Stephens '59 card. Gene poses on the dugout steps in Yankee Stadium, green frame matching the green (peeling) paint of the ballpark. Gene showing off his bat. Not a typical pose.

#458 Gordon Jones

Gordon Jones put in a lot of time in the St. Louis Cardinals' farm system before getting his shot with the big club in 1954. He made 10 starts for the Cardinals that season and went 4-4 with a 2.00 ERA. He never had as good a season after that.

After nine starts with the Cards in '55 he moved to the bullpen almost exclusively for the rest of his career which spanned parts of eleven seasons for the Giants, Orioles, A's and Astros after leaving St. Louis.

His career win totals show a 15-18 mark with 12 saves. His cap shows that crappy faux Giants logo that Topps insisted on painting on Giants players well after the clubs move to the Bay area. It's a SF Seals design and shows the lazy side of Topps design team. 

Interestingly this card was used as Gordon's card in the 1991 Crown Oil/Coca Cola Orioles set.  THAT designer simply took the Topps '59 trimmed it back some and recycled it. Ryan at The Great Orioles Autograph Project did a great post on this. Here's the card:

Yikes, is that obviously a cribbed shot or what? And, as Ryan points out, they could have used his 1960 Topps card if they were going to recycle an image.

#510 New York Yankees

Leave it to the Yankees to have a team shot taken at an angle. I don't think I've seen any other club do this. The 1959 club was coming off the '58 World Series win over the Braves. They fell off to 79-75 and finished in third behind the White Sox and the Indians. A long way behind, 10 back of the Tribe, 15 out of first.

Lots of things seemed to work against the Yanks in 1959. It was one of only two seasons under Casey Stengel (the other being 1954) that they did not finish first. Mickey Mantle had a sub par year, hitting 31 homers but only .285. Whitey Ford led the club's staff with 16 wins. The Yanks turned it back around in 1960 and all was well again in the Bronx.

When I was a kid the 4th of July usually meant one thing... and it wasn't firecrackers. It meant a trip to Yankee Stadium for a doubleheader with my Dad. I don't remember the Orioles ever being the visitors on the Fourth or on Labor Day either which was the other summer doubleheader tradition we had. 

The back of this card looks better than the front, at least in terms of condition. It's clean and unchecked while the front is a little scruffy. I like the scheme though. And as much as I hate to admit it, I like the classic Yankee top hat logo.

Happy Fourth, everyone!!