#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.

#309 Sal Maglie

Sal Maglie is one of the most interesting guys I've come cross in blogging the '59 set. Out of Niagra Falls Maglie signed with the New York Giants in 1938. He spent five uneventful seasons in the Giants chain and at one point left the game and worked at a defense plant in New York. (He had been rejected for military service for a sinus condition). He then returned to baseball, pitched in the Giants chain and debuted in 1945. When the '45 season was over Maglie jumped to the Mexican League after having issues with Manager Mel Ott. That earned him a five year ban from the majors.

During his five years away.... well there is no way I can capture the color of Maglie's career in a blog post. And there is no point in re-inventing the wheel. I refer you to the exceptional SABR bio which is found here and is highly recommended.

The short version is that Maglie became a highly successful pitcher for the Giants and Dodgers and garnered more major league time with the Indians, Yankees and Cards. He's one of about a dozen players to have been with all three original New York franchises. He had been released in April of 1959 and therefore was out of the game by the time this card was issued by Topps.

He finished with 119 wins, a 3.15 ERA, an ERA title, a wins title and World Series title and one of the coolest nicknames in baseball history, 'The Barber'.

There is a You Tube video of a 1956 appearance Maglie made on the old "What's My Line?" TV show. It was broadcast live on the evening of October 7, 1956. That was the same day as the fourth game of the World Series.  The NEXT DAY Maglie pitched and lost in one of the most celebrated World Series games ever played, Don Larsen's perfect game. On the panel is Yankee Phil Rizzuto who was wrapping up his career. The video is here. It runs immediately upon opening the page so I didn't embed it. Here's a still shot.

Other Maglie notes:

Sal Maglie Stadium is home to minor league and collegiate baseball in Niagara Falls, New York. The original Sal Maglie Stadium is profiled here.

He had pitched his own no-hitter just two weeks prior to the Larsen perfecto.

He served two stretches as Red Sox pitching coach and saw his last uniform duty as the pitching coach for the Seattle Pilots.

His post playing career life was a roller coaster of triumph and tragedy and again I refer you to the SABR bio or this book available on Amazon.

edit: Amazon link cleaned and replaced. Dunno what was up with that

#315 Joe Adcock

Joe Adcock spent 17 years in the majors with four clubs but had his best years with the powerhouse Milwaukee Braves teams of the mid-50s through early 1960s. Batting behind Eddie Matthews and Hank Aaron, Adcock hit 239 homers for the club in 10 seasons. Some of his homers were legendary.

Originally signed in 1947 out of LSU by the Reds, Adcock debuted as an outfielder with Cincinnati in 1950. He never took to the outfield (Ted Klusewski held down first base there) and requested a trade which was granted for 1953. That mind boggling four club deal landed him in Milwaukee. Adcock hit .285 for his career with the Braves and played on the Braves' Series clubs in 1957 and 1958.

On July 31, 1954 Adcock had one of the one game performances in history. Against the Dodgers at Ebbets Field that day, he hit four home runs and a double. In 1956 he finished second in the league in home runs (38), RBI (103), and slugging percentage (.597). He appeared in the World Series with the Braves in 1957 and 1958.

Adcock is known for breaking up baseball's longest no-hitter on May 26, 1959. After Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitched twelve perfect innings, he homered in the 13th inning to drive in Felix Mantilla and give the Braves the win. But as he rounded the bases he inadvertently passed Hank Aaron and was called out.

After a below par 1962 season he was dealt to the Indians for a one year stretch and then was traded to the Angels where he played another three seasons. After he retired as an active player he managed the Indians to an 8th place finish in 1967 and managed in the minors for a season or so.

Later in life he was in the horse breeding business in his native Louisiana. He died after suffering the affects of Alzheimer's Disease in 1999. He's a member of that state's Sports Hall of Fame. His inductee page is good reading.

Nice portrait card of the guy nicknamed 'Billy Joe'. I like his signature on the card. Looks like something you'd see on the Declaration of Independence. Kind of reminds me of John Hancocks' sig.

#14 Pete Whisenant

Pete Whisenant had one season of semi-regular outfield duty getting almost 350 at bats with the Cubs in 1956 and spent the rest of his eight big league seasons as a fourth outfielder. He was signed by the Braves in 1947 and debuted with them in 1952 following a year of military service. He's apprenticed for a major league spot by showing good power and a spotty batting average in the Braves system.

Whisenant spent those eight seasons with six different clubs. In addition to the Cubs and Braves he played for the Reds (obviously), the Cardinals, Indians and Senators/Twins. He had two separate runs with the Reds, the second coming in his final big league season, 1961.

He coached for the Reds for a season or so immediately after he retired as an active player and then returned nearly two decades later to manage in the A's chain. I found a sort of neat story posted by a blogger on his non-sports blog that tells a story of Whisenant giving a baseball to the then young blogger's mom. It's a quick fun read.

Another nice black framed Reds card. And another shot with San Francisco's Seals Stadium's distinctive red railings in the background. This is Whisenant's second straight cool looking card as he appeared on a black 1958 Topps the year before. Here it is as a scan I found on the 'net. I like the '59 better.

#177 Johnny Briggs

There have been two players with the name 'Johnny Briggs' in modern baseball. This one and the 1b/OF Johnny Briggs who played a few years later for the Phils and Brewers. 

Jonathan Tift Briggs pitched for three different clubs between 1956 and 1960. He was in independent minor league baseball after high school when he found himself dealt to the Phillies for whom he never pitched. The Phils traded him to the Cubs and he appeared in three games in both 1956 and 1957 and then landed a spot in the Cubs rotation for '58. He made 17 starts, went 5-5 with a 4.52 ERA and was traded to the Indians where he pitched into 1960 and was traded again, this time to the Athletics. He was 4-4 in 29 games that year in the AL.

Traded again, Briggs toiled in the Reds chain for a couple of seasons before hanging up his glove. He finished with a 9-11 major league w/l total. He had a much more extensive minor league resume. He won nearly 100 games there. 

The card's backside makes note of the trade that sent him to the Indians in January of 1959. That was probably not long before this 2nd Series card was produced. Below is his 1960 Topps cards (online scan). Both show the same expression. The batting cage in the background pretty much assures us that these two pics are from the same session. It's one case where the "OK, now take off that cap and smile again" instruction came in handy. He's a friendly, pleasant looking guy, no?

#65 Frank Torre

Frank Torre may not have had the baseball success enjoyed by his younger brother Joe, but he did alright for himself after signing with the Braves out of Brooklyn's St. Francis Prep in 1951. After a year in the minors, two in the service and two more back with the Braves farm clubs Torre debuted in 1956.

For four years with the Braves he either held down the first base job or split time with Joe Adcock. Torre hit two homers and batted .300 in ten at bats in the 1957 World Series win over the Yankees. 1958 was his best season as he hit over .300 and had career highs in homers and RBI. The back of the card write up makes note of his fielding prowess at first base.

His numbers dropped in 1959 and by the following season he was back in the minors for a long stretch. After another full minor league season he was sold to the Phils for 1962 and he hit .310 for them in a part time role. He retired after 1963 to work for the Rawlings Sporting Goods Company.

In later year Torre received both a heart and kidney transplant. He is the father of one time Pirate prospect Frank Torre Jr. who currently coaches high school ball.

I really am partial to this card. Looks like the Polo Grounds in the background, the light blue frame compliments the Braves uni and card logo, the 'M' cap is one of my favorites and, maybe most of all, Frank Torre looks like and extra from the original Oceans Eleven that starred Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin among others.

#47 Jim Finigan

1959 in Baltimore was Jim Finigan's last major league stop in a five season career that saw him play for four teams (five if you count the Philadelphia A's and Kansas City A's separately). Finigan signed with the Yankees in the late 40s. He had four pretty good seasons in their minor league chain and a couple of years in the military during the Korean War before he was traded to the A's with whom he debuted in 1954.

He was the A's regular third-baseman that season and hit .302, made the AL All Star team, was second in ROY voting (behind Yankee hurler Bob Grim but ahead of someone named Al Kaline!) and got some MVP votes. He moved to second base and saw his average drop in 1955 by nearly 50 points but again made the All Star Game. That was his final season as a full time starter in the bigs. In 1956 he hit only .216 and played in 91 games. He was traded to the Tigers for 1957, on to the Giants and then to the Orioles for 1959.

For the Orioles he played quite a bit of third base while a slumping Brooks Robinson spent some time in AAA and recovered from a seriously injured arm. When Brooks returned Finigan was back on the bench. He ended his career with a few seasons in the Orioles chain and then some minor league managing. He later coached at Quincy College in Illinois before he died at the age of 52 in 1981.

With his Giants uni showing the picture of Finigan can be traced to 1958. So he was 30 when it was taken. Looks older than that don't ya think? And I'd say he resembles on of my childhood favorites, Howdy Doody.