#426 Jerry Staley

In a 15 year career that ended in 1961 righthander Jerry Staley went from being a reliever to an All Star starter in the NL then to All Star reliever in the AL. Staley began his baseball career with a couple of very impressive seasons in independent ball in the early 1940s before heading off to serve his country in WWII. After returning, and having been signed earlier by the Cardinals, Staley debuted in the teams bullpen in 1947. By '49 he had become a starter, at least part time, and by 1951 he was winning 19 games and he sustained that pace through two consecutive All Star seasons.

By 1954 his fortunes had reversed and the Cards sent him to the Reds and then he moved to the Yankees before finding his 'second wind' with the White Sox in 1956. In '57 became the Sox' main bullpen weapon and remained so through 1960 when his 13-8, 10 save season earned him another All Star appearance.

He made four appearances with the Sox in the 1959 World series gaining a save and taking a loss in Game Four when he allowed a homer to Gil Hodges in the eighth inning. He retired the other six batters he faced that day and overall had a very nice Series.

Staley's SABR page is chock full of info on his career including his time in the service and unique way he ended up with the Cardinals.

Looks like another Yankee Stadium shot although I don't see those 'windows' in many of these shots. Seems like every White Sox pitcher in the set has the same pose in the same place.

I always like to search out featured players' other cards. While looking at Staley's I saw his 1958 Topps card (love that cap s-o-x and the Flying Sox logo!):

Then I looked at the 1961 Topps:

He aged about a decade between those two shots, yes?  Maybe it's the lighting.

#53 Stan Williams

Whoa. Stan Williams, you were a real badass. At least according to everything I've been reading today.

Williams came in as a strong 6'4" 225 lb-ish hard thrower who would just as soon hit you as look at you. Pretty intimidating staff when you consider the Dodgers had Don Drysdale to go along with him. To say nothing of Sandy Koufax.

He came up with the Dodgers in 1958 and pitched mostly as a starter and really came into his own in 1960 with 14 wins. He just about duplicated his numbers the following two seasons before being traded to the Yankees. He had nagging arm problems which dogged him for several seasons. Then suddenly the arm issues disappeared (read his explanation at Tom Owens' Baseball by the Letter blog). Williams morphed into a pretty good reliever with the Indians and Twins.

His best moment in the bigs came in the second 1959 playoff game between the Dodgers and Braves for the NL pennant. Williams pitched three innings of shutout/hitless ball to win the game and the playoff series in the 12th. He earned a Series ring with that Dodger club. He finished up his career with the Red Sox and Cards then did some coaching with the Yankees, Red Sox, Reds and several other clubs.

Final numbers for Stan 'Big Daddy' Williams..... 109 wins and a 3.48 ERA to go along with 43 saves.

His '59 card, revealing a youthful but poised major leaguer, looks to me like it was done in a 1959 version of Photoshop. That picture looks like it was laid down over the background. Maybe it was just a smoggy day in L.A.

#193 Sammy Taylor

I like digging into some of these player bios when I can. You never know what you'll find when you go down some rabbit hole that presents itself through a cardback. Take Sammy Taylor for example. He played a year at the age of 17 (1950) with an independent club in North Carolina and then the next line of type reads "Did Not Report". What? What kid gets a chance to play baseball for pay and then 'does not report'?

Well actually there are a few scenarios I could see. Maybe he was working elsewhere and needed to make steady money. Maybe his folks disapproved of baseball, or one of them was ill. Maybe he was planning to go into the service very soon, after-all he served the next four years in the employ of Uncle Sam. Maybe, and the romantic in me wants this to be true, he had a girl he just couldn't bear to leave. Sadly I dug about 10 Google pages deep and couldn't find anything to explain Sammy Taylor's reluctance to begin a career on the diamond.

But begin (or actually resume) his career he did in 1956 in the Milwaukee Braves system. After two years he was dealt to the Cubs and debuted in Chicago in 1958. In his four years with the Cubs he was a platoon catcher for the most part but he did get more than 300 at bats his first two seasons. His best year was 1959 when he hit .269 with 13 homers.

He was traded early in the 1962 season to the Mets and then in 1963 he split the year with three clubs, Mets, Indians and Reds. He retired after that season.

Taylor was involved in one of the strangest plays in baseball history, one that ended up with two balls 'in play'. Rather than recount it here check out this link to a Cub fan page for the details. Cool story, bro.

One thing I came across when searching Taylor's story is the fact that in that when he was playing in that independent league in 1950 one of his teammates was a guy named Cliff Bolton. Now Bolton at that point was 43 years old having began his days as a player in 1927 at the age of 20. He played all or part of 7 major league seasons, mostly with the Senators. After his last big league game in 1941 he returned to the minors and played through 1952 at the age of  45! And he hit .344 in 27 games that year.

Getting back to Sammy Taylor... nothing says '1959 baseball card' like a catcher posed squatting along the track without any equipment other than his glove. The red railings mean Seals Stadium in San Francisco.

#28 Red Worthington

I never remember 'Red' Worthington as 'Red'. He was 'Al' Worthington. But then again I don't remember his pitching for the Giants, only the Twins, so don't go by me.

Anyway, Worthington signed with the Chicago Cubs out of the University of Alabama in 1951. He had led the Crimson Tide to an SEC title and a College World Series berth. After an unremarkable year in the Cubs system he was dealt off to the Giants prior to the 1952 season.

He made his major league debut in July of 1953. Boy, did he ever! Worthington became the first major leaguer to open his career with back-to-back shutouts. He beat the Phils (at home) and the Dodgers (in Flatbush) on July 6 & 11 by identical 6-0 scores. He went on to lose his next eight decisions that year before finishing up with a couple of strong starts to land at 4-8 for the season.

He pitched mostly in the minors for a couple of years before returning as a starter in 1956. He began transitioning into a reliever in 1957. He had a career high 11 wins in 1958 and pitched well in '59 but found himself bounced from the Giants to the Red Sox, White Sox and Reds before finding a plsce with the 1964 Twins and taking over the closer role there.

Between '64 and his retirement at the age of forty following the 1969 season Worthington saved 88 games for the Twins with 37 wins and a 2.62 ERA. Following his playing days he went on the coach the Twins in 1972 under his manager from his Giants days, Bill Rigney. He then spent 13 years as the head coach at Liberty University. His book was published in 2004. In 2011 the Birmingham native was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

There is just enough red in the background of that picture to ID the scene as Seals Stadium. These seafoam green cards have grown on me since i began blogging this set. This one is in great shape other than the slight yellowing of the cardboard.

Btw... there was another Red Worthington, an outfielder for the Braves and Cards in the early 30s. That Red and Al were not related.

#19 Ed Bressoud

Eddie Bressoud had a long baseball career. Signed by the Giants in 1950 he played three years in their farm system, gave two years to military service and returned to play a couple more seasons in the minors. He debuted with the Giants, still based in New York, in June of 1956. He opened the '57 season back on the farm but returned to the big club in July of that year.

As the team moved west Bressoud gained more playing time at shortstop, playing in over a hundred games in both 1959 and 1960. In 1961 his slick fielding was no longer enough to hold off other competitors for the starting slot and he was relegated back to the bench in place of Jose Pagan.

The Houston Colt '45s took Bressoud as their first expansion pick and them dealt him to the Red Sox. While he missed by a year the chance to play on the Giants' 1962 NL Champs club, he did enjoy his best big league seasons with the Red Sox. He had double digit homers and his best batting averages in three seasons in Fenway. He made the AL All Star squad in 1964 but didn't get into the game, a fact that he was always bitter about. By 1966 however he had been traded to the Mets and then to the Cards for 1967. He got a Series ring and a couple of at bats in the '67 Series against his old Red Sox club.

He managed a year in the minors before becoming a teacher and coach at DeAnza Community College in California. Bressoud has said that despite his success in Boston and that title in St. Louis, he always considered himself as a member of the Giants.

I'm guessing that Bressoud (btw...Baseball Reference gives the pronunciation as 'bruh-sue', with a silent 'D' which means I have had it wrong for 40 50 years) posed for this picture while a member of the New York Giants which would explain the hatless pose chosen. But that could be the Los Angeles Coliseum so, who knows.

#255 Del Ennis

Now THAT'S an airbrush job! And not a very good one at that. Del Ennis played just five games for the Reds in 1959 after being acquired from the Cards after the 1958 season and he was dealt off to the White Sox in early May.

Ennis made his name in Philadelphia playing with the Phillies for eleven very productive seasons. He was a hometown boy, signed in 1943. After a season in the minors and a bit over two years in the military Ennis debuted late in April of 1946. His 17/73/.313 line earned him Top Ten MVP votes and he made the All Star squad. 1946 was a year before The Sporting News began their Rookie of the Year awards but he surely would have garnered some consideration. The Baseball Writers voted him the honor although what we think of as the R-O-Y was not yet recognized.

He went on to be an integral part of the "Whiz Kids" who won the NL pennant in 1950. Ennis led the National League with 126 RBI that season and he was fourth in the NL with a batting average of .311, and fifth with 31 home runs. He finished fourth in the MVP balloting. 

But Philadelphia, being Philadelphia, never really warmed up to the big hitting native son. A smart philly.com article discusses this phenomenon and another one makes the case for giving Ennis his due. A Google search turned up well written entries that name him as one of the most underrated Philly athletes of all time and one that puts him at #16 on the list of 100 Greatest Phillies.

In Phillies history Ennis ranks 3rd in Home Runs, 3rd in RBIs, 4th in hits, 3rd in total bases, 7th in doubles, 5th in games played, 9th in runs scored. Makes you wonder why he was never really appreciated in his hometown.

He co-owned a bowling center, Del Ennis Lanes, for 33 years before he closed it in 1991.

#168 Carroll Hardy

For a guy who only had one real season as a full time player in the majors Carroll Hardy accomplished quite a bit on various athletic fields (and off the field as well).

1) He was All Big 7 Conference in football and baseball at the University of Colorado in the early 50s and also lettered in track. He was named to the CU all-time football team, is the schools all time batting average leader, earned a total of ten varsity letters and is a member of the Buffs' Hall of Fame.

2) He was a third round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in 1955 and played one year catching 12 passes from Y.A. Title, four for touchdowns. He went back to his first love, baseball, after that one season.

3) While with the Boston Red Sox in September of 1960 he became the only player to ever pinch hit for Ted Williams. The story behind that at-bat is a good read on this Boston.com page. He also pinch hit for Carl Yastrzemski and Roger Maris during his career. Hardy hit his first major league homer in that at-bat.

4) He spent most of 1965 through 1968 toiling in the minors but after his baseball days he went to work for the Denver Broncos and, as a player personnel executive, helped shape the famous Orange Crush defense.

All in all Hardy played for four clubs after being signed by the Cleveland Indians in 1955. He only hit .225 for his career that consisted of eight seasons, but he sure has a few stories to tell. 

Oh, he also looks like Chuck Connors. Well, sort of.