#127 Kent Hadley The Sporting News Rookie Stars

You just never know what you'll find when you follow one of these cards down the rabbit hole. This Kent Hadley rookie is a good example. I figured this would be a straightforward, simple post. Young, power-hitting first baseman comes from Idaho, drafted by the Tigers out of college, traded to the A's, a few years in the minors lead to a taste of the big leagues. He plays a season as a regular before he. like every other Kansas City Athletic in the 50's, gets dealt to the Yanks. He plays a little in NY and then finishes in Japan. End of Story.

Not quite. As I've found, the best stuff doesn't always show up on the first page of a Google search. First there is Hadley's SABR bio which talks in detail about his relationship with legendary college coach Rod Dedeaux at USC. Also there you find stories of his impressive tryout performances which led to his signing by Detroit, Much more of course, SABR is a great resource.

But then I stumbled across a couple of blogs. One is written (as best I can tell) by Hadley's daughter, Lynn. It's not active now but the 27 posts that make up Kent Hadley Idaho Yankee, written in 2009, tell the story on Hadley's life before, during and after his career. Great stuff.

A second blog, written by an Idaho native and journalist, isn't specifically about Hadley but does have an entry about him. What made this special is that it led me to the author's Flickr site dedicated to Hadley. It contains many pics and documents about the ballplayer. Tons of great things to see there including pictures of Hadley and his buddy Roger Maris, who he played alongside in both KC and New York (the two were included in the same trade to the Yanks in 1960).

So now I have a whole new perspective on a guy I'd vaguely heard of from his time with the Yanks. And I discovered his 1960 Topps. It's pink and I love pink cards. I'm adding it to my list of 'wants'. It's much cooler than the '59 rookie.

#394 Randy Jackson

Randy Jackson does his best in this shot to live up to his nickname of 'Handsom Ransom'. Yes, his given name is Ransom. I checked into that at Baseball Reference to see if Randy here is the only 'Ransom' to have a record in the game. Turns out that Bob Rush, longtime NL pitcher, has Ransom as his middle name and has a card in this '59 set. We'll see that one of these days. BTW, I've also seen Jackson's nickname spelled as 'Handsome'.

But the name is shared by four minor leaguers including two I felt compelled to mention, Ransom(e) Crisp and Ransom Pringle. Mr. Pringle played for the Celoron Acme Colored Giants based in Jamestown, New York in the Iron and Oil League way back in 1898. The IOL was around in a couple of different forms back in the 1890's. Honus Wagner and his brother Butts Wagner both played in it. The Celeron club was the only black team. How cool is all that!?!?

But back to Handsom Ransom. He's a native of Arkansas who attended the University of Arkansas, transferred to TCU and then to the University of Texas. I wonder if he left behind a string of broken hearts given how damn 'handsom' he was. He played football and baseball in college and led both the Longhorns and Horned Frogs to Cotton Bowls as a halfback.

Jackson was signed by the Cubs in 1947 and spent three seasons in the minors. But he got a chance to taste the majors with a 34 game trial in 1950. In '51 he took over the regular 3rd base job for Chicago and held it for five years. Over that period he batted .265 and made the NL All Star squad in both '54 and '55, getting an RBI single in the later of those two appearances.

He was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers and played on their World Series club in '56 after sharing the hot corner spot with Jackie Robinson. That was his last year as a regular as he suffered knee injury in 1957. He spent the next three seasons shuttling between the Dodgers, Indians and Cubs (again).  For some reason his retirement announcement was noted in the Victoria (Tx) Advocate in 1959. I guess he was still a name in Texas based on his football days. Check out the story to the right of the Jackson blurb. Seems Dodger coach Charlie Dressen was fined $300 for 'acting up' during the '59 Series.

There is an interview with Jackson and more insights into his career on this webpage. I'll let Wikipedia supply some Randy Jackson tidbits, cuz I'm getting tired of typing:

• 28 September 1957: Hit the final home run in Brooklyn Dodgers history before the team moved to Los Angeles for the 1958 season in a 8-4 victory over the Phillies.
• Another unusual game occurred on June 29, 1956, he was playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers against the Philadelphia Phillies, who were leading 5-2 going into the bottom of the ninth inning. Pee Wee Reece(sic) was on second base when Duke Snider preceded Jackson with a home run which brought the game to 5-4. Jackson then hit a homerun to tie the game, and on the next pitch Gil Hodges hit another home run to win the game for the Dodgers. This was the only time in Major League history that a baseball game ended with three consecutive home runs.
• 17 April 1954: With the wind at his back, he had four hits, including a home run that hit an apartment building on Waveland Avenue, across from Wrigley Field, in a NL record three-hour and 43-minute game against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs won the game 23–13, the highest scoring game ever between these two rivals, and the two teams combine for 35 hits, including five homers and a 10-run Chicago 5th inning. Jim Brosnan is the winning pitcher over Gerry Staley.

#490 Frank Thomas

Frank Thomas has appeared here previously on a 'special' multi-player card. And I ragged on that card a lot. Time to give 'The Original One' his due.

Thomas was signed in 1947 by the Pirates. He got a taste of the big leagues in 1951 when he was called up in mid-August and played as a regular through the end of the year. Did do badly either. But he spent most of the '52 season in the minors before getting a starting job with the Bucs in their outfield in 1953. He hit 30 homers and drove in 102 runs and got some MVP votes but not a peep in the ROY balloting. I'm guessing he was ineligible because of his '51 experience. It should be noted that the '52 Pirates went 42-112 so that fact that Thomas wasn't up for much of that season was probably a blessing.

The Original Thomas had what could be called an 'interesting' career. First there is his nickname, 'The Big Donkey'. Yes, the miracle of Google has informed me that Adam Dunn also has that name so I suppose that Thomas could claim to be the 'The Original Big Donkey'. But anyway Thomas played on seven different national League clubs during his 16 year career. He must have kept a bag ready because his transaction log resembles MapQuest directions from Alaska to Tanzania.

Other high and low lights:

-He was traded by the Phillies to Houston in 1965 for starting a fight with teammate Dick Allen on the field. Now considering that Thomas supposedly earned his nickname because of his lousy people skills a fight with the charisma impaired Dick Allen was probably a hot wager in the Phillie clubhouse.

-He played on the Original (snort) New York Mets in 1962, another team considered among the worst of all time.

-Bill James's win shares (of which I am clueless), sez he was the worst fielding third baseman ever among those among the top 300 in innings played at third.

-In 1958 he made his third NL All Star squad and had his best season. That year he hit 35 homers with 109 RBI to go with a .281 average.

-As the first baseman for the Pirates e made the last putout at the Polo Grounds when it was the home of the New York Giants on September 29th of 1957.

He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in July of 1958. If you open that issue there is a feature story on him with pics of his family. (Also an unrelated swimsuit pic of an attractive French model appears in the letters section. SI hasn't changed all that much I guess). 

You know, for a guy who was supposedly not the most friendly, he has a lot of 'smiley' shots.

#285 Joe Cunningham

Welcome to "Joe Week" here at '59 Topps.

It's another 'Regular Joe', that's three in a row!

Joe Cunningham came from Lodi, New Jersey. That's my neck of the woods, just a few towns over from where I lived as a kid. The Cardinals signed Cunningham in 1949 as a firstbaseman and he worked his way up through the minors taking a couple of years to serve in the military.

He broke in with a bang in June of 1954 with a homer off Art Fowler in his first game. He backed that up with two homers off Hall of Famer Warren Spahn the very next day. He finished out that season with a .284 average and 11 homers to go with 50 RBI. But the next year the Cardinals moved Stan Musial to first and Cunningham found himself back in the minors for a couple of seasons.

He returned to the Cards in 1957 with a role that gave him near full time status as he filled in for Musial at first when he wasn't sharing the corner outfield spots with St. Louis regulars. He hit over .300 both seasons. Handed the right field job for 1959 Cunningham had his best season to date with a .345 average and tying for the league lead in OBP. He made his only All Star squad that year and got a pinch hit opportunity in the second of the two games.

Two more years with St. Louis preceded a trade to the White Sox for Minnie Minoso after the '61 season. He hit well for the Sox that year but a broken collarbone in '62 slowed his career. He finished up with a stint with the Senators before he retired.

After coaching and managing in the Cardinal system he took on a roll in the Cards' front office which he was still involved in. You can read a nice series of 'interviews' with Cunningham here. In it he discusses his current duties and reflects on his career in the game. Seems like a really great guy. He looks like one on his card as well. That's the Polo Grounds in the shot.

#64 Joe DeMaestri

Welcome to "Joe Week" here at '59 Topps.

A California kid, Joe DeMaestri signed with the Boston Red Sox in 1946. He spent several years in their system, was drafted away by the White Sox and debuted with them in 1951. He was traded to the Browns for 1952 and then back to the White Sox who, in that same off-season, shipped him to the Philadelphia A's in time for the 1953 season.

It was in Philadelphia that DeMaestri earned a starting shortstop job and he held it for seven seasons. If you look at his numbers over his tenure with the A's you see a pretty consistent if not very spectacular run. He always seemed to hit around .245, knock out 6 to 8 homers and drive in 30 to 40 runs.

His hitting numbers were not what kept him in the lineup though. DeMaestri was among the top fielding shortstops of the 50s, usually finishing at or near the top of several defensive categories. He made the AL All Star team in 1957 but didn't play in the game.

In December of 1959 he was dealt to the Yankees (let's all act surprised) along with Roger Maris and Kent Hadley for Hank Bauer, Don Larsen, Norm Siebern and Marv Throneberry. As part of the Yanks in 1960 and '61 he played on a couple of pennant winners. He played in the 1960 Series but not in the '61 Series. He may not have been included on the Series roster for the Yanks that year. No way to know if he received a ring but he likely got a share of the winner's money as he had been with the Yanks all season.

If you scroll down to the bottom of this Sports Illustrated article from the Baseball Preview issue of 1961 you'll find a story about the 'pebble grounder' that hit Yankee shortstop Tony Kubek in the throat in Game Seven of the 1960 Series. Apparently DeMaestri was going to enter the game as part of a defensive switch for Kubek prior to the inning. Casey Stengel had a change of heart and DeMaestri remained on the bench and saw Bill Virdon's grounder to short play a key role in the Series outcome.

DeMaestri owned a beer distributorship for many years after he retired following the 1961 season.

#141 Joe Shipley, The Sporting News Rookie Stars

Welcome to "Joe Week" here at '59 Topps.

Well if Joe Shipley's former teammate Felipe Alou is to be believed:

....Giants manager Felipe Alou said Giants pitcher Joe Shipley once heaved a fastball that went over the screen at Seals Stadium and clobbered a fan. "I heard he was ordered to hit somebody," says Alou. Mission accomplished. (Legend has it that as a minor-leaguer Shipley hit a batter who was in the on-deck circle.)

In 1953 Tennessee native Shipley was acquired by the New York Giants from Vidalia, an independent pro team in the Georgia State League. Shipley had gone 1-9 with a 6.99 ERA and had issued over eight walks per nine innings with the two clubs he pitched for that first season as a pro. But the Giants must have seen potential.

He fought his way up the Giants' minor league ladder while showing some promise mixed in with bouts of wildness. He made one appearance with the now San Francisco Giants in July of 1958 and took a pounding. In 1959 he pitched with the big club into June making ten trips to the hill including one start. He had no decisions but the Giants lost every one of those games. That's a pretty weird stat. 

He made 15 relief appearances with the 1960 Giants, again with no decisions while the Giants went 1-14 in those games. I'm not Dick Tracy but I'm seeing a pattern here. Shipley was released prior to the 1962 season and moved through a couple of organizations before he got one final shot from the White Sox. In three games in July of 1963 he pitched a total of 4.2 innings, gave up 9 hits, seven runs and six walks. He took a loss and that was his only career decision.

The card back blurb notes that if Shipley can ..."control his wildness and cut the corners he'll be a fine major leaguer." 

Shipley pitched in the minors for a few more years and then went on to coach baseball at East Tennessee State from 1966 to 1975. His best record there came in 1972 when his club went 12-7. That's Joe in uniform at ETSU below. And below that is his 1960 Topps cards. Two cards for a guy with one decision in his career. 

#55 Tom Brewer

Eight seasons, 91 wins, an All Star Game appearance and his face on a Sports Illustrated cover. Righthander Tom Brewer did pretty well for himself in his big league career. The Red Sox signed him out of Elon University in 1951 and assigned him to their Class D club in High Point, North Carolina where he proceeded to win 19 of 22 decisions.

He spent the next two years in the military (where, according to his mother, he became know as 'Tom' rather than 'Austin' as he was called in his hometown) and when he returned he grabbed a spot in the Sox' rotation and kept it through 1960. He won in double digits every one of those seasons as a starter and had his best year in 1956 when he went 19-9 with an ERA of 3.50 with four shutouts and 15 complete games. That was his All Star year, too. Yes, he gave up three runs in two innings to the National League but he did strike out Duke Snider.

Brewer's numbers fell off in 1961 and he pitched in only two games after June 5 of that year, possible due to an injury.

Tom Brewer facts and stuff: He earned some nice words in the Sports Illustrated issue that included his face (that's him on the bottom row, second from the right). This link will take you to the issue and you can scroll over a few pages for the All Star Game preview article.

Brewer is currently a volunteer pitching coach at his old high school in Cheraw, NC and has had the baseball field there named in his honor.

Another routine Yankee Stadium shot with Brewer gazing towards the Yankees' dugout on the first base side. He went 1-4 in the previous two seasons in the Bronx. Maybe he psyched himself out with that stare.