#517 Joe Koppe

First of all, Joe Koppe is not a pitcher. That pose sure makes it look like he is one though, doesn't it? When I hit up his Baseball Reference page I thought I had made a mistake or something, it was all hitting stats. Then I rechecked the card and sure enough it said 'infield'. Proves once again that there are plenty of things for me to learn in the '59 set.

Koppe (who was born Joe Kopchia) may not have been a 'name' player but he sure was at it a long time. He spent seven seasons, from 1949 through '55, playing independent pro ball in Texas and Louisiana and building a reputation as a versatile, fine fielding middle infielder. Then he was signed by Milwaukee and he spent the next three seasons in the Brave's chain finally getting a taste of the bigs at the end of 1958. He played in 10 games, got nine at bats and had four hits. He had three hits in his first two games in six at bats. Koppe didn't get to play in the World Series that year but he did get a 'taste' of the pennant winning spoils... here he is getting a Miller High Life shower from Braves teammate Juan Pizzaro while Felix Mantilla and Hank Aaron (partially hidden) look on on September 22 when the Braves clinched:

Despite that auspicious debut the Braves included him in a trade package with the Phils. Topps included him in their set here in the high numbers and took a picture credited to Spring Training of 1956 and changed it (poorly, the Phils never used that piping) into one of Koppe as a Phillie. Here is the original shot:

Koppe, a 28 year old rookie at this point, took over a spot in the Phillies' infield and had a nice season hitting .261 and hitting seven homers. He was picked to be a part of the 'Topps All Rookie Team' and was so honored on his 1960 card:

Ruben Amaro got the bulk of the work at short for the Phils in 1960 as Koppe's bat all but disappeared. On May 4th of 1961 the Phils traded Koppe to the Dodgers who assigned him to the minors and then in a week and a half, on May 16th, traded him to the Cardinals. A month after that he was purchased by the Angels for the grand sum of  $1000.

For that one grand the Angels got a utility player who played nearly full-time in 1962 and as a handyman for several years after that. After splitting the 1965 season between the Angels and the minors Koppe was out of baseball. He passed away in 2006.


Late Edit:

In the comments for this post reader Paul pointed out that Koppe once posed with a lefty's glove for a card. I found that card. Thanks Paul.

#507 Bob Hale

In each of Bob Hale's first two years in the minors after signing with the Browns in 1952 he had exactly 473 at bats while playing in 121 games. Identical numbers, both seasons. How did he pull that off?
Anyway his batting average did climb and he continued to hit well for a couple of additional seasons until he got a shot with the Orioles in July of 1955.

He took advantage of it, too. He hit .357 from his July 4th debut until the end of the year. But those numbers were hard to match and Hale split time in each of the next four seasons between the Orioles and the minors. Most of his big league time was as a pinch hitter but he did play first base, too. Oddly he played in the Dodgers', White Sox', and Tigers' organizations at various times during that stretch without being involved in any transactions I can find. Must have been some sort of 'loan-a-bat' program.

He was waived by the Orioles and claimed by Cleveland for 1960 and for a year and a half he was their #1 hitter off the bench. In July of 1961 the Tribe sold Hale to the Yankees and he had a front row seat for the Maris/Mantle home run chase as well as getting to pour pennant winning clubhouse champagne. He did not get to play in that season's World Series.

In a Jerome Holtzman book I found on Amazon Hale discusses his brief Yankee tenure. He comments on the depth of that '61 club by stating that while he was the #1 pinch hitter at each of his previous stops he was #4 on the Yankees. He also mentions that he received a 2/3 Series share despite only having pinch hit seven times for them (actually he had 10 pinch at bats plus one full game, but who's counting?)

Hale goes on to comment on the Yankees' decision to farm him out for 1962 proclaiming that he'd hit .300 at Richmond.and be recalled. That never happened. Hale hit .282 in close to 100 games but never did make it back to the big leagues. So it turned out that his last major league game was the game that Roger Maris hit his 61st homer.

There is not much about Bob Hale that I can find on Google. I did learn from this blog page that from August of 1960 thru August of 1961 he went 60 games with an at-bat without scoring a run. As of 2008 that stood as the fourth longest streak since 1956. Take that for what it's worth.

Bob Hale passed away in September of 2012.

#511 George Susce

Pitcher George Susce Jr. was signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1951. And so begins the best story I uncovered while looking into this card. As soon as George Jr. signed that contract his father, George Susce Sr., former big league catcher, was fired as a coach by the Indians because of George Jr.'s choice of teams. I bet there is a lot more to that story in the way of juicy details but I can't find much outside of the fact that it happened. (The card's cartoon mentions his father as being a coach with Milwaukee.)

But fear not, there is a happy ending. George Sr. was coaching for the Kansas City Athletics the day George Jr. pitched the best game of his rookie '55 season. It was a one hit shutout of the A's and was the first time dad had watched son pitch in the big leagues.

Junior had begun his pro career with a rough season in the Red Sox' minor league system in '51. 1952 wasn't looking much more promising when he was called to serve in the Army during the Korean Wan. He missed most of that season and all the next. Army life seems to have had a positive effect because when he returned to pitch he went 14-6 with the AAA level Louisville club with a WHIP of 1.159 and a couple of shutouts.

He won a job with Boston for 1955 and stayed with the Sox for just over three seasons as a long reliever/spot starter. His 9 wins, 15 starts and 144 innings during his rookie season were career highs. Susce was waived by the Sox in May of 1958 and claimed by the Tigers. He finished the season with Detroit, again as a spot starter, but found himself farmed out in May of 1959 after a terrible start to the season. That move is noted on the back of the card. Susce never returned to the majors or to organized ball for that matter after that season.

This card is somewhat unusual in that the Topps photographer took the shot with the Yankee Stadium first base side in the background. Most players on visiting teams had their pictures taken with the third base/left field area behind them. They were usually out in front of the visitors dugout on the third base side.

A few tidbits related to the Susce and family:

George Jr. was listed as exactly that on his 1956 Topps card but not on his subsequent three Topps cards.

He had a brother Paul who pitched for Auburn from 1953 through 1956 and made Al-SEC his senior season. His 0.99 ERA in his second season remains a school record. He played a year of minor league ball in 1957 and went on to coach high school baseball in Florida and Virginia. He later worked for Worth Sporting Goods.

Here is Paul Susce at a spring training camp wearing some wild shorts:

I found a picture of George Sr. and Junior. Looks like it might be from the day that I mentioned when George Sr. saw his son's gem. At least we can see it was from a KC-Boston encounter and it was labeled as being from 1955.

George Sr. had a long career as coach/manager/consultant for several organizations and it appears he missed coaching on his son's club in 1955 by just a season.

Here is Susce Sr.'s card from the 1955 Rodeo Meats set:

Here is dad again but wearing his St. Louis Browns' duds in a gorgeous recolored pic I found on Uni-Watch.

Lots of unverifiable Susce info in this blog post and particularly in the comments.

#512 George Altman

George Altman's card is the first in a run of high number cards that will be posted over the next couple of weeks. The red, black and white motif on the back is a giveaway that it's a '59 high number.

Not many of the cards that have been posted here are so devoid of stats and have such long write-ups as this one. Altman's pro experience was limited in 1959 but by the time he was through with baseball Altman had enjoyed an interesting and varied career, to say the least.

1959 was the rookie season of Altman's 'first' career. He had already played at Tennessee A & I* (which was renamed Tennessee State University in the late 60s) and for the the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues after college. Signed by the Cubs in '56 Altman played for two seasons in the minors flashing some power and speed. He sandwiched those two seasons around a year in the Army during which he played service baseball.

Altman had respectable if not eye-opening numbers in his first two major league years playing the outfield and some firstbase and then he broke through in 1961. That year he made the NL All Star squad, led the league with 12 triples and had career highs with 27 homers and 94 RBI to go along with a .303 average. His average jumped to .318 in 1962 and he made his second All Star team but the rest of his numbers failed to match the previous season's and the Cubs packaged him that October in a trade to St. Louis.

His one season with the Cardinals wasn't more than just ordinary and he was traded again, this time to the Mets. He spent the '64 season in New York and his numbers diminished still. Finally he found himself back with the Cubs for 1965 and he played there for just a bit over two seasons as a part-time outfielder and was in the minors for most of '67. In his nine season MLB career he had 101 homers and hit for a .269 average.

That marked the end of his stateside ball but in 1968 he accepted an offer from the Tokyo Orions and for eight seasons he was a popular power-hitting outfielder in Japan. Below is a You Tube video which is actually a recorded phone interview with Altman done by two Chicago radio sports show hosts. In it they mention that Altman began his career with a franchise owned by a gum company (Cubs/Wrigley) and nearly ended it with another one (Lotte Orions/Lotte Holdings). Actually Altman played one more year in Japan with the Hanshin Tigers in 1969 and then called it a career.

All in all Altman played for a high school and college team, in the Negro Leagues, on a U.S. Army team, in the minors, the majors, in winter ball in Cuba and in Japan. Quite the resume.

There is a nice blog bio of Altman to be found here. The Negro League e-Museum has an Altman bio page. Last, but certainly not least Altman wrote an autobiography that was published last fall. It's available here on Amazon.

*- Altman had actually attended TSU on a basketball scholarship and helped lead the Tigers to three national Black Collegiate championships. More details (and the same video shown below) are available on this Altman page on the Tennessee State Athletic site.

#421 Herm Wehmeier

Herm Wehmeier was signed by his hometown Cincinnati Reds as an 18-year-old high school phenom in 1945. He pitched well enough at the AA level to get a call-up and two game big league look at the end of the season. He was shelled in his debut start and then spent the next two seasons posting wins in the Reds' system.

In 1948 Wehmeier was up to stay and he spent five seasons in the Reds' rotation as their #2 or 3 starter winning about ten games a year with high ERAs for a consistently second division club. His problem with control kept him from having the success his 'stuff' suggested he'd have. According to Wikipedia he led the National League in walks allowed in 1949 (117), 1950 (135) and 1952 (103). He led the NL in earned runs allowed (145) in 1950. He led the NL in wild pitches in 1949 (7) and 1950 (11). He led the NL in hit batsmen (7) in 1952. 

Thus he was a easy scapegoat for the troubles of the struggling team. This chapter from a book by Flip Bondy which I found on Google Books is a fun read. And it is worth the click just for the picture of Herm and Mrs. Herm. Wehmeier lost his starting spot in 1953 and after a terrible start to the 1954 season he was sold to the Phillies in June. He rebounded in Phily and won ten games with outstanding numbers over the second half of his first season there.

Wehmeier's effectiveness fell off some in '55 and in May of '56 he was traded to the Cardinals along with Murray Dickson in a deal that saw the Phils acquire Stu Miller and Harvey Haddix. The irony of that trade is that it came just two days after the Cards had beaten Wehmeier for the 14th consecutive time in his career! He had never beaten them and understandably some must have questioned the trade. He pitched very well for the Cards after a few adjustments in his mechanics and he won 12 games for them the rest of the way. 

The big righthander backed that up with a ten win season in '57 but in 1958, in what was a regular pattern now, his poor start led to a move. He was sold to the Tigers in May. He hurt his arm in July and never pitched again. So his career was over by the time this card was issued.

This very entertaining blog post tells the story of his struggles with the Reds, the trade to the Cards, his post-career life and unusual death (a heart attack while testifying at an embezzlement trial). Well worth the quick read.

If you think this card looks familiar it may be because it's almost a twin to the #417 Virgil Trucks card shown below and blogged here (has it really been two and a half years?). They are even just a few numbers away from each other on the checklist are in the same page in my binder. The difference is that 'Fire' Trucks was photographed at Yankee Stadium. The Wehmeier picture however appears to be a Polo Grounds shot. He wasn't an American Leaguer outside of a few months in 1958 and that is not Yankee Stadium. 

Obviously Wehmeier's cap was altered (as was Trucks'). I'd bet that the same photographer took both shots at different New York locales. 

Here they are together in the binder.

#371 Dick Brodowski

Only 30 cards remain in the 1959 Topps set after this one of Dick Bordowski is posted. There is one superstar's card, a couple of All Star cards and a bunch of the high number series cards remaining. If I can keep to my regular every-other-day posting habits I should complete the cards before Opening Day, which would be 55 years after the set was first issued.

New Jersey born right-hander Dick Bordowski signed with the Red Sox straight out of high school in 1951 and made an immediate splash in their minor league system with a 21-5 season at the 'D' level. He pitched well the next season at AAA and was rewarded with a June call-up to the Sox. He had one good, one OK and one bad outing right off the bat but when called upon to start late in the month he rewarded the Sox with a pair of complete game wins. He had a roller coaster season after that and ended up with a 5-5 record and an ERA of 4.40 with 12 starts over 20 appearances.

He was in the service for the next two years and interestingly he didn't pitch much even though he was a member of the Army's baseball team. Instead he played second base. He had originally been signed as a duel position player (inf/p) and over his career he was a good hitter. Bordowski was back with the Sox for the '55 season and was generally ineffective. He was traded to Washington in 1956 and the Indians in 1958. Over those four years after his Boston days he was up and down between the majors and minors every season.

After one poor outing in 1960 he was out of the game as a player. After baseball Bordowski worked as a salesman, an insurance agent and in security. The Baseball Historian blog has a neat interview with him. He's sharp, funny and has some interesting Ted Williams stories. The interview is here and it's worth a look.

#404 Hank Sauer

At the age of 42 in 1959 Hank Sauer was the third oldest player to have a card in the set. Only Enos Slaughter and Murray Dickson had a year on the guy whose nickname was 'Honker'. While he's shown with his last team, the Giants, Sauer's glory days came with the Chicago Cubs with whom he played from 1949 through 1956.

Sauer's pro baseball career began way back in 1937 when he signed with the Yankees after the western Pennsylvania native had spent a couple of years working in a New Deal Civilian Conservation Corps job to help support his family. He spent three years playing in the Yankee's system and displaying a powerful bat before he was drafted away by the Reds. Over the next seven years Sauer played mostly in the minors for Cincinnati while getting three major league trials of various lengths and putting in a year of military service. His minor league exploits led to his being elected to the Minor League Baseball Hall of Fame.

He took over the left-field job for the Reds in 1948 and proceeded to blast 35 homers while hitting .260 and driving in 97 runs. But a slow start to 1949, combined with a propensity to strike out caused the Reds to trade Sauer to the Cubs in June. He made the most of the change in scenery and in less than 100 games he had 27 homers, 83 RBI and a .291 average. His hitting captured the hearts of Cub fans and they would shower him with pouches of his favorite chewing tobacco during games.

His hitting had improved when he switched to a heavy 40 ounce bat and it never let up during a five season stretch on Chicago's North Side. Dubbed the 'Mayor of Wrigley Field' Sauer hit over thirty homers in each of the next five seasons except one. In 1952 he led the NL in home runs with 37 and RBI with 121. He won the NL MVP Award for that production.

His numbers plummeted in 1955 and he had lost his starting job when the Cubs traded him to the Cards. He played well in a reserve role in St. Louis but was released due to what Sauer claims was his being a bad influence on Stan Musial. Sauer discusses this in his SABR bio:

Sauer, playing as a reserve in 1956, batted 151 times, but he averaged .298 with five home runs and 24 RBIs, despite being hit in the face with a bat during one of the team’s practice sessions. Also, he and his roommate stayed out until after midnight two or three nights a week, which, Hank recollected, Musial enjoyed.
The Cardinals’ management, however, did not favor late-night carousing. Sauer observed, “In September of ‘56, the manager [Fred Hutchinson] came up and said, ‘Hank, we’ve got to let you go.’ I said, ‘Let me go! I’m having a pretty damn good year. Why are you letting me go?’
“He said, ‘Yeah, you’re having a good year, but your roommate is having a lousy year. He’s only hitting .315.’ I said, ‘What the hell’s the matter with .315?’ He said, ‘Musial is not a .315 hitter. He’s a .330 hitter. You’re on your way!’ So I was the one who had to go.”

Sauer revived his career with the Giants in 1957 and earned Comeback of the Year honors but in '58 he was back to a reserve role and in '59 he played sparingly before becoming a coach at mid-season. That ended his playing days. He remained with the Giants in various capacities for 35 years. He died at the age of 84 in 2001 while playing golf.

That's Seals Stadium behind Sauer with it's distinctive red railings. The 'Honker' looks every bit of his 42 years, doesn't he?

Sauer's brother Ed played the outfield for three NL teams in the 1940s. His son Hank Jr. played three years in the lower minors in the 1970s. There are several articles about his days in Chicago on the Chicago Tribune web site. And here is his obit in that paper.