#106 Hal Woodeshick

Lefty Hal Woodeshick signed on with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1950 but kicked around with several organizations before he established himself with the Indians in 1958. He continued a nomadic baseball life as a spot starter and reliever until 1962 when he found himself in Houston and, after a poor year in the rotation, won the job as the Colt 45s' closer.

Between 1963 and 1965 he had 51 saves including a league leading 23 in 1964. Over that three year period he pitched 180+ innings to earn those 51 saves. In contrast Jim Johnson had 51 saves for last season's Oriole club and needed only 69 innings to achieve that. Different time indeed.

Woodeshick (and note that his name is misspelled on the card back!) was dealt to the Cardinals during the 1965 campaign and pitched through the 1967 World Series. He retired after that. During his career he had a reputation as a terrible fielder. That was based almost completely on a mental block that interfered with his ability to throw to first base, particularly on bunts. Colt/Astros G.M. Paul Richards and coach Cot Deal worked long and hard to help him overcome that.

#23 Murry Dickson

I have absolutely no memories of Murry Dickson, as a Yankee pitcher (he only pitched six games for them) or otherwise. But he pitched for a long time, and generally very well. He won 172 games against 181 losses but he had a career 3.62 ERA. And he did that while spending several seasons with some bad Pirate and Athletics clubs. He picked up two World Series rings, btw.

Rather than re-invent the wheel I'm just going to urge you to check out the Murry Dickson bio at the terrific Baseball In Wartime site published by Gary Bedingfield. He tells a great story and there is no way I could do it justice with a summary.

His page at SABR is pretty good reading as well.

Enjoy the card and check Ol' Murry's story. Hey, you have to have something going for you to lead the league in losses and yet make the All Star squad as Dickson did in 1953.

Murry has his cap tilted up, well I've got mine off to him.

#276 Pete Daley

Pete Daley signed with the Red Sox in 1948 and worked his way to the big leagues one step at a time, finally arriving in Boston in 1955. Along the way he had spent two years in military service. He brought with him a reputation as a fine defensive player with issues at the plate and that's about how his career played out.

He served as a back-up to Sammy White for most of his five season with the Bosox although he got 200+ plate appearances in both 1956 and '57. He actually hit .321 in his very limited duty in 1958. After the 1959 season he was traded to Kansas City where he saw his at bats reach a career high (228) and that year he hit a respectable .263. He played alongside, but was no relation to, pitcher Bud Daley that season.

Drafted by the expansion Senators for the 1960 season Daley again was in a time-share role and after he spent the 1961 season in the minors he called it a career.

Following his baseball days he managed a bowling alley (btw... have you ever passed a bowling center that DIDN'T have a "Leagues Now Forming" sign out front?). He went on to work for the Schick Razor Company and what his Baseball Reference Bullpen page called the "English Leather Company". By that I'm guessing they were referring to the Mem Company which was responsible for the original English Leather cologne.

Not to go off on too deep a tangent but... English Leather!!! That was my favorite fragrance when I used to use that stuff as a teenager. I'm thrown back 45 years whenever I see a reference to it. And if I see a bottle these days (they still sell a reasonable facsimile at Sears and CVS) I can't help but douse myself with the tester supply. What high school girl in 1967 could resist that incredible aroma? Apparently most could judging by my social life in those days.

#463 Baseball Thrills... Kaline Becomes Youngest Bat Champ

Meh, it's a Baseball Thrills subset card. I like the idea but I'm not crazy about the execution of these. If I'm keeping track correctly this is the last one. Yippee!

Hey, it's not Al Kaline's fault. I love Al Kaline. He's a superstar (and a very undervalued one at that if a 'superstar' can be 'undervalued'), an extremely nice guy from all accounts and best of all for me, a Baltimore native!

You can read the details of his winning the title on the card back which I'm showing in a larger size. Kaline is making his fourth appearance on a featured card here. Or his fifth is you include the Tiger Team card (you shouldn't, it's one of the uglier cards in the '59 set). We've seen his All Star card, the Pitchers Beware card he shared with Charlie Maxwell and best of all, his terrific regular card. 

The best thing about these Thrills cards has been trying to track down the source of the colorized photo they used. It was particularly fun to venture down the 'rabbit hole' presented by the Colavito Thrills card. That took a lot of twists and turns before I found my answer. 

The more recently featured Ernie Banks card was fairly easy. So was the Mickey Mantle. The Kaline card's original shot has eluded me. But I'm fairly certain it came from a sequence that included this photo:

The uniforms, catcher's posture and the way his cap sits, the ump's silhouette, the cut of the grass. All of that points to a likely match. BTW... Corbis ID's the Yankee catcher as Charlie Silvera. And that can be a '9' visible on his back (Silvera wore "29"). It could also be an '8', i.e. Yogi Berra, although it doesn't appear to be him, at least to me.

Let's call it a probable match.

#378 Gail Harris

First baseman Gail Harris played all or part of six big league seasons, half with the New York Giants and half with the Detroit Tigers. After a five year climb through their minor league chain he had modest success with the Giants but is the answer to the question, "Who hit the last homer for the New York Giants?"

Harris' best season came the year this picture was taken, 1958. He had nearly 500 at bats and punched out 20 homers and 83 RBI to go with a .273 average. His numbers fell off the earth the next year (9-39-.221) with 100 less at bats and in 1960 he played in only a handful of games for Detroit before being traded to the Dodgers in May. He spent the rest of 1960 and all of 1961 in the minors and then called it a career.

He then turned to the business world and had a long career with Nationwide Insurance in his native Virginia.

Oh, BTW.... googling 'Gail Harris' led to this (ahem) 'actress'. Just sayin' <-NSFW!!!

The stuff one finds!

#252 Ray Boone

Jeez, I knew the Boone family was a big baseball family but I don't think I realized just how true that was. Ray Boone is the father of big leaguer Bob Boone and Rod Boone who played minor league ball and the grandfather of Brett, Aaron and Matt Boone. Matt played only in the low minors.

Grandpa Ray, seen here rocking that natty S-O-X cap I love so much, signed with the Indians as a catcher in 1942, played a season in the minors and then served three years in the service before coming back to baseball. The Indians converted him to an infielder and by late 1948 he was in the bigs. In fact the Indians had him on their World Series roster that year and he got one at bat (and a ring I'm assuming). He hit .301 in 1950 but by 1953 he had been traded to the Tigers. His career took off in Detroit and with much improved hitting numbers (and a move to third base) he made a couple of All Star squads.

Traded to Chicago in 1958 his career wound down quickly and he played first base for a number of clubs in 1959 and 1960 before retiring. He went on to a long run as a scout for the Red Sox.

The Boone clan can boast about being the only three generation baseball family with each generation having played in an All Star Game, a World Series and having 100+ career dingers. Take that one to your next party and stump everyone.

#513 Tom Carroll

Tom (or Tommy) Carroll was caught up in the '50s Bonus Baby rule that required the team, in this case the Yankees, to keep him on the active roster for two seasons. I guess someone thought that was a good idea at the time.

Anyway, shortstop Tom Carroll came out of Notre Dame and straight to the Yanks in 1955 and proceeded to sit on the bench with two AL champion Yankee clubs. He did more pinch running than anything else. He managed to bat .348 for the Bombers in 23 at bats total. In the '55 World Series he entered two games as a pinch runner. In the 1956 Series he never left the bench but he did get a ring.

As with many of these 'bonus babies' the two years he spent spitting sunflower seeds in major league dugouts didn't do much to further his development. Back in the minors in 1957 and 1958 he had mediocre numbers and his fielding was pretty poor as well. Traded to the A's in 1959 he played in 14 games but spent much of that year and all of 1960 in the minors. He retired after that.

After his playing days Carroll went to work in the U.S. State Department and saw duty in several countries in Latin America. He is apparently no relation to the Tom Carroll who pitched for the Reds in the mid 70s.

This high number late series card shows Carroll in an airbrushed A's cap wearing what appears to be a Yankee uniform. One can barely make out the pinstripes when the view of the card is large enough. So many Yankees and Athletics players shuffled back and forth in that era that it's a wonder the Topps photographers didn't just carry the other team's cap when photographing either club's players. "Here ya go, Carroll, put this on and we'll take a few more pics, just in case."