#630 - Tommie Agee

Back to the final cards, and in this case the plural works two ways. For the record of the last eight non-team cards in this set, six have been the final ones issued during those players’ careers. And Tommie Agee gets to go out with a double, just like Felipe Alou did a bunch of posts back. These aren’t great cards – Tommie looks pretty unhappy as a Cardinal and that look up on his Traded card could be years old. But he did have some great ones. In ’71 he slides into second as Joe Morgan and (I think) Dennis Menke try to get a ball that appears trapped in Tommie’s underarm while the umpire – in a uniform out of 1920 – looks like he’s about to signal an out, which would make no sense. I think that one gets topped in ’73 when Tommie is making a catch in center with Rusty Staub – our last post subject – jogging over from right and (again, I believe) Ken Boswell doing a crossover in back of another ump in a photo in which all three guys – a record? – had to be air-brushed because Tommie went to Houston before that season. He’d been having a rough time since about mid-’71 when extensive knee pain took away lots of his power and a year later his speed. And though he spent less than half his career in a Mets uniform, it is odd to see him out of it. His last year really was his last year – no more stats after the ones on this card – and after the trade mentioned above sort of fell flat. Despite hitting well in a couple early starts in left field for Houston, the dereliction of his knees contributed to most of his time being spent in reserve work where it was difficult to maintain a consistent average and the strikeouts- Tommie always had a problem with those – were a bit high for the decreased power production. By mid-August he was the team’s fifth outfielder and was soon after traded to St. Louis for infielder Dave Campbell. With the Cards Tommie got some starts in center – he was acquired because regular guys Jose Cruz and Luis Melendez were hurt and stopped hitting, repectively – but the average continued to taper. After the season the Dodgers got super busy in early December with trades. Their long-time starter in center, Willie Davis, was sent to Montreal for big-inning reliever Mike Marshall and Tommie was acquired in this trade to fill the gap. But the next day his former teammate Jimmy Wynn was picked up by LA for pitcher Claude Osteen. Jimmy would have a monster season in helping LA to the Series while Tommie wouldn’t get out of spring training. So he returned to NY, just not as a baseball player.

Tommie Agee grew up in and around Mobile, Alabama, where in high school he was a star in the big three sports plus track. In football while he was a three-year starter his team lost only one game. He was an end while future Mets teammate Cleon Jones was a halfback. In baseball he was an outfielder/pitcher and his senior year of ’60 he hit .390. He then went to Grambling on a baseball scholarship where he added first base to the above positions and hit .533 his one season before being signed by Cleveland for a big bonus. In D ball the rest of the summer he hit .261 with 15 homers and 40 RBI’s in under half a season. Tommie almost always hit from the top of the line-up and was super fast. In ’62 he moved up to B ball where he put up a .258/7/55 line with ten triples and 25 stolen bases before a couple games in Triple A and then his first look in Cleveland. In ’63 he moved to Double A where he experienced his first lost time from his knee, had a line of .274/5/36 in just under 300 at bats, stole 19, and recorded his best OBA of .354. He also returned to Cleveland at the end of the season for look number two. Then in ’64 it was off to Triple A Portland where he became a slugger with his .272/20/62 line with 35 steals but 144 K’s. After his third late crack at the Cleveland outfield he, young pitcher Tommy John, and John Romano went to the White Sox as part of a three-team deal in which Cam Carreon went to Cleveland (from Chicago); Mike Hershberger, Jim Landis, and Fred Talbot went to KC (from Chicago); and Rocky Colavito returned to Cleveland (from KC).

Initially, Chicago smelled a lot like Cleveland for Agee. He began the season in Triple A, where his .226/8/33 line was a significant discount to his prior season and his September call-up worked about as well as his previous ones did. But in ’66 Tommie had a real good camp and in the wake of Danny Cater’s trade to KC, incumbent center fielder Ken Berry moved to Cater’s spot in left opening up center for Tommie, who made the most of his opportunity. Still a rookie, he led the Sox in runs (98), hits, doubles, triples, homers, RBI’s, average, and stolen bases (44). He made the All-Star team, won a Gold Glove, and finally was named AL Rookie of the Year. ’67 would be a mixed year though. While Tommie hit OK during the season’s first half and again was an All-Star, he had a nasty slump in the second half which was pretty lousy timing since the Sox went to the wire on the pennant. After the season he was on the move again, this time to the Mets with infielder Al Weiss for Tommy Davis, Jack Fisher, and a couple minor leaguers.

While Agee’s first year in a new town was better than the last time he tried that trick, it wasn’t by much. Acquired to finally fill a defensive hole in center that had been there since pretty much the Mets themselves had, and to add some pop to the top of the line-up, Tommie did pretty well in the former department but pretty badly in the latter. Off to a pretty good start at the plate he ran into an early wall in that monster 24-inning game against Houston in which he went 0 for 10 to begin a season-long slump that didn’t allow him to break .200 until the last couple weeks. He went from being the everyday center fielder to missing starts and his RBI total was pretty horrendous as he came in with north of 100 strikeouts. But ’69 was a whole new year and Tommie put up his best stats since his ROY season. While he was still toting a high K total – 137 that year – he delivered in the role for which he was acquired while scoring 97 runs. Then came his headline-worthy post-season in which he hit .357 with two homers against Atlanta and then had those two circus catches against Baltimore that saved a game in the Series. As another reward Tommie was named the AL Comeback Player of the Year. ’70 was better for Tommie personally as he improved in runs (107), hits, doubles, triples, stolen bases (31 vs. 12), and average and won his second Gold Glove. By the end of the year, though, his knees were causing him some serious pain and in ’71 Tommie missed a combined six weeks to injury. He kept his average up there and stole 28 bases but his power subsided quite a bit. In ’72 he missed time to both injury and the return of Willie Mays as that year the average and the stolen base total (8) fell prey to his knees. Following the season he was sent to Houston for Rich Chiles and Buddy Harris. After the ’73 season he was done, finishing with the stats on the back of this card and 167 stolen bases. In the post-season he hit .250 with three homers, five RBI’s, and three steals in his eight games.

Agee had while still a Met purchased an interest in The Outfield Lounge, a bar pretty close to Shea Stadium in Queens. After he was done playing he pretty much took it over as a full-time pursuit. He was also heavily involved in local PR events for the Mets and other NYC youth programs. He then became associated with a company called Stewart Title Insurance with whom he was working while attending a meeting in NYC in 2001. It was there he was stricken with a heart attack that would prove fatal. Tommie was only 58. A year later he was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame. He has a SABR bio.

Tommie gets a big number and a big star bullet on his card back. Those catches robbed Andy Etchebarren and Paul Blair (who just recently passed away) of multi-base hits that would have likely driven in five runs. When he was traded to the Sox it was part of an arranged deal. The Tribe wanted Rocky Colavito back and he was in the hands of the A’s. Chicago wanted catcher John Romano because he hit with some power although his defense was very suspect. Cleveland told Chicago they could get Romano if they picked up Colavito which they were able to do principally because he’d had a big ’64 and wanted a raise and KC owner Charlie O Finley didn’t want to pay. So Cleveland got Rocky, Chicago got Romano, and the two throw-ins to the deal from the Cleveland side were Tommie – whose stats are all above – and a guy who won 286 more games.

Tommie had a one-day run as LA’s newest center fielder. Ah well.

By mid-August of ’73 most of the big names had already testified before the Senate Committee, which was still pursuing some of the tapes from the White House:

8/15/73 – President Nixon delivers a televised address for the first time in three months. In it he indicated it was time to stop using Watergate as a diversion and/or an obstacle to getting real work done, notably dealing with inflation and Viet Nam. He opined that “it (was) clear that both the hearings themselves and some of the commentaries on them have become increasingly absorbed in an effort to implicate the President personally in the illegal activities that took place” in another clear indication of his belief of myriad conspiracies against him. He reminded people that he already accepted responsibility for abuses that occurred during his administration but then also reminded everyone that he was innocent of all activities related to the scandal. He reiterated that he would not turn in any tapes on the basis of national security. The presentation didn’t go terribly well; the next day a poll revealed that 31% of the populace were in favor of the President’s job performance, a 20-year low in that poll.

As that ’73 card of Tommie’s illustrated, this is an easy hook-up:

1. Agee and Rusty Staub ’72 Mets.

#591 - Sonny Jackson

There is only one fan in the Atlanta stands behind Sonny Jackson on this card but there are a few things going on here. One is that Sonny is one of a very few non-pitchers who sports glasses. Two is that he may be the first and only player in the set designated as a shortstop-outfielder. And three is that this is Sonny’s final card which has been a bit of a trend lately. Sonny had a significant mark-up in his plate time in ’71 when, in the wake of Rico Carty’s knee injury he was moved to center field as the Braves had to juggle their line-up. But the next year in the wake of Rico’s return, new young regulars – Marty Perez at shortstop and Dusty Baker in the outfield, and his own injuries, Sonny’s field time waned considerably. In ’73 he was relatively healthy but was primarily a reserve, splitting time between shortstop and left field. Sonny’s pose here looks like it is about halfway between a bunting stance and an “I’m gonna knock your head off” stance. Good thing he wasn’t looking at the photographer.

Sonny Jackson grew up outside DC and went to Montgomery Blair High School in Blair, MD, where he captained each of his big three teams his senior year, leading his baseball and football ones to a county championship and his basketball one to a state title. He was a high–scoring guard in that last sport and most of his senior year he was courted by the University of Maryland with a scholarship to play hoops and baseball. That year was 1962 and if Sonny chose to attend the school he’d have been the first black ACC athlete. Instead he signed later that summer with the Houston Colt .45’s, a choice he made because he thought an expansion team would get him up top quicker. He was right and after a big first season in ’63 in A ball hitting .297 and stealing 61 bases, he made his Houston debut in a late September game in which every starter was a rookie (Houston got destroyed by the Mets 10-3). He would also get some late-season looks each of the next two years but spent most of that time in the minors. In ’64 he hit .285 while swiping 45 bases in Double A and in ’65 in Triple A he hit .330 while stealing 52. All that time he was a shortstop and while his error totals were a tad high he made up for that with excellent range. In ’66 he made the big club out of spring training.

Jackson had a big rookie year, putting up the best average of his career – shades of recent subject Hal Lanier – while finishing second in NL ROY voting to Tommy Helms. His DP partner was Joe Morgan with whom he shared his first rookie card in ’65 (he had another one in ’66 he shared with Chuck Harrison). He made the Topps team that year but had a tough follow-up year when he missed a month from a leg injury and his average and stolen bases tumbled hard. After the season he and card-mate Harrison were sent to the Braves for Denny LeMaster and Denis Menke. Sonny’s first few seasons in Atlanta were marred by injuries as his average during that time more closely resembled his ’67 one than his ’66 one. In ’68 he missed all of August to a bad knee. In ’69 he had done a nice job resuscitating his average when he missed nearly two months in the summer, again to kee damage. Then in ’70 he got spiked hard in his leg, missing another 45 games. After his move to center in ’71 he returned to Triple A to begin the ’72 season for rehab after hurting his ankle in spring training. When he came back he put in time at center and third base before returning to shortstop in late summer to swap time with Perez. After his reserve work in ’73 he spent most of ’74 in Triple A where he hit .285 while splitting time between those three positions. He only got into a couple games that year with Atlanta and following the season was released. He signed with the Padres for ’75 and hit .255 while playing second and outfield for their Triple A club and moved to the White Sox in ’76 where he hit .273 while switching between shortstop and third base at the same level. That was Sonny’s final season and he finished with a .251 average with 126 stolen bases up top and a .291 average with 181 steals in the minors. In his sole post-season appearance he only did defensive work.

Jackson stayed close to baseball – and former teammate Dusty Baker – after his playing career ended. He spent a long time back in the Atlanta system as a coach (’77-’79 and ’84-’95) and manager (’80-’81 during which he went 121-162). He also coached for Joe Torre in Atlanta. He then moved to the Giants where he coached in the minors (’96) and in San Francisco (’97-2002). He then went with Baker to Chicago where he coached and acted as special assistant to the manager from 2003 to ’06. I run out of gas with him at that point.

It appears that Sonny used a marker for his signature. He really did have a big rookie year, didn’t he? He also led the NL in sacrifice hits with 27 that year. He is a cousin of Derrell Thomas, who was a Padre then. He is married to Corliss Jackson who may or may not be the woman that runs the business helping people get federal jobs that is pretty high-profile. They live in Florida.

Two Braves here are a few years apart:

1. Jackson and Phil Niekro ’68 to ’74 Braves;

2. Niekro and Rogelio Moret ’76 Braves.

#555 - Woodie Fryman

Now this is Comiskey Park. See, artificial turf and that circle on the scoreboard that will one day be a Coke sign. Woodie Fryman looks like he’s ready for battle in a wrestling pose. He should be: his ’73 season bore too much resemblance to the first half of his ’72 one and not enough to the second half. Woody was the AL version down the stretch of that ’72 season of what Fred Norman was for the Reds in ’73 (did every year have one of those back then?). Acquired on August 2^nd of that year – on waivers no less – all Woodie did was go 10-3 in his 14 starts the rest of the way with a 2.06 ERA to lead the Tigers to the East Division title. He then had some hard luck in the playoffs – 0-2 with a 3.65 ERA in his two starts – but still had enough panache a year later to get a “5” card in this set. But ’73 was no follow-up. With a fast-declining team behind him and way too many homers given up – 23 in his 170 innings – Woodie reversed his Detroit record by 14 decisions and saw his ERA skyrocket. ’74 would be a bit of an uptick but things would go right when he got back to his old league in a couple years. Woodie is 33 in this photo. Sam McDowell was about 30 in his. Woodie looks about ten years younger than McDowell. Life on the farm had its benefits.

Woodie Fryman has such an old-timey baseball origin that it seems his career should have begun 50 or 60 years before it did. A lifetime resident of Kentucky, he was born in Ewing and played some ball in school until he was around 13. Expecting to be a farmer as his dad was, he dropped out of school so that he could work full-time on a farm given him and his older brother by their dad. He did play ball on weekends, mostly as a shortstop, and by the time he was a young man in the mid-Fifties had joined a local semi-pro team called the Flemingsburg Aces, for whom he became a pitcher of some local renown. He would regularly win over 20 games a year against just a couple losses and in one game supposedly struck out 32 guys in 15 innings. He got visited by a few teams around 1960 but the salaries and bonuses he was offered were less than he was making on his farm. But in ’65 a government subsidy on tobacco products ended and with the prospect of potentially lower farm income, Woodie got a local tryout with the Pirates. He was not offered much money but when his dad promised him he would come back to his allotted acreage, Woodie figured he had nothing to lose and signed. To make the signing more palatable to management the scout who signed him moved his birthdate forward a few years so the new kid was 22, though he was actually already 25. But once he got started Woodie worked fast. He went 3-1 with a 1.50 ERA his first six games in A ball and was then called up to pitch a mid-season exhibition game against Cleveland in which he pitched three innings of shutout ball with five K’s. He returned to the minors, this time to Triple A, where he went 0-3 in six starts but put on less than a runner an inning and had a 3.71 ERA. It was his final stint in the minors.

Fryman finished the ’65 season in Pittsburgh and though he didn’t get into a game, he did learn a pickoff move and a change-up from coach Clyde King. He then began his rookie year of ’66 in the pen and from there didn’t give up a run until his seventh game. Shortly thereafter he threw a complete game win in his first start and by the All-Star break he was 8-3 with a 2.30 ERA and three straight shutouts, including a one-hitter against the Mets. He cooled off the balance of that season but his numbers were still good enough to make the Topps Rookie team that year. ’67 would nearly be the prior year in reverse as Woodie was only 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA by the break after missing a month with an injured arm. But he improved the second half to go 3-5 with a 2.85 ERA. After the season he and three minor leaguers – one being Don Money – were sent to the Phillies for pitcher Jim Bunning. Woodie’s first season in Philadelphia was another streaky one as by mid-June he was 10-5 with a 1.61 ERA to nab an All-Star nod but was only 2-9 thereafter. In ’69 his ERA rose a ton as his record moved to the losing side and a decent bounce in ’70 was arrested by an elbow injury that made him miss all of August and pitch sparingly after that. In ’71 he spit time between the rotation and the pen, recording a couple saves. His nasty start in ’72 led to a trade and another bipolar season when he revived in a big way for Detroit. ’74 would be a tad better than ’73 as he went 6-9 with a 4.32 ERA in less innings. After that season he returned to the NL, going to Montreal for pitcher Tom Walker and catcher Terry Humphrey.

As in the second half of ’72, the movement of Fryman to another league initially went quite well. Back in the rotation for the most part, Woodie went a combined 22-25 with a 3.35 ERA and five saves for a team that was 133-191 during that stretch. In ’76 he was named to his second All-Star game. That following winter Cincinnati was worried that their 34-year old first baseman, Tony Perez, was getting too old so they packed him and reliever Will McEnany off to Montreal for reliever Dale Murray and Woodie, age 37. While initially things with the Reds seemed fine – Woodie had a 2.25 ERA in spring training and was named Opening Day starter – he soon had a falling-out with Sparky Anderson and after going 5-5 with a fat ERA the first three months he retired in early July to his farm. Coaxed back to baseball with the promise of a trade, after the season he went to the Cubs with the ever-itinerant Bill Caudill for Bill Bonham. While Chicago wasn’t exactly a fix – 2-4 with a 5.31 ERA in nine starts – a June trade back to Montreal for outfielder Jerry White got things going. He finished the year 5-7 with a 3.61 ERA in the rotation and from then on it was all relief. From ’79 to ’82 Woodie got to pitch for his first consistent winner and went a combined 24-17 with a 2.79 ERA and 46 saves, the bulk of that time in his Forties. He got some more post-season time and went 9-4 with 12 saves in ’82. But in his first game of ’83 Woodie’s shoulder snapped and after a couple bad attempts to pitch later that season he was done. He finished with a record of 141-155 with a 3.77 ERA, 68 complete games, 27 shutouts, and 58 saves. In the post-season he was 0-2 with a 6.14 ERA in four games.

Not terribly surprisingly Fryman returned to the farming life in Kentucky upon his retirement. He continued doing that through his mid-Sixties when Alzheimer’s hit him and he had to slow down a bit. He passed away from a heart ailment in 2011 at age 70.

Topps gets pretty current with Woodie’s star bullets. There’s another farm reference in the cartoon. He also raised corn and soybeans as well as tobacco. Interestingly he never smoked or did chaw.

Woodie’s travels help a bit here:

1. Fryman and Gary Sutherland ’68 Phillies and ’74 Tigers;

2. Sutherland and Tim Johnson ’76 Brewers.

#319 - Randy Hundley

The first thing that struck me while checking out the cards on this post is that the Randy of the regular card looks years younger - and tanner - than the Randy of the Traded card. That leads me to believe that this card photo was taken well before the '73 season, maybe around the same time Ron Santo's was. This Randy sure looks fit at Candlestick. He would have had to be. If this card is from the late Sixties, he would have been in the midst of a four-year run where he AVERAGED 152 games behind the plate. But Randy wasn't indestructible and by '73 his knees were toast. While he was an icon in Chicago, he just couldn't play that well any more. But the Twins needed someone to help corral their young pitching staff and the Cubs needed a catcher who could put up some innings, hence the trade. The Traded card is a bit glossy but I think the logo is done pretty well. It also looks like the photo is taken at Shea.

Randy Hundley came out of Virginia where he must have been a big deal because in 1960 he was signed by the Giants for about $110,000. Somehow avoiding the bonus baby rules, Randy went to D ball that year where he hit OK but fielded way better. That would be the theme the next couple years in C ball as well. Then in '63 he moved up to Double A and his offense took off as he hit .325 with 23 homers and 81 RBI's, all numbers up hugely from his norm. In '64 and '65 he settled into Triple A as his stats floated down to where they'd been. Both seasons he got very brief looks up top. But Tom Haller had a stranglehold on the catcher position and after the '65 season Randy and pitcher Bill Hands were traded to the Cubs for Lindy McDaniel and Don Landrum.

Chicago manager Leo Durocher, who engineered most of his trades, was the guy who got Hundley and he immediately made him a starter. Randy didn't disappoint, setting rookie records for games caught and home runs by a catcher. He also led the NL in assists and picked off 50 guys. All those numbers got him fourth place in NL ROY voting and a spot on the Topps team. In '67 he boosted his average 30 points and won a Gold Glove while making only four errors behind the plate, then a record. In '68 his average tanked but he set another record by catching in 160 games. Then in '69 he ramped things up early in the season as the Cubbies led the division, by keeping his average above .300 through mid-July. That helped him get his first All-Star nod but then his average dipped as his guys fell out of first. But that was just the prelude. In '70 Randly missed about half the season due first to bone chips in his hand and then a knee injury. Early in the '71 season he re-injured the knee so badly it required an operation that killed pretty much the entire season. He was able to return to the starting gig for the '72 and '73 seasons but with his knees now shot his average was embedded in the .220's and he was forced to make throwing adjustments that compromised his assist and pick-off totals.

In Minnesota Hundley only got into a few games during '74 and was released after the season. He was picked up by San Diego to back up Fred Kendall for '75 and then sold to the Cubs prior to the '76 season when he only got a few at bats. In '77 he was brought back as a bullpen coach, got into a game, and was released as a player. Randy ended his career with a .236 average, 82 homers, and 381 RBI's. He ranks in the top 100 in lifetime putouts and fielding percentage for catchers.

After coaching in '77 and '78 Hundley managed for three seasons in the Cubs system, posting a record of 193-213. Shortly thereafter he basically invented the fantasy baseball camp. He is still at it, running one back in the Cubbies' fold.


All of Randy's bullets and the cartoon focus on his four big seasons. He's got some first name. I guess you didn't take that one public unless you bashed a bunch of dingers. Like Mr. Fielder, Randy had a son that played. Todd Hundley also caught and had some pretty big seasons for the Mets in the Nineties.


The Traded card back gives us the normal expectations summary. Alas, it was not to be.

This hook-up gets a big help from a league-shifting Hall of Famer:

1. Hundley and Fergie Jenkins '66 to '73 Cubs;
2. Jenkins and Toby Harrah '74 to '75 Rangers;
3. Harrah and Jim Merritt '73 to '75 Rangers.

#245 - Cleon Jones

Now we get Cleon Jones, an iconic Met if there ever was one, in a great action shot. This swing is all power - it makes a nice contrast to the Glenn Beckert shot a few posts ago. It's so strong that his front leg came off the ground. Cleon had a huge season in '69 when the Mets won the Series. '73 wasn't quite the same. In early June he broke his wrist and was expected to miss six weeks but other injuries decimated the outfield and he had to return early which really compromised his swing. Pain in the wrist forced him to sit out some games down the stretch but he was there for what many describe as the pivotal play of the season, the "ball off the wall" play.

On September 20th, Pittsburgh was in first place, a win over .500 and the Mets were one and a half games back. The Mets had already won two from the Pirates in the series to move from fourth to second and the game was tied 3-3 in the top of the 13th inning. Ray Sadecki was pitching at Shea and Richie Zisk was on first. The batter Dave Augustine hit a long shot that had homer written all over it, but the ball nicked the top of the fence in the left field corner and bounced right into Jones' mitt. He wheeled and line drived the ball to Wayne Garrett at third who then pegged it to Ron Hodges at home, nailing Zisk for the third out. The Mets then won the game in their half of the inning and went 6-2 the rest of the way to win the division.

Cleon Jones grew up in Alabama and was a childhood - and lifelong - friend of his outfield mate Tommie Agee. Cleon grew up without a dad and a few years later a mom (check out his SABR bio here to see why) and stayed in 'Bama with his grandma where he developed into a big local football and baseball star. He continued in both at Alabama A&M University where he set a school record for touchdowns in a season but then was nearly killed in a horrible auto accident. He recovered and was signed by the Mets in '63. He had a strong start that year in A ball and got in a couple games up top. In '64 and '65 he played at Triple A Buffalo where he waffled between being a line drive and a power hitter and again got some games up top the later year. In '66 he came up for good, initially playing center and then left after Agee was acquired. Cleon kicked things off pretty well, his '66 numbers good enough for fourth place in NL ROY voting and a place on that year's Topps rookie team. In '67 he had a couple nagging injuries and his numbers came in pretty hard, but he rebounded to hit nearly .300 in a tough year to do that in '68.

1969 was all Mets and Jones enjoyed a significant role in that legendary title run. Only one Met - John Olerud - has since topped his .340 average and his 75 ribbies, a career high, were second only to his pal Agee's. He had a bang-up playoff against the Braves - .429 with a homer, four RBIs, and two stolen bases - and though he cooled off considerably against the Orioles he caught the last out of the Series. '70 was a bit of a disappointment for everybody in Mets land but in '71 Cleon put up numbers approaching his '69 stats. But '72 was a downer. Cleon got hurt early in the season and when he returned he was platooned in the outfield with John Milner. His stats took a beating and that continued into the early part of '73 before he got hurt. He rebouned pretty nicely in '74 - .282 with 13 homers and 60 RBIs - when Milner got moved to first base full time. Unfortunately that rebound was only a season long. In '75 he missed most of spring training and the first two months of the season with a knee injury and was then in Florida doing rehab work when he was busted sleeping in a van in a parking lot with a young woman. Donald Grant, the Met's GM at the time who was a true a-hole, had him come up to NY to attend a press conference at which Cleon publicly apologized to the fans. After hitting only .240 in a few games he asked for and was given his release that July. He stayed out of ball until he was signed by the White Sox at the start of the '76 season, put in a few games, and was released at the end of April. That was all for Cleon and he finished with a .282 average, 93 homers, and 524 RBIs. He also had 91 stolen bases and hit .284 in 20 post-season games.

When Jones finished playing he returned to Mobile where he worked in various positions for the city for a number of years. He has done some spring training work for the Mets and had his number retired by the team in '91. He has also appeared in Jerry Grote's fantasy camps. His son, Cleon Jr. was a star back at the University of South Carolina and played a bit in the Indoor Football League.

I like that Topps focuses on recent events for Cleon's star bullets. His line in '73 from August 31 on was .238 with 13 runs, six homers, 19 RBIs, and a .375 OBA. He was truly hot the final ten games of the season when he anted up a .278 average with four homers, eight runs, 14 RBIs, and a .472 OBA.

Cleon gets with Morton through another outfield buddy:

1. Jones and Ken Singleton '70 to '71 Mets;
2. Singleton and Carl Morton '72 to '76 Expos.

#67 - Tommy Helms

Here we have yet another Astro card shot in a location that barely resembles a ballfield. While I suppose that could be the outfield fence over Tommy Helms' left shoulder, it seems awfully far away. Frankly it looks much more like a farm what with the fencing and the low buildings. These guys rival the Expos in odd training parks.What wasn't odd was Tommy's '73 season. Tommy topped out in RBI's that year and his average was the best he put up in his three years as a Houston regular. That offense, coupled with his usual sterling work at second base, helped keep Houston in the playoff hunt for a while until his old team and LA steamrolled the division.

Tommy Helms was from Charlotte, NC, where he was chased by at least half a dozen MLB teams before being signed by the Reds in '59 out of HS. Then a shortstop, he started his career that summer in D ball and was a bit challenged. But he rebounded nicely at that level in '60, pulling his batting average up 40 points and his fielding one up over 20. He then moved up the ladder, putting up ten triples in B ball in '61 and then a fat .340 average in A ball the next year. That season enabled him to jump all the way to Triple A in '63 where his average dropped considerably while he got his first work at second base. But '64 saw another nice bounce at the same level to .309 with 69 RBI's as he again played short exclusively. It also got Tommy his first short look in Cincinnati. Most of '65 was spent in Triple A again, where the average moved up to .319 before an extended late season look in which Tommy brought both his position and high average up with him. After that trial he was up for good.

Helms' shortstop spot was still manned by All-Star Leo Cardenas in '66 and his other favored position of second base was taken by another All-Star guy, Pete Rose. But Cincy management wanted Tommy's glove on the field so in the wake of a disastrous trade - see ya Frank Robinson - incumbent third baseman Deron Johnson got moved to the outfield and Tommy got third base, a position he'd never played at any level. But Tommy was an adaptive athlete and he responded by by putting up good enough offensive (.284, 23 doubles, 72 runs) and defensive (only 13 errors) numbers to win the NL Rookie of the Year. In '67 the Reds moved Rose to the outfield, Tony Perez to third, and Tommy to second, the position he would inhabit during the bulk of his career. His numbers stayed pretty consistent the next two years and he would see All-Star appearances in each one. His average dropped a tad the following two seasons although he maintained his defensive excellence, acknowledged by the Gold Gloves he won each year. But following the '71 season he was part of the big trade that brought the Reds Jack Billingham, Joe Morgan, Denis Menke, and Cesar Geronimo for Lee May, Jimmy Stewart, and him.

While it would be tough to be on the wrong side of a trade that built a pennant-winning Machine, Helms helped it pay immediate dividends for the Astros as the team recorded its best record in '72. Tommy teamed with Roger Metzger to solidify the middle infield into one of the best in the league and would remain Houston's starting second baseman through '74, a year in which his offense was comparable to his '73 numbers. After that season, Houston traded Lee May to the Orioles for Enos Cabell and Mike Andrews' younger brother, Rob. Rob was the second baseman of the future and pretty much immediately replaced Tommy. After a year at backup, Tommy went to the Pirates for '76 to sub for Richie Hebner at third. He was then sold to Oakland and then traded back to Pittsburgh in a hugely populated trade that brought the A's two third's of that year's outfield. He finished out the season with Boston as a DH and then was done. Tommy finished with a .269 average with 34 homers and 477 RBI's. In the post-season he hit .241 in eight games. Defensively he is in the top 100 second basemen in career putouts and assists and in the top 65 for double plays and fielding percentage.

Helms stayed close to baseball following retirement, becoming a Texas coach for the '81 and '82 seasons after running his own vending machine business back in NC. In '83 he moved to Cincinnati where he would eventually be joined by his old pal Pete Rose and even did some managing stints for the Reds after Pete was suspended - for bumping an ump - and finally dismissed. Tommy went a combined 28-36 in that role. He then left the Reds at the end of the '89 season to manage in the Cubs system. He would then ten years later manage the independent Atlantic City Surf from 2000-2002. In those roles he went a combined 175-205. What he did during the Nineties or since AC is a mystery but in a 2010 interview he looks awfully good so I guess he did something at which he prospered.

I like the signature; it has some flash but is still legible. It's a bit hard to check the cartoon data - at least for me - but Tommy had an awfully low strikeout ratio.

We are back to crossing leagues, so this exercise may add some miles:

1. Helms and Pete Rose '65 to '71 Reds;
2. Rose and Sparky Lyle '80 to '81 Phillies.

One of the things Blogger does is keep data rolls on the Posts page summing up categories placed in the Labels box. The last post was the 66th card, or 10% of the set. I thought it might be interesting to see some of the totals and other data. Here are some tidbits:

Every playoff year from '64 to '87 is represented by a player from one or more of that year's teams. '57 to '59 and '61 are also represented. There are ten players from the '71 post-season and nine from '72, '74, and '78.

There have been 14 action cards. There have been 38 cards in away uniforms and 19 in home uniforms.

Award-wise, there have been five MVPs, four Rookies of the Year, four Cy Young winners, four Comeback Players of the Year, and two guys from the '73 Topps Rookie Team. There have been nine guys who would one day be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Milestone-wise, there have been 13 rookie cards, eight Traded cards, seven cards that were the last ones for that player, and five guys who are now deceased, which I think is pretty good for 37 years down the road.

There have been four cards with the parenthetic names, four cards I have classified as ugly, and two guys who served in Viet Nam.


But the Astros are still the only guys pictured on the horse farm.

#45 - Dave Johnson

Here we have yet another action shot - which is nice - with the featured player in a compromised position - which is not so nice. After two pop-up shots, we have Davey Johnson swinging and missing big at Shea Stadium. Since the card is a featured one (ending in a "5") wouldn't it be nice to have a more complimentary shot? Maybe the boys at Topps though a little humility was in order.

1973 was Johnson's biggest offensive year by far; a season in which he was one of three Braves to hit 40 home runs which was a first. Ironically, Atlanta did not have a winning record that year. A big reason for that can be seen by checking Davey's defensive stats. In an admittedly abbreviated season in '72 in Baltimore, he had six errors and during his time there averaged about twelve per season. In '73 he had 30. Atlanta was just the place defenses went to die.

Davey Johnson's dad was in the Army and as a kid Davey moved around a bunch, a status that would be emblematic of his later career as well. He settled in San Antonio for high school and then went to Texas A&M where for two years he played both hoops (point guard) and baseball (shortstop). Signed by Baltimore in '62, he kicked things off in his old position in C ball and had such an excellent season that in '63 he jumped all the way to Double A. That year he began playing second a bit, kept up his very good offensive numbers - between those two levels, he'd hit about .315 with 23 homers and 105 RBI's in what amounted to about a full season - and by season's end was in Triple A. At that level in '64 he lost some points off his average but continued to show good power with 14 triples, 19 homers, and 73 RBI's. And his defense all along had been very good. So he made the cut out of spring training in '65, played and hit very little, and returned to Triple A, where for about a third of a season he hit .301 whie playing shortstop exclusively. By the end of the season he was back in Baltimore.

When Johnson came up to Baltimore the team was pretty set in the middle infield with excellent defenders Jerry Adair at second and Luis Aparicio at shortstop. But Davey's stats to date were tough to ignore and the notion of his added pop in the line-up got him the starting second base gig over Adair in '66. Adair objected - he was later traded to Chicago - but Davey argued his choice pretty well, coming in third place in AL Rookie of the Year balloting, making that year's Topps team, and playing on a Series winner. He boosted his power a bit in '67 and then like just about everyone else his offense declined in '68 - though not by much - and he garnered his first All-Star selection.In the Series years of '69 to '71 Davey boosted his average to just north of .280, got a couple more All-Star nods, and won his three Gold Gloves. By then recurring back pain was becoming an issue for him and in '72 - also a year in which he had a shoulder injury - he missed some serious time and his offense stats tumbled significantly. By then Bobby Grich was ready to ascend into a full-time position and after that season Davey went to the Braves with Pat Dobson for Earl Williams.

Following his big year Johnson split the '74 season between second and - to relieve his back - first base. His numbers much more resembled his Baltimore ones that his '73 ones though he did get his error totals down to those levels as well. Then, after one at bat in '75 - I have never been able to figure that out - Davey was released. Shortly thereafter he went to Japan where he had a terrible '75 season while playing third but a pretty good bounce in '76 with a line .275/26/74 back at second base. Overall, it was a  very interesting time with the Giants. After two years overseas he came back as a part-timer with first Philly - for whom he had a real nice '77 with a line of .321/8/36 in only 153 at bats - and the Cubs. His playing career was done after the '78 season. Davey finished with a .261 average with 136 homers and 609 RBI's. He hit .225 with a couple homers and twelve RBI's in 31 post-season games. And defensively at second he is in the top 75 in both putouts and double plays.

Johnson then went right into managing, first in the Inter-American League and then for various stops in the Mets' chain before arriving at the top in '84. He led the Mets to the Series win in '86 and had by far the best winning percentage of any of their managers so he was of course let go by them in 1990. In '93 he was hired by the Reds and in the two strike-shortened seasons that followed took them to first place; he was then fired again. The same thing happened in Baltimore and then LA: he made winners out of losers. After leaving LA in 2000 he took on a succession of national team gigs and is now a part-time advisor to the Nationals. As a manager he has gone 1,372-1,071 up top and in the minors 190-155. I am one of the people who thinks his managerial successes warrants a Hall of Fame entry.

The back of the card is all about his '73 season which makes complete sense. Topps gets points for the cartoon as it is finally a real tidbit. It would have been nice if he could have used his piloting skills to barrel roll some of the owners for whom he managed - Marge Schott and Peter Angelos - out of the plane. He is a pretty accomplished guy: he finished his degree in Mathematics at Trinity College; he is a master scuba diver and has taught classes in that; and he took grad classes at Johns Hopkins.

Let's use the AL to link these two guys:

1. Johnson and Curt Blefary '65 to '68 Orioles;
2. Blefary and Mel Stottlemyre '70 Yankees.

#27 - George Scott

Back to the action shots! We will have a two card rally of these and it leads off with Mr. Scott, neither the Star Trek guy nor the guy that played Patton. This guy's nickname is Boomer and here he is looking skyward at a ball hit off an Oakland pitcher at their park. Judging by the angle, though, I don't think it is one of his taters - homers - but just a pop-up to the infield. It is a dramatic photo nonetheless. And '73 was a pretty dramatic season for Boomer as well: a significant reduction in his strikeout totals helped contribute to his second ever .300 season, his first ever 100-RBI season, his highest homer total since his rookie year, and the AL lead in total bases. Why he didn't get a special card number in this set is a pretty big mystery.

George Scott was - mostly - an All-Star first baseman in the AL. He was signed by Boston in '62 out of his Mississippi high school where he was a QB and shortstop of his two state champion teams. That first year he had a tough time in D ball, striking out 86 times in only 223 at bats, and a hallmark of his career would be that he whiffed at a pretty good clip throughout. He played second and third that season and had a tough time defensively as well. In '63 Boomer's club moved to A ball and he mostly to third where he posted much better defensive numbers as well as offensive ones, hitting .293 with 15 homers and 74 RBI's. '64 looked like it could have been another good year at that level but Boomer missed a significant part of the season to a knee injury, but it was followed by a decent IL season in which he put in his first time at first base. In '65 Boomer moved to Double A where he played third exclusively and had a banner year, winning his league's triple crown with a .319/25/94 year. After another good fall season, he made the cut in Boston.

In '66 Boston was in the midst of an overhaul that would get the Sox to the Series the next year. Longtime third baseman Frank Malzone and '65 first baseman Lee Thomas were both gone and the Sox had some hot prospects to replace them. In the latter position they had Tony Horton, who'd come off a pretty good '65 call-up run. And at the hot corner they had not only the Double A mvp in Scott but also the Triple A mvp in Joe Foy. But Foy had a tough spring training, so on Opening Day Boomer was at third base, where he would stay for all of five games. Veteran Eddie Kasko took over third until Foy was ready to get there full-time and Boomer moved over to first since Horton wasn't - nor would he ever really be - ready. And George kicked in his new spot, doing excellent defensive work, and by All-Star vote time was having a big offensive year, hitting .330 with eleven homers just over a month into the season and got the starting gig at the game. Thereafter his numbers fell off considerably but he still had enough oomph to make the Topps team that year.and finish third in ROY voting. He also set a rookie mark for strikeouts. In '67 he would avoid the sophomore jinx completely - or put it off for a year - as his big numbers helped take the revamped team to Game Seven against St. Louis. He also won his first Gold Glove that year. '68 was then his disaster year. Boomer and manager Dick Williams didn't exactly get along and Williams was always on George about his weight, which tended to get pretty big sometimes. Boomer couldn't even reach Mendoza levels with his average, lost some starting time, and finished the season in a deep depression, though he did win another Gold Glove (which he would do every year that first base was his primary position through '75). The following winter he played for Frank Robinson in PR, got his mojo back, and when Boomer returned to Boston he was given the third base gig again in the wake of Foy's departure to Kansas City in the expansion draft. Boomer did fine in the field but was doing a pretty good reprise of the '68 year at the plate, still sub-.200 at the end of May. But from then on he hit .279 to cap a decent comeback year. In '70 he began the year at first while Boston tried a new hotshot at third base, Luis Alvarado. When Alvarado didn't pan out, Boomer was back at third and stayed there for pretty much the balance of the season, not including the month he missed to injury. Still, he had another decent season, just missing .300, and definitely enjoyed things more under his new manager, who happened to be Kasko. In '71 George moved back to first full time, amped up his power a bit, and at the end of the year departed in a big trade: he, Ken Brett, Jim Lonborg, Don Pavletitch, Billy Conigliaro, and Joe Lahoud went to Milwaukee for Tommy Harper, Marty Pattin, and Lew Krause.

Scott immediately became a fan favorite in Milwaukee and his first season there celebrated by stealing 16 bases, a career high. He also put up his highest RBI total since his rookie year. After his big '73 he would alternate good and great seasons in Milwaukee, in '74 and '76 averaging lines of .288/18/79 but in '75 posting his biggest season with a .285/36/109 year in which he led the AL in homers and RBI's. Following the '76 season he returned to Boston with Bernie Carbo in the deal that brought the Brewers Cecil Cooper. Boomer had a great '77 with a line of .269/33/95 with 103 runs scored when the Sox almost won the division. But '78 was a not fun season as injuries struck, first a back problem that caused him to miss three weeks, and then a broken finger that never really healed, both sapping his offense. He began '79 slowly, was traded in June to Kansas City for Tom Poquette, and hit .267 for the Royals before an August release. He was picked up by the Yankees and for them hit .318 the final month of the season. That would be Boomer's final MLB season and he finished with a .268 average with 271 homers and 1,051 RBI's. In the post-season he hit .267 in eight games. Defensively he is in the top 40 all-time for putouts, assists, and double plays at first. He also finished with three All-Star appearances and eight Gold Gloves.

Scott was let go by the Yankees following the '79 season and picked up by Texas, who offered him a reserve role, which Boomer shot down. So he moved professionally to Mexico, where he played through '84 and also managed a couple seasons. He hit well down there, putting up a .355 average in '81 and a .330 in '82. After playing he continued to coach south of the border until he returned to The States and from '91 to '95 managed the team at Roxbury Community College. He then managed teams in independent ball until he retired following the 2002 season.

The card back lets us know about his 1973 Brewers RBI record. It broke Tommy Harper's, for whom he was traded. Boomer's stats illustrate his tendency to be up and down quantitatively during his career. I do not particularly remember Boomer being a flashy fielder - certainly not along the lines of Willie Montanez - just a really good one.

Since we have a rare case of one AL card following another, the separation exercise should be short:

1. Scott and Bill Campbell '77 to '79 Red Sox.

They were both All-Stars in '77 too. That's a first.