#243 - Bob Oliver

Here's Bob Oliver in Yankee Stadium looking as if something is in the air. Bob is yet another guy who would be wearing pinstripes in the not-so-distant future. He is not related to Al or Nate or any other of his contemporaries with the same surname. He is, though, the father of Darren which I did not realize until researching this post. Darren is still hanging in there with the Rangers, enjoying a post-35 resurgence - he's 40 - that his dad never did. Over the course of his career Bob had some great cards including two action ones ('71 and '73) and a bizarre almost full split one ('72). This one isn't anything special but it's better than '75's in which he gets an airbush on his final card. Maybe that's what he senses here.

Bob Oliver was born in Louisiana and at some point relocated to and grew up in Sacramento, California. He then attended American River College, a community school in Sacramento, from which he was signed by the Pirates upon his graduation in '63. After a couple non-descript seasons of A ball in '63 and '64 at first base, Bob moved to Double A in '65, showed some power with 15 homers, and versatility as he put in time at second, third, and the outfield. He also got into his first game up top that year. He split '66 between Double and Triple A where he had a super season at the former level, spent all of '67 at Double A, and continued his itinerant work in the field. After the '67 season he was sent to the Twins for Ron Kline. For Minnesota he played at the Triple A level, where he had his best minor league season - .297 with 20 homers and 93 RBIs - before he was plucked in the expansion draft by the Royals that winter.

For the Royals Oliver stayed up top arguably becoming the team's first legitimate power threat. His rookie season of '69 Bob played in the outfield and hit OK, although he also displayed what would be career chinks in his baseball armor: not enough walks - his career OBA was under .300 - and too many strikeouts. In '70 he moved primarily to first - his best position - and also had his best season with 27 homers, 83 runs, and 99 RBIs. In '71 the Royals got Gail Hopkins from Chicago to take some time at first and Bob put in time back in the outfield, mostly as a reserve, as his stats came in substantially. Early in '72 on the wake of KC's pick-up of John Mayberry, Bob was traded to the Angels for Tom Murphy. For California Bob had a resurgence offensively the rest of the year as he won over the starting first baseman gig from Jim Spencer. Then in '73 Bob started wandering again, putting in pretty much equal time at first, third, and in the outfield. He had offensive numbers that rivaled '70's and in the winter of '74 was projected as the guy who would finally solve the Angels' third base woes. However after a bunch of games there the club brought back Paul Schaal - ironically from KC - and Bob's time at third was over. His playing time declined a bit and late in the season he was sent to the Orioles for Mickey Scott to help during the stretch drive. That December he was sold to the Yankees for whom he played sparsely, mostly as a defensive replacement at first, before being released in July. That ended Bob's time up top. In '76 he signed with the Phillies for whom he had a pretty nice half season at Triple A playing mostly first, the same position he occupied at that level for the Pirates in '77. In '78 he got with the White Sox who released him after a few games, again at Triple A, and Bob then moved way south, finishing up that year and all of the following in Mexico. '79 was his final year as a player and he finished with a .256 average, 94 homers, and 419 RBIs.

After playing Bob returned to Sacramento where he played a bunch of Senior baseball, worked for McKesson Health, managed the local independent team for a season ('99), and started his own baseball academy, a non-profit whose mission is to teach baseball skills to kids with diabetes. He also has worked for Dusty Baker's baseball school as well.

Those are pretty good star bullets. Regarding the first bullet, though, that game was in '69, not '70. Bob also had three RBIs in a game the Royals won 13-11 over California. He pulled off that second star bullet in less than a full season. I like the cartoon, especially if Bob was a painter of that type of work, not just an admirer. The term "mosaic painting" reminds me of Raymond Carver.

This gets two AL guys together, thanks to a guy already mentioned:

1. Oliver and Jim Spencer '72 to '73 Angels;
2. Spencer and Bill Gogolewski '73 Rangers.

#242 - Bill Gogolewski

This is the final card of Bill Gogolewski's career, which is a shame given the cartoon on the back. This is the first last card - that was weird - in a long while which is a good thing. Bill strikes a pose in what looks like the bullpen area of a practice complex. Given the home uniform, I am betting it's a spring training shot. I'm pretty sure it's not Arlington.

Bill Gogolewski was a pretty big boy out of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He was signed by the Senators out of high school in '65 and played Rookie ball that summer where he had a good record as a starter. In '66 he moved to Single A and did pretty well again in the rotation. The scouting report on that season for him was that he needed to work on his curve but that his fastball was pretty good. In '67 he moved up again to Double A where he did well in limited action due to arm trouble. He took a while to bounce back and '68 and '69 were pretty tough. But after an excellent year in Double A in '70 he came up to DC for some late action. He then got into the rotation in '71 and had a nice season going before he again hurt his arm which contributed to two tough seasons that followed. In '72 and '73 Bill went a combined 7-17 with a 4.24 ERA. Early in the '73 season he was moved to the pen where he had six saves, including in David Clyde's first game in which he threw four innings. By the time this card came out Bill was traded to Cleveland as the player to be named later from when Texas acquired Steve Hargan. Bill spent most of '74 down at Triple A where he did OK - 10-11 with a 3.63 ERA - but only got into a couple games up top. The following February he was released by the Indians and picked up by the White Sox. But by then his back was toast and by mid-August after getting 50 innings but with an ERA over 5.00 he was done. Bill went a combined 15-24 in his career with a 4.02 ERA, six complete games, and ten saves. In the minors he was 54-41 with a 3.58 ERA.

After playing Gogolewski would return to Oshkosh where he eventually became the town's commissioner of its parks department, a position he still holds. There is a very interesting bio of him linked to here. I would encourage anyone needing a good laugh to check it out.

Poor Bill! He just bought a house in Texas and he had to split. He has a pretty cool signature; he really makes the G's stand out. His star bullets are nothing special. He did beat Nolan Ryan with a one-hitter in '72. They could have put that down.

Thanks to a league-changer this one is pretty quick:

1. Gogolewski and Vic Harris '72 to '73 Rangers;
2. Harris and Don Kessinger '74 Cubs;
3. Kessinger and Glenn Beckert '65 to '73 Cubs.

#241 - Glenn Beckert

This is one of two cards like it in the set. It pictures a player on a non-Traded traded card still in the uniform of his former team. The other player pictured this way was the other side of this trade and will be coming up shortly. This post also starts a run of a bunch of double card posts in the next ten or so. I always thought this card was pretty cool. Certainly the un-retouched uniform looks better than all the air-brushed ones. And the blue works pretty well on the Brown and gold Padres colors. It's also an excellent action shot as Mr. Beckert here looks like he was almost running before he even hit the ball at Wrigley. There is a fan behind him who looks like he's decked out in a full complement of Oakland colors. Boy is that guy in the wrong place.

Glenn Beckert grew up in Pittsburgh and then attended Allegheny College in PA where he played hoops and baseball. His sophomore season he set a scoring record in basketball and he was all-conference his three years there at shortstop. Signed by the Red Sox in '62 he exited before his senior year - though he did eventually get a degree in political science - he kicked things off that year in D ball hitting .280 with an excellent OBA. He was selected after the season in the first year draft by the Cubs and put in a year of A ball good enough to get him to Triple A in '64. Groomed to be the double-play partner of '62 ROY winner Ken Hubbs, Glenn instead came up in '65 to take his place a year after Hubbs died in a plane crash. Beckert pretty much didn't skip a beat, settling in to become a superior defender and in a season, a roughly .290 hitter who was awfully tough to fan. In '68 Glenn led the league in runs, the first guy to do so with under 100 since the dead-ball era. He also had only 20 strikeouts in 685 plate appearances and won a Gold Glove. The following season he was named to the first of four successive All-Star teams. In '71 his average popped to .342 and he came in 11th in MVP voting. But then Glenn aged pretty quickly and by '73 he was pretty much splitting time at second with Paul Popovich. After the season he was traded to the Padres with Bob Fenwick for Jerry Morales. Hence this card.

For the Padres Beckert and another old hand, Horace Clarke, backed up Derrell Thomas at second base. In '75, although he was hitting .375 in a few early season at bats, Glenn was released by San Diego and then retired. He finished with a .283 average and only 243 strikeouts for his career, or less than one every 20 at bats. He is in the top 100 of putouts, assists, and double plays recorded at second base.

In the off-season Glenn had been a partner of Ron Santo in life insurance and real estate businesses which he continued for a couple years following his retirement. He then became a commodities broker in Chicago which he did for a bunch of years. Given what happened in those markets around then, it is quite possible he is very comfortable financially.


Glenn seems to have always been outstanding defensively. Regarding the cartoon, he had a five-year run when he had the lowest strikeout ratio in the NL. He also put together two hitting streaks of over 20 games in his career.

This should work as an all-Cubs hookup:

1. Beckert and Rick - or Ricky - Reuschel '72 to '73 Cubs;
2. Reuschel and Joe Coleman '76 Cubs.

#240 - Joe Coleman

In 1974 Joe Coleman got a "10" card on the strength of his 62 wins the previous three seasons. Joe was only 27 when the '74 season began and with 103 career wins at that point, there was some speculation that he might be on track for 300. He had good command of three pitches: fastball, curve, and forkball, an unusual trio, and could throw tons of innings without getting hurt. But Detroit quickly became a bad team and the wins sort of dropped off a cliff fast. Maybe that's what those big cumulus clouds represent building behind Joe during spring training.

Joe Coleman grew up in Massachusetts, the son of a major league pitcher also named Joe. The senior Joe had won 76 games up top by the time he finished in '55. Joe grew up worshiping Ted Williams, which would prove ironic a couple seasons into his career. Our Joe was drafted in the first round by the Senators in '65 and became the first player ever to sign who was drafted. He had a tough start in the minors, going a combined 9-32 his first three seasons in Single and Double A, although his ERA was a respectable 3.79. The first two seasons, '65 and '66 he got a few starts up top and did quite well and in '67 he came up for good, slipping into the rotation. He was the club's number two winner after Camilo Pasqual in '68 and won 12 again in '69 as the club achieved respectability under a new manager. That manager was Williams who insisted that Joe learn a slider since it was the pitch that confounded Ted the most while he was playing. Joe was resistant since he thought his three pitches were enough and quite a few slider pitchers he knew got injured throwing the pitch. It became a standoff and Joe would spend a bunch of time in his manager's doghouse, especially in '70 when the Nats resumed their losing ways and Joe got a bunch of early hooks. So when he was included in the big trade to Detroit prior to the '71 season, Joe was a pretty happy camper.

As usual, Coleman got off to a rough start - see card back - in Detroit. But things turned around fast as the wins, K's, and innings shot up, propelling Joe to his first 20-win season. '72 was just as good, especially in the playoffs when he threw a seven-hit shutout against Oakland, striking out 14. It was also his sole All-Star season. In '73 he won the most games of his career even though his ERA popped a bit. The Tigers hit the skids in '74 and Joe's win totals declined, first to 14 and then ten. He didn't help things too much as his ERA moved up around a run each season. In '76 things pretty much bottomed out as he went a combined 4-13 with Detroit and the Cubs, to whom he was sold mid-season. In '77 he went to Oakland for Jim Todd where he had quite a good season - 4-4 with a 2.96 ERA - for the felled dynasty as a spot starter and long reliever. After a nice start in '78 he went to Toronto in a sale where he wouldn't pitch terribly well although he sported a 5-0 record overall that season. In '79 he left as a free agent and signed with the Giants, for whom he would barely play, and the Pirates. For the latter team he would post great numbers in Triple A - 5-1 with a 2.78 ERA - but not good enough ones up top and he would miss the post-season. Over the next three seasons he would pitch a bit in the minors for Seattle and California but his time up top was done as a pitcher. Joe went a combined 143-135 with a 3.70 ERA, 94 complete games, and seven saves. That masterpiece in '72 was his only post-season action.

Coleman turned to coaching pretty much immediately, managing in the California chain in '83. He would remain a pitching coach in that system through '87 and then moved up to Anaheim as bullpen coach from '88 to '90. He moved to St. Louis where he was the pitching coach from '91 to '94. Then it was back to California where he got the same gig in the minors ('95 to '96) and up top ('97 to '99). He was the Durham Bulls' coach from 2000 to '06 and then moved to Lakeland, a Detroit farm team, from '07 to the present. He is 54-85 as a manager. His son Casey is currently trying to stick with the Cubs.


I already disclosed one of Joe's star bullets above. The record was broken by Mike Mussina in '97. The cartoon shows the rough start to his Tiger career.

Crossing leagues again, but this will be quick:

1. Coleman and Willie Crawford '77 A's;
2. Crawford and Bill Russell '69 to '75 Dodgers.

#239 - Bill Russell

Bill Russell gets to pose at Candlestick which must have been tough for Dodger players, but Bill doesn't seem to mind. Fresh off his first All-Star season, '73 was an interesting year for him. At the beginning of the year he was still considered as an outfielder who was only a stopgap at shortstop until a permanent solution could be found. Early in the season he had a horrible game in which he had three errors, one of which put the Reds ahead, and struck out in his final at bat with the game winner on base. He was booed at Dodger Stadium pretty mercilessly for the first time. But then he started hitting well enough to grab the All-Star nod, cut way down on his errors, and became an integral part of the new infield as the Dodgers nearly caught up to the Reds for the division. And 11 years later he was still the starting shortstop.

Bill Russell was a high school basketball star in Kansas. He only played summer baseball because his school was not big enough to field a team. He was drafted by the Dodgers in '66 and had a pretty impressive debut that summer in Rookie ball, hitting .356 as an outfielder. He then went to Kansas State and played A ball that summer, hitting only .221. Then he put in a full year of A ball in '69 and upped his average to .280. In '69, after a nice spring, he got promoted all the way up where he spent the season backing up Willie Davis and Andy Kosco in the outfield. In '70 Bill went down to Triple A Spokane where he hit .363 and played a bit of infield, all of 19 games at third base. In mid-season he was back up top, basically taking over right field from Willie Crawford. He spent all of '71 up top, again settling into a reserve role. When in spring training of '72 it became apparent that Maury Wills was running out of gas, Bill was quickly groomed to take his place. He learned the position during the '72 season, which goes a long way to explaining his 34 errors in 121 games. But he was a canny guy and smartly cozied up to veterans, particularly Claude Osteen and Chris Cannizzaro, to get the dirt on NL hitters and pitchers which helped his transition in the field and at the plate, where he bumped up his average 45 points.

Once Russell established himself during the '73 season he became recognized as one of the better fielding shortstops in the league. In '74 he got the most RBIs of his career, 65, led the league in intentional walks, and had a torrid start to his post-season days, hitting .389 against the Pirates in the NL playoffs. In '75 he got hurt and missed half the season, a big reason LA failed to repeat as division-winner. He returned in '76 to his second All-Star season and would then enjoy a nice run through 1980, his third All-Star year. That season he was hitting roughly .300 when he was hit on the hand by a pitch, missed some time, and saw his average fade a bit when he returned. He experienced one of his best offensive years in '82, grabbing his highest lifetime OBA at .357. He remained in a starting role midway through '84 when Dave Anderson took over and was by then the only remaining member of the Fab Four infield. He stuck around as a reserve guy through '86 and was done. Bill hit .263 with 293 doubles, 46 homers, and 627 RBIs. He also stole 167 bases. He picked things up in the post-season, hitting .294 with 19 RBIs in 49 games.

After playing, Russell stayed in LA, joining Tommy Lasorda's staff in '87 and retaining that position for ten seasons, with '92 to '93 off to manage in Albuquerque. In '96 Bill was named interim manager when Lasorda was sidelined by a heart ailment. He was later upgraded to full manager status and led the club to two straight second-place finishes. When he got off to a 36-38 start in '98 he was fired by new owners The News Corp. In '99 he hooked up with the Rays, winning a championship as manager in Triple A that season and coaching up top in 2000. In '01 he moved to the Giants where he managed in the minors for a season. All told he has a 173-149 record in the majors and a 260-297 tab in the minors. Since '02 he has been working with MLB's umpiring division as a supervisor.

Bill would get some better star bullets later in his career, particularly regarding the '78 post-season when he hit well over .400. The second one here is a bit generous since '72 was a tough one defensively. But he got there.

These '77 Series opponents get together like this:

1. Russell and Dick Dietz '72 Dodgers;
2. Dietz and Fran Healy '71 Giants.

#238 - Fran Healy

Fran Healy - if this is Fran Healy; see below - gets an action shot at Yankee Stadium in a night game no less (shout out to Night Owl). That's Thurman Munson sliding in safely as Healy appears to be still awaiting the throw. This is also the third catcher card - after Carlton Fisk's and Manny Sanguillen's - to get an action landscape shot. In a few years the two guys in the photo would be teammates. 

So why am I skeptical as to this card's photo? One, Topps has a history of errors on cards related to Healy (see Steve Busby's 1975 card). Two, this really doesn't look like Fran in profile. So I did a little digging. KC played two series in NY in '73, one in early May and one in July. I am assuming this photo is from the first series given the long shirts on both participants (and am also assuming it is actually from 1973). Five guys caught for KC in '73: Healy, Buck Martinez, Jerry May, Ed Kirkpatrick, and Carl Taylor. It ain't Martinez for sure - he wasn't up until September anyway - and May didn't play at all at Yankee Stadium. Kirkpatrick did but only in the outfield. So that leaves Taylor. Looking at the games, on May 3 - a night game caught by Taylor- Horace Clarke laced a single to left that scored Graig Nettles from third and Thurman Munson from second. Munson definitely would have been sliding on that play and I think that is exactly the play we are viewing. So my money is that this is Carl Taylor, not Fran Healy. And for anyone who cares, KC beat NY 4-3 and our boy Carl here went two for four with an RBI. But back to Fran...

Fran Healy's uncle - also named Fran Healy - was a member of the Gashouse Gang in the Thirties so this Fran grew up around baseball and baseball stories. Born and raised in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Fran was signed by the Indians out of high school. Cleveland's plan for him was to get his military hitch over with fast and then have Fran on his baseball way by 19. But Fran had other plans and went to Holyoke College and then American University, playing minor league ball in the summer. The Tribe was generally compliant at first as Fran wound his way over a couple seasons to Double A with not bad numbers, but when the '68 expansion draft came along, they left him unprotected and the Royals snagged him. He would finally pull his military time in the '69 to '70 year and hit close to .290 over that time in Triple A for KC. At the end of the '70 season he was traded to the Giants for Bob Garibaldi. In '71 Fran made the cut and came up as a backup: in '71 to Dick Dietz and in '72 to Dave Rader. Right before the start of the '73 season he returned to KC for Greg Minton.

In '73 and moreso in '74 Healy would assume regular catching duties for the Royals. A big target, he worked well with the young pitching staff, particularly Steve Busby, for whom he caught two no-hitters. Both seasons he had an OBA over .340. In '75 the Royals acquired Bob Stinson and Fran returned to a backup role and early in '76 when Billy Martin wanted to clean his pitching house and needed catching support for Munson, Fran went to the Yankees for Larry Gura. He had a pretty good year as a role guy for the pennant winners, hitting .267, but his real value would be the following year when he got cozy with sometimes truculent star Reggie Jackson and proved to be very adept at soothing the slugger's many moods. His playing time declined substantially in '77 - he also got zero time in either post-season - and a couple games into the '78 season he was offered a broadcasting job with the team. That was it for his playing career and he finished with a .250 average, 20 homers, and 141 RBIs.

Healy would remain as a broadcaster with the Yankees through '83 and then move cross-town where he was a Mets broadcaster for 22 years, leaving after the 2005 season to get a gig with MSG Networks, where he currently resides professionally.

Fran's card back is a bit of a yawner. In "The Bronx Zoo" Sparky Lyle had some comedic observations about Healy when he initially started broadcasting, trolling around the locker room with his portable tape recorder. Sparky wasn't totally unsympathetic, however, as he also mused about how difficult the transition must have been: after years of being a trusted sounding board for other players, Fran's status as a media guy made former cohorts suspicious and stories harder to come by.

Healy and Brett missed being teammates by a few days in '76. That will be the key year:

1. Healy and Dock Ellis '76 to '77 Yankees:
2. Ellis and Ken Brett '74 to '75 Pirates.

#237 - Ken Brett

At the time represented by this oddly-airbrushed photo - the Pirates wore black hats in '73 and '74 - Ken Brett was the best-hitting member of the Brett family. That would change pretty quickly when younger brother George started soaking up hits, but Ken was still smack in the middle of being the best hitting pitcher in the game. This time was also his best run as a pitcher so despite the cap on his head, the source of the big smile on his face is not too much of a mystery.

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Segundo California, Brett was drafted in the first round by the Red Sox in '66. Signed as a multi-use player the Sox opted to use Ken strictly as a pitcher since they had a well-stocked young outfield. In '66 he had a tough season with some control issues in Single A. In '67 he won a total of 14 split between Single and Double A, tossing 219 strikeouts in 189 innings. He was pulled up top in the final few weeks for a pretty exciting stretch drive in which at season's end only three games separated the top four teams. When Sparky Lyle got hurt, Ken took his place on the Series roster and thew a couple scoreless innings. In '68 he missed spring training due to winding up his military stint and early that season in Triple A he injured his arm in his first game back. That injury pretty much killed his fastball and it would take most of that season to recover and work his way back into the rotation, although both '68 and '69 were generally good years. He would return to Boston for a few games in '69 then have a decent year up top in '70 - 8-9 with a 4.07 ERA and 155 strikeouts in 139 innings. He also hit over .300 each season. In '71 he took a step back and following the season he was included in the big trade that brought him, Jim Lonborg, and George Scott to Milwaukee and Tommy Harper and Marty Pattin to Boston, among others. His year with the Brewers was sub-standard and after that season he went to the Phillies with Lonborg and Ken Sanders for Don Money, John Vuckovich, and Billy Champion.

Brett enjoyed his best season to date in '73, winning 13 as a prime member of the rotation with his first good season-long ERA. He also got 16 RBIs as he hit a record four homers in four consecutive starts. After the season he went to the Pirates for Dave Cash and again won 13, with a 3.30 ERA, and hit .310 with 15 RBIs. He would again experience some arm trouble in '75 and spend some time in the pen, but he posted good numbers, going 9-5 with a 3.36 ERA. In the winter he would again be part of a big trade, going to the Yankees with Dock Ellis and Willie Randolph for Doc Medich. While Ken started pretty well in limited time for NY he was then sent early in the season to the White Sox with Rich Coggins for Carlos May. In Chicago he won 10 and in '76 would end up posting his best ERA at 3.26. He remained a starter in '77 when he was sent to the Angels mid-season for a trio of young pitchers. While his record was OK - 13-14 - his ERA wasn't so hot and after a spotty '78 mostly in the pen California released him. After being signed and released by the Twins he was picked up mid-season by the Dodgers - back in the NL he hit .273 - and had a pretty good year for them as a middle reliever. But they released him during spring training in '80 and he signed later that season with the Royals, joining brother George. After a couple innings in Triple A he came up top where he pitched in small allotments that year and in '81. According to George when he made his first relief appearance for the Royals, Ken came in from the outfield with his arms spread wide like an airplane, dipping and running in either direction on the way to the mound. It was at that point George realized why Ken was traded or released nine times. Ken finished with a record of 83-83 with a 3.93 ERA, 11 saves, and 51 complete games. In five post-season games he had a 3.00 ERA. An All-Star in '74 he also hit .262 for his career with 10 homers and 44 RBIs.

After playing Ken got a Bud Light commercial gig which led to his being named manager in Utica for the '85 season. In '86 he did color commentary for the Mariners, a job he also took with California from '87 to '94. During that time he and his bothers also bought a couple minor league teams as well as a hockey one and Ken worked in management of those franchises on and off until 2003 when he passed away from brain cancer. He was 55.

Ken's rigidly upright signature belies his quirky, free-spirited nature. His nickname was Kemer, given to him inadvertently by George because the latter couldn't pronounce Ken's name correctly. Ken is still the youngest player to appear in a World Series game.

Another double, first for Schoendienst as a manager:

1. Brett and Reggie Smith on the '67 and '69 to '71 Red Sox;
2. Smith was managed by Red on the '74 to '76 Cards.

Now for Red as a player:

1. Brett and Tom Satriano '69 to '70 Red Sox;
2. Satriano and Joe Adcock '65 to '66 Angels;
3. Adcock and Red Schoendienst '57 to '60 Braves.