Pilots Team (#713)

Today we will take a closer look at the Seattle Pilots' team card, which I first posted as part of my Pilots Team Review on my 1969 blog back in January.

I got this card last Fall, the first baseball card I acquired in about 2 years (except for some 1964 Topps Giant cards). After accumulating all the 1970 Phillies cards sometime in the 1980s, I began collecting the full 1970 Topps set in 2010, and now need about 40 to complete the set. Like most of the remaining 40, this Pilots Team card is in the high-numbered last series.

The team only played in Seattle for the 1969 season. In the off-season, the team was put up for sale, which was not finalized until sometime in March. They went to spring training 1970 as the Pilots, and broke camp as the Milwaukee Brewers. For continuity, Topps showed all the players as members of the Seattle Pilots, even cards that went to press after the move.

The statistical leaders of the team were:

Don Mincher - Slugging 1st-sacker from the Angels, who was the Pilots' only all-star representative. He was the Pilots' first selection in the expansion draft.

Tommy Harper - Drafted from the Indians with their 2nd pick, this ex-Reds' corner outfielder split his 1969 season between 2B and 3B.

Tommy Davis - Selected from the White Sox with their 8th pick, but traded away in the closing weeks of the season.

Gene Brabender - He was acquired from the Orioles a few days before the start of the season, and topped most pitching categories.



I read my brother's copy of Ball Four during a cross-country trip in the summer of 1971.  Last year I found an updated edition, which I began reading but haven't picked up for several months.  Now that the Phillies' season is going down the chute, I may get back into that book so that I can find some baseball entertainment this summer.

Expos Team (#509)

Topps didn't issue team cards in the 1969 set (maybe because they didn't know what to do with the 4 expansion teams?), but all 24 teams returned in the 1970 set. Here is the very first Montreal Expos team card. I assumed it was the 1969 team pictured on the card, but since this is a relatively high-numbered card, it could be a photo from spring training 1970.


(I wonder if Staub and Stoneman were given hefty raises for leading the team in just about every category!)

For the first 5 years of their existence, the Expos generally battled the Phillies for last place in the NL East.


Here are some other blog posts about the Montreal Expos:

1969 NL expansion

Check out the 5th comment in this post
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Phillies Team (#436)

On the 1-year anniversary (plus 3 days) of my being on these blogs, I am now starting a 1970 Topps card blog. As a kid, I only collected baseball cards in '67, '68, '69, and '72. Over the past year, I have acquired 93% of this set, so I'm ready to start spouting off.


1970 was a new beginning for the Phillies. This was the year that Veterans Stadium was scheduled to open. Construction issues delayed that opening until 1971, so it was one more year at Connie Mack Stadium. The Phillies also unveiled their new uniforms in 1970 (which were planned to coincide with the new stadium). Long-time Phillies' minor-league skipper Frank Lucchesi was also named as the new manager, after the Phillies burned through Gene Mauch and Bob Skinner in 1968 and 1969.

It was also a new era, player-wise. After the 1969 season, the Phillies cut ties with veterans like Richie Allen, Johnny Callison, Cookie Rojas, and Turk Farrell. In their place were pitchers Joe Hoerner and Dick Selma, catcher Tim McCarver, outfielder Curt Flood, and rookie infielders Denny Doyle and Larry Bowa. Bowa was handed the starting shortstop job in spring training. He became the first piece in the 25-man puzzle that would win the World Series ten years later.


(Back in the day, the list of Phillies pennant-winners was miserably short!)