Clyde Wright (#543)

Clyde Wright was another of the young Angels’ pitchers who debuted in the 1966-69 time frame, but who went ignored by Topps until several seasons into their career. (Others were Rickey Clark, Tom Burgmeier, Marty Pattin, Andy Messersmith, and Tom Murphy.)

Look at the chart below. In 1967 and 1968, the Angels’ pitching staff was filling in with some nice young talent, but Topps missed the boat on their rookie cards. None of the pitchers in the top half of the chart received their first card until 1969 or 1970, and by then Burgmeier and Pattin were playing for expansion teams.

Instead, Topps chose the pitchers in the lower half of the chart to feature on their Angels Rookie Stars cards from 1967 to 1969, clearly whiffing on these selections.

(It seems odd that Clark's first card came after a season where he only pitched 9 innings!)


Clyde Wright was signed by the Angels in June 1965, and made his major-league debut in June 1966. He split the ’66 and ’67 seasons between the Angels and the minors, then joined the Angels fulltime in 1968.

In ’68 and ’69 Wright was primarily a reliever, but was one of their top starters from 1970-73, winning 22 games in 1970. He also made his only All-Star team that season, and finished 6th in the Cy Young voting.

He was the team’s pitching ace in 1970, then shared that designation with Messersmith in 1971. With the addition of Nolan Ryan in 1972, Wright was pushed down to #2 in the rotation, and then to #3 in 1973 when Bill SInger came aboard.

Clyde followed up his excellent 1970 season by winning 16 and 18 games in the next 2 seasons, but after posting a 11-19 record in 1973, he was traded to the Brewers (along with pitcher Steve Barber, outfielder Ken Berry, and catcher Art Kusnyer) for outfielders Ollie Brown and Joe Lahoud, pitcher Skip Lockwood, and catcher Ellie Rodriguez.

After a disappointing 9-20 season for Milwaukee in 1974, Wright was traded to the Rangers and pitched his final big-league season in 1975.

He also played in Japan from 1976-78.

Carlos May (#18)

I have already posted the center fielder for the 1969 Topps All-Rookie team, so I’m skipping ahead to the final player on the 1969 All-Rookie Team, Carlos May.

Topps failed to include the All-Rookie Team trophy on this card, just like they did in 1968 with Rick Monday, Dick Hughes, and Rich Nye.

Carlos is the younger brother of Reds’ first baseman Lee May (who was a member of the Topps 1967 All-Rookie Team). During his stay with the White Sox, Carlos wore #17, thereby advertising his birthday ("MAY 17").

May was a 1st-round draft pick by the White Sox in 1966. He played 3 seasons in the minors (none higher than class-A) before making his major-league debut in September 1968. Carlos started the final 14 games of the 1968 season, including the last 12 in left field, replacing veteran Tommy Davis.

In 1969, he started 76 of the first 85 games in left field, then moved over to right field, where he started 20 games in July and early August. May also made his first of 2 all-star appearances. After starting both games of the August 8th doubleheader, Carlos missed the rest of the season, having blown off part of his thumb in a mortar accident while in the Marine Reserves. Still, his 18 homers and 62 RBI propelled him to third place in the Rookie of the Year voting. He was also named the Rookie of the Year by The Sporting News.

May returned at the start of the 1970 season, starting 141 games in left field while batting .285 with 12 homers and 68 RBI in his first full season. He moved to first base for the final 7 games of the 1970 season, and remained there for most of 1971. In addition to his 123 starts at 1st base, he started 9 games in left field.

With the arrival of Dick Allen in 1972, May was back in left field, making 144 starts at his usual post. He also started 2 consecutive games at 1st base in late June, with Allen inexplicably moving over to 3rd base. Carlos primarily played left field for the next few years, then split his time between left and 1B in 1975, with Allen having been unloaded traded away to the Braves for backup catcher Jim Essian.

In May 1976, Carlos was traded to the Yankees for pitcher Ken Brett. He saw his only post-season action that year in the ALCS and World Series. Carlos also played for the Yankees for most of 1977, until moving on to the Angels for the final 2 weeks of the season.

May finished his career by playing in Japan from 1978 to 1981.

Del Unser (#336)

Here’s centerfielder Del Unser, perusing the bat rack. (Actually, it looks more like the perennial second-division Senators “borrowed” a shopping cart from the local A&P for their bats.)

Unser came up with the Senators in 1968 and immediately took over the center field position, starting 153 games in his rookie season. He finished a distant second place in the Rookie of the Year voting to Yankees’ pitcher Stan Bahnsen.

Unser was drafted by the Twins in June 1965 and by the Pirates in January 1966, but did not sign. He was the Senators’ #1 pick in the June 1966 draft, and played the remainder of that year and all of 1967 for the York (PA) White Roses, the Nats’ double-A team.

The following season he jumped to the majors out of spring training, and was Washington’s starting center gardener for the 1968 and 1969 seasons. After starting the first 11 games in 1970, Del was relegated to the bench for much of the season, only starting 21 games after April 27th, as Ed Stroud took over his position.

In 1971 Unser was back in the driver’s seat, starting 2/3 of the games in center, while the newly-acquired Elliot Maddox starting most of the other games.

Del was traded to the Indians after the 1971 season in an 8-player deal, but only lasted 1 season in Cleveland. A year later he was traded to the Phillies for outfielders Oscar Gamble and Roger Freed. [Oh, how I LOVED this trade back then! The Phillies were getting a bona fide center fielder in exchange for two stiffs that had worn out their welcome. It was one of the first deals by Paul Owens, who had taken over as Phillies’ GM in June 1972.] 

Pushing 1971-72 center fielder Willie Montanez over to right field, Unser manned center field for the Phillies during the ’73 and ’74 seasons. After 1974, he was traded to the Mets (with reliever Mac Scarce and catching prospect John Stearns) for reliever Tug McGraw and 2 backup outfielders. (Obviously, McGraw made major contributions for the next half-dozen seasons.)

After a few seasons with the Mets and Expos, Unser returned to the Phillies in 1979, this time as a pinch-hitter extraordinaire. He played in over 90 games each in ’79 and ’80, but started less than a third of them. His value was now in his timely hitting (.298 in 1979). After 2 more seasons with the Phillies, Del retired after the 1982 season.

Unser has worked off-and-on for the Phillies since then, most notably as a batting coach and minor-league instructor.

Del’s father Al was a catcher for the Tigers and Reds in the mid-1940s.

Mike Ryan (#591)

Today we have Phillies' backup catcher Mike Ryan. Although 1970 was Mike's 3rd season with the Phils, it was his first card featuring him in a Phillies uniform. It seems like Topps took it's time getting new photos for players that changed teams, preferring to stick with hatless photos well beyond their expiration date:

1967 Bob Buhl
1967 Bob Uecker
1967 Don Lock*
1968 Don Lock
1969 Don Lock
1968 Woody Fryman*
1969 Woody Fryman
1968 Turk Farrell
1969 Turk Farrell
1968 Mike Ryan*
1969 Mike Ryan
1968 Rick Joseph
1969 Rick Joseph

* These could be excused as their first season with the Phils, except that Topps was able to get Dick Hall in a Phillies uniform in 1967, his first season with the team.

But I digress....

I first became casually aware of Mike Ryan by his 1967 card while a member of the AL champion Red Sox. After the season, the Phillies acquired him in exchange for pitcher Dick Ellsworth and catcher Gene Oliver. (The same day, they also traded Jim Bunning for 4 players, including Woody Fryman and Don Money.)

Great! I thought. After plodding along the previous season with a platoon featuring aging veterans Clay Dalrymple, Bob Uecker, and Gene Oliver, we're finally getting a young, up-coming catcher. Not so fast... Ryan platooned with Dalrymple for the '68 season, then took over as the regular backstop in 1969 when Dalrymple was traded to the Orioles. Although a great defensive catcher, Ryan couldn't hit a lick. (I guess that's implied when someone is referred to as "a great defensive catcher").

After one season at the controls, Mike returned to the bench in 1970, since former all-star and 2-time World Series champion Tim McCarver was acquired in the Dick Allen trade prior to the season. However, Ryan got a break when McCarver broke his hand on a Willie Mays' foul tip on May 2nd. Mike actually DID get a "break" later that same inning: breaking HIS hand while applying a tag at home plate. (The Phillies used 2 minor-league catchers and a hastily-reactivated bullpen coach to fill in for the next few months.)

Ryan caddied for McCarver through June 1972, then played behind John Bateman for the remainder of that season. In 1973, rookie Bob Boone took over as the #1 catcher. The team had acquired veteran Tom Haller from the Tigers to mentor Boone, but when Haller refused to report, they kept Ryan on for one more season.

After playing for the Pirates in his final season (1974), Mike returned to the Phillies as a minor-league coach for a few seasons, then as their major-league bullpen coach from 1980-1995.

Reggie Jackson (#140)

Although 1970 would be Reggie Jackson's 4th year in the majors, this was only his 2nd card. Somehow, Topps failed to include Jax in the 1968 set (even on an "Athletics Rookie Stars" card). This despite being the 2nd overall pick in the 1966 draft, and spending the latter part of 1967 with the Kansas City Athletics. Not to worry though, our friend Steve at WhiteSoxCards has taken care of that problem.



Reggie was "the straw that stirred the drink" long before Darryl Strawberry arrived on the scene. He and Rick Monday were among the first wave of stars for the Oakland A's, and after a long career, he returned to Oakland for his 21st and final season as a DH, teaming up with Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco.

Jack Billingham (#701)

Here is Jack Billingham's 1970 card. It's been a full season since he was traded to the Astros, yet we still get a hatless card! This is one of five 1970 cards that were sent to me by DeansCards.com last fall.


Billingham was signed by the Dodgers in 1961, and pitched 7 seasons in the minors (mostly in relief) before making the Dodgers in 1968. In his rookie season he appeared in 50 games, all but 1 in relief.

After the 1968 season, Jack was selected by the Montreal Expos in the expansion draft. As I mentioned in the Curt Flood post below, the Expos attempted to trade Donn Clendenon to the Astros in January 1969 for Rusty Staub. When Clendenon refused to report, Montreal shipped Billingham to Houston as part of the package to salvage that deal.

Billingham pitched for the Astros for 3 seasons (1969-71). Mostly a reliever in the minors and for his 1st two seasons in the bigs, Jack moved into the starting rotation beginning in 1970.



Following the 1971 season, Jack was on the move again. This time, he was part of an 8-player deal with the Reds. The Astros sent 5 players (Billingham, 2B Joe Morgan, SS Denis Menke, and outfielders Cesar Geronimo and Ed Armbrister) to the Reds for 1B Lee May, 2B Tommy Helms, and utilityman Jim Stewart. This seems like a crazy lopsided deal now. The Astros trade Morgan AND FOUR OTHER PLAYERS for Lee May, a fading Tommy Helms, and a scrub IF-OF? It seems like the Reds should have traded May and 1 other player straight-up for Morgan! (But I digress.....)

Adding to the Reds' fleecing of the Astros was that Billingham's career caught fire in Cincinnati. He won 19 games in both 1973 and 1974, and finished in the top 6 in Cy Young voting in both seasons.

Jack pitched for the Reds for 6 seasons, winning (and losing) in double figures in each season. After the 1977 season he was traded to the Tigers, and pitched in Detroit for 2 full seasons and 1 month into the 1980 season.

In mid-May 1980, he was shipped to the Red Sox, but was released a month later.