Bob Tillman (#668)

My only recollection of Bob Tillman is that the Red Sox traded him to the Yankees midway through the 1967 season for catcher Elston Howard, causing Tillman to miss out on the '67 World Series. (Well, technically they were not traded for each other. I learned today that Howard was traded to the Red Sox on August 3rd, and Tillman was sold to the Yankees 5 days later. Essentially, they were traded for each other.) This is Bob's next-to-last card, generously donated to this blog by DeansCards.com.

Tillman was signed by the Red Sox in 1958, and spent the next 4 seasons in the Sox' farm system - mostly as a catcher, but playing a few dozen games at 1st base in 1961.



Bob's major-league debut came on April 15, 1962. In his rookie season, Tillman started 58 games behind the plate, compared to 69 starts for Jim Pagliaroni. The bulk of Bob's playing time came when he started every game from the 2nd game of a doubleheader on 5/20, to the 1st game of the 6/17 doubleheader. After that time, he got spot starts on Pagliaroni's days off. (Russ Nixon was also around to start 33 games that season.)

After the season, Pagliaroni was traded to the Pirates for 1st baseman Dick Stuart, so Tillman shared the position with Nixon in 1963, starting 89 games (to Nixon's 72). In 1964, Bob became the undisputed #1 backstop for Boston, starting 120 games, with Nixon starting only 41. (September call-up Mike Ryan started game #161.)

In 1965, Tillman was still the starting catcher, but his playing time was reduced as both Nixon and rookie Ryan started 30 games each, with Ryan starting 13 of the last 14 games. That was a sign of things to come, for in 1966 Mike Ryan took over the #1 catcher's job, starting 106 games while Tillman only started 56 games. (By this time, Russ Nixon was playing for the Twins.)

In 1967, the Red Sox had another rookie catcher join the team (Russ Gibson), so Tillman's contributions were cut way back. He only caught 26 games (18 starts) as the 3rd-string catcher. With the Yankees, Bob didn't fare any better, although he did move up to 2nd-string catcher (because the Yankees only carried 2 catchers!) Tillman alternated with Jake Gibbs for the latter half of August, but once rosters were expanded, rookie Frank Fernandez took his spot in that duo.

After the season, the Yankees traded Tillman to the Braves for 3rd baseman Bobby Cox (yes, THAT Bobby Cox. He had spent the previous 8 seasons languishing in the minor leagues.) Tillman was the Braves' 2nd-string catcher in 1968 and 1969. In '68, he filled in during Joe Torre's early-season injury, and when Torre would move out to 1st base. The following season Tillman backed up rookie Bob Didier. I suspect that with knuckleballer Phil Niekro on the team, Tillman drew the unenviable assignment of catching those games.

In Bob's final season of 1970, he shared the catching duties evenly with Didier and Hal King, actually making more starts than either of those two. Bob retired after the 1970 season, although his final card is in the 1971 set.

Final Card: Bob Johnson

This is the final card for Bob Johnson (#693). This was one of five 1970 cards sent to me by the nice folks at DeansCards.com.

Bob was a utility infielder who played for 11 seasons, starting with the Kansas City Athletics, and making 6 more stops before wrapping up his career with the Oakland Athletics. Johnson began playing pro ball in 1954 for an unaffiliated class-D team. After the season, he was acquired by the Detroit Tigers, and spent the 1955-59 seasons with various teams in their organization. Following the 1959 season, he was selected by Kansas City in the Rule 5 draft. After only 1 season with the Athletics, Bob was taken by the Washington Senators in the 1960 expansion draft.



With the Senators, Bob shared the shortstop job in 1961 with Coot Veal, and the following season started 117 games between 3rd base and shortstop.

After the 1962 season, Johnson was traded up the road to the Orioles, where he spent the next 4+ seasons, as the backup at all 4 infield positions. Bob did not appear in the 1966 World Series, as the Orioles only used 9 batters and 4 pitchers to dispatch the Dodgers in a 4-game sweep.

In May 1967, Bob was sold to the Mets. This began a succession of short stops with several teams (Mets, Reds, Braves, Cardinals, Athletics) over the last 4 seasons of his career.

Bob's last game was on June 10, 1970. He was released by the A's on July 8th, ending his 11-year career.

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.

Curt Flood (#360)

Curt Flood. He was one of the best defensive outfielders of the 1960s, won 7 straight gold gloves from 1963-69, compiled a career .293 batting average, and played in 3 World Series during his 12-year stint as the Cardinals' starting center fielder. But he is probably best remembered now for his career-shortening legal challenge to baseball's reserve system.

Flood was signed by the Cincinnati Reds in 1956, and spent 2 full seasons in the low minors, along with a token call-up at the end of each season.

In December 1957, he was traded to the Cardinals for 3 guys I've never heard of (Marty Kutyna, Willard Schmidt and Ted Wieand). He played 15 games with triple-A Omaha, but on May 3rd, he made his first start in center field for the Cardinals, and held onto that job for the next 12 seasons. Curt was also the Cardinals' leadoff batter from late 1961 until midway through the 1965 season. (Lou Brock, who came to the Cardinals prior the 1964 season, took over as their leadoff batter midway through 1965.)



Following the 1969 season, Flood was traded to the Phillies (along with catcher Tim McCarver, southpaw relief ace Joe Hoerner, and reserve outfielder Byron Browne) for 1st baseman Dick Allen, 2nd baseman Cookie Rojas, and pitcher Jerry Johnson.

OF COURSE he didn't report! In the late 1960s/early 1970s, Phillies' fans knew better than to expect such good fortune to occur! (Oh yeah, there was something about challenging baseball's reserve system too.) After sitting out the 1970 season, the Phillies traded his rights to the Washington Senators, where he played 13 games in 1971 before retiring.

Also check out Flood's 1969 card.



Everyone knows the Curt Flood story by now, but something occurred to me recently. For all the hoopla and notoriety bestowed on Curt Flood for his refusal to report, another player did the same thing a year earlier, but not much was made of that:

Donn Clendenon had been the Pirates' regular 1st baseman for several years, but was left exposed in the expansion draft. He was selected by the Montreal Expos, and subsequently traded to "Houston" (known outside the walls of Topps Inc. as the "Houston Astros") in a package that included Rusty Staub going to Montreal. Clendenon refused to report to the Astros, and the deal was modified, with the Expos keeping Staub. Advantage Clendenon! Later that season, he was traded to the Mets and was their starting 1st baseman in the 1969 World Series.



The backs of these cards have slightly different text, along with the last letter in Clendenon's name. The Expos version has part of the last N missing. This seems to have been drawn in on the Astros version (although it looks like the letter is backwards).

Sparky Anderson (#181)

This is Sparky Anderson's rookie card for the managerial phase of his career.

Most everyone knows about his long managerial career with the Reds (1970-78) and the Tigers (1979-95), but he was in baseball long before that.

Sparky was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1953, and spent 6 seasons in their minor-league system as a 2nd baseman (except for his 1st season, when he was a shortstop).

After the 1958 season, the Dodgers traded Sparky to the Phillies, where he became their regular 2nd baseman, starting 145 games there. Because he didn't hit very well, that was Anderson's only season in the majors. He spent 1960-63 with the triple-A Toronto Maple Leafs, before retiring as a player.



Sparky spent the 1964 to 1968 seasons as a minor-league manager, before taking a coaching job with the expansion San Diego Padres in 1969. As you can see by the picture on his card, Sparky may be the first person airbrushed OUT of a Padres uniform. (Quite a change from the dozens of players airbrushed INTO Padres (and Expos, Royals, Pilots) uniforms in the 1969 set.)

After only 1 season of big-league coaching, Anderson was given the reins of the Big Red Machine in 1970, and the rest is history.

As noted on many other blogs here, Sparky Anderson passed away 3 days ago. One thing I'll remember about Sparky Anderson is that he's seems to be the only person that ever referred to Johnny Bench as "John".

Rest In Peace, Mr. Anderson!

Final Card: Jack Fisher

Here is the final card for Jack Fisher (#684). This card is one of a handful of 1970 and 1966 cards I recently received from DeansCards.com. I'd like to thank them for their generous donation. Over the past few years, I have purchased many vintage cards from them (mostly in 'Excellent' condition, or 'Very Good' for the more pricey players). I have been very satisfied with their condition ratings, and they ship the same day as my order.


Jack Fisher was signed by the Orioles in 1957, and made his major-league debut in April 1959. He had a somewhat rocky season, and found himself back in triple-A Miami later that year.

In 1960, he made the majors to stay, and joined the Orioles starting rotation, which back in those days included Chuck Estrada, Milt Pappas, and Steve Barber.



After the 1962 season, Fisher was traded to the Giants (along with pitcher Billy Hoeft and catcher Jimmie Coker) for pitchers Mike McCormick and Stu Miller, and catcher John Orsino. Jack compiled a 6-10 record as a starter and reliever, but only lasted one season with the Giants. He was drafted by the Mets after the 1963 season.

Fisher was the Mets' #1 starter during 1964-66 (the "pre-Tom Seaver days"). For each of those 3 seasons, he led the team in starts and innings pitched. His final season with the Mets was 1967. With Tom Seaver turning in a great rookie season in 1967, and rookies Jerry Koosman and Nolan Ryan on the way, Jack was expendable. He was traded to the White Sox in December (along with outfielder Tommy Davis and others) for center fielder Tommie Agee and infielder Al Weis. Both of these new players would contribute to the Mets' success during the 1969 season.

Fisher's post-Met days were spent hopping from team to team. He only pitched one season for the White Sox, where he joined a starting rotation consisting of veterans Gary Peters, Joel Horlen, and Tommy John. Following the 1968 season, it was on to Cincinnati for backup catcher Don Pavletich. Jack was used primarily as a reliever and sometime starter, with his last appearance on September 26, 1969. After the 1969 season, he was traded to the Angels for 2 minor-leaguers, but was released during spring training 1970.

Fisher spent the 1970 season pitching in triple-A for the Orioles and Cardinals before retiring.

Also check out his 1968 card.

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!)