Tony Taylor (#324)

"Tony Taylor at the bat rack". I always liked this card, a very unusual shot for back in the day. Tony may spend a lot of time browsing the bat rack, but he didn't spend much time at the helmet rack. He was one of the few players of that time that wore the inside-the-cap protector, rather than a batting helmet.

This was also around the time when Taylor was morphing from a regular 2nd baseman to a utility infielder.

Tony was signed by the New York Giants in 1954. After 4 seasons on their farm, he was selected by the Cubs in the Rule 5 draft following the 1957 season. Taylor became the Cubs' regular 2nd baseman from the beginning of the 1958 season, starting 128 games there as a rookie, and 148 games in 1959.

After starting the first 19 games in 1960, he was traded to the Phillies for pitcher Don Cardwell and 1st baseman Ed Bouchee. For the next 5 years (5/13/60 - 5/31/65) Taylor started most of the games at 2nd base for Philadelphia. While the other 3 infield positions were revolving doors during that time, 2nd-sacker Tony started at least 140 games each season (except for missing much of the 2nd half of 1961).

In June 1965, Cookie Rojas transitioned from jack-of-all-trades to starting 2nd baseman, and they each finished with 78 starts. Even with losing his 2nd base job, Taylor still played as much as any regular.

In 1966, 3rd baseman Richie Allen missed most of May, and upon his return spent 6 weeks playing in left field, with Taylor starting 42 games at 3rd base during this time. He also started 63 games at 2nd, spelling Rojas.

The following season, 1st baseman Bill White missed all of April and May with an off-season injury. Tony started 43 games at 1st base that season, without ever having played the position previously. When Allen went down with a hand injury in late August, Taylor started the final 40 games at 3rd base.

Allen returned to the Phillies in 1968, but with the hand injury on top of his already-suspect defense, he played that season as the regular left fielder, with Taylor at the 3rd base spot for 137 games.

In 1969 the Phillies added 3B/LF Deron Johnson, subtracted Bill White, and moved Richie Allen to 1st base. This left Taylor as a swing man between 2B (when Rojas got time off) and 3B (when Johnson was playing left field).

Tony continued as the backup 2B-3B in 1970, although he got much less playing time than the previous season, now that the starters were youthful upstarts Denny Doyle and Don Money. He was traded to the Tigers in mid-1971, and played 2 1/2 seasons there as Dick McAuliffe's backup at 2nd base.

After he was released by the Tigers, the Phillies brought him back for the 1974 - 76 seasons as their pinch-hitter extraordinaire. His old pal Dick Allen even rejoined the team for the '75 and '76 seasons.

After his playing career was over, Taylor coached for the Phillies for many seasons.



Taylor's late-1960s baseball cards showed his hometown as Yeadon, PA. That was next to the town I grew up in, and whenever we drove through Yeadon, we always hoped to see Tony walking down the street somewhere, but it never did happen (surprisingly enough!)

Maury Wills (#595)

Here is Maury Wills' first Topps card as a Dodger. Although Wills made his major-league debut on June 6, 1959 and was the Dodgers' regular shortstop from 7/4/1959 to 12/1/1966, Topps did not issue a card for him until the 1967 set, and by then he was the Pirates' 3rd baseman.

Maury was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers before the 1951 season. Baseball-Reference.com says that he played for the Hornell, NY Dodgers in 1951, as well as in 1952. As such, he was in the Dodgers' system several years before future Pirates' teammate Roberto Clemente.

What I didn't know until today is that Wills spent the 1957 season as a member of the Cincinnati Reds organization (playing for Seattle in the PCL), and was traded to the Tigers and back to the Dodgers during the 1958-59 off-season.

 
Wills took over the Dodgers' shortstop job from Don Zimmer midway through the 1959 season, and went on the lead the NL in stolen bases every season from 1960-65, including 104 in 1962 and 94 in 1965. He also led the league in triples in 1962, and was named the NL MVP that season.

After the 1966 season he was traded to the Pirates for shortstop Gene Michael and 3rd baseman Bob Bailey. After two seasons in Pittsburgh, he was drafted by the Montreal Expos. Wills was the expansion team's regular shortstop for the first two months, then was traded back to the Dodgers (with outfielder Manny Mota) for outfielder Ron Fairly and infielder Paul Popovich.

He reclaimed the starting shortstop job, which in the 2 1/2 seasons he was away, was manned by such luminaries as Gene Michael, Dick Schofield, Nate Oliver, Tommy Dean, Zoilo Versalles, Ted Sizemore, and Billy Grabarkiewitz. Maury remained the starter until he was replaced by Bill Russell in late-April 1972.

Wills was released after the 1972 season, ending his 14-year career. He later managed the Seattle Mariners for parts of 1980 and 1981.

Lowell Palmer (#252)

Here is the rookie card for "Mr. Cool", Lowell Palmer. I have 3 Palmer cards ('70, '71, '72) and he's wearing shades on all 3 cards. Lest you think he was only photographed in dark glasses, see here.

Palmer was the Phillies' #1 draft pick in 1966, and made his major-league debut in June 1969. He started 9 of 26 games during his rookie season. Lowell spent the entire 1970 season with the Phillies, pitching mostly in relief (along with 5 starts). His 102 innings pitched was 8th among the staff.

In 1971, Palmer was back in triple-A for most of the season, only pitching 3 games for the Phillies, all in late-June.

After the '71 season, he was sold to the White Sox, who kept him long enough for him to get a card in the '72 set. Palmer was released on May 16th, then picked up the same day by the Cardinals. He was up and down with St. Louis for a few months, then claimed by the Indians in mid-September.

Palmer spent the 1973 season in the minors, first with Cleveland then the Yankees. In May 1974, the Yankees sold him to the Padres, where he resurfaced in the majors for 22 games.

Lowell pitched all of 1975 and 1977 in the minors (missing the '76 season) before retiring.


This is the final post in my cross-blog series of the 70 players (with cards) appearing for the Phillies from 1966 to 1969.

Al Raffo (custom)

Here is the only known card for Phillies' relief pitcher Al Raffo. Although it appears to be a 1970 Topps card, it is actually a creation of John Hogan from the Cards That Never Were blog.

Raffo was signed by the Phillies in 1962, and toiled in their minor-league system for 7 seasons (mostly as a starter) before making his major-league debut in late-April 1969.

Why it took so long to promote him to the Phillies' suspect bullpen of the mid-to-late 1960s is a mystery to me, given his 12-6 and 11-7 records in '67 and '68. The non-Dick Farrell/Dick Hall portion of the Phillies' bullpen was generally in shambles, and it looks like Raffo could have contributed a year or 2 earlier.

Al was called up in late April 1969 and made 45 appearances out of the bullpen. His final line was 1-3, 4.11 ERA, 38 K, 25 BB in 72 innings.

His final major-league appearance was on September 26, 1969, as he found himself back in the minors for 2 more seasons before retiring.

1969 Post-Season Cards

1969 was the first season of divisional play, and Topps expanded their subset accordingly. Both '69 divisional series were 3-game sweeps, as the Orioles' and Mets' pitching easily overmatched their opponents.

The Mets went from last place to World Champions, winning the series with great pitching, timely hitting, and unbelievable outfield defense. They won it all in their 8th year of existence. Hey Pirates, who says rebuilding has to last forever?

The summary stats on the last card are so small as to be unreadable (even holding the card in your hand) so posting it sideways makes no difference.

Phillies Rookies: Joe Lis / Scott Reid

Here is the first of 2 Phillies Rookies cards in the 1970 set (#56). Larry Bowa and Denny Doyle were on the other card, and had significantly longer Phillies' careers than these two.

Joe Lis was signed by the Phillies in 1964, and played in their minor league system from 1964-70, and part of 1972. Except for 1969 and 1970, Lis rarely played the outfield in the minors, and was primarily a 3rd and 1st baseman. I suppose he was converted because the Phillies had many infield prospects (Bowa, Doyle, Don Money, John Vukovich, Greg Luzinski), but not many for the outfield.

Joe made his major-league debut during a September 1970 call-up, then was with the team for all of 1971, and the second half of 1972 as a spare outfielder. After the '72 season, he was traded to the Twins for Cesar Tovar. After 1 1/2 seasons with Minnesota, he was traded to the Indians, but spent most of 1975-79 in the minors.

Scott Reid was drafted by 4 teams between 1965 and 1967, but did not sign with the first 3; finally signing with the Phillies in June 1967.

He played with Phillies' minor-league teams from 1967 to 1973, while also seeing action with the Phillies in 1969 (13 games) and 1970 (25 games). The zenith of his career was the week of 5/28 - 6/3/1970, when he started 5 of 6 games in center field.

Ron Stone (#218)

Ron Stone was, at best, a 5th outfielder, but this being the 1970 Phillies he was one of the team's regular outfielders. He finished the 1970 season with the 3rd-most playing time in the outfield, as he shuffled between the corner spots, sharing left with John Briggs and right with Byron Browne.

Stone was signed by the Orioles in 1963, and played 2 seasons ('63, '65) in their farm system (missing the 1964 season). In November 1965, he was selected by the Kansas City Athletics in the Rule 5 draft. After 26 games with the A's in 1966 (almost exclusively as a pinch-hitter or pinch-runner), he was returned to the Orioles on July 1st, and promptly resumed his minor-league career.

After several more seasons on the farm, Stone was traded to the Phillies in January 1969 for veteran catcher Clay Dalrymple. Ron reported to the Phillies' camp that spring and tore the cover off the ball, earning both the "phenom" tag and the starting left field job. After 4 games that experiment was over, and Stone was relegated to bench duty for the rest of the season although he did start 2 dozen games in left and in right field and another 5 games at 1st base.

His playing time increased in 1970, as Johnny Callison was gone, Richie Allen was gone (meaning an end to Deron Johnson's days as an outfielder), and Ron blended into the mix of average outfielders including Briggs, Browne, and rookie Oscar Gamble.

Just the opposite occurred in 1971. With Willie Montanez joining the team as the everyday center fielder, and newly-acquired Roger Freed becoming the almost-everyday right fielder, Stone, Gamble, Browne, and others were all vying for time in left field. (Rookie Greg Luzinski was called up on September 1st, and although he started the last 27 games at 1st base, Greg would move out to left field at the start of the 1972 season, putting an end to the pretenders that had played there from 1969-71.)

Stone began the 1972 season in Philly, but spent all of July and August in the minors. His September call-up would be his last time in the majors. He spent all of 1973 with the Phillies' and Royals' AAA teams, before retiring.

(The Phillies did additional outfield housecleaning after the 1972 season, sending suspects Oscar Gamble and Roger Freed to the Indians for starting center fielder Del Unser.)

Billy Wilson (#28)

Billy Wilson was one of several so-so pitchers promoted by the Phillies from their farm system in the 1969-71 time period. This is Wilson's first solo card, but he appeared on Phillies Rookie Stars cards in the 1967 and 1969 set.

Wilson was signed by Philadelphia in 1961 (wow, I didn't realize he went that far back!) and played minor-league ball for EIGHT seasons before making his major-league debut in April 1969. Billy was a starting pitcher from 1961-63, but was converted to a reliever in 1964. He didn't reach the triple-A level until 1966, then regressed to AA in '67 before spending the entire 1968 season back in triple-A.

Wilson played his entire major-league career (1969-73) with the Phillies, pitching in 179 games (all in relief) and compiling a 9-15 career record. Along the way, he spent about a dozen games back in the minors in 1970 and in 1971.

In 1971, he played 1/3 of an inning at 3rd base, as manager Frank Lucchesi brought in another pitcher to face 1 batter before returning Wilson to the mound. (The Phillies made a similar move in 2011 with Cliff Lee.)

Following the 1973 season, Wilson was traded to the Brewers for veteran reliever Frank Linzy, but  was released by Milwaukee in spring training. He caught on with the Phillies' AA team in Reading, PA for his last pro season in 1974.

Wilson passed away on 8/11/1993 at age 50.