Don Bosch (#578)

This is the first Expos player on this blog, so I wanted it to be a late-series card with the player in their new uniform, not an capless photo from their previous team. That he is a little-known player is a bonus.

This is the second of Don’s 3 baseball cards. His rookie card was in the 1968 set, where he had his own card as a New York Met. He also appeared as an Expo in the 1970 set.

Don Bosch was signed by the Pirates in 1960, and played 7 season in their farm system. He made his big-league debut for the Pirates with 3 games in September 1966. After the season, he and pitcher Don Cardwell were traded to the Mets for pitcher Dennis Ribant and C-OF Gary Kolb.

Bosch was with the Mets for 2 seasons, and was their backup center fielder, behind Cleon Jones in ’67 and Tommie Agee in ’68. He also spent a significant part of both seasons in the minors.

The Expos purchased Don from the Mets 2 days after the expansion draft in October 1968. 1969 was the only season that Bosch did not spend time in the minors, although he didn’t play after July 9th. It was also his last season in the majors. He was #3 on the center field depth chart behind Adolfo Phillips and Ty Cline. In addition to making 21 starts in center, Don also pinch-hit in another 2 dozen games.

Bosch began the 1970 season with Montreal’s AAA team, then was traded to the Astros in late June for future Cy Young Award winner Mike Marshall. Don played the remainder of the season with Houston’s AAA team, then retired after the season. He finished with a .164 career batting average over 146 games.