Gary Holman (#361)

Gary Holman was the 1st baseman on the 1968 Topps All-Rookie Team. Back in the day, I considered him interchangeable with another backup short-time 1st baseman featured on a "green team".

Holman was signed by the Dodgers in 1964. After one season with LA’s class-A teams in Salisbury, NC and Santa Barbara, CA, Holman was plucked by the Senators in the first-year minor-league draft. Gary spent 2 seasons in AA followed by 1 season in single-A ball, then jumped up to triple-A in 1968.

He made his major-league debut with the Senators in late-June 1968. I wondered today why Topps anointed him the All-Rookie 1st baseman, because he only got 98 at-bats spread over 75 games, and made only 12 starts in his rookie season – 3 at 1st base and 9 in the outfield. [A quick check of Baseball-Reference.com gave me my answer – there were no other rookie 1st basemen in 1968 that played more than 8 games.]

Holman was back with the Senators to start the 1969 season, but with Mike Epstein starting 2/3 of the games at 1st base (and Frank Howard moving in from left field to start the rest) there was no room for Holman. After appearing in 41 games (mostly as a pinch-hitter) he was sent back to the minors in mid-June, never to return. His major-league career consisted of 51 calendar-weeks on the Senators’ roster.

Gary finished out the ’69 season with triple-A Buffalo, then retired after the season.