Final Card: Jose Vidal

I've got 7 more cards to post before I can wrap up the "Final Cards" for the 1969 set (something I did way back in 2012 for the 1966, 1967, and 1968 sets), so let's get to it.

 

 

Jose Vidal (#322) had a very short major-league career: a few dozen games for the Indians from 1966-68, and 18 games for the Seattle Pilots in 1969. 

 

Vidal was signed by the Giants in 1958 (I learned something new today) and after one minor-league season was dealt to the Pirates. He spent 5 seasons in Class B, C, and D ball before advancing to Class A in 1963. Primarily an outfielder, Jose also played some 3rd base in '59 and '63. 

 

The Indians purchased his contract in September 1963, and moved him up to double-A the following season. He saw his most extensive playing time in 1965 and 1966, playing over 100 games each season for the Tribe’s AAA team in Portland. 

 

Although he hit well in the minors (40/162/.340 in 1963), he led his league’s outfielders in errors 3 times. 

 

He made his major-league debut with 17 games in September 1966. Initially used as a pinch-hitter, he also started 10 of the final 12 games, mostly in right field. 

 

Jose split his time in '67 and '68 between the Indians and Portland. Although only playing 16 and 37 games for Cleveland in those seasons, he must have been with the team for much of the time because after 100+ games in AAA for the previous 2 seasons, he only played 69 and 44 games in the minors. 

 

In early-September 1968, the expansion Pilots purchased his contract from the Indians. (This was a month before the expansion draft.) Vidal played only 18 games for the Pilots in 1969 (all in the first 4 weeks of the season), mostly as a pinch-hitter. On May 19th he was traded to the Yankees for outfielder Dick Simpson, but spent the rest of the year with the Yankees' AAA team in Syracuse. 

 

Jose played all of 1970 with Syracuse, and part of 1971 with the Tigers' AAA team in Toledo. He finished out that season in Japan, then played over 100 games per season in Mexico from 1972-75. 

 

Vidal passed away in 2011 at age 70. 

 

Tom Burgmeier (#558)

Tom Burgmeier was one of the good, young pitchers selected by the Royals in the expansion draft prior to the 1969 season. I thought he began his career in the Angels' organization, but I learned today that he was signed by the Houston Colt .45s in the Fall of 1961.

After 2 ½ season on the Colts' farm he was released in June 1964, but picked up by the Angels the following month.

Tom made his major-league debut with the Angels in 1968. He did not have any baseball cards as an Angel, because Topps missed the boat on many of their young pitchers from 1966-68. A custom card can be found in this blog post. This late-series 1969 card, featuring the new Royals’ uniform is his rookie card.

Burgmeier pitched in 745 games over his 17-year career, all but 3 in relief. He was a key member of the Royals' bullpen from 1969-72, fashioning a 24-16 record in 190 games over those 4 seasons, with 27 saves. 17 of those saves were in 1971, and he led the 1972 team with 9 saves.

It all came crashing down in 1973. He pitched 6 games in the first month of the season, but spent the remainder of the year in the minors.

After the season he was traded to the Twins for a minor-leaguer. Tom pitched for the Twins from 1974-77, and led the team with 11 saves in 1975.

Granted free agency, he signed with the Red Sox in 1978, and spent the next 5 seasons in Boston. In 1980 he led the team with 24 saves, and was named to his only All-Star team.

He played his final 2 seasons (1983-84) with the Athletics. In 17 seasons, his teams never made it to the playoffs.

Brant Alyea (#48)

At age 77 and 317 days, Brant Alyea is the oldest living player from the 1965-70 era that I have not blogged about yet.

Alyea was a backup outfielder for the Senators, Twins, and others from 1965 to 1972.

He was signed by the Reds (I learned something today!) before the 1962 season, and was selected by the Senators in the minor-league draft after that season.

Alyea played 5 ½ seasons in the Senators’ farm system before getting a permanent call-up in the last week of July 1968. (He did have a cup of coffee in September 1965, and hit a home run on his first major-league pitch (the 9th player to do so). Despite that, he labored in the minors for another 2 ½ seasons. )

Brant made 33 starts at a corner outfield spot for the remainder of 1968, and was used as a pinch-hitter in another dozen or so games. (With Frank Howard, Cap Peterson, and Ed Stroud on hand as corner outfielders, playing time was hard to come by.)

He played one more season with the Senators (starting 56 games in 1969), then was traded to the Twins during Spring training in 1970 for pitcher Joe Grzenda.

Alyea was the Twins’ primary left fielder in 1970 (although only starting 73 games there) and hit .291 with 16 home runs.

In 1971 he only made 44 starts there because Cesar Tovar moved over from center field that season. Alyea ended up as the team’s fifth outfielder behind Tovar, Tony Oliva, Jim Holt, and Jim Nettles. He dropped so far in the space of 1 year that he was left exposed to the Rule 5 draft, and was taken by returned to the Athletics 2 months later.

After the season the A’s traded him again – this time to the Rangers for pitcher Paul Lindblad.

Brant played parts of 1972 and 1973 in the minors before retiring.

After baseball, he worked in an Atlantic City casino.

Glenn Beckert (#171)

Projects? I’ve got an endless list of projects: 
 - 1967 Team Reviews (8 more) 
 - 1969 Final Cards (18 more) 
 - 1969 and 1970 League Leaders cards 
 - 1967 Scrapbook series
 - Blockbuster Trades series
 - Born on the Same Day series
 - Players with the Same Last Name series

And my current priorities:
 - Players I haven’t blogged yet who are pushing their late-70s 
 - Remaining unblogged key pitchers (about 16 more) 
 - Remaining unblogged "Starting Eight" players (about 16 more) 

Here’s the top player from the last group on the above list: 

Glenn Beckert was signed by the Red Sox in 1962. (I did not know that!) After 1 season in Boston’s organization, he was selected by the Cubs in the minor-league draft, and played 2 seasons on their farm before making his MLB debut at the start of the 1965 season.

The Cubs had been in need of a 2nd baseman since their 1962 Rookie-of-the-Year Ken Hubbs was killed in a plane crash just before Spring Training in 1964. Beckert won the job at the start of the 1965 season, and didn’t let go until the final months of the 1973 season.

As a fielder, Glenn led the NL with 494 assists as a rookie in 1965, and won a Glove Glove Award in 1968.

Batting-wise, he led the league with 98 runs in 1968, and reached a career-high .342 batting average in 1971. He also hit over .290 in ’68 and ’69.

Beckert was an All-Star for 4 consecutive seasons (1969-72). He was the team’s regular 2nd baseman for 9 seasons (except for missing the final month of 1971, the final 2 months of 1973, and a few weeks in 1972), teaming with shortstop Don Kessinger for the entire 9-year run.

After the 1973 season, he was traded to the Padres, where he backed up 2nd baseman Derrel Thomas during the 1974 season. Beckert was released after the first month of 1975, ending his 11-year career.

Joe Azcue (#176)

Here is Indians' #1 catcher Joe Azcue. I didn’t realize until looking at the back of the card today that Joe played for the Reds and Athletics before joining the Tribe. (Odd that Baseball-Reference.com uses a photo of Joe in an A’s cap. He played 594 games with Cleveland, while only 74 with Kansas City.) 

Azcue was a catcher in the Reds' farm system from 1956 to 1960, also playing 14 games with Cincinnati in the final 2 months of 1960. He was purchased by the Braves in December 1960, but spent the entire '61 season in the minors.

One year after coming to the Braves, he moved on to the Athletics (with 3rd baseman Ed Charles and outfielder Manny Jimenez) for pitcher Bob Shaw and infielder Lou Klimchock.

Azcue shared the Athletics' starting catcher job with veteran Haywood Sullivan in 1962, then was traded to the Indians in May 1963 (with shortstop Dick Howser) for catcher Doc Edwards and $100,000.  
Wait… Azcue AND Howser for DOC EDWARDS? Who was the Athletics' GM? No wonder they were so bad for so long!

Joe was the Indians' top catcher for the next 6 seasons (1963-68). For most of that time he platooned with Johnny Romano (and later Duke Sims), but managed to start more games than any other catcher each year. He made the All-Star team in 1968, his last full season with Cleveland.

With rookie Ray Fosse transitioning into a starting role in 1969, Azcue was traded to the Red Sox two weeks into the season. The Indians obtained pitchers Dick Ellsworth and Juan Pizarro, and 1B/OF Ken Harrelson in exchange for Azcue and pitchers Sonny Siebert and Vicente Romo.

After only 2 months (and 19 games) with Boston, Joe was flipped to the Angels for backup catcher Tom Satriano. Azcue replaced the tandem of Satriano and Tom Egan as the team's #1 catcher, starting 75 of the remaining 108 games in 1969.

In 1970 he started 2/3 of the games, to Egan’s 1/3. After sitting out the entire 1971 season with a contract dispute, he returned in 1972 but by then the Angels had moved on to John Stephenson.  
(Oh please… I’m trying to keep a straight face as I typed that!) Azcue only played 3 games with the Angels in 1972, while spending most of that season’s first half in the minors.

In late July 1972 he and infielder Syd O'Brien were traded to the Brewers for catcher Paul Ratliff and infielder Ron Clark. Joe only appeared in 11 games for the Brewers in the season's final 2 months, then played for the Indians’ double-A team in 1973 before retiring.

No Senators Rookie Stars?

 
I just realized today that there are no Senators Rookie Stars cards in the 1969 Topps set.

It took me 42 years of owning the 1968 set to realize there were no Giants rookies cards in that set. I have owned the 1969 set for 48 years, so I am clearly not learning from my mistakes!

Why no Senators Rookie Stars cards? Maybe Topps blew their Senators' allotment on having multiple manager cards and a miscellaneous card:

Or maybe there were no prospects worthy of a card (NOT LIKELY, given some of the schmoes Topps has featured on "Rookie Stars" cards!)  Let's see who they had to work with:

Steve Jones had some good stats in 1968, but he was selected by the Royals in the expansion draft. Surely catcher Dick Billings and pitcher Jan Dukes rated a Rookie Stars card, based on their 1968 stats.  They wouldn't get cards until 1971 and 1970, respectively.

Topps whiffed on this one.