Mike Hershberger (#655)

Mike Hershberger was a starting outfielder for the White Sox and Athletics through most of the 1960s. On Opening Day 1968, Mike lost his starting job to Reggie Jackson, and would be a backup for his final 4 seasons.

Hershberger was signed by the White Sox in 1959, and after 3 seasons in the minors was called up to the Sox in September 1961.

In 1962 Mike started 106 games as a rookie, mostly in right field. He shared the starting job there with Floyd Robinson, who was the starter in 1961. (Robinson played mostly left field in ’62, replacing the departed Minnie Minoso.)

In ’63 and ‘64 he was one of the Sox’ top 3 outfielders in terms of starts and playing time, but since he split his time between center and right fields, Baseball-Reference.com shows him as a non-starter.

In January 1965 he was traded to Kansas city in a 3-team, 8-player trade, and was the Athletics’ starting right fielder for the next 3 seasons, rarely playing the other 2 spots in those years.

Reggie Jackson joined the Athletics during the 1967 season, and was installed as the starting right fielder at the start of the 1968 season, relegating Hershberger to spot-start duty for a few dozen games in right and left field.

With Rick Monday and Jackson established in center and right fields, and Rule 5 pickup Tommie Reynolds starting half the games in left field, there was even less playing time for Mike in 1969 than in the previous year.

The following January he was traded to the Brewers (with pitchers Lew Krausse and Ken Sanders, and catcher Phil Roof) for 1st baseman Don Mincher and infielder Ron Clark. Mike lasted only 1 season in Milwaukee, filling the dubious role of 7th outfielder.

He was released after the 1970 season, and hooked on with the White Sox for 1971. He played more in his final season than he had since 1968, starting 25% of the games in center field behind Jay Johnstone.

Hershberger passed away in 2012 at age 72.

Mack Jones (#625)

I first knew of Mack Jones as the Braves’ center fielder in 1967. That would be his last season with the Braves however. He was traded to the Reds prior to 1968, and moved on to the Expos in 1969. His card is in the 7th series, so he is photographed in the new Montreal duds.

Jones was signed by the Milwaukee Braves in 1958, and played all of 1958-60 in the minors, while also playing parts of 1961-63 with the Braves.

He made his major-league debut in July 1961, starting 19 straight games in center field. He stuck around with Milwaukee until mid-August, when he was returned to the minors.

In 1962 he was the Braves’ starting right fielder for 84 of the first 86 games (moving Hank Aaron over to center field). After another week as the starting center fielder, he was returned to the minors for the remainder of the season.

Mack was the opening-day left fielder in 1963, then spent several weeks on the bench until becoming the starting center fielder for much of May and June. He rode the bench for all of July, then it was back to the minors at the start of August.

Inexplicably, Jones played all of 1964 with the Tigers’ AAA team in Syracuse, NY. While there, he batted .317 with 15 doubles, 18 triples, 39 home runs and 102 RBI. He also set a still-standing Syracuse record with 111 runs scored. His outfield mates that season were future Tigers’ stars Willie Horton and Jim Northrup.

Jones returned to the Braves at the start of the 1965 season, and was their starting center fielder for the next 3 seasons, playing between Aaron and Rico Carty. In 1965 Jones (31 HR) teamed up with Aaron (32), Eddie Mathews (32), Joe Torre (27), Felipe Alou (23), and Gene Oliver (21) to give the Braves six players with 20+ home runs in one season, an NL record.

After the 1967 season, Jones was traded to the Reds (along with pitcher Jay Ritchie and outfielder Jim Beauchamp) for slugging IF-OF Deron Johnson. The Reds had also acquired outfielder Alex Johnson from the Cardinals in the same off-season, and with Alex having his first of 3 consecutive .300+ seasons, plus Pete Rose and Vada Pinson all manning the outfield, Jones never found a spot in his lone season with Cincinnati. He only started 40+ games in the outfield (mostly in early-July and mid-August) and was used mainly as a pinch-hitter that season.

As a veteran spare part, Jones was left unprotected in the expansion draft following the 1968 season, and was the Expos’ 2nd draft pick (behind outfielder Manny Mota). He was Montreal’s starting left-fielder in 120 games – pretty good considering the revolving door most expansion teams are in their first season. He also hit a career-high .270 in 1969.

Jones played for the Expos for another 1 ½ seasons. He was the starting left fielder for 70 games in 1970 (mostly in the first half), and for 24 of the first 65 games in 1971. He played his final game on July 1st and was released a week later.

Jones died of cancer in 2004 at age 65.

Joe Grzenda (#121)

Here is Joe Grzenda’s rookie card. Although he played in 20 games for the Kansas City Athletics in both 1964 and 1966, and a dozen games with the Mets in ’67, Topps didn’t see fit to include him until 1969.

My first recollection of Grzenda was in 1967, when I was at a Phillies/Mets game in Philadelphia. When I looked him up in Retrosheet.org today, I saw that it was on August 15th and was his first game of the season for the Mets. Joe pitched in both ends of a doubleheader that day. (I don’t remember any details of the game – only that I thought “Hey, this guy’s missing some vowels!”)

Grzenda was signed by the Tigers in 1955, and wallowed in their farm system as a starting pitcher for 9 years until he was released in July 1963. His only big-league time with the Bengals was 4 games in early 1961, for a total of 5 innings.

Joe got an invite to the Athletics for spring training 1964, and pitched in their organization for the next 3 ½ years. He played 20 games for Kansas City that summer, and another 21 in late 1966, but spent the balance of his time with their AA and AAA teams. By now he was strictly a reliever, both in the majors and minors.

The Mets purchased his contract on 8/14/67, and the next day he pitched in both ends of a doubleheader in Philly. After the season he was sold to the Twins, but spent the entire 1968 season in the minors.

1969 to 1972 were Joe’s only full seasons in the major leagues. They were also his only years with baseball cards. He pitched in 38 games for the Twins in ’69, as the left-handed short man out of the ‘pen.

He was traded to the Senators the following spring, and pitched in over 40 games in each of his 2 seasons there, the Nats’ final 2 years in Washington. Grzenda pitched the last inning of the last-ever Senators game, on 9/30/1971. After getting 2 outs the fans stormed the field to begin collecting souvenirs, causing the game to be forfeited.

After 1971, Joe didn’t make the move to Texas with the rest of his team – he was traded to the Cardinals for infielder Ted Kubiak, and played his final season with St. Louis.

Grzenda played in the minors in ’73 and ’74 before retiring.