Rookie Parade

In the past few weeks, I posted all the 1967 and 1968 rookie stars cards. Today we have all the 1969 rookie stars cards. 

Comparison of the 3 sets: 

 

1967 set 

Total cards - 43 

Teams with 3 cards - 5 

Teams with 2 cards - 9 

Teams with 1 card - 6 

Mixed teams - 4 cards 

 

1968 set 

Total cards - 30 

Teams with 3 cards - Orioles 

Teams with 2 cards - 6 

Teams with 1 card - 12 

Teams with 0 cards - Giants 

Mixed teams - 3 cards 

 

1969 set 

Total cards - 52 

Teams with 4 cards - Padres, Royals 

Teams with 3 cards - 6 

Teams with 2 cards - 7 

Teams with 1 card - 8 

Teams with 0 cards - Senators 

Mixed teams - 4 cards 

 

As with the Giants in the 1968 set, there is no rookie stars card for the Senators here. The Senators had no major prospects, but Topps couldn't slap 2 schmoes on a Senators card, like they did here for the Angels and Athletics? 

 

 

Two teams had a whopping FOUR rookie stars cards. 

Of course they are expansion teams, whose rosters were filled with youngsters looking for a shot at the big leagues.

Bill Davis is back for the fifth of his FIVE rookie stars cards, this time not with the Indians. 

 

 

Six teams had three rookie stars cards:

Not much to talk about here. Carl Morton's breakout year was 1970. 

 

Probably the best rookie stars card in the 1969 set is the Richie Hebner/Al Oliver card. It's the only one where both players became stars. The Phillies' Larry Hisle and Don Money both became regulars. Sure, the Phillies were a bad team filled with holes, but Hisle and Money were both selected to the Topps All-Rookie team at the end of the season. 

 

Carlos May was the most successful of these 14 players. 

 

 

Seven teams had two cards: 

 

After trading Joe Torre, the Braves carried two rookie catchers in 1969. Bob Didier ended up as the starter. As a kid, I thought that 2nd Cubs card looked strange. One guy has no ears, while the other two have ears to spare. 

What, no George Korince? Topps finally stopped putting Korince on Tigers Rookies cards, ending the possibility of another Bill Davis-type run. Still, Korince appeared on TWO rookie cards in one year, something Davis didn't achieve. 

Graig Nettles is the best of this bunch. With a name like MITTerwald, you just knew he had to be a catcher. 

 

 

Eight teams had just one rookie stars card:

After several seasons having three rookie cards, the Orioles had just one in the 1969 set. I guess their top-notch roster had no room for any more rookies. This is Lou Piniella's 4th rookie stars card (each with a different team). He was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1969, so this would be his last rookies card. 

 

 

No Senators rookie card? Topps was just lazy here. After some of the players found on these cards over the years, Topps can't use "lack of prospects" as an excuse. 

 

 

Finally, the "miscellaneous rookies from multiple teams" cards.

My contention has always been that Topps decided on the players for these high-numbered cards after the current season had already started. Hard to believe Rollie Fingers was an afterthought. 

And why John Miller? Isn't a player automatically not a "star" when his stated position is "INF-OF"?

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.

AL / NL Rookie Stars (#598, 624, 641, 658)

In the 2nd-half of the 1960s, Topps set aside a few Rookie Stars cards in the high-numbered 7th Series where players from different teams were shown on the same card. There were either "AL Rookies", "NL Rookies", or "Major-League Rookies" (if they couldn't find 2 players from the same league).

It has always been my contention (although not having definite information) that these were ad hoc cards, where the subjects were not firmed up until the season already began. Then Topps would see which productive rookies they overlooked in their already-formatted Series 1 to 6. (How else to explain Norm Gigon's inclusion in the 1967 set, while players like Gary Nolan and Don Wilson were nowhere to be found?)

By far, the jewel in this dozen is Rollie Fingers. Pitched in 944 games over 17 seasons, Cy Young and MVP winner, and Hall of Famer.

Bob Floyd?  Played parts of 7 seasons as a backup with the Orioles and Royals.  Even less for Larry Burchart - 29 games with the Indians in 1969, then he was done.

After Fingers, Tom Hall is the only other player here with a decent career.  10 seasons with the Twins/Reds/Mets/Royals.  Most of his 358 games were in relief.

Bill Burbach pitched for the Yankees in 1969 and parts of the next 2 seasons.  I sure hope he wasn't touted as "The Next Whitey Ford". Jim Miles pitched 13 games over parts of 2 seasons with the Senators.

In 1970, the Reds had to decide if Darrel Chaney or Dave Concepcion was going to be their shortstop.  They made the right choice. Chaney was a backup for 7 years in Cincinnati and 4 in Atlanta.

Duffy Dyer's extremely big head reminds me of those costumed marchers in the Mardi Gras parade.  (Or those fools providing between-inning entertainment at Milwaukee Brewers' games.)

Terry Harmon was the Phillies' utility infielder from 1969-77. Harmon is one of only 3 Phillies (with Mike Schmidt and Larry Christensen) to play at least 10 years and only for the Phillies.

Looks like this was almost a "Dodgers Rookies" card! Bobby Darwin was a minor-league pitcher for the Angels, Orioles, and Dodgers from 1962-69. He was converted to an outfielder in 1971 and played for the Twins, Brewers, and Red Sox from 1972-77.

John Miller played 6 games for the Yankees in September 1966, and 23 games for the Dodgers in 1969 (mostly as a pinch-hitter).

Tommy Dean played 12 games for the Dodgers in September 1967, then resurfaced in 1969 as the Padres' shortstop.  He played 2 more seasons as a backup with San Diego.

The Astros are Back

After a season and a half of ugly Astros Houston cards, the Astros cap logo re-appears in the later 1969 series cards.

For continuity, Topps still used the team name "Houston", but no longer felt the need to use capless photos or butcher the photos with ridiculous airbrushing techniques (such as the "let's not even try" method of completely blacking out the cap).

Most of these players are featured in their road uniforms, which complied neatly with the edict, while only Larry Dierker is shown in his (somewhat obscured) home uniform.

Phillies Rookies: Larry Hisle / Barry Lersch

Here (#206) is one of three Phillies Rookies cards (1 of 3 1/3, if you count the NL Rookies card featuring Terry Harmon) in the 1969 set.

This is the "Barry Lersch" entry in my cross-blog series of Phillies players from 1966-69. (I was going to post his 1970 card on that blog, but I just realized that he doesn't HAVE a 1970 card.)


Larry Hisle appeared on an NL Rookies card in the '68 set, so this is not his rookie card. Hisle was handed the center field job in spring training 1968, but flopped before mid-April. He returned to the minors for the oft-described "seasoning", then had a great rookie season in 1969. He was the team's regular center fielder and a Topps all-rookie choice. More on Hisle here.

Barry Lersch was signed by the Phillies in 1964, and was a starting pitcher in their farm system from 1965-1968. He began the 1969 season with the Phillies, but after 10 relief appearances, he was sent down at the end of May.

Barry returned to the Phils in 1970, and worked out of the bullpen for 31 games, until he joined the starting rotation in early August. He made 11 starts for the remainder of the season, finishing with a 6-3 record with a 3.26 ERA.

Although he was the team's #2 starter in 1971, he compiled a 5-14 record, which was typical for all Phillies' pitchers not named Rick Wise. After 2 more seasons with the Phillies (including a demotion to the bullpen), Lersch was traded to the Braves in December 1973 along with shortstop Craig Robinson for pitcher Ron Schueler (advantage: Phillies).

After spending most of the '74 season pitching for the Braves' AAA team, he was sold to the Cardinals in mid-September. There, he pitched his last major-league game, a 1-inning stint with a 40.50 ERA. Lersch pitched for Cleveland's AAA team in 1975 before retiring.

Barry passed away on 10/4/2009 at age 65. His body was donated to medical science.