Final Card: Carroll Sembera

Carroll Sembera pitched for the Astros and Expos from 1965 to 1970. This is his final Topps card (#351). 

Sembera was signed by the Houston Colt .45s in 1961, and played 4 seasons (1962-65) in their farm system before making his major-league debut with 2 games in September 1965. He was mostly a starting pitcher for those 4 seasons.

 

He split the 1966 season between the Astros and their AAA club in Oklahoma City, but was only used in relief by both teams. 

 

Carroll was with the Astros for all of 1967, making 45 relief appearances (2nd on the team behind Dan Schneider). 

 

In 1968 the Astros completely revamped their bullpen, replacing 1967 members Schneider, Barry Latman, Sembera, Dave Eilers, and Larry Sherry with John Buzhardt, Danny Coombs, and rookies Jim Ray, Tom Dukes, and Steve Shea. As such, Sembera toiled in triple-A all season, starting about two-thirds of his games. 

 

After the season he was selected by the Expos in the Rule 5 draft (not the expansion draft). He began the season with Montreal, but by early-June was demoted to the minors, where he remained until his September recall. 

 

In 1970, once again he started the year with the Expos, but after his first outing his ERA was 81.00. He pitched in 4 more games, but this time didn’t make it to May. 

 

After 2 games with triple-A Winnipeg, he was traded to the Cardinals for pitcher Bill Dillman. The Cards kept him in triple-A for the rest of 1970 and all of 1971, before trading him to the Reds. 

 

He finished his career with the Reds’ AAA team in 1972. 

 

Carroll was a scout for the Mariners for eleven years after his playing career. 

 

Sembera passed away in 2005 at age 63. 

 

Final Card: Jose Herrera

This is the only card for Expos' outfielder Jose Herrera (#378). He had a very brief career (essentially just a few dozen games in '68 and '69). If I wasn’t on a mission to feature all the "final cards" in the 1969 set I probably would have passed over him.

Herrera was signed by the Houston Colt .45s in 1964. After 5 seasons in the minors (he did play 5 games in 1967 and 27 games in Aug/Sept 1968 for the Astros), the Expos selected him in the expansion draft.

Jose did not make the fledgling Expos' squad at the start of the 1969 season, but did play 47 games with them over the 2nd half of the season. This included 30 starts in the outfield and some pinch-hitting appearances.

1970 was a bust for him. He got one at-bat on Opening Day, then spent the rest of the season in the minors. In mid-June he was traded to the Brewers for pitcher John O'Donoghue.

In May 1971 Milwaukee shipped him out to the Tigers (with pitcher John Gelnar) for pitcher Jim Hannan. Herrera finished out the '71 season with the Tigers' AAA Toledo Mud Hens.

He wrapped up his career playing in Mexico from 1972-75.

Although he only had one Topps card, I found this custom card today on Pinterest:

John Boccabella (#466)

John Boccabella played 12 seasons in the big leagues (1963-74). Most of his playing time (376 games) game with the Expos from 1969-73. Earlier, he played 146 games for the Cubs from 1963-68 (with most of that coming in 1966). He finished up his career in 1974 with the Giants.

John was signed by the Cubs in 1963, but played mostly in their farm system from 1963-68. When in the minors, he mostly played 1st base.

1966 was the only season that he spent entirely with the Cubs, and saw action in 75 games. That was also the first year he spent some time behind the plate, both with the Cubs and in the Arizona Fall Instructional League.

He was briefly claimed by the Yankees in the 67/68 off-season, but was returned to the Cubs the following April.

Check out John’s 1968 stats. He played 73 games for the Cubs’ AAA team while only playing 7 games (with 14 at-bats) for the Cubs. Cup of coffee, right? No! He was the Cubs’ #2 catcher that season! How is that possible? Well, Randy Hundley started 156 games that year, collecting 606 plate appearances. Boccabella started 4 games and played 28 innings, while 4 other backstops (Randy Bobb, Gene Oliver, John Felske, and Bill Plummer) split the remaining 40 innings. With all that leisure time in 1968, it’s amazing he even has a card in the 1969 set.

John was selected by the Expos in the October 1968 expansion draft, but so were veteran Astros’ catchers John Bateman and Ron Brand, so Boccabella didn’t really get a fresh start in his new location. Still, John managed to stay out of the minor leagues now that he was with the Expos. He was also a favorite of the PA announcer, who got to say “John Boc-a-BELLLLLLLLLLL-a” many times.

He was the #3 catcher in 1969, then was #2 behind Bateman for the ’70 and ’71 seasons.

Boccabella was the team’s starting catcher for the first 2 months of 1972, then rookie Terry Humphrey took over for 2 months. Tim McCarver (acquired in mid-season from the Phillies for Bateman) handled most of the catching over the final 2 months.

Surprisingly (to me anyway), John was the team’s #1 catcher during the 1973 season, starting 106 games. Humphrey got the odd start during the first half, until he was sent down in mid-season. John was out of the lineup for most of September, but finished up with 10 consecutive starts to close the season.

The Expos’ first-round draft choice Barry Foote was going to be the “catcher of the future”, so Boccabella was dealt to the Giants in April 1974, where he finished his career as a seldom-used backup.


The three "B"s of the 1969 Expos' catching corps:

First Look - Montreal Expos

Here's the second in a 5-part series where we get the first look at a new team's uniforms.

Four teams were added in the 1969 expansion, and although the players for these teams appeared capless or airbrushed in the early series, by mid-summer we started to see players in their new uniforms.

Today - the Montreal Expos

This is a weird distribution of positions in the late-series cards:
2 catchers and 3 outfielders, but no infielders.

But how cool is that Ron Brand card?!?

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.

Ron Brand (#549)

Here is Montreal Expos’ catcher Ron Brand, shown in a late-series card in his brand new Expos uniform. Not only that, but we have an “in-action” shot (rare for 1960s’ cards) that includes his full catching gear. Now THIS is a card!

Brand split the catching duties for the upstart Expos with John Bateman, just like he did for the past few years with the Astros.

Brand was signed by the Pirates in 1958, and labored in the minors for 7 seasons, although he also saw action in 46 games with the Bucs for part of 1964. He mostly played 2B and SS for his first 3 seasons in the minors, then began catching in 1961 (while still playing infield).

After the 1964 season, the Astros selected him in the Rule 5 draft, and he played the next 3 full seasons with the Astros, getting significant playing time in 1965, but was clearly Bateman’s backup in ’66 and ’67.

In 1968, he dropped to 3rd-string behind Bateman and Dave Adlesh, and spent part of the season in triple-A.

1969 brought a change of scenery for him, but unfortunately, Bateman followed him to Montreal. Although Brand caught more games in 1969 than Bateman or the 3rd “B” in the catching corps (John Boccabella), Ron was glued to the Expos’ bench for all of 1970 and 1971, and when he did play, it was usually as the backup shortstop.

He played for the Expos’ AAA team during 1972, then managed class-A teams in the minors from 1974-1976 for 3 different teams (Pirates, Dodgers, Reds). He also played 31 games in 1975 for the Dodgers’ class-A team in Bakersfield.

Also check out Brand's 1968 card.

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Does anyone remember “The King Family Show” from the mid-1960s? About 3 dozen members of this family had a musical variety show on TV for a year or so. The older ladies comprised “The King Sisters”, a popular quartet during the big-band era in the 1940s and 1950s.

Some segments of the show featured them, while other segments featured the teen cousins (pictured below) singing the top pop hits of the day while wearing matching white sweaters with their names (like in the Mickey Mouse Club). There were also segments featuring the smaller children, and the entire family.

Why do I bring this up? Ron Brand is married to the King cousin named Candy (4th from the left below).

The most well-known cousin was Tina Cole (far right). She was on the "My Three Sons" TV show for several years as one of the sons’ wife. Tina, Candy, and 2 of the other girls have toured in recent decades as “The King Cousins”, following in their mothers’ footsteps.

Other King Family trivia:  Liza (tallest one above) is the mother of Arcade Fire musicians Win and Will Butler. The more you know...

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.