1963 Rookie Stars (#582)

It's been about six weeks since Jim from Downingtown offered me the chance to contribute over here on the '63 Topps blog. But life has a funny way of interfering with plans. Travel, computer issues and other projects combined to throw me further and further behind. But I'm here now and figured I'd make up for lost time with a 4 for 1 post featuring one of the '63 Topps' 'floating heads' rookie cards.

This one features pitchers, and one of these four is not like the others. One of them had an impact on the game both on and off the field. Let's look at the other three first.

Conrad 'Randy' Cardinal was Tiger signee out of Long Island, New York in 1962. An impressive minor league season at the 'D' League level caught the attention of the Houston Colt 45s who drafted him away from Detroit that winter. He made the 45s roster to start the 1963 season but in six appearances (including one start) he took a beating and was sent down in May. He pitched in the Houston system into 1965 before leaving the game.

Don Rowe and Ken Rowe are not related, at least by blood, but they have much in common. Both spent a decade toiling in the minors before getting to pitch in the majors. They debuted within six days of each other in April of '63. They both had exactly 26 major league appearances. And they both became major league pitching coaches.

Ken Rowe signed with the Tigers in 1953, spent three seasons in their chain, and was drafted away by the Dodgers. He pitched seven seasons toiling away in the Dodger's pitching-rich system before making his debut in 1963. That year he split time with the big club and Spokane going 1-1 with a save in 14 games for the Dodgers. He'd been a starter for most of his minor league days but in the majors he was exclusively a bullpen guy. Don't know if he got a ring as part of their championship team but I'll bet he got a partial share of the money.

In 1964 he was back in Spokane and he pitched in 88 games, all in relief. He was purchased by the Orioles late that year and got into a handful of games with them. With the exception of 6 games with the Birds in '65 he finished out his career in the Orioles' minor league system, pitching last in 1968. After his playing days he managed and coached in the minors and was a pitching coach for the Orioles following Ray Miller.

Don Rowe was signed by the Pirates in 1954 after a year of independent ball. He pitched for eight seasons in the minors, mostly in a starting role but he did spend a season or so as a reliever. The Mets drafted him away from the Bucs in 1962 and the following year he made their staff. He appeared in 26 games between Opening Day and mid-July and set a record for the most innings pitched without a decision or a save (54.2). He started one game in April and went five+ innings allowing three runs. The Mets' bullpen lost the game.

Back to the minors he went for the remainder of that season and the next several before he retired. He spent six seasons as pitching coach the White Sox and Brewers. He also did some college coaching.

Dave McNally stands out on this card as being the most accomplished (by far) major leaguer. The Billings, Montana native pitched two years in the Orioles' chain following his 1960 signing and he got a taste of the bigs with a single September start in 1962. He made a splash that day with a complete game shutout of the A's.

He was a sub .500 pitcher for the Orioles for the next two seasons but emerged in 1965 as a contributor, winning 11 games and posting a 2.85 ERA. He was a key member of the young Baltimore rotation that took the Birds to the World Series in 1966. He started Game One of the World Series that year against the Dodgers. Wildness forced an early exit in favor of Moe Drabowsky who went on to win the game. McNally returned to pitch and win the clincher in Game Four and the picture of him about to catch a high-flying Brooks Robinson after the win may be my favorite baseball shot ever.

He was sidelined for part of the '67 season with arm problems but came back to again be an integral part of the Baltimore staff beginning in 1968 and continuing through the 'glory days' of 1971. He won 20 or more games in each of those seasons and 46 more in the three years following that. He had a 7-4 postseason record for the Orioles including one of the best games I've ever seen pitched in person. In Game Two of the 1969 playoffs against the Twins McNally went all the way with 11 shutout innings in the Orioles 1-0 victory.

Traded to the Expos for 1975 McNally made 12 starts and then decided to retire. He had been pitching without a signed contract because he was not satisfied with the Expos terms. He, along with Andy Messersmith, challenged the prevailing baseball reserve clause claiming that they had pitched under their 'option' year and were thus free agents. McNally had no intention of ever pitching again but he wanted there to be more than one player involved in the legal fight he knew would ensue.

The arbiter ruled in the players' favor and the fabric of the game was changed forever. The story is told in more detail in McNally's New York Times obit.

Here's the 1966 clincher defined. I can't help it, I'm an Oriole lifer.

Manny Mota (#141)

Obviously Topps has no idea what the future will bring when they issue a player’s rookie card. Sometimes you end up with the iconic magic of the ’52 Mantle, but most players end up with a tiny head on a multi-player card. In the case of today’s offering, Manny Mota’s rookie card features him full sized, but hatless and pedestrian in his first Topps player card.

The photo is close-up and shows an eager rookie, gazing in the distance with no idea what the future would hold.

The card lists Mota as an outfielder for the Houston Colt 45s on the front of the card and his inlay photo has a bold “45s” written on his hat. Mota, of course, never appeared for Houston. He broke into the big leagues in the middle of season in 1962 for theSan Francisco Giants after he began his 6^th season in their farm system making noise at the plate for El Paso in the AA Texas League. He was batting .349 after 30 games.

Although his average in the minors stayed north of 300 more often than not, he was anything but a lock for the big leagues, especially on a team with a surplus of outfielders who could seriously slug like Mays, McCovey, Kuenn and Felipe and Matty Alou. Those 5 were established 300 hitters in the Majors and even though Mota was a 300 batter in AA – he didn’t have the upside that typically fast tracked prospects to the big club.

Honestly after 5 full seasons in the minors, even though his average stayed about 300, there wasn’t anything eye-popping about Mota as a prospect on a powerhouse team like the Giants. He could hit the ball, but he had no power. He was versatile in the field, but didn’t have much of an arm or speed and even though he could get on base – he wasn’t a base stealer.

He did earn himself a 47 game cup of coffee in San Francisco on a team that won 100 games and the National League Pennant. Not a bad team for your first big league experience… Still, Mota didn’t do much to help the Giants getting there. He managed just 14 hits in 74 at bats (.176) – nearly all singles (1 double). He might have been a big leaguer, but he wasn’t ready to take a spot on the NL’s top squad. Subsequently they would trade him – to the 45s and his appearance on this slab of cardboard.

The back of the card mentions that the Colts “feel they’ve got a real prize package in Manny” – that was probably true, but he would never play a game for them. He would be dealt to Pittsburgh in April of ’63 and the rest is history.

Manny Mota would play for 20 seasons in the Majors plus another decade as hitting coach for the Dodgers where he added to his collection of Pennants. He would maintain a reputation as one of the great clutch hitters of his generation. He never became a power hitter or a base stealer, just a singles hitter, but his late inning singles won many games and kept him employed and treasured by his teams and their fans.

This ’63 offering is Mota’s rookie card and he would appear regularly in every Topps issue for 18 years, making his final appearance in 1980.

Mota retired with a .307 batting average and at the time of his retirement he held the record for the most pinch hits of all time and was regarded as the best ever in that role. It is ironic that it all began with this card that mentions Manny could play 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd base and his cartoon says “have glove, will travel”.

Mota never played 1^st in the big leagues and only had 1 start at second. Looking back it might have read “have bat, will hit game changing singles”.

I could go on (and on and on) about Mota’s lengthy career in baseball – his records and accomplishments, but in 1963 he was just a guy fighting for a spot on a roster.

Thanks for reading my first post here! Feedback is welcomed. Go Vintage! Go Rays! Troll out.

Bill Virdon (#55)

Wow! I'm back here already, less than 2 months since my last post. Actually, I checked in to say that this 1963 Topps blog is now a team blog, and Collective Troll has joined the staff. I look forward to his contributions to this blog, while I focus on my 1966-69 Topps blogs.


Bill Virdon was the long-time center fielder for the Pirates from 1957-1965. After retiring, he became a Pirates' coach, but was pressed into active duty for 6 games in late-July 1968.

Virdon was signed by the Yankees in 1950, and played 4 seasons in their organization. In April 1954, he was traded to the Cardinals for veteran outfielder Enos Slaughter. After another year in the minors, Virdon won the 1955 Rookie of the Year award as the Cardinals' everyday center fielder.

After starting 22 of the first 24 games in center for the Cardinals in 1956, Bill was traded to the Pirates for outfielder Bobby Del Greco and pitcher Dick Littlefield.

Virdon started 126 of the final 132 games in center for the Bucs in '56, and except for missing the month of May 1960, he manned that post for the rest of his career. In his final season (1965), he and Manny Mota split the center field starting assignments 70/30. Bill hit .241 with 5 RBI in the 1960 World Series, and in 1962 he led the NL with 10 triples, and won his only Gold Glove award.

After his release by the Pirates following the 1965 season, Virdon managed the Mets' AA ('66) and AAA ('67) teams, then hooked on as a coach for the Pirates in 1968, under new manager Larry Shepard.

Bill managed the Pirates ( in 1972-73) and Yankees  in 1974-75). When the Yankees fired him after 104 games in 1975, he was soon hired by the Astros, finishing out the '75 season and staying on until midway through the 1982 season. He also managed the Expos for all of 1983 and most of 1984.

Diego Segui (#157)

I don't usually post cards of players whose card I've posted elsewhere, but these pre-green-and-gold Athletics' uniforms look so unusual. This looks like a 1950s' photo.

Segui was signed by the Reds prior to the 1958 season (hey, maybe this photo is an airbrushed Cinn... nah!).  After the Reds released him in late April that season, he pitched most of the year for Tucson in the Arizona-Mexico League.

In September '58 the Athletics signed him, and he debuted with Kansas City in April 1962.  Diego pitched for the A's from 1962-68, although he spent a good bit of 1966 in the minors.

After the 1968 season, Segui was drafted by the expansion Seattle Pilots, and spent the entire '69 season with Seattle. He was also purchased by the expansion Seattle Mariners prior to the 1977 season, and spent that season in the Emerald City as well, his last before retiring.

In-between his 2 terms in Seattle, he returned to Oakland for 2 1/2 seasons, St. Louis for 1 1/2 years, and in 1975 played with the Red Sox. He also played the 1976 season with the Padres' AAA team in Hawaii.

Although from Cuba, he was inducted into the Venezuelen Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003. His son David played for several teams in the 1990s.

Final Card: Frank Torre

Here's the final card for Joe Torre's big brother Frank (#161). Both Frank and Joe (wait, is this a Hardy Boys book or a baseball card blog?) started out with the Milwaukee Braves, but never played together.

Although they were both on the 1960 Braves' team, Frank had been sent down to the minors in late June, months before Joe's September call-up. (They played on different teams in the Braves' farm system in 1960 and 1961.)

Frank Torre was signed by the Boston Braves in 1951. After one season in class-A ball, he spent the '52-'53 seasons in military service. After 2 more seasons in the high minors, Torre made his major-league debut with Milwaukee in April 1956.

After a year as the backup to veteran Joe Adcock, Frank was the primary 1st-sacker during the Braves' two World Series years (1957-58), with Adcock riding shotgun. Their roles were reversed in 1959, with Torre only starting 63 games, to Adcock's 85.

In 1960, Adcock completely took over the 1st base post. After only 21 games (10 starts), Torre was sent down to the minors in late-June, where he would remain until the Phillies acquired him prior to the 1962 season.

The Phillies used Frank primarily as a pinch-hitter and late-inning defensive replacement at 1st base in 1962 and 1963. He started 35 games in '62, but only 21 games in '63, as 3B-CF Don Demeter became 3B-1B-CF Demeter in 1963.

Torre retired after the 1963 season.