#112 Jack Harshman

Jack Harshman  Cleveland Indians

Career: He began his pro career in the Giants organization as an infielder before transitioning to pitching in the early 50s. He had some solid, double-digit win seasons thru the middle of the decade for the White Sox and Orioles. He retained his hitting ability and served as a pinch hitter frequently. He pitched well enough in 1958 in Baltimore to garner some MVP votes.

In 1960: This was his final big league season in a career that was taking a sudden nosedive. He had some decent numbers despite only pitching in 15 games, eight of them being starts. But he wasn't nearly as effective as he had been in the second half of 1959 (after coming to Cleveland in a July trade from Boston) and was released after the season.

Off The Charts: From his SABR bio...

For many years, before the advent of the homer-driven careers of Dave Kingman and Mark McGwire, Harshman held an obscure major league record--of his 76 career hits, his 21 home runs were the highest ratio (27.6 percent) of home runs to hits for any batter with more than 400 plate appearances.

The Card: Lots of Cleveland players had their Topps pics taken right there in that same spot in Municipal Stadium. And I think he sort of resembles that Indians' logo. Well, a little.

He had cards as an Oriole in Topps' 1958 and 1959 set. Here he is on a Jay Publishing Photo Pack pic.

#44 Bobby Locke

Bobby Locke   Cleveland Indians

Career: Over the course of nearly a decade Locke pitched for five clubs but the majority of his career came with the Indians from 1959 to 1961. He was a spot starter with Cleveland and strictly a reliever everywhere else. He amassed a 16-15 record with an ERA of about 4.00 for his career.

In 1960: This was his busiest year as he made 11 starts and pitched 123 innings with a respectable 3.37 ERA and a couple of saves.

Off The Charts: Here's an interview that Locke's grandsons did with him last fall:

The Card: This is Locke's rookie card, at least as far as mainstream sets go. That's Municipal Stadium behind him. I have a small Locke collection that was inspired by pulling a nice signed '68 from a Heritage pack a couple of years ago. I posted that PC on my 5 Tool Collector blog.

#256 Dick Brown

Dick Brown  Chicago White Sox

Career: Dick Brown signed with the Cleveland Indians and in 1953 began a climb thru their system that saw him debut in the bigs in 1957. He gained playing time as his career moved him to the White Sox and he was the Tigers starter in 1961 and 1962. He was dealt to the Orioles and again worked his way into what was to be a starting job in 1966 when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Another tumor was found soon after and his career as a player was over. He scouted for the Orioles for several years until his death in 1970. He was only 35 years old.

In 1960: Prior to the 1960 season he was traded by the Indians with Don Ferrarese, Minnie Minoso and Jake Striker to the Chicago White Sox for Norm Cash, Bubba Phillips and John Romano. He spent quite a bit of the season in the minors (curiously he was playing for an Orioles affiliate) but manged to get 43 at bats for the Sox, He hit only .163 in what was his worst season as a major league catcher. He was traded to the Tigers after the season by way of an initial trade to the Braves.

WikiFacts: Brown was a high school catcher for Herb Score and was dating Score's sister Helen when Score signed with the Indians. Brown was planning on going to dental school, but Helen told the Indians they should sign Score's catcher also. The Indians needed catchers in their minor league system, so they did in 1953. -Baseball Reference Bullpen

The Card: I'm gonna take a guess here and say it's Municipal Stadium in this one. He gets the small write-up rather than a season highlights listing. That's always a letdown. It's one of many capless player poses. At least there's a reason for this one...he was traded in the off season.

#159 Jim Piersall

Jim Piersall  Cleveland Indians

Career: Piersall was a multi-talented player whose eccentricities overshadowed his ball skills. He played for 17 seasons, all but 40 games in the American League with the Red Sox, Senators, Angels and Indians. He was one third of a talented Red Sox outfield in the 50's playing between Ted Williams and Jackie Jensen. For his career he had a .272 average with some power and speed. He several times ranked among the best defensive outfielders when you look at the advanced stats. He won a couple of Gold Gloves and was twice an All Star.

In 1960: His home run total (18) and RBI total (66) were both the second best of his career. He hit .282 and stole 18 bases which was his best in each category.

WikiFacts: "Jimmy Piersall was a gifted, high-visibility player who had a long career in the major leagues; a minor star who intrigued and enchanted both fans baseball people with his natural, all-around athleticism, and sometimes erratic behavior. He was good hitter and excellent fielder with a strong arm and above-average speed; he was one of the few American athletes whose battle with mental health issues was well documented in the 1950s. With that, he eventually figured out that those past issues would allow him the freedom to sometimes act eccentric and zany -- which further endeared him to fans." -Piersall's BR Bullpen bio

"Fear Strikes Out is the title of the autobiography of major league outfielder Jim Piersall, written in collaboration with Al Hirshberg and originally published in 1955. The book broke taboos by openly speaking of Piersall's bout with mental illness and depression and became a best-seller. A film of the book was released in 1957 and stars Anthony Perkins and Karl Malden." -Wikipedia

"Tony Perkins is one of the worst actors in the history of American film." -Me

The Card: This off-center copy suits me just fine. Nice color combo, Piersall is wearing his cap (too many capless guys in this set) and he's at Yankee Municipal Stadium. The dark gray cardboard detracts from the back though. It makes the make pretty hard to read. Too bad Topps couldn't have used the cream color backs through the entire set. But that wouldn't have been very Topps-like. Inconsistency is their most consistent attribute in this era's offerings.