#122 Don Dillard Sport Rookie Star

Don Dillard  Cleveland Indians

Career: Dillard spent all or part of six seasons in the bigs with the Indians and Braves. He was primarily a pinch hitter and extra outfielder. A career .244 hitter, be book-ended those major league seasons with quite a bit of minor league experience.

In 1960: He played very sparingly (seven at-bats) through mid-May before the Indians sent him back to AAA Toronto where he hit .294 in over 130 games.

Off The Charts: In 1961 he hit his first homer off Early Wynn. That's a feat he considers a career highlight. It was a bottom-of-the-ninth shot that tied the game against the White Sox. The Sox won it in the tenth.

As late as 2005 Dillard was running a marina in his native South Carolina and holding youth baseball camps with former Negro League player Rosel Williams.

Dillard was highly regarded enough that Topps gave him three 'rookie' cards. His first came in 1959 and featured the same photo they used in 1960.

In 1961 he had this sweet card:

As a Brave, he got one final card. The 1963 Dillard has a background that looks a lot like the '61. You can spot the same fans in the crowd.

#1 Early Wynn

Early Wynn, Chicago White Sox

Career: A Hall of Famer, Early Wynn won exactly 300 games over the course of 23 seasons. He pitched his entire career in the AL, hurling for the Nats, Indians and White Sox. He made a return engagement with Cleveland in 1963 and won that elusive #300 in Kansas City in June in a game in which he struggled to make five innings. That was the next-to-last start of his career.

In 1960: He was coming off his 22 win, Cy Young Award season. He went 13-12 with numbers that indicated his time as an ace was coming to a close. He was an All-Star for the seventh (and final) time and pitched two hitless innings in the second of two ASGs played that year.

WikiFact: He earned that '59 Cy Young at the age of 39 which is not the record for the oldest winner. Gaylord Perry (age 40) and Roger Clemens (age 42) were both older when they won. Wynn's award came during the time when one Cy Young was given out instead of one in each league.

The Card: Sometimes I'll have a comment on the card, sometimes I may post a card of the player that I have in my collection that I really like. For example, this beauty from the '53 Bowman Color set. Great card from a terrific set.

But I also should mention that I enjoy the fact that Wynn's Game One shutout of the Dodgers in the 1959 World Series is included in the Season's Highlights block.