#261 Pete Burnside

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Pete Burnside  Detroit Tigers

Career: Burnside was a high school phenom who wowed the scouts with a blazing fastball. His control, however, was another matter. He never quite got a handle on where his ball was going. And too frequently it went over the fence.

He'd signed with the Giants in 1949 but his road to the majors was a bumpy one. His results never matched his talent and he suffered a few injuries and got detoured by Uncle Sam. He finally stuck with the Giants in 1957 but two rough years later he was traded to the Tigers.

Burnside still had that tantalizing arm strength but his results never matched it. He pitched for the Senators, Orioles, and in Japan for a few seasons without ever having much success.

In 1960: After a season in the Tigers pen, he was given a shot at starting. He started 15 of his 30 games and went 7-7. That win total was the best of his career. His other numbers were pretty lackluster and the Tigers let him go in the expansion draft.

Off The Charts: Coming out of New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois Burnside was sought after by the Cubs, his favorite team. But Burnside wanted to attend Dartmouth College and the Cubs didn't sign him. He was offered (and accepted) a deal by the Giants that allowed him to attend school and report to the team when his spring semester ended. In 1952 he graduated with a double-major in history and sociology.

During his time in the service, pitching for the Fort Leonard Wood (Missouri) Hilltoppers in October 1953, he gained national attention by striking out the first 17 batters in an inter-service game.

After his two seasons in Japan ended he returned to Illinois, got his Masters at Northwestern, and began his second career as a teacher and coach at New Trier. He retired from there in the early 90s. 

#259 George Altman

George Altman  Chicago Cubs

Career: George Altman is another two-sport college star who found his way to major league success. He attended Tennessee State (then Tennessee A&I) to play basketball and did so for four seasons. Tenn A&I didn't begin their baseball program until Altman's junior year but he signed up and excelled. Altman reports (in this really nice interview) that the school played a very limited baseball schedule but it did include games against Army base teams and Negro League clubs.

He gravitated to baseball over hoops (he wasn't drafted by the NBA) and when he graduated he was recruited to join the Kansas City Monarchs where he spent the summer playing for Buck O'Neil's club. He played for the Monarchs in the summer of 1955 and drew interest from the Cubs. They signed him and he began a climb to the majors that took him through two minor league seasons wrapped around two with the US Army.

Altman made the Cubs team in 1959 and nailed down a starting outfield slot. His numbers over his first couple of seasons were hampered by nagging illnesses and injuries. He found his footing and had his most productive years in 1961 and '62. He was an All-Star both years. That was no small feat considering the NL outfield talent at the time and the fact that with Ernie Banks on the club so there wasn't any 'every team has to be represented' bias in his selection. He hit over .300 both years and contributed with speed and plenty of extra-base hits.

Rather surprisingly he was traded to the Cardinals for the '63 season. The Cards had wanted him to take advantage of the short rightfield fence in old Busch Stadium. His season was disappointing and he was then traded again, this time to the Mets. The year, 1964, was his last as a starter in the majors. He was dealt back to the Cubs where he platooned for a few years and spent most of 1967 in the minors.

He has a very successful career playing in Japan that ended with a bout with colon cancer in 1975 (he beat it). He then returned to Chicago and began a second career as a commodities broker. Altman has maintained his health and was the keynote speaker at SABR's 19th annual Jerry Malloy Negro Leagues Conference in 2016. He and his wife are active in charitable and youth-oriented programs in the Chicago area.

In 1960:  He didn't quite get into as many games as he had in his rookie season of 1959. This was due in large measure to the Cubs adding Richie Ashburn to the outfield mix. Altman started games at all three OF spots and some at first as well. His numbers across the board were better this year than the previous one. He hit .266 with 13 homers and drove in 51 runs. But he was still a season away from his All-Star days.

Off The Charts: Wikipedia sums up his career in Japan this way:

He was a spare outfielder in both 1965 and 1966, and then, in 1967, he spent part of the year at Triple-A, where at age 34 he played regularly and regained his batting stroke. It served him well the following season, when he began his career in Japanese baseball. He played from 1968 through 1975 for the Lotte Orions and the Hanshin Tigers, and enjoyed seasons of 39, 34 and 30 homers—and four more years with 20 or more blasts—and batted over .300 six times. Highlights from his NPB career included leading the Pacific League in hits (170), runs (84), and RBI (100) in 1968; and being named to the "Best Nine" Pacific League team in 1968, 1970, and 1971. He credited martial arts training for baseball success in Japan.

Altman is a pretty remarkable guy. Interesting and outspoken in many areas. His SABR bio is recommended as the interview linked above. Warning...if you are an Ernie Banks fan you may want to skip that linked interview. Just sayin'

Here is Altman at the Malloy SABR Conference in '16 and a shot from his days in Japan:

The Card: I like seeing some of Wrigley behind him. You usually get pics with the walls or scoreboard in the background but here you see a piece of the cage and the stands to the third base side of home plate. When we visited there in 2013 that's where we sat.

And his pose is more interesting than the standard headshot. This exact color combo is used on four Cubs' cards. The Cubs have eleven different combos across the set which is the most of any team. The most frequent combo for them is nearly the same but with white letters for the team and position. That one is used on seven cards and that total is the lowest 'most frequent combo' of any of the 16 clubs. Now you know.

#102 Kent Hadley

Kent Hadley  New York Yankees

Career: Hadley was originally signed by the Tigers and was dealt to Kansas City in 1957. In 1959 he was the Athletics primary first baseman and hit .253 with 11 homers. He was then traded to the Yankees in the deal that brought Roger Maris to the Bronx. Hadley spent a season in NY, a year in the White Sox chain and then headed to Japan to continue his career.

He played for six seasons for the Nankai Hawks and was a well respected player, the first American to be voted into a Japanese League All Star Game.
 
In 1960: He spent all but the final month of the season with the Yanks and played in 55 games, mostly as a pinch hitter and late-inning replacement at first base. He hit .203 with 4 homers. He was sent to the minors late in August when Casey Stengel decided he wanted a veteran bat off the bench (Dale Long of the Giants) and was not with the club for the Series that season.

Off The Charts: Wikipedia sez...Hadley became the first foreigner to homer in his first at-bat in Japan. For the Nankai Hawks, Kent went deep off of Junichi Nakajima on May 1, 1962, in Heiwadai Stadium.

The Card: He's pitched as an Athletic since Topps didn't have time to scrub his logos. They did add the traded line to his highlights and there's that terrific cartoon

#94 Leo Kiely

Leo Kiely, Boston Red Sox

Career: Kiely went 7-7 in his rookie year of 1951 and then had his career interrupted by a stint in the military. He pitched in Japan in 1953 and later returned stateside to resume his major league career. After 1954 he bacame a full time reliever and was third in the AL in saves in 1958 with 12. His most successful year came while pitching in the PCL in 1957. That year he won 21 games, 20 of them out of the bullpen.

In 1960: Kiely was actually a member of the Kansas City Athletics in 1960 having been dealt twice over the winter. The BoSox sent him to the Indians in January and he was traded again, to the A's this time, just before Opening Day.

In KC he made 20 appearances up through June 20th. All were in relief and most were very good. He allowed only 4 earned runs in 21 innings. After his third blown save he disappeared from the majors. He was suffering from a sore elbow and had surgery to remove bone chips but never pitched again.

WikiFacts: From his SABR bio: Frank Sullivan, a keen observer of his surroundings, described Kiely’s penchant for beer: “He was one of the all-time beer drinkers. Never loud, never out of hand, he could sit quietly and drink you into oblivion. I continually marveled at the way he would pour each bottle of beer slowly and deliberately into a small glass and savor each sip as if it were the first of the day. I believe he was made up of 98% liquid. After five warm-up pitches he would literally be dripping sweat from the bill of his cap. His personality was as even-keeled as anyone I had ever met; he had absolutely no enemies. I counted him as one of my best pals on the team. Leo was one of the sweetest guys I ever met. There wasn't a bad bone in his skinny body."

The Card: My copy is a bit faded with soft corners and it's miscut. In other words..it's perfect for my needs. That's Yankee Stadium and I've seen enough of that usher in the stands over Kiely's shoulder  on other cards in the '59 and '60 sets to think of him as a family friend.