#274 Tom Acker

 

Tom Acker  Kansas City Athletics

Career: Acker is another pitcher who took a long road to the bigs. He first signed with the Giants in 1948, spent two years in the employ of Uncle Sam, was dealt to the Reds and debuted with them in 1956.

Over four full seasons he went 19-13 with a 4.13 ERA, mostly as a reliever. He had some spot starts most seasons with the Reds. As the card notes he had his best season in 1957 when he won 10 games.

In 1960: Acker had been dealt to the Athletics the previous winter but be was done with the majors. He ended up pitching in a few games for the Yankees' AAA club in Richmond. He was hit hard by the look of his numbers and was out of baseball soon after.

Off The Charts: Not much info on Ackers. I did discover that his nickname was 'Shoulders'. That's more than I found when I was researching him for his 1959 card.

The Card: Whatever that blue blob is that snuck onto Acker's left shoulder is seen on every copy. Some sort of printing flaw.

#273 Neil Chrisley

 

Neil Chrisley  Detroit Tigers

Career: Neil Chrisley was a left-handed bat off the bench and a spare outfielder for the Senators, Tigers, and (very briefly) the Braves over five seasons from 1957 through 1961. He signed in 1950 with the Red Sox out of Newberry College in 1950. He was an impressive minor league hitter but it took him several years, several organizations, and some military time before he made the Senators club in '57. 

1958 and 1960 (with Detroit) were his two busiest years. He appeared in about 100 games and had about 250 at-bats in each. He hit .210 for his career with 16 homers. Chrisley finished with the Braves in 1961 by getting a handful of pinch-hitting chances. He was done with the majors, but not pro ball. He spent another three seasons playing at the AAA level for three different clubs.

After baseball he went into the insurance business.

In 1960: This was his best season. He hit .255 in 96 games.

Off The Charts: Chrisley had the only hit (a first inning double) when the Tigers fell to the Red Sox' Bill Monbouquette's one-hitter in May of 1960. Exactly a week later he had his only 2 homer games. He hit both of Johnny Kucks of the Athletics.

His given name is Barbra O'Neil Chrisley. 

#272 Fred Green

 

Fred Green   Pittsburgh Pirates

Career: Fred Green was a Jersey boy who starred in hoops, soccer, and baseball in high school and was signed by the Pirates in 1952. Green spent almost seven seasons pitching his way thru the Pittsburgh system, taking a military detour during which he, according to SABR, mostly played baseball. He debuted in 1959 as a major-leaguer and got into 17 games between his trips back and forth to the minors. 

Green had (by far) his best year in 1960 as the Pirates took the Series but then was back in the minors for parts of 1961 and '62. He was claimed on waivers by the Senators and pitched in five games for them before ending his active career and turning to coaching.

In 1960: Green was the lefty pairing in Danny Murtaugh's 1-2 punch out of the bullpen. Elroy Face, the righty, served mostly as the closer and had a great year (10 wins, 24 saves) but Green contributed eight wins and his three saves were good enough to tie for second on the Bucs' staff. He had 45 appearances, more than half of his career total and posted a 3.21 ERA striking out 49 in 70 innings.

Green's SABR bio notes his rocky road through the 1960 World Series:

In a Series of contrasts, the victorious Pirates’ four victories were by scores of 6-4, 3-2, and 5-2, while the Yankees crushed the Bucs, 16-3, 10-0, and 12-0. Green pitched in all three of the Pirates’ losses, and was hit hard. In four innings he yielded ten runs. He gave up two home runs to Mickey Mantle, including a mammoth shot over Forbes Field’s right-center-field wall in Game Two. Although he appeared to be throwing batting practice for Yankees hitters during the World Series, Green was named to The Sporting News’ 1960 All-Star rookie team.

Off The Charts: Green was only 61 when he died of heart problems in 1996. At that time his widow, Mona Green, said her husband’s greatest baseball memories were of playing on the same team as Roberto Clemente and pitching against the New York Yankees in the World Series.

His son Gary was a first round pick of the Padres in 1984 who went on to play about a hundred games in the majors over parts of five seasons for them, the Reds, and the Rangers. Gary then coached and managed in the minors for several organizations

#271 Julio Becquer

 

 

Julio Becquer   Washington Senators

Career: First-baseman Julio Becquer was another in a long line of players scouted and signed by Joe Cambria. Cambria worked for the senators for many years and had and eye for talent which he uncovered in Cuba and in the Negro Leagues. 

Becquer, renowned for his glove-work at first, began in the Senators organization in 1952. There are gaps in his record at Baseball-Reference but he did make the Senators in 1955 and appeared in 10 games. He spent '56 at AAA and returned to D.C. for the '57 season and played for the Nats as a pinch-hitter and backup at first through 1959. His only year even approaching full time starting status was 1960.

He was taken by the Angels in the expansion draft, was quickly sold to the Phils and then back to his original team which was by then the Twins. Back to the minors went Becquer for '62 and he made one pinch-running appearance for the Twins in 1963 and then was out of baseball.

In 1960: He played in about half the games for the Senators, starting 61 at first. He hit .252, drove in 35 runs and even pitched an inning.

Off The Charts: He got the call to the mound in the second game of an August doubleheader in Kansas City. He game up a two-out homer to Dick Williams in an 8-3 loss. He got another shot at pitching the next season, again in Kansas City, again in a doubleheader. This time he was summoned in the seventh inning of the first game and he poured gas on the 6-1 fire by allowing two singles followed by two doubles as five runs came across. He got out of it by getting Deron Johnson to ground out. Sam Mele brought him back out for the eighth and he only allowed a walk.

He was inducted into the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997.

#270 Bob Turley

 

 

Bob Turley   New York Yankees

Career: 'Bullet' Bob Turley signed with the St. Louis Browns in 1948 after graduating from East St. Louis (Ill) high school. He'd been sought after by the Yankees but their scouts whiffed and signed a relative by mistake (story below). 

Turley made a one game debut in 1951 and sandwiched minor league seasons around military time. He finally made the Browns for good in 1953 and moved along with them to Baltimore the following year and became the staff ace. But, as he would his whole career, Turley struggled with control. While giving up only 178 hits in 247 innings he walked 181. That led the league as did his 171 strikeouts.

The Yanks got their man for 1955 as part of a huge, complicated trade with the Orioles. Baseball-Reference has the details...

November 17, 1954: Traded by the Baltimore Orioles with players to be named later, Billy Hunter and Don Larsen to the New York Yankees for players to be named later, Harry Byrd, Jim McDonald, Willy Miranda, Hal Smith, Gus Triandos and Gene Woodling. The New York Yankees sent Bill Miller (December 1, 1954), Kal Segrist (December 1, 1954), Don Leppert (December 1, 1954) and Theodore Del Guercio (minors) (December 1, 1954) to the Baltimore Orioles to complete the trade. The Baltimore Orioles sent Mike Blyzka (December 1, 1954), Darrell Johnson (December 1, 1954), Jim Fridley (December 1, 1954) and Dick Kryhoski (December 1, 1954) to the New York Yankees to complete the trade.

Turley put together some outstanding seasons with the Yanks and peaked in 1958 when he won the Cy Young award, led the league with 21 wins and 19 complete games (he led in walks as well), made the All-Star squad and finished second in the MVP voting. He got an MVP trophy in October with an outstanding World Series against the Braves.

In his career, Turley won two titles but his numbers fell off quickly after that '58 season and he finished his career with the Angels and Red Sox in 1963. He had great success in his post-baseball career as a financial planner/insurance and real estate mogul and he became very wealthy.

In 1960: Turley had slipped in 1959 but he rebounded in 1960 to win nine games over 24 starts. His ERA dropped by more than a run.

Off The Charts: From SABR...

[After high school] He attended a Yankee tryout camp with his uncle, Ralph Turley, who was about two years older. Bob impressed the scouts, and one of them made a note to follow up on “R. Turley.” Looking in the phone book, he found the listing for Bob’s grandfather and asked if there was a pitcher in the family. Sure, the grandfather said, my son Ralph. “R. Turley,” check. The Yankees signed Uncle Ralph.

Turley pitched the Orioles’ home opener in 1954, the first major league game in Baltimore since 1902, following a parade that jammed the city’s streets. He struck out nine White Sox in a 3-1 victory. In his next start, he struck out 14 Cleveland Indians and carried a no-hitter into the ninth before a single and a home run beat him.

The Card: It's another really nice one. The Yankees got this color combo as their primary and it looks great. And this is another nice portrait shot and a fun cartoon. I've tried to figure out who the Yankee player is in the background who seems to be watching hitters through the batting cage. He might be Whitey Ford but we're no close enough to know for sure. 

Bonus: Turley was prominent enough during his heyday to warrant a bunch of magazine covers.

None of these are mine. I do remember the Sport cover. My father used to buy Sport to read on his train/bus commute to NYC. He kept them for a long time and I read and re-read them as a kid. Sport was always my favorite magazine.

#269 Gene Green

 

Gene Green  Baltimore Orioles

Career: I covered Gene Green's career a few months back when his card arrived as one of the last in my 1960 Leaf set chase. You can go there with this link.

In 1960: He played nearly all year at Miami, the Orioles' top farm club and hit .275 as the Marlins' #1 backstop. There were a ton of future and former big-leaguers on that Miami club. That includes 20-year-old Dave 'Swish' Nicholson who fanned 22 times in 56 plate appearances. 

Green played in one game for the Orioles late in September. He got a hit in four trips.

Off The Charts: The Rochester sports blog Pickin' Splinters named Green as the best catcher in the history of the Red Wings' franchise. 

The list of best plate protectors in Red Wings history:

1. Gene Green. Green impacted the Red Wings even after he left Norton Street, when he faced his former team in Miami as a member of the original Marlins, an International League team. Green hit two home runs in a doubleheader on April 26, 1960, one to tie the first game and the other a go-ahead grand slam in the nightcap, to pace the Marlins to a 4-1, 5-3 sweep.

“Green for Governor!” Democrat and Chronicle sportswriter George Beahon quoted one fan exclaiming after the 26-year-old’s slam to left-center field.

The IL Rookie of the Year was a strong candidate for public office after the 1956 Governor’s Cup championship season. He batted .300 with 23 home runs and 96 RBIs, the latter two numbers representing Triple A career highs.

“The Animal” was a double shy of the cycle in Game 7 of the Governor’s Cup Finals in Toronto, driving in five of the seven Red Wing runs.

“I didn’t believe it last night and I didn’t believe it this morning until I read the paper- twice,” Green cracked to Beahon the next day. Few were stunned when the catcher, who also played outfield, was posthumously inducted to the Red Wings Hall of Fame in 2011.

The Card: The drawn 'bird' logo on Green's cap in the B&W action pic is laughable.

 

#268 Al Worthington

 

 Al Worthington  San Francisco Giants

Career: Alabama-born Al Worthington played baseball and some football for the Crimson Tide before signing a pro baseball contract with the Nashville Vols of the Southern Association. When he signed in 1951 Nashville was a Cubs affiliate. The club became part of the Giants chain the next year and Worthington became Giants' property. I have no idea how that worked and his SABR bio has formatting errors so it is not much help.

But in the end, Worthington, showing promise, spent the 1953 through '55 seasons bouncing back and forth between the Polo Grounds and the scrubs. He was a starting pitcher for the most part but, like a lot of guys back then, also made quite a few relief appearances. In '56 Worthington nailed down a spot in the Giants rotation and spent four seasons with the club while moving to a relief role permanently.

He moved on to pitch for the White Sox, Red Sox and Reds before finding a place with the Twins in 1964 (at the age of 35) and was a key bullpen piece through 1969. He even led the AL in saves in '68.

Worthington pitched in the World Series in 1965 and his last big league appearance came in the AL Playoffs series versus the Orioles in 1969. He went on to become a coach in the bigs and then took the head coaching job at Liberty University and later became their AD.

In 1960: This is the second consecutive card I've posted of a player who didn't play for the team he is depicted with in 1960. In a nice bit of serendipity, Worthington was traded to the Red Sox for Jim Marshall in late March. After spending much of the season in the minors, he was moved to the White Sox in what was termed a 'conditional deal' late in August. For the year he was a combined 1-2 in 10 games. His minor league stats at AA Minneapolis were really good. Given his later success with the Twins, there must have been something about the Minnesota air that agreed with him.

Off The Charts: Worthington, a deeply religious guy, was bothered by the cheating he noticed with both the Giants and White Sox. Both clubs were reportedly stealing signs and Worthington expressed his issues with that to his managers, Bill Rigney in San Francisco and Al Lopez in Chicago. Worthington has always maintained that his doing so led to the trades form both clubs. In one instance he walked away from the game for a bit because of the issue. Details in this story on the Alabama.com site (you'll need to turn off any ad-blocker to read).

The Card: I'd call this a near perfect example of what the 1960 set can be. Really nice portrait of Worthington with an unusual color combo and the preferred (by me at least) cream and gold back. Just a great card.

One issue though...the cartoon labels Worthington a football 'star' at Bama but his bios state that he only played sparingly and had more success on the diamond there.