Friday, June 13, 2025

#337 Bobby Morgan - Philadelphia Phillies


Robert Morris Morgan
Philadelphia Phillies
Second Base


Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'9"  Weight:  175
Born:  June 29, 1926, Oklahoma City, OK
Signed:  Signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent before 1944 season
Major League Teams:  Brooklyn Dodgers 1950, 1952-53; Philadelphia Phillies 1954-56; St. Louis Cardinals 1956; Philadelphia Phillies 1957; Chicago Cubs 1957-58
Died:  June 1, 2023, Oklahoma City, OK (age 96)

Bobby Morgan was a successful back-up infielder, spending the bulk of his eight-year big league career with the Dodgers and Phillies.  Morgan earned International League MVP honors in 1949 when he batted .337 with 38 doubles, 19 home runs and 112 RBIs for the Montreal Royals.  Promoted to the Dodgers in early 1950, Morgan would spend the next several seasons as a back-up to Pee Wee Reese (#260), Jackie Robinson (#30), and Jim Gilliam (#280).  The Dodgers dealt Morgan to the Phillies before the start of the 1954 season, with Morgan taking over the regular shortstop job from Granny Hamner (#197).  He'd have his best seasons in the majors in 1954 and 1955 with the Phillies, but he'd slump in 1956, finding himself on the move over the next few seasons.  Morgan's last action in the majors came as one last pinch-hitting appearance with the Cubs in 1958.  He'd sign back with the Phillies' organization, playing five more seasons with their top farm teams and retiring as a player in 1963.

Morgan appeared in 671 major league games, batting .233 with 53 home runs and 217 RBIs.  He'd manage for three seasons in the Phillies' minor league system between 1964 and 1966, and would later serve as a scout for the Orioles, Royals and Twins.

Building the Set
January 10, 1999 in Raleigh, NC - Card #177
I indicate clearly in my notes this card (along with two others) was purchased at the Raleigh Sports Card & NASCAR Collectibles Show, not to be confused with the more benign Raleigh Sports Card & Memorabilia Show.  In any event, the Morgan card set me back only $6, which is an absolute bargain considering the card is in pristine shape.  I also added the Joe Collins (#21) and Johnny Kucks (#88) cards, also for $6 each.  Some of the cards in our set look as if they could have just come out of a brand new pack, and this is one of those.

I don't miss my time living in Raleigh, but I do miss these semi-regular baseball card shows held at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds.  As I'm primarily a Phillies collector, those dealers were always more than happy to unload their unwanted Phillies inventory on me and some of them would express genuine shock that I was trying to track down cards in the late 1990s and early 2000s of some very forgettable Phillies players.

The Card / Phillies Team Set
This blog is coming to a conclusion, and I've flipped to the last page in the set in my coveted 1956 Topps set binder.  That's Morgan in the action shot, and if this was a force play, I'm assuming the umpire is about to call the runner out.  The runner could be the Braves' Dave Jolly, the Giants' Hank Thompson (#199), the Cubs' Howie Pollet (#262) or the Pirates' Tom Saffell, as each of those players wore #16 in 1955, and I think the Reds and Cardinals had red uniform numbers on the backs of their jerseys.

This card marks Morgan's first appearance in a Topps set since 1953.  The cartoon panels on the back of the card highlight his success with the Phillies over the past two seasons, his promotion to the Dodgers in 1950, and his versatility in the infield.

Phillies Career / 1956 Season
The Phillies acquired Morgan on March 28, 1954 for Dick Young and $50,000.  Ted Kazanski was the club's opening day shortstop in 1954, but Morgan would start 123 games at the position, while also making six starts at third base and a pair of starts at second base.  In 135 games overall, he batted .262 with 14 home runs and 50 RBIs - both career highs.  In 1955, manager Mayo Smith (#60) moved Morgan to second base with Hamner sliding back to shortstop to start the season.  Morgan again had a solid year, even though Smith moved him back to short in mid-summer.  In 136 games, he batted .232 with 10 home runs and 49 RBIs.  With Kazanski at second and Hamner at shortstop to start the 1956 season, Morgan appeared in only eight games for the Phillies before a trade on May 14th sent him to the Cardinals for Solly Hemus.  Morgan settled back into a reserve role, playing in 61 games for the Cardinals and batting .195.

After the season, Morgan returned to the Phillies when the Cardinals traded him and Rip Repulski (#201) to Philadelphia in exchange for popular outfielder Del Ennis (#220).  Morgan's reunion with the Phillies was short-lived, and he played in just two games for the club in early 1957 before being sold to the Cubs on May 13th.  In 281 games with the Phillies, more than the 203 game he played for the Dodgers, Morgan batted .245 with 24 home runs and 100 RBIs.  He managed the club's Miami farm team in 1964 (64-75) and 1965 (67-75) before taking over the Tidewater Tides (58-81) in 1966.  His minor league managerial record with the Phillies was 189-231.

1950 Bowman #222
1952 Topps #355
1953 Bowman Color #135
1953 Topps #85
1958 Topps #144

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1950 Bowman #222
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (4):  1952-53, 1956, 1958
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2011 Topps Lineage Autographs #RA-BM

22 - Morgan non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 6/7/25.

 Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database

An early post from The Phillies Room, with a cherished comment from my Dad

Blog Update
I'm five cards away from wrapping up this blog - three more player cards and then two checklists.  With summer plans in full swing, I'll be stepping away for a little bit, but then coming back to wrap up the final five posts.  I also want to go back and freshen up some of the older posts, and add pages with 4th Series and complete set reviews.  I envision the checklist posts serving as a way for me to pay one last tribute to these cards, a baseball card set with which I've spent nearly 40 years of my life with at this point.
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Friday, June 6, 2025

#336 Ellis Kinder - St. Louis Cardinals


Ellis Raymond Kinder
St. Louis Cardinals
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  195
Born:  July 26, 1914, Atkins, AR
Acquired:  Obtained by the St. Louis Browns from the Memphis Chickasaws (Southern Association) as part of a minor league working agreement, before 1944 season
Major League Teams:  St. Louis Browns 1946-47; Boston Red Sox 1948-55; St. Louis Cardinals 1956; Chicago White Sox 1956-57
Died:  October 16, 1968, Jackson, TN (age 54)

One of the most underrated pitchers of his era, Ellis Kinder pitched professionally for 17 seasons, making his big league debut at the age of 31 with the Browns.  Given the nickname "Old Folks," Kinder first appeared with the Browns in 1946, enjoying mild success as a swingman for the second division club.  He was dealt to the Red Sox in November 1947, beginning an eight-year stretch as one of the best pitchers in the American League.  Kinder won 23 games in 1949, and had a 3.36 ERA in 43 games, including 30 starts.  He threw a career-high 252 innings that season, finishing fifth in MVP voting and earning The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year honors.  Converted to a full-time reliever in 1951, Kinder became one of the game's first closers, saving a league-leading 16 games in 1951 and a career-high and league-leading 27 games in 1953 while appearing in a then record-setting 69 games.  He'd depart Boston following the 1955 season, spending two more years with the Cardinals and White Sox before retiring.

In 484 big league games, Kinder was 102-71 with a 3.43 ERA in 1,479 2/3 innings pitched.  He threw 56 complete games, 10 shutouts and had 104 career saves.  Kinder was posthumously inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2006.

Building the Set
January 27, 2001 from Moorestown Mall Baseball Card Show - Card #227
For Father's Day in 2021, we attended my youngest son's piano recital and then travelled to the Moorestown Mall (in nearby Moorestown, NJ) for a baseball card show.  I don't spend a lot of time in malls, but I thought this one looked vaguely familiar.  As it turns out, I was at the very same mall 20 years earlier with my Dad for his 57th birthday.  We paid $60 for four cards for our 1956 Topps set, with the biggest purchase being the Harmon Killebrew card (#164) that set us back $38.  Based on my checklist at the time, we got a good deal on this card as I had the Killebrew card listed as one of the more valuable cards we still needed at a range of $60 to $100.  The other three cards added were this Kinder card, Carl Erskine (#233) and Frank Malzone (#304).

The Card / Cardinals Team Set
Topps did a good job transferring Kinder from a Red Sox uniform to a Cardinals uniform, but the unmistakable Yankee Stadium facade is still visible in the background.  The same main photo is used on Kinder's 1955 Topps card.  The cartoons on the back highlight Kinder's record-setting 69 appearances in 1953, and his successful 1949 campaign.  Topps' math is a little off in the final cartoon panel.  While he did start pitching professionally in 1939, he missed two full seasons in 1943 and 1945.  Kinder retired briefly in 1943, going to work as a pipe-fitter with the Illinois Central Railroad, and he missed all of 1945, serving a year in the U.S. Navy.

1956 Season
Kinder was sold by the Red Sox to the Cardinals on December 4, 1955, prompting a memorable going away party in Boston for the popular pitcher.  He began the season in the back-end of the Cardinals' bullpen, earning six saves but blowing two saves in the first two months of the year.  Despite the Cardinals decent record and Kinder pitching fairly well, he had his contract sold to the White Sox on July 11th.  The 41-year-old appeared in 29 games for the White Sox, going 3-1 with a 2.73 ERA and three saves.  For the season, he was 5-1 with a 3.09 ERA in 51 relief appearances with nine saves.

1950 Bowman #152
1952 Topps #78
1953 Topps #44
1955 Topps #115
1957 Topps #352

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1950 Bowman #152
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6):  1952-57
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1994 Topps Archives 1954 #47

29 - Kinder non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/31/25.

 Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
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Friday, May 30, 2025

#335 Don Hoak - Chicago Cubs


Donald Albert Hoak
Chicago Cubs
Third Base


Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  170
Born:  February 5, 1928, Roulette, PA
Signed:  Signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent before 1947 season
Major League Teams:  Brooklyn Dodgers 1954-55; Chicago Cubs 1956; Cincinnati Redlegs 1957-58; Pittsburgh Pirates 1959-62; Philadelphia Phillies 1963-64
Died:  October 9, 1969, Pittsburgh, PA (age 41)

A veteran of 11 big league seasons, Don Hoak had his greatest success in the majors in the early 1960s as the starting third baseman for the Pirates.  Hoak came up with the Dodgers in 1954 and started more games at third base for the club than Jackie Robinson (#30) or Billy Cox.  In 1955, Hoak served as Robinson's back-up, although he started at third in the decisive Game 7 of the 1955 World Series against the Yankees, won by the Dodgers on the strength of Johnny Podres' (#173) shutout.  Dealt to the Cubs in December 1955, and then again to the Redlegs in November 1956, Hoak would make his only All-Star team in 1957.  He'd lead the league that season with 39 doubles.  His career year came in 1960 with the Pirates, as part of the club that would eventually win the World Series.  Hoak batted .282 with 16 home runs and 79 RBIs, finishing as the runner-up in MVP voting behind teammate Dick Groat (#24).  He'd bat a career high .298 in 1961.

Hoak would finish up his playing days with the Phillies, pinch-hitting in six games before getting released by the club in May 1964.  He served briefly on the Phillies' big league coaching staff for one season in 1967.  In 1,263 career games, Hoak batted .265 with 1,144 hits, 89 home runs and 498 RBIs.  He was managing the Pirates' Triple-A team in 1969, passing away tragically from a heart attack following the season.

From the 1963 Phillies Yearbook
Building the Set
July 19, 1997 in Ocean City, NJ - Card #159
My Dad and I added this card to our set at the Ocean City baseball card show held inside the Music Pier.  We purchased 11 cards that July day - Hoak and eight other commons, along with the Warren Giles (#2) card for $10 and the Ray Boone (#6) card for $5.

I graduated college in the spring of 1997, and that summer was a good one as I worked on the Sea Isle Promenade at a few t-shirt stores.  My days were spent jogging, barely working, reading and sitting on the beach.  Dinner would usually come from Phil's on 37th and Landis Avenue, and ice cream was consumed nightly.

Dad was still working in Millville at the time, and we probably met up in front of the Music Pier prior to his show.  The baseball card collecting landscape changed drastically in the ten year period between 1987 and 1997, with autographed cards making their way into packs and multiple parallel versions of the same card confusing us as "old school" collectors.  Still, I'd give anything to be back inside the Music Pier with my Dad searching for the next 1956 Topps card to add to our set.  I'm sure he was thrilled to find a dealer selling a bunch of '56s in good shape and at around $2 a card.  

The Card / Cubs Team Set
Topps used the same photo for Hoak as the photos used on his 1954 and 1955 Topps cards, swapping out a Brooklyn logo for a Chicago logo.  The player diving into the base could be Hoak too.  He wore #43 with the Dodgers, switching to #7 with the Cubs, and Topps may have whited out the uniform number from his former team.  Hoak's SABR biography disputes the claim he was a prizefighter, from the first cartoon panel on the back of the card, finding no support to back up those claims.  The middle cartoon panel highlights his marriage in 1950, which ended in divorce in 1961, followed by a quick second marriage to singer and actress Jill Corey.

1956 Season
On December 9, 1955, less than two months after the Dodgers won their only World Series title while in Brooklyn, Hoak was traded with Russ Meyer (#227) and Walt Moryn to the Cubs for Don Elston and Randy Jackson (#223).  Hoak struggled with his new club, and on May 2nd he set a National League record by striking out six times against six different pitchers.  For the season, Hoak batted .215 with five home runs and 37 RBIs as the Cubs' regular third baseman.  On November 13th, he was on the move again, traded to the Redlegs with Warren Hacker (#282) and Pete Whisenant for Ray Jablonski (#86) and Elmer Singleton.

Phillies Career
After a successful four seasons in Pittsburgh, the Pirates traded Hoak to the Phillies on November 28, 1962 for Pancho Herrera and Ted Savage.  Phillies' incumbent third baseman Don Demeter was moved to the outfield to make room for Hoak for the 1963 season, and Hoak struggled from the outset.  Batting .187 by the end of May, he was benched in favor of Demeter and then briefly, Ruben Amaro.  Hoak would work his way back into the starting line-up through the summer and early fall, eventually starting 101 games at the position by the end of the season.  He batted .231 in 1963, collecting 87 hits, six home runs and 24 RBIs.  At the start of the 1964 season, the 36-year-old Hoak had lost his starting third baseman job to rookie Dick Allen.  After going 0 for 4 with a pair of sacrifices in six pinch-hitting appearances, the Phillies released Hoak on May 18th, ending his playing career.

He was kept on the Phillies' payroll as a special assignment scout throughout the disastrous 1964 season.  He'd come back to the team briefly in 1967 as the third base coach for manager Gene Mauch, but he was dismissed after the season.

1953 Topps #176
1955 Topps #40
1957 Topps #274
1961 Topps #230
1964 Topps #254

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1953 Topps #176
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (12):  1953-64
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2016 Panini Diamond Kings #25

101 - Hoak non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/25/25.

 Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
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Friday, May 23, 2025

#334 Bob Miller - Philadelphia Phillies


Robert John Miller
Philadelphia Phillies
Pitcher


Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'3"  Weight:  190
Born:  June 16, 1926, Detroit, MI
Signed:  Signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent before 1948 season
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Phillies 1949-58
Died:  November 27, 2020, Waterford, MI (age 94)

Bob Miller spent his entire career with the Phillies and was a key member of the 1950 National League Champion Whiz Kids.  Miller was a September call-up in 1949, and made the club's opening day roster in 1950.  As a swingman for the eventual pennant-winners, Miller was 11-6 with a 3.47 ERA in 35 games overall, including 21 starts.  He threw seven complete games, a pair of shutouts and saved a game for good measure.  Robin Roberts (#180) and Curt Simmons (#290) earned most of the accolades for the Phillies' solid pitching that season, but Miller was third on the team in wins and innings pitched with 174.  He'd slump over the next few seasons, spending parts of 1951 and 1952 back in the minor leagues.  In 1955, now a full-time reliever, Miller enjoyed perhaps his best season, going 8-4 with a 2.41 ERA in 89 2/3 innings pitched.  He'd retire as a player after trying to make a comeback in the Dodgers' organization in 1959.

In 261 career games, all with the Phillies, Miller was 42-42 with a 3.96 ERA in 822 innings pitched.  Miller went on to serve as the head baseball coach at his alma mater, the University of Detroit Mercy, for 36 years between 1965 and 2000.  His lengthy and successful stint as the Titans' head coach led him to be inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.

December 26, 2003 - Dad opening presents
Building the Set
December 25, 2003 from San Diego, CA (Kit Young Cards) - Card #252
My Dad/Santa brought me nine cards for our set for Christmas in 2003, with all but one of the cards coming from his dealer of choice, Kit Young Cards in San Diego.  The Brooklyn Dodgers team card (#166) was the lone non-Kit Young Cards addition, as that card came from TemDee in Turnersville, New Jersey.  It was a strange mix of commons from Kit Young Cards, with no semi-star or star card to balance out the lot.  We were admittedly in a lull collecting the set, with only 18 cards added during all of 2003 and only six cards added, as Christmas presents, in 2004.

Pictures from the Christmas of 2003 show us opening gifts at my Mom's house on December 26th, which has since become a tradition for us.  So while the official set records indicate these nine cards were added on December 25th, it was most likely a day later I opened the cards while in Millville.

The Card / Phillies Team Set
This is the second Bob Miller card in the set, not to be confused with the card for Tigers' pitcher Bob Miller (#263).  Topps repeats the photo used for Miller's 1955 card here.  The cartoons on the back highlight his effective sinker ball, his role on the 1950 Whiz Kids team and his career-best 2.41 ERA in 1955.

1956 Season
Miller appeared in 49 games for the Phillies, going 3-6 with a 3.24 ERA and five saves.  The most used reliever by manager Mayo Smith (#60) throughout the season, he also made six starts, throwing complete games in half of those starts.  On August 25th, he threw a two-hit shutout against the Braves.

Phillies Career
Miller's hot start to his rookie season in 1950 helped bolster a starting pitching rotation already strong at the top with Roberts and Simmons. Through the first three months of the season, Miller was 6-0 with a 1.63 ERA in 16 games pitched.  He'd start Game 4 of the 1950 World Series, but wouldn't make it out of the first inning after giving up a pair of runs on an RBI-single by Yogi Berra (#110) and an RBI-double by Joe DiMaggio.  Miller wore #19 for all but his first three games with the Phillies.

1950 Bowman #227
1952 Topps #187
1955 Topps #157
1957 Topps #46
1959 Topps #379

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1950 Bowman #227
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6):  1952, 1955-59
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2011 Topps Lineage Autographs #RA-BMI

21 - Miller non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/23/25.

 Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
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Friday, May 16, 2025

#333 Rube Walker - Brooklyn Dodgers


Albert Bluford Walker
Brooklyn Dodgers
Catcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  175
Born:  May 16, 1926, Lenoir, NC
Signed:  Signed by the Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent before 1944 season
Major League Teams:  Chicago Cubs 1948-51; Brooklyn Dodgers 1951-57; Los Angeles Dodgers 1958
Died:  December 12, 1992, Morganton, NC (age 66)

Rube Walker was a back-up catcher for 11 big league seasons and then a long-time pitching coach for another 21 big league seasons.  Walker came up with the Cubs and the 79 games he played in as a rookie in 1948 were his career high.  He'd start 50 games behind the plate for the Cubs in 1950, again a high water mark.  Walker was included in a blockbuster eight-player deal with the Dodgers in June 1951, heading to Brooklyn along with Andy Pafko (#312) and Wayne Terwilliger (#73).  He'd serve as Roy Campanella's (#101) back-up from 1951 to 1957, and Walker was behind the plate in the 1951 National League tie-breaker series when Bobby Thomson (#257) hit his Shot Heard 'Round the World to send the rival Giants to the World Series.  The Dodgers went to four World Series with Walker on the roster, but his only postseason action came as a pinch-hitter during the 1956 series against the Yankees.

Walker transitioned to a coaching role during his final season with the Dodgers in 1958.  In 608 games, he batted .227 with 35 home runs and 192 RBIs.  Walker was a minor league manager between 1959 and 1964, and then a long-time pitching coach for the Senators (1965-67), Mets (1968-81) and Braves (1982-84).  He won a World Series ring with the Mets in 1969, and was a trusted advisor to Hall of Famers Gil Hodges (#145), Casey Stengel, Yogi Berra (#110) and Joe Torre.

December 12, 2003 - My family at the Buena Tavern
Building the Set
December 25, 2003 from San Diego, CA (Kit Young Cards) - Card #251
My Dad/Santa brought me nine cards for our set for Christmas in 2003, with all but one of the cards coming from his dealer of choice, Kit Young Cards in San Diego.  The Brooklyn Dodgers team card (#166) was the lone non-Kit Young Cards addition, as that card came from TemDee in Turnersville, New Jersey.  It was a strange mix of commons from Kit Young Cards, with no semi-star or star card to balance out the lot.  We were admittedly in a lull collecting the set, with only 18 cards added during all of 2003 and only six cards added, as Christmas presents, in 2004.

Pictures from the Christmas of 2003 show us opening gifts at my Mom's house on December 26th, which has since become a tradition for us.  So while the official set records indicate these nine cards were added on December 25th, it was most likely a day later I opened the cards while in Millville.

The Card / Dodgers Team Set
Walker never appeared in a Bowman set and had an impressive run of Topps set appearances between 1952 and 1958.  The bigger photo is the same used on Walker's 1954 and 1955 Topps cards.  That's likely him sliding into a Giants' infielder, as Walker wore #10 with the Dodgers during his entire run with the club.  The back of the card highlights his minor league success and his strong throwing arm.  Topps reprinted the card in its 1995 Topps Archives Brooklyn Dodgers box set.

1956 Season
Walker's career was winding down at this point.  He appeared in 54 games overall, making 37 starts behind the plate to give Campanella days off.  Walker batted .212 with three home runs and 20 RBIs.

1952 Topps #319
1954 Topps #153
1957 Topps #147
1958 Topps #203
1974 Topps #179

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1952 Topps #319
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (9):  1952-58, 1973-74
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2005 Topps Dem Bums #DB-RW

48 - Walker non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/13/25.

 Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
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