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Andrew Arthur Carey
New York Yankees
Third Base
Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 6'1" Weight: 190
Born: October 18, 1931, Oakland, CA
Signed: Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1950
Major League Teams: New York Yankees 1952-1960; Kansas City Athletics 1960-1961; Chicago White Sox 1961, Los Angeles Dodgers 1962
Died: December 15, 2011, Newport Beach, CA (age 80)
Wearing #6, Andy Carey was the Yankees primary starting third baseman for five seasons between 1954 and 1958, a period that saw the Bronx Bombers win two more World Championships in 1956 and 1958. Known more for his glove than his bat, Carey was instrumental in helping to preserve Don Larsen's (#332) perfect game in game five of the 1956 World Series. Carey led the American League in triples in 1955 with 11.
The Yankees traded him in June 1961 (with Larsen) to the Athletics, and he'd play the final year and a half of his career with the A's, White Sox and Dodgers before retiring.
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| Dad - Christmas 2004 |
December 25, 2004 from San Diego, CA - Card #253
This is the first Yankee player to show up in the set, and I still remember the warning we'd receive from baseball card dealers in the late 1980s when my Dad and I informed them we were trying to build a complete 1956 Topps set. Without fail, at every baseball card show, a dealer would warn us, "Good luck finding the Yankees."
A lot of collectors who grew up rooting for the Yankees were focused on building complete team sets from the 1950s Topps sets. For this reason, it was definitely difficult to track down single Yankees cards of their stars and commons as we were putting together our set. Dealers who had commons for sale for $4 to $7 would regularly mark up their Yankees commons to $10 to $15, and we'd often pass on these cards. (To a lesser extent, the same could be said for the Dodgers cards.)
This was one of six 1956 Topps cards my Dad gave to me for Christmas in 2004 and I never asked him how much he paid for the lot. I do know that he ordered the cards from Kit Young Cards in San Diego, although unlike his purchase of the Ted Williams card, I doubt he actually spoke to Kit this time. He would have given me these cards at the first house my wife Jenna and I owned, which we affectionately called The Crick.
The Card
That's most likely Carey in the action shot at third base, tagging out what I would guess to be a White Sox runner. As is becoming the norm, the head shot was re-used from Carey's 1954 and 1955 Topps cards. Our copy of this card is fantastic, with four sharp corners and not a crease to be seen.
1956 Season
At just 24 years old, Carey was firmly entrenched in the Yankees starting line-up in 1956, appearing in 132 games at third and hitting .237. He struggled in the 1956 World Series, starting all seven games at third, but going 3 for 19 (.158) at the plate. He's best remembered for contributing to two of the tougher outs during Larsen's perfect game.
In the second, he deflected a ground ball from Jackie Robinson (#30) to shortstop Gil McDougald (#225), who threw out Robinson at first. If not for Carey getting a glove on the ball, it would have been a single to left. In the eighth, he caught a low line drive off the bat of Gil Hodges (#145), again preserving the perfect game.
Phillies Connection
On December 15, 1961, Carey (along with Frank Barnes) was traded by the White Sox to the Phillies for Taylor Phillips and Bob Sadowski. Carey refused to report to the Phillies in March 1962, as he preferred not to spend his final year in baseball on the last place Phillies and he intended to focus full-time on his growing California brokerage business. The Phils received Cal McLish from the White Sox as consolation for Carey's refusal to report, and Carey was eventually swapped to the Dodgers where he finished his career closer to home.
For Phillies collectors, Carey is included within the 1962 Salada-Junket coin set, marking his only appearance with the team on any collectibles. The set's creators originally released the Carey coin featuring him in a White Sox uniform, but the photo was updated to feature him in the Phillies hat and uniform he'd never actually wear.
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First Mainstream Card: 1953 Topps #188
First Topps Card: 1953 Topps #188
Representative Phillies Card: 1962 Salada Coins #86B
Last Topps Card: 1962 Topps #418
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2002 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #RO-AC
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1953-1962
50 - Carey non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 12/15/15
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
Gettysburg Times - February 27, 1962
The Phillies Room
The Trading Card Database
In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year. Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.
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Order Collected: #334 Bob Miller - Philadelphia Phillies / #38 Bob Kennedy - Chicago White Sox
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