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Robert Charles Keegan
Chicago White Sox
Pitcher
Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 6'2" Weight: 207
Born: August 4, 1920, Rochester, NY
Signed: Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent before 1946 season
Major League Teams: Chicago White Sox 1953-1958
Died: June 20, 2001, Rochester, NY (age 80)
A popular and long-time minor leaguer, Bob Keegan made his debut with the White Sox in May 1953 at the age of 32. He'd be a steady starter and reliever for the White Sox for six seasons, posting a career record of 40-36 and a 3.66 ERA over 135 games. Keegan was an All-Star in 1954 and pitched a no-hitter against the Senators in 1957. His best season was also his All-Star season, in which he went 16-9 with a 3.09 ERA with 14 complete games and two shutouts.
His final season in the Majors was 1958, but he returned to the minor leagues with the Rochester Red Wings (the Cardinals' top affiliate) in 1959, winning 18 games as a 38-year-old. His stellar season with the Red Wings and an appearance with the Cardinals in their 1960 spring camp earned him a Cardinals baseball card in the 1960 Topps set, even though he never suited up with the team during the regular season.
Building the Set
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| College graduation, May 1997 |
July 19, 1997 in Ocean City, NJ - Card #152
Exactly 22 years ago today and for $2, 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 - Keegan 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 just $2 a card.
The Card
It doesn't appear as if Keegan is standing in Chicago's Comiskey Park, as that ballpark had two decks in the outfield. Keegan's card is notable (for me at least) as it introduces the first card with a blue-red color combination for the player name and team bars on the front of the card. Blue-red joins eight other color combinations to appear so far in the set.
The back of the card references his time as a college star for Bucknell University and the seven seasons he spent toiling in the Yankees farm system before the White Sox purchased his contract on October 13, 1952. His bad leg referenced in the final panel was only a pulled leg muscle, and not a broken foot as the cartoon depicts. And a 20-win season in 1954 would have been tough as Keegan was only 15-7 as of August 21st.
1956 Season
Keegan made the White Sox out of spring training, but wouldn't appear in a game until May 6th as he was used sparingly by manager Marty Marion. Keegan manned the back-end of the White Sox rotation with fellow veterans Gerry Staley and Jim Wilson (#171), appearing in eight more games through mid-June and pitching to a 4-4 record and a 3.04 ERA. On July 4th, Keegan was hospitalized with what his official SABR biography describes as a "severe case of hemorrhoids," and the pitcher lost 20 pounds in the process. He'd appear in just 11 more games that season following his hospitalization.
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First Mainstream Card: 1953 Topps #196
First Topps Card: 1953 Topps #196
Last Topps Card: 1960 Topps #291
Most Recent Topps Card (post-career): 1977 Topps #436
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1994 Topps Archives 1954 #100
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (9): 1953-1960, 1977
18 - Keegan non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/1/19.
I've always been a huge fan of the Turn Back the Clock cards Topps inserted into its sets in the 1970s and 1980s, and I've looked at Keegan's 1977 Topps cards hundreds of times without knowing who he was. It's cool that I can now connect his 1956 Topps card, and his career, with his card from 19 years later celebrating his best moment in the game.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
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: #16 Hector Lopez - Kansas City Athletics / #152 Billy Hoeft - Detroit Tigers
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