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Willard Wayne Terwilliger
New York Giants
Second Base
Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 5'11" Weight: 165
Born: June 27, 1925, Clare, MI
Signed: Signed by the Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent before 1948 season
Major League Teams: Chicago Cubs 1949-1951; Brooklyn Dodgers 1951; Washington Senators 1953-1954; New York Giants 1955-1956; Kansas City Athletics 1959-1960
Wayne "Twig" Terwilliger played in parts of nine seasons in the majors before embarking on a 50-year career as a minor and major league coach. A World War II veteran who saw action in the Pacific Theater at the invasions of Tinian and Iwo Jima, Terwilliger was signed by the Cubs prior to the 1948 season. A career .240 hitter, Terwilliger primarily served as a back-up second baseman but he did see regular action with the Cubs in 1950 and the Senators in 1953, which was most likely his best season. He hit .252 with a career high 46 RBIs in 134 games for the Senators that year.
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| Saints giveaway poster - from a recent eBay auction |
lengthy coaching career. He first served as the manager of the Greensboro Yankees in 1961 and he joined the Senators organization a year later. He ultimately served as the third base coach for the Senators between 1969 and 1971 for manager Ted Williams (#5) and was one of the original coaches for the Texas Rangers when the Senators franchise moved west. After one season in the Astros organization in 1973, he returned to the Rangers as a minor league manager (1975-1980) and then as a coach in the majors again (1981-1985).
He joined the Twins in 1986, earning two World Series rings with them in 1987 and 1991. Finally, Terwilliger closed out his professional baseball career as a coach for the independent St. Paul Saints (1995-2002) and then as manager or coach for the Ft. Worth Cats (2003-2010).
Building the Set
Summer of 1983 or 1984 in Millville, NJ - Card #5
This was one of the Original 44, and I've told the story of how my Dad and I began collecting the 1956 Topps set a few times - most recently with the Pedro Ramos (#49) post here. This card has seen some love in its day, as some of the edges and corners are admittedly soft and there's some minor surface wear.
I can still hear the way my Dad would pronounce Terwilliger's name, dragging it out as if he was announcing the name in front of a capacity crowd: Wayne . . . Ter-WILL-Iger. It's a reflex of mine now that whenever I come across a Terwilliger card and even while composing this post, I feel the need to say his name out loud. Wayne . . . Ter-WILL-Iger.
He was a coach for the Twins in 1987 when we began collecting the 1956 Topps set, and I remember my Dad asking me during the World Series if I realized who was coaching first. "How about that Wayne . . . Ter-WILL-Iger," he responded. When the Twins returned to the World Series in 1991, I returned the favor reminding my Dad that Wayne . . . Ter-WILL-Iger was still coaching for the team.
In 1997, when first round pick J.D. Drew spurned the Phillies offer and went to play for the independent St. Paul Saints, my Dad asked again if I knew who was one of the coaches for the Saints. I knew the answer, but I wanted to hear his response. "How about that Wayne . . . Ter-WILL-Iger."
The Card
Terwilliger was a Topps veteran by the time this card was issued, as he had appeared in every set beginning with the 1951 Topps Red Backs issue. The portrait photo is the same as was used on his 1955 Topps card, except that Topps replaced his "W" Senators logo with a "NY" Giants logo. Perhaps the play at the plate is against the Phillies?
Turning to the back of the card, Terwilliger did rank regularly near the top of the league in defensive categories, and he finished in the top 10 in sacrifice bunts in three different seasons. Topps, as has been the case fairly often in this set, trims a year off Terwilliger's age showing his birth year as 1926 and not the actual year of 1925.
1956 Season
Terwilliger appeared in only 14 games for the Giants in 1956, spending much of the season with the Triple-A Minneapolis Millers playing for manager Eddie Stanky. With the Millers, he hit .245 over 90 games as the team's regular second baseman.
He returned to the Millers for the 1957 season and was traded to the Tigers on October 15, 1957 for Jack Dittmer.
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First Mainstream Card: 1950 Bowman #114
First Topps Card: 1951 Topps Red Backs #14
Last Topps Card: 1960 Topps #26
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2011 Topps Lineage Autographs #RA-WT
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8): 1951-1956, 1959-1960
61 - Terwilliger non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 10/31/19.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
Wayne Terwilliger.com
Wikipedia
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: #59 Jose Santiago - Cleveland Indians / #85 Cleveland Indians Team Card
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