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James Hubert King
Chicago Cubs
Pitcher
Bats: Left Throws: Right Height: 6'0" Weight: 185
Born: August 27, 1932, Elkins, AR
Acquired: Send from Vernon (Longhorn) to the St. Louis Cardinals in an unknown transaction before the 1951 season
Major League Teams: Chicago Cubs 1955-1956; St. Louis Cardinals 1957; San Francisco Giants 1958; Washington Senators 1961-1967; Chicago White Sox 1967; Cleveland Indians 1967
Died: February 23, 2015, Fayetteville, AR (age 82)
Jim King was the starting left fielder for the first game ever played by the San Francisco Giants, and he was the longest tenured member of the expansion Washington Senators having joined that club in 1960 and departing in the middle of the 1967 season. Playing in parts of 11 seasons, King was a career .240 hitter and hit 117 home runs. His best seasons came with the Senators where he hit his career highs for average (.270 in 1961), home runs and RBIs (24 and 62 in 1963). He hit for the cycle and accomplished a three-home run game in 1964. His SABR biography notes he was heartbroken when the Senators traded him to the White Sox on June 15, 1967, as he and his family loved the city and King loved playing for manager Gil Hodges (#145).
Building the Set
September 25, 2005 in Ft. Washington, PA - Card #260
This was a late edition to our set and one of 11 cards we purchased at the 92nd Philadelphia Sports Card Show held at the convention center in Ft. Washington. My records show we paid $6 for this card. With the Ocean City baseball card shows long gone by now, our only options for local baseball card shows were the "Philly Shows" held in Ft. Washington at the time or the occasional mall baseball card show.
I wrote about this show and this period in our life back with the Chuck Stobbs (#68) post.
The Card
King looks to me like he should be a catcher and I can't picture him as the "Arkansas Humming Bird" as depicted on the back of his card. A quick Google search for this nickname didn't turn up anything on King, but it did get a number of hits for Lon Warneke who was born in Mount Ida, Arkansas and played for the Cubs, Cardinals and Cubs again between 1930 and 1945.
This is King's rookie card, and he'd go on to appear in Topps' flagship sets in 1957 and 1958, and then 1961 through 1967.
The middle and right panels refer to his minor league heroics, and while King did play for the Fresno Cardinals in 1951, his 1954 team was not the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings. King spent the entire 1954 season with the Class-A Omaha Cardinals. He was left unprotected by the Cardinals following that season and was selected by the Cubs on November 22nd in the annual Rule 5 draft.
1956 Season
In 118 games for the Cubs, King hit .249 with 15 home runs and 54 RBIs. He and Monte Irvin (#194) platooned in left field, with Irvin starting 88 games there to King's 69. He led all National League left fielders with nine assists.
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First Mainstream Card: 1956 Topps #74
First Topps Card: 1956 Topps #74
Last Topps Card: 1967 Topps #509
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA 1960s I #207
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1956-1958, 1961-1967
30 - King non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 11/2/19.
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: #68 Chuck Stobbs - Washington Nationals / #105 Al Smith - Cleveland Indians
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