#97 Jerry Lynch - Pittsburgh Pirates

Gerald Thomas Lynch
Pittsburgh Pirates
Catcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  185
Born:  July 17, 1930, Bay City, MI
Acquired:  Purchased by the New York Yankees from Greenville (Cotton States)
Major League Teams:  Pittsburgh Pirates 1954-1956; Cincinnati Reds 1957-1963; Pittsburgh Pirates 1963-1966
Died:  April 1, 2012, Austell, GA (age 81)

Jerry "The Hat" Lynch was one of the premier pinch-hitters of his day, accumulating 116 pinch-hits which places him currently 10th on the all-time list.  His 18 pinch-hit home runs are currently third on the all-time list behind Cliff Johnson with 20 and Matt Stairs with 23.  Lynch's best season came in 1961 with the Reds when he hit .315 over 96 games.  He had five pinch-hit home runs that season, driving in 25 runs.  His biggest hit that year (not a pinch-hit) was a two-run home run off Bob Anderson on September 26th to give the Reds a 6-3 win over the Cubs and helping the team clinch the 1961 N.L. pennant .  The Reds lost in the World Series to the Yankees, but Lynch's fine season earned him 22nd place in the league's MVP voting.

Playing in 640 games with the Reds and 544 with the Pirates in two separate stints, Lynch was a career .277 batter with 115 home runs and 470 RBIs.  He was elected into the Reds Hall of Fame in 1988.

1988ish?

Building the Set
August 29, 1988 in Millville, NJ - Card #64
This is the last of four cards I acquired in a trade with one of my collector friends back in Millville and the last time I'll share this story.  Along with the cards for Tom Brewer (#34), Ed Roebuck (#58) and Ray Jablonski (#86), this Lynch card was one of four cards I acquired for our 1956 Topps set via a trade, and all I had to surrender were a bunch of 1988 Topps doubles.

We were about a year in to officially collecting the 1956 Topps set when I added four cards to the set through a trade with a friend of mine.  Now my friend probably has no recollection of this, but I'm going to omit his name to protect the innocent.  In the summer of 1988, I was aware of a few different baseball card collectors from my school.  Most of them were busy accumulating as many "Future Stars" cards from the 1988 Topps set as possible, convinced these cards would be worth hundreds of dollars in a matter of a few short years.  The Kevin Elster card was a particularly hot commodity, as was anything with a Topps Rookie Cup on it such as the cards for Mark McGwire, Mike Greenwell, Ellis Burks and Casey Candaele.

My friend had four 1956 Topps cards set aside in an "oldies" pile, and I'm guessing he had added these to his collection by accident or maybe through an older relative.  In any event, I went over to his house this late summer day in August, equipped with my 1988 Topps doubles, and ready to deal.  I don't remember the specifics of the trade, but I ended up with four 1956 Topps commons, including this Lynch card, and he ended up with a small stack of 1988 Topps rookies.  We were both happy with our respective hauls, so in our minds it was a fair deal.

I've lost track of this friend over the years, but his name lives on in my official records of how each card in our 1956 Topps set was obtained.

The Card
According to his Baseball Reference page, Lynch wore #18 with the Pirates in 1955 and #14 with the club in 1954 and 1956.  That's him getting called out by the umpire in what looks like a close play at first base with the fielder possibly obstructed by Lynch's large head shot.  And speaking of the head shot, Lynch's 1954 Topps card features him wearing a standard Pirates helmet.  His 1955 and 1956 cards use the same photo but Topps has altered the helmet into a floppy looking hat.  Topps went with catcher for Lynch's position, which is a strange choice.  In 73 games in the field in 1955, Lynch played the outfield 71 times (either left or right field) and caught in only 2 games.

On the back, the first panel refers to Lynch's seasons with the 1950 Greenville Bucks and the 1953 Norfolk Tides where he hit .329 and .333 respectively.  Lynch completely missed the 1951 and 1952 seasons while serving in the military.  The final panel references his jump in batting average from .239 in 1954 to .284 in 1955.

Pirates Team Set

1956 Season

This was probably the worst season of Lynch's big league career.  He appeared in only 19 games, batting .158 (3 for 19) in limited action in the months of June and July.  I'm assuming an injury was the reason for his complete lack of playing time during the season.  Following the season, the Pirates left him unprotected in December's rule 5 draft and he was selected by the Reds.

1954 Topps #234

1959 Topps #97

1961 Topps #97

1963 Topps #37

1966 Topps #182

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1954 Topps #234
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (13):  1954-1966
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1994 Topps Archives 1954 #234

64 - Lynch non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/27/20.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
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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Set Order: #96 Bill Tremel - Chicago Cubs / #98 Camilo Pascual - Washington Nationals

Order Collected: #86 Ray Jablonski - Cincinnati Redlegs / #25 Ted Kluszewski - Cincinnati Redlegs