#152 Billy Hoeft - Detroit Tigers

William Frederick Hoeft
Detroit Tigers
Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'3"  Weight:  180
Born:  May 17, 1932, Oshkosh, WI
Signed:  Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent before 1950 season
Major League Teams:  Detroit Tigers 1952-1959; Boston Red Sox 1959; Baltimore Orioles 1959-1962; San Francisco Giants 1963; Milwaukee Braves 1964; Chicago Cubs 1965-1966; San Francisco Giants 1966
Died:  March 16, 2010, Canadian Lakes, MI (age 77)

Long-time lefty pitcher Billy Hoeft spent 15 years in the majors and was an All-Star with the Tigers in 1955, a year in which he led the league with seven shutouts.  Hoeft spent eight seasons in Detroit and was a reliable starter for the team between 1952 and 1958.  His best season came in 1956 when he went 20-14 with a 4.06 ERA in 38 starts.  He bounced around a bit after being traded to the Red Sox in June 1959 for Jack Harshman (#29), but he was a fairly reliable pitcher at each of his stops over the next eight seasons.  Hoeft moved to the bullpen and appeared in a career-high 57 games for the Orioles in 1962.  He fell just short of the 100-win plateau for his career, going 97-101 over 505 games with a 3.94 ERA and 33 career saves.

Building the Set

College graduation, May 1997

July 19, 1997 in Ocean City, NJ - Card #153
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 - Hoeft 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 / Tigers Team Set
This is the first time palm trees appear on a 1956 Topps card, as this picture was most likely taken at the Tigers then spring training home at Henley Field in Lakeland, Florida.  This is Hoeft's first appearance in a Topps set since 1953.  He's in the 1954 Bowman set but had no mainstream baseball card appearances in 1955, the season in which he made his sole All-Star team.  His successful prior season is highlighted within the cartoon panels on the back, as he led the Tigers pitching staff with 16 wins and a 2.99 ERA.

1956 Season

Hoeft would build on the big year he had in 1955 with a career year in 1956.  As mentioned above, he went 20-14 with righty Frank Lary (#191) the other 20-game winner on the Tigers staff at 21-13.  Hoeft pitched 18 complete games, including four shutouts and threw 248 innings.  His innings pitched set a career high mark, as did his 172 strikeouts.

1952 Topps #370

1957 Topps #60

1959 Topps #343

1961 Topps #256

1966 Topps #409

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1952 Topps #370
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (13):  1952-1953, 1956-1966
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1991 Topps Archives 1953 #165

39 - Hoeft non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/14/21.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia