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Forrest Harrill Burgess
Cincinnati Redlegs
Catcher
Born: February 6, 1927, Caroleen, NC
Signed: Signed by the Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent before 1944 season
Major League Teams: Chicago Cubs 1949, 1951; Philadelphia Phillies 1952-1955; Cincinnati Reds 1955-1958; Pittsburgh Pirates 1959-1964; Chicago White Sox 1964-1967
Died: September 15, 1991, Asheville, NC (age 64)
Smoky Burgess played for 18 seasons in the majors as a catcher and later as one of the game's top pinch-hitters. A nine-time All-Star, Burgess was a fine defensive catcher, leading the league in fielding percentage at the position in 1953, 1960 and 1961. He enjoyed productive seasons early in his career with the Phillies, making his first All-Star team in 1954 and hitting a lofty .368 for the season. That mark would have given him the National League batting title, but he didn't have enough at-bats to qualify. Burgess is perhaps best remembered for his time in Pittsburgh and as the primary backstop for the Pirates team that won the World Series in 1960. He batted .333 in that World Series and the season before, on May 26, 1959, Burgess was behind the plate when Pirates pitcher Harvey Haddix (#77) took a perfect game into the 13th inning. Later in his career as a prolific pinch-hitter, Burgess set the record for most pinch-hits in the game's history with 145. His mark was ultimately broken in 1979 by Manny Mota and Lenny Harris holds the record today with 212.
Burgess played in 1,691 games, batting .295 while accumulating 1,318 hits, 230 doubles, 126 home runs and 673 RBIs. He was a long-time scout and minor league batting instructor for the Braves following his playing days. Burgess was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1975.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set
December 3, 2005 in Ft. Washington, PA - Card #273
This was a relatively late edition to our set and one of eight cards we purchased at the 93rd Philadelphia Sports Card Show held at the convention center in Ft. Washington. 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 or the occasional mall baseball card show.
My Dad didn't like the drive to Ft. Washington, and this would have been one of only a few shows we attended together in this location. Looking at my records of when and where we purchased our cards, a full year would go by before we'd add any more cards to the set.
The year-long hiatus in collecting the set came at a time my wife and I were expecting our first son and as we moved into our first real house.
The Card / Redlegs Team Set
Burgess returned to Topps in 1956 after a two-year absence and only appearing on Bowman cards. As I've done with several other cards, I've tried to find the date of the action photo featured. My best guess is that Burgess is sliding into second base and that's Pirates' infielder Dick Cole, who wore #12 between 1951 and 1956. There are four games in 1955 in which Burgess reached based against the Pirates with Cole playing either second base or shortstop. Based on the Baseball Reference game finder tools, I think this play happened on June 4, 1955 at Forbes Field with Cole at second base. Burgess doubled to lead off the fifth, and I imagine this photo shows the aftermath of his safe slide into the base. The back of the card refers to him as "Smokey" three different times, misspelling his "Smoky" nickname. (I've been guilty of this many times in the past too.)
1956 Season
This was Burgess' second full season with the Reds, and while he was the club's opening day catcher, he settled into a back-up role to Ed Bailey. Bailey started 102 games to Burgess' 53. In 90 games total, Burgess batted .275 with 12 home runs and 39 RBIs. On September 29th, the penultimate game of the season, the Reds needed one more home run to tie the then single-season record for home runs by one team. Manager Birdie Tebbetts called on Burgess to pinch-hit in the eighth inning with the instruction, "Home run or nothing." Burgess obliged, hitting a home run off the Cubs' Sam Jones (#259). The Reds finished the season with a record 221 home runs, since broken many times since then.
Phillies Career
The Phillies acquired Burgess from the Reds with Howie Fox and Connie Ryan on December 10, 1951 for Andy Seminick (#296), Niles Jordan, Eddie Pellagrini and Dick Sisler. The trade marked the beginning of the end of the Whiz Kids era with Seminick and Sisler heading to Cincinnati. Burgess was the team's opening day catcher in 1952 and 1953, but was steadily losing playing time to Stan Lopata (#183) in what had started as a platoon. With Lopata ultimately replacing Burgess as the regular behind the plate, Burgess was sent back to the Reds on April 30, 1955, with Seminick ironically coming back to the Phillies. Stan Palys and Steve Ridzik went to the Reds with Burgess, with Glen Gorbous (#174) and Jim Greengrass (#275) coming to Philly with Seminick.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1951 Bowman #317
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (14): 1952-1953, 1956-1967
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2007 SP Legendary Cuts #97
111 - Burgess non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/4/22.
Sources:
1965 Topps Blog
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| January 28, 2006 - Celebrating Dad's 62nd birthday |
December 3, 2005 in Ft. Washington, PA - Card #273
This was a relatively late edition to our set and one of eight cards we purchased at the 93rd Philadelphia Sports Card Show held at the convention center in Ft. Washington. 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 or the occasional mall baseball card show.
My Dad didn't like the drive to Ft. Washington, and this would have been one of only a few shows we attended together in this location. Looking at my records of when and where we purchased our cards, a full year would go by before we'd add any more cards to the set.
The year-long hiatus in collecting the set came at a time my wife and I were expecting our first son and as we moved into our first real house.
The Card / Redlegs Team Set
Burgess returned to Topps in 1956 after a two-year absence and only appearing on Bowman cards. As I've done with several other cards, I've tried to find the date of the action photo featured. My best guess is that Burgess is sliding into second base and that's Pirates' infielder Dick Cole, who wore #12 between 1951 and 1956. There are four games in 1955 in which Burgess reached based against the Pirates with Cole playing either second base or shortstop. Based on the Baseball Reference game finder tools, I think this play happened on June 4, 1955 at Forbes Field with Cole at second base. Burgess doubled to lead off the fifth, and I imagine this photo shows the aftermath of his safe slide into the base. The back of the card refers to him as "Smokey" three different times, misspelling his "Smoky" nickname. (I've been guilty of this many times in the past too.)
1956 Season
The Phillies acquired Burgess from the Reds with Howie Fox and Connie Ryan on December 10, 1951 for Andy Seminick (#296), Niles Jordan, Eddie Pellagrini and Dick Sisler. The trade marked the beginning of the end of the Whiz Kids era with Seminick and Sisler heading to Cincinnati. Burgess was the team's opening day catcher in 1952 and 1953, but was steadily losing playing time to Stan Lopata (#183) in what had started as a platoon. With Lopata ultimately replacing Burgess as the regular behind the plate, Burgess was sent back to the Reds on April 30, 1955, with Seminick ironically coming back to the Phillies. Stan Palys and Steve Ridzik went to the Reds with Burgess, with Glen Gorbous (#174) and Jim Greengrass (#275) coming to Philly with Seminick.
Burgess was an All-Star for the Phillies in 1954 and in three-plus seasons with the club he batted .316 over 327 games with 15 home runs and 139 RBIs.
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First Mainstream Card: 1951 Bowman #317
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (14): 1952-1953, 1956-1967
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2007 SP Legendary Cuts #97
111 - Burgess non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/4/22.
Sources:
1965 Topps Blog
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