Saturday, February 18, 2023

#239 Harry Simpson - Kansas City Athletics


Harry Leon Simpson
Kansas City Athletics
Outfield

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  180
Born:  December 3, 1925, Atlanta, GA
Signed:  Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent before 1949 season
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Stars 1946-1948; Cleveland Indians 1951-1953, 1955; Kansas City Athletics 1955-1957; New York Yankees 1957-1958; Kansas City Athletics 1958-1959; Chicago White Sox 1959; Pittsburgh Pirates 1959
Died:  April 3, 1979, Akron, OH (age 53)

Harry Simpson began his professional baseball career with the Philadelphia Stars in the Negro National League, playing three seasons between 1946 and 1948.  The Indians signed him before the 1949 season and he was one of the earliest black players in the American League when he made his debut in April 1951.  Simpson appeared in a career-high 146 games for the Indians in 1952 as their regular right fielder, batting .266 with 10 home runs and 65 RBIs.  He was sold to the Athletics in May 1955 and he'd enjoy the best stretch of his career between 1956 and 1958.  In 1956, Simpson would experience his best professional season, making his only All-Star Team on the strength of his first half with the Athletics.  He'd lead the league with 11 triples while batting .293 with 21 home runs and 105 RBIs - both career bests.  In June 1957, Simpson would depart Kansas City and move to New York in the deal that exiled Billy Martin (#181), Ralph Terry and a few other players from the Yankees following a nightclub brawl.  With the Yankees, Simpson couldn't recapture his success from 1956 and he was traded back to the Athletics exactly a year later in June 1958.

Simpson played for three different teams in 1959, his final year in the major leagues.  He'd continue to play in the White Sox minor league system, then in Mexico, through the 1964 season, retiring at the age of 38.  In nine seasons in the majors, Simpson appeared in 888 games, batting .266 with 101 doubles, 41 triples, 73 home runs and 381 RBIs.

Building the Set
September 25, 2005 in Ft. Washington, PA - Card #267
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 $4 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.

August 14, 2005 - Dad and me at Yankee Stadium
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.  Our next show together was a few months later in December, also in Ft. Washington.  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 after that December show.

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, so we had a pretty good excuse not to be purchasing baseball cards at the time.

The Card / Athletics Team Set
I'm immediately drawn to the action photo here, as it shows Simpson in his follow-through after connecting with the ball in a game that could be in Yankee Stadium with Yogi Berra (#110) making yet another cameo appearance.  A lot of the "action" shots in the 1956 Topps set are posed, or feature game action on the base paths where the outcome is hard to discern.  This is one of more dynamic action photos in the set with batter, catcher, umpire and a sea of fans in the background.  If that is in fact Berra, it would mark his ninth cameo, so far, in the set.  He's potentially on the cards of Bob Kennedy (#38), Sandy Amoros (#42), Roy Campanella (#101), Jim Piersall (#143), Clint Courtney (#159), Billy Pierce (#160), Sammy White (#168) and Carl Furillo (#190).  I'll need to put together a gallery of Berra cameo cards once I've reached the end of the set.

This marks Simpson's return to baseball cards, as he wasn't in any 1954 or 1955 mainstream sets.  He spent all of 1954 in the minor leagues and was omitted from both Bowman and Topps sets in 1955, despite  playing in 112 games for the Athletics.

1956 Season
As mentioned above, this was Simpson's career year.  He was the regular right fielder for the Athletics, on their way to a 102 loss season and guided by manager Lou Boudreau.  In the All-Star Game, Simpson pinch-hit for pitcher Pierce in the third inning, striking out against Pirates' pitcher Bob Friend (#221).

1952 Topps #193
1953 Topps #150
1957 Topps #225
1958 Topps #299
1960 Topps #180

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1952 Bowman #223
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7):  1952-1953, 1956-1960
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1991 Topps Archives 1953 #150

34 - Simpson non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/18/23.

 Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
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