Sunday, April 30, 2023

#248 Bob Porterfield - Boston Red Sox


Erwin Cooledge Porterfield
Boston Red Sox
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  190
Born:  August 10, 1923, Newport, VA
Signed:  Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent before 1946 season
Major League Teams:   New York Yankees 1948-1951; Washington Senators 1951-1955; Boston Red Sox 1956--1958; Pittsburgh Pirates 1958-1959; Chicago Cubs 1959; Pittsburgh Pirates 1959
Died:  April 28, 1980, Charlotte, NC (age 56)

A veteran of a dozen big league seasons, Bob Porterfield spent his best years as a starting pitcher for the Senators in the early 1950s.  Originally drafted by the Yankees, he saw limited playing time with the club between 1948 and early 1951, making a few spot starts in between frequent trips back to the Yankees'  farm teams in Newark or Kansas City.  Porterfield would get a chance for regular pitching appearances when the Senators acquired him with Tom Ferrick and Fred Sanford in June 1951 in exchange for Bob Kuzava.  Inserted into the Senators' starting pitching rotation, Porterfield would make 138 starts over the next five seasons.  His career best year came in 1953 when he was 22-10 with a 3.35 ERA, while leading the league with 24 complete games and nine shutouts.  Porterfield finished seventh in that year's MVP voting and was named The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year.  He was named to the American League All-Stars in 1954, and while his numbers slipped, he still led the league with 21 complete games.

Porterfield was never the same following the 1954 season, which could be a result of his heavy workload while with the Senators.  Struggling with control, he had a few seasons in which his walks exceeded his strikeouts.  He was included in a nine-player trade with the Red Sox in November 1955, and he'd pitch for four more seasons with the Red Sox, Pirates (two stints), and Cubs, primarily as a reliever.  He found some late career success in 1958 with the Pirates, saving five games.  Porterfield had an 87-97 lifetime record with a 3.79 ERA in 318 games pitched, and he was posthumously inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

December 24, 2007 - Dad and Doug
Building the Set
December 28, 2007 from Dad's eBay purchase - Card #330
I last shared this full story with the Whitey Ford (#240) post, but I'll repeat myself, in an edited version, here.  The way my Dad and I finished the 1956 Topps set was somewhat anti-climatic but nevertheless a joyful memory.  Leading up to the Christmas of 2007, my Dad (with the help of my Mom) scoured eBay and other online baseball card stores for the remaining 29 cards we needed to complete the set.  Throughout the weeks and months leading up to the holidays, he knew we had completed the set but he kept it quiet, wanting to surprise me on Christmas morning.  I have no idea, and I'll never know, what the true last card was that he acquired to finish off the set.  And I have no record, nor was he able to tell me, how much they had paid for any of these final 29 cards.  This Porterfield card was one of the final 29.

The Card / Red Sox Team Set
Porterfield appeared exclusively with Bowman in 1954 and 1955, and this marks his return to Topps.  Maybe Topps had time to get new photos of the pitcher in a Red Sox uniform, but he's more likely wearing Senators gear here and the Topps' artists went to work to switch him over to the Red Sox.  The cartoons on the back highlight his acquisition from the Senators, his career year of 1953 and also mentions the injuries that hampered him during 1954 and 1955.

Porterfield's full name is on display on the back, and per his SABR biography, "Erwin's father began calling him 'Bob' when he was 6, for reasons unknown."

1956 Season
Porterfield had a forgettable 1956 season with his new club, going 3-12 with a 5.14 ERA in 25 games, including 18 starts.  He missed time with a sprained ankle and a circulatory problem that caused several fingers in his pitching hand to go numb.  In 126 innings pitched, Porterfield walked 64 and struck out 53.

1949 Bowman #3
1950 Bowman #216
1953 Topps #108
1957 Topps #118
1959 Topps #181

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1949 Bowman #3
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6):  1952-1953, 1956-1959
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1991 Topps Archives 1953 #108

39 - Porterfield non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 4/30/23.

 Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
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