#265 Sandy Consuegra - Chicago White Sox

Sandalio Simeon Consuegra
Chicago White Sox
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  165
Born:  September 3, 1920, Potrerillos, Cuba
Acquired:  Sent from Puebla (Mexican) to the Washington Nationals in an unknown transaction before 1949 season
Major League Teams:  Washington Senators 1950-1953; Chicago White Sox 1953-1956; Baltimore Orioles 1956-1957; New York Giants 1957

Died:  November 16, 2005, Miami, FL (age 85)

A star pitcher in the 1940s in the amateur baseball leagues of his native Cuba, Sandy Consuegra pitched in parts of eight seasons in the major leagues.  He made his debut with the Senators in 1950, and in five of his next six seasons he'd throw at least 124 innings as a valuable swingman, equally adept at starting or relieving.  He was 6-0 for the Senators in 1952 and in early May 1953 he was sold to the White Sox.  In Chicago, Consuegra had his best three-year span between 1953 and 1955.  He went to the All-Star Game in 1954 and was 16-3 for the season while finishing second in the league with a 2.69 ERA in 154 innings pitched.  He was just as effective in 1955, owing a 2.64 ERA in 44 appearances over 126 1/3 innings pitched.

Consuegra played briefly for the Orioles and Giants over his final two seasons in the majors before retiring and returning to Cuba.  He attempted a brief comeback in 1961 with his old Senators' organization, now re-located to Minnesota as the Twins, but after two minor league games he shut it down again.  In 248 games, Consuegra was 51-32 with a 3.37 ERA and 28 saves.

Building the Set
January 18, 2003 in Plymouth Meeting, PA - Card #240
In January 2003, I added seven cards to our set, purchased at a baseball card show held inside the Plymouth Meeting Mall.  I paid $45 for the seven cards, which included this pristine Consuegra card.  My Topps set building had stalled out somewhat in 2003 as I had switched over to become primarily a Phillies collector, and I was also spending my disposable income trying to put together the early Topps Heritage sets.  This was the first of only 18 cards we added to our set in 2003, but we did cross the threshold of needing less than 100 cards to complete the set late in the year.

The Card / White Sox Team Set
This is Consuegra's first and only Topps card, after having appeared in Bowman sets every year since 1951.  As far as I know, he's the only player to appear in at least five Bowman sets, but have only one Topps card.  The back of the card calls attention to his 1954 winning percentage and 1952 record of 6-0.  Consuegra always seemed to have a low ERA, but I was struck by the fact that for his career, he usually had more walks in a season than strikeouts.  Lifetime, he struck out 193 while walking 246.

1956 Season

Consuegra began the season with the White Sox, appearing in 28 games and struggling somewhat with a 5.17 ERA in 38 1/3 innings pitched.  On July 24th, he was sold to the Orioles, managed by his former White Sox manager, Paul Richards.  Not wanting to travel to Vancouver, the location of the Orioles' top farm team, Consuegra instead pitched with the Havana Sugar Kings, then the Reds' top farm team.  He was a September call-up by the Orioles, making it into four games.  Between the White Sox and Orioles, Consuegra was 2-3 with a 4.98 ERA in 32 games pitched, including a pair of starts.

1951 Bowman #96

1952 Topps #143

1953 Bowman Color #89

1954 Bowman #166

1955 Bowman #116

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1951 Bowman #96
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1):  1956
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1979 TCMA The 1950s #170

11 - Consuegra non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 10/7/23.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database

SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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Set Order: #264 Ray Monzant - New York Giants / #266 Don Ferrarese - Baltimore Orioles

Order Collected: #256 Tom Hurd - Boston Red Sox / #287 Bobby Adams - Baltimore Orioles