#321 Jim Konstanty - New York Yankees

Casimir James Konstanty
New York Yankees
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  202
Born:  March 2, 1917, Strykersville, NY
Acquired:  Sent from the Springfield Nationals (Eastern League) to the Cincinnati Reds in an unknown transaction before 1942 season
Major League Teams:  Cincinnati Reds 1944; Boston Braves 1946; Philadelphia Phillies 1948-54; New York Yankees 1954-56; St. Louis Cardinals 1956

Died:  June 11, 1976, Oneonta, NY (age 59)

To date, Jim Konstanty is the only National League relief pitcher to win MVP honors, a feat he accomplished as the top reliever for the Phillies' 1950 pennant-winning team, the Whiz Kids.  Konstanty pitched briefly for the Reds and Braves in the 1940s, missing the entire 1945 season while serving in the U.S. Navy.  He'd earn a September call-up from the Phillies in 1948, joining the club's bullpen for good in 1949.  His career year came in 1950 when he was 16-7 with a 2.66 ERA while leading the league with 74 relief appearances.  Konstanty threw 152 innings, using a slider and change-up to help him record a league-best 22 saves.  Even though he hadn't started a game in the majors since 1946, Phillies' manager Eddie Sawyer named Konstanty as his starting pitcher for Game 1 of the 1950 World Series against the Yankees.  Konstanty would allow a run over his eight innings of work, but was out-dueled by Vic Raschi in a 1-0 win for the Yankees.  The Phillies would be swept in the series, and not return to the postseason until 1976.

Konstanty received 18 first place votes in the league's MVP voting, with Stan Musial finishing a distant second.  He'd never again repeat the success from that 1950 season, pitching in 3 1/2 more seasons with the Phillies, parts of three seasons with the Yankees and a final 27 games with the Cardinals in 1956.  In 433 big league games, Konstanty was 66-48 with a 3.46 ERA and 76 saves.  He served as a pitching instructor in the Cardinals and Yankees systems throughout the 1960s.

Building the Set
December 25, 1993 from Deptford, NJ - Card #123
On Christmas morning 1993, I unwrapped two cards needed for our 1956 Topps set - this Konstanty card and the Ted Williams (#5) card.  Unfortunately for Konstanty, the addition of the Williams card far out shadowed the addition of his card.  I would have known who Konstanty was, given my interest in the Phillies and their history, and I can vaguely recall not knowing he had ever pitched for the Yankees.  My records show my Dad had secretly purchased this Konstanty card at a Deptford Mall baseball card show held earlier in the fall, paying just $6 for the card.

The Card / Yankees Team Set
This is Konstanty's final appearance in a Topps set during his career, and he'd pop up again in the 1961 Topps set as one of the MVP subset cards.  There's a Yankees teammate making a cameo appearance behind Konstanty, carrying what appears to be a winter coat?  The back of the card highlights his success in 1950 and since joining the Yankees' bullpen.  The final cartoon panel mentions his two important wins down the stretch for the Yankees in 1955, but Konstanty would not appear in the 1955 World Series against the Dodgers.

1956 Season

Konstanty began the season in the Yankees' bullpen, appearing in eight games and pitching to a 4.91 ERA with no record.  The Yankees released him on May 18th, and he'd sign a few weeks later, on June 4th, with the Cardinals.  He'd appear in his final 27 big league games with the Cardinals, going 1-1 with a 4.58 ERA in 27 games, and 39 1/3 innings pitched.

Phillies Career
It's always seemed like a huge oversight to me that Konstanty was never inducted onto the Phillies' Wall of Fame.  His 1950 MVP campaign alone makes him a more likely candidate than some of the recent inductees, but the Phillies probably realize they wouldn't sell many more tickets on a day featuring a pregame ceremony to honor the bespectacled pitcher from the 1950s.

The Phillies acquired Konstanty before the 1948 season as part of a minor league working agreement with the Toronto Maple Leafs, who would soon become the Phillies' Triple-A team.  He appeared in six games, all in relief, in September 1948.  Konstanty was a workhorse coming out of the bullpen for the Phillies between 1949 and the first part of the 1953 season, appearing in 53, 74, 58, 42, 48 and 33 games, in each of those seasons.  1950 was by far his career year, but he'd put up respectable numbers in each season with the Phillies thereafter.  On August 22, 1954, the Yankees selected him off waivers, ending his Phillies career.  Konstanty was 51-39 with a 3.64 ERA and 54 saves in 314 games with the Phillies.

He'd work in the Cardinals' minor league system in the early 1960s, where he's credited with teaching a young Steve Carlton how to master his slider and change-up.  That alone could be worthy of a Phillies Wall of Fame induction.

1950 Bowman #226

1951 Bowman #27

1952 Topps #108

1953 Bowman Black & White #58

1961 Topps #479

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1950 Bowman #226
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (3):  1952, 1956, 1961
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1987 TCMA 1950 Philadelphia Phillies #3

47 - Konstanty non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/8/25.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database

The Phillies Room

SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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Set Order: #320 Joe Adcock - Milwaukee Braves / #322 Karl Olson - Washignton Nationals

Order Collected: #5 Ted Williams - Boston Red Sox / #139 Tommy Carroll - New York Yankees