Friday, June 13, 2025

#337 Bobby Morgan - Philadelphia Phillies


Robert Morris Morgan
Philadelphia Phillies
Second Base


Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'9"  Weight:  175
Born:  June 29, 1926, Oklahoma City, OK
Signed:  Signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent before 1944 season
Major League Teams:  Brooklyn Dodgers 1950, 1952-53; Philadelphia Phillies 1954-56; St. Louis Cardinals 1956; Philadelphia Phillies 1957; Chicago Cubs 1957-58
Died:  June 1, 2023, Oklahoma City, OK (age 96)

Bobby Morgan was a successful back-up infielder, spending the bulk of his eight-year big league career with the Dodgers and Phillies.  Morgan earned International League MVP honors in 1949 when he batted .337 with 38 doubles, 19 home runs and 112 RBIs for the Montreal Royals.  Promoted to the Dodgers in early 1950, Morgan would spend the next several seasons as a back-up to Pee Wee Reese (#260), Jackie Robinson (#30), and Jim Gilliam (#280).  The Dodgers dealt Morgan to the Phillies before the start of the 1954 season, with Morgan taking over the regular shortstop job from Granny Hamner (#197).  He'd have his best seasons in the majors in 1954 and 1955 with the Phillies, but he'd slump in 1956, finding himself on the move over the next few seasons.  Morgan's last action in the majors came as one last pinch-hitting appearance with the Cubs in 1958.  He'd sign back with the Phillies' organization, playing five more seasons with their top farm teams and retiring as a player in 1963.

Morgan appeared in 671 major league games, batting .233 with 53 home runs and 217 RBIs.  He'd manage for three seasons in the Phillies' minor league system between 1964 and 1966, and would later serve as a scout for the Orioles, Royals and Twins.

Building the Set
January 10, 1999 in Raleigh, NC - Card #177
I indicate clearly in my notes this card (along with two others) was purchased at the Raleigh Sports Card & NASCAR Collectibles Show, not to be confused with the more benign Raleigh Sports Card & Memorabilia Show.  In any event, the Morgan card set me back only $6, which is an absolute bargain considering the card is in pristine shape.  I also added the Joe Collins (#21) and Johnny Kucks (#88) cards, also for $6 each.  Some of the cards in our set look as if they could have just come out of a brand new pack, and this is one of those.

I don't miss my time living in Raleigh, but I do miss these semi-regular baseball card shows held at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds.  As I'm primarily a Phillies collector, those dealers were always more than happy to unload their unwanted Phillies inventory on me and some of them would express genuine shock that I was trying to track down cards in the late 1990s and early 2000s of some very forgettable Phillies players.

The Card / Phillies Team Set
This blog is coming to a conclusion, and I've flipped to the last page in the set in my coveted 1956 Topps set binder.  That's Morgan in the action shot, and if this was a force play, I'm assuming the umpire is about to call the runner out.  The runner could be the Braves' Dave Jolly, the Giants' Hank Thompson (#199), the Cubs' Howie Pollet (#262) or the Pirates' Tom Saffell, as each of those players wore #16 in 1955, and I think the Reds and Cardinals had red uniform numbers on the backs of their jerseys.

This card marks Morgan's first appearance in a Topps set since 1953.  The cartoon panels on the back of the card highlight his success with the Phillies over the past two seasons, his promotion to the Dodgers in 1950, and his versatility in the infield.

Phillies Career / 1956 Season
The Phillies acquired Morgan on March 28, 1954 for Dick Young and $50,000.  Ted Kazanski was the club's opening day shortstop in 1954, but Morgan would start 123 games at the position, while also making six starts at third base and a pair of starts at second base.  In 135 games overall, he batted .262 with 14 home runs and 50 RBIs - both career highs.  In 1955, manager Mayo Smith (#60) moved Morgan to second base with Hamner sliding back to shortstop to start the season.  Morgan again had a solid year, even though Smith moved him back to short in mid-summer.  In 136 games, he batted .232 with 10 home runs and 49 RBIs.  With Kazanski at second and Hamner at shortstop to start the 1956 season, Morgan appeared in only eight games for the Phillies before a trade on May 14th sent him to the Cardinals for Solly Hemus.  Morgan settled back into a reserve role, playing in 61 games for the Cardinals and batting .195.

After the season, Morgan returned to the Phillies when the Cardinals traded him and Rip Repulski (#201) to Philadelphia in exchange for popular outfielder Del Ennis (#220).  Morgan's reunion with the Phillies was short-lived, and he played in just two games for the club in early 1957 before being sold to the Cubs on May 13th.  In 281 games with the Phillies, more than the 203 game he played for the Dodgers, Morgan batted .245 with 24 home runs and 100 RBIs.  He managed the club's Miami farm team in 1964 (64-75) and 1965 (67-75) before taking over the Tidewater Tides (58-81) in 1966.  His minor league managerial record with the Phillies was 189-231.

1950 Bowman #222
1952 Topps #355
1953 Bowman Color #135
1953 Topps #85
1958 Topps #144

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1950 Bowman #222
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (4):  1952-53, 1956, 1958
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2011 Topps Lineage Autographs #RA-BM

22 - Morgan non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 6/7/25.

 Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database

An early post from The Phillies Room, with a cherished comment from my Dad


Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Friday, June 6, 2025

#336 Ellis Kinder - St. Louis Cardinals


Ellis Raymond Kinder
St. Louis Cardinals
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  195
Born:  July 26, 1914, Atkins, AR
Acquired:  Obtained by the St. Louis Browns from the Memphis Chickasaws (Southern Association) as part of a minor league working agreement, before 1944 season
Major League Teams:  St. Louis Browns 1946-47; Boston Red Sox 1948-55; St. Louis Cardinals 1956; Chicago White Sox 1956-57
Died:  October 16, 1968, Jackson, TN (age 54)

One of the most underrated pitchers of his era, Ellis Kinder pitched professionally for 17 seasons, making his big league debut at the age of 31 with the Browns.  Given the nickname "Old Folks," Kinder first appeared with the Browns in 1946, enjoying mild success as a swingman for the second division club.  He was dealt to the Red Sox in November 1947, beginning an eight-year stretch as one of the best pitchers in the American League.  Kinder won 23 games in 1949, and had a 3.36 ERA in 43 games, including 30 starts.  He threw a career-high 252 innings that season, finishing fifth in MVP voting and earning The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year honors.  Converted to a full-time reliever in 1951, Kinder became one of the game's first closers, saving a league-leading 16 games in 1951 and a career-high and league-leading 27 games in 1953 while appearing in a then record-setting 69 games.  He'd depart Boston following the 1955 season, spending two more years with the Cardinals and White Sox before retiring.

In 484 big league games, Kinder was 102-71 with a 3.43 ERA in 1,479 2/3 innings pitched.  He threw 56 complete games, 10 shutouts and had 104 career saves.  Kinder was posthumously inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2006.

Building the Set
January 27, 2001 from Moorestown Mall Baseball Card Show - Card #227
For Father's Day in 2021, we attended my youngest son's piano recital and then travelled to the Moorestown Mall (in nearby Moorestown, NJ) for a baseball card show.  I don't spend a lot of time in malls, but I thought this one looked vaguely familiar.  As it turns out, I was at the very same mall 20 years earlier with my Dad for his 57th birthday.  We paid $60 for four cards for our 1956 Topps set, with the biggest purchase being the Harmon Killebrew card (#164) that set us back $38.  Based on my checklist at the time, we got a good deal on this card as I had the Killebrew card listed as one of the more valuable cards we still needed at a range of $60 to $100.  The other three cards added were this Kinder card, Carl Erskine (#233) and Frank Malzone (#304).

The Card / Cardinals Team Set
Topps did a good job transferring Kinder from a Red Sox uniform to a Cardinals uniform, but the unmistakable Yankee Stadium facade is still visible in the background.  The same main photo is used on Kinder's 1955 Topps card.  The cartoons on the back highlight Kinder's record-setting 69 appearances in 1953, and his successful 1949 campaign.  Topps' math is a little off in the final cartoon panel.  While he did start pitching professionally in 1939, he missed two full seasons in 1943 and 1945.  Kinder retired briefly in 1943, going to work as a pipe-fitter with the Illinois Central Railroad, and he missed all of 1945, serving a year in the U.S. Navy.

1956 Season
Kinder was sold by the Red Sox to the Cardinals on December 4, 1955, prompting a memorable going away party in Boston for the popular pitcher.  He began the season in the back-end of the Cardinals' bullpen, earning six saves but blowing two saves in the first two months of the year.  Despite the Cardinals decent record and Kinder pitching fairly well, he had his contract sold to the White Sox on July 11th.  The 41-year-old appeared in 29 games for the White Sox, going 3-1 with a 2.73 ERA and three saves.  For the season, he was 5-1 with a 3.09 ERA in 51 relief appearances with nine saves.

1950 Bowman #152
1952 Topps #78
1953 Topps #44
1955 Topps #115
1957 Topps #352

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1950 Bowman #152
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6):  1952-57
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1994 Topps Archives 1954 #47

29 - Kinder non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/31/25.

 Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)