#339 Rance Pless - Kansas City Athletics

Rance Pless

Kansas City Athletics
Third Base

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  195
Born:  December 6, 1925, Greeneville, TN
Signed:  Signed by the New York Giants as an amateur free agent before 1947 season
Major League Teams:  Kansas City Athletics 1956

Died:  November 11, 2017, Greeneville, TN (age 91)

Rance Pless played professionally over 14 seasons, primarily within the New York Giants' minor league system.  Playing mostly the outfield and third base, Pless won two minor league batting championships with the Double-A Nashville Volunteers in 1952 (.364) and the Triple-A Minneapolis Millers in 1955 (.337).  Seemingly blocked at the big league level in the Giants' system, Pless' contract was sold to the Athletics on October 7, 1955.  He spent most of the season in the majors with the Athletics, appearing in 48 games, but making only 17 starts.  Pless returned to the minors for four more seasons, playing within the Yankees, Cardinals and Tigers organizations between 1957 and 1960.  He batted .271 in the majors, but at least .303 in the minors, collecting a known 1,807 hits.

Building the Set

July 30, 1994 in Ocean City, NJ - Card #132
My Dad and I bought this card at the annual Ocean City baseball card show held within the famous Music Pier during the summer between my sophomore and junior years in college.  We spent $41 on six cards for our 1956 Topps set at this show, with the most expensive card being (for some reason) the Rip Repulski (#201) card for $9.  This Pless card was $5.

From the flyer (right), it looks as if The Eastern Pennsylvania Sports Collectors Club (EPSCC) had abandoned its sponsorship of this baseball card show by 1994.  Honestly after they pulled out, the show was never quite the same and the quality definitely suffered.  My Dad would have grumbled at the fact that comic books were now encroaching on the floor space of his beloved baseball card show.  1994 and 1995 were strange years for the baseball card hobby as the player's strike that prematurely ended the 1994 season chased a lot of fans away from the hobby, and some of them have never come back.

Johnny Callison was back signing autographs though, and the former Phillies player was ubiquitous at these events back in the 1980s and early 1990s.

The Card / Athletics Team Set
This is Pless' first and last Topps card, and it's great that a player like Pless, who had spent nine seasons trying to work his way up the majors, received a card in the set.  The action shot would have been taken earlier in the season, as Pless did in fact wear #8 with the Athletics.  The back of the card highlights his successful 1955 season, when he won the batting title and was named the league's MVP.

1956 Season

Pless was with the Athletics every month of the season except most of July and all of August, and he appeared in 59 games for the Richmond Virginians, batting .298.  With the Athletics, and as mentioned above, he batted .271 (23 for 85) with three doubles and a triple.  Of his 17 starts, 12 were at first base and five were at third base.

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1956 Topps #339
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1):  1956
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1979 TCMA The 1950s #176

4 - Pless non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 9/1/25.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database

The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card / Next Card

Set Order: #338 Jim Delsing - Detroit Tigers / #340 Mickey McDermott - New York Yankees

Order Collected: #201 "Rip" Repulski - St. Louis Cardinals / #7 Ron Negray - Philadelphia Phillies

Blog Update

I've been admittedly slow-walking my way to the end of this blog, as I'm not quite ready to walk away from it after nearly 10 years of off and on posting.  This Pless card and the Mickey McDermott (#340) card are the final two player posts, to be followed by posts on the two checklists.  I still have my sights on wrapping this thing up by the end of 2025.