#330 Jim Busby - Cleveland Indians

James Franklin Busby
Cleveland Indians
Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  175
Born:  January 8, 1927, Kenedy, TX
Signed:  Signed by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent, June 7, 1948
Major League Teams:  Chicago White Sox 1950-52; Washington Nationals 1952-55; Chicago White Sox 1955; Cleveland Indians 1956-57; Baltimore Orioles 1957-58; Boston Red Sox 1959-60; Baltimore Orioles 1960-61; Houston Colt .45s 1962

Died:  July 8, 1996, Augusta, GA (age 69)

Jim Busby spent nearly three full decades in the major leagues as both a smooth-fielding center fielder and as a coach.  He spent 13 seasons as a player, and his earlier seasons were his best.  Busby was an All-Star with the White Sox in his rookie season of 1951, and he'd play a half inning in left field in the All-Star Game, replacing Ted Williams (#5).  Busby swiped a career-high 26 bases in 1951.  He'd have his best seasons as a member of the Nationals, batting .312 with career highs in doubles (28) and RBIs (82) in 1953.  Speed in the outfield helped him finish in the top 10 for putouts, fielding percentage and assists in most of the seasons throughout the 1950s.  Busby's production declined following his departure from Washington, and he spent the final eight seasons of his career playing for six different clubs, including a repeat stint with the White Sox and two different stints with the Orioles.

Busby is one of the more underrated players from the 1950s in my opinion.  In 1,352 games, he collected 1,113 hits, 162 doubles, 35 triples, 48 home runs and had 438 RBIs, while stealing 97 bases.  He was a player-coach with the Orioles in 1961 and with the inaugural Colt .45s team in 1962.  Busby's complete coaching career spanned 18 years with the Orioles (1961), Colt .45s/Astros (1962-67), Braves (1968-75), White Sox (1976) and Mariners (1977-78).

Building the Set
July 20, 1989 in Williamstown, NJ - Card #79
In the summer of 1989, I was between my freshman and sophomore years of high school, and I have nothing but pleasant memories of that time growing up in South Jersey.  There were maybe five or six baseball card stores in our area, although only a few of them were known to carry older baseball cards.  One of those stores was located in Williamstown, New Jersey, which ironically enough is where my wife and I would settle and start to raise our family some 14 years later.  I had to dig into my notes from our other set quests to find the store's name - Collector's Corner.  We had finished off our 1974 Topps set in February 1988 at Collector's Corner.   

1977 Topps #597

July 20th was a Thursday, and I guess my Dad would have been off work with a hankering for a new card for our relatively new 1956 Topps set quest.  We were also collecting the 1973 Topps set, and with our 1956 and 1973 checklists in hand, we made the half hour drive from Millville to Williamstown.  I don't know if we purchased any 1973 Topps cards that day, but we found this Busby card for $5 - not a bad deal.  As a current Williamstown resident, I'm not even sure where this store would have been located back in the day, as a lot of the ubiquitous strip malls all look pretty much the same to me.  But it was in a strip mall, I remember that much.

I'm not exactly sure why Busby was one of my Dad's favorite players, and I wish I had thought to ask him at some point.  I suspect it has something to do with the fact they both shared the same first name, and there weren't a lot of major leaguers with the first name of Jim during my Dad's years as a young baseball fan.  Busby holds a special place for me in my collecting journey, as my Dad brought home a 1959 Topps Busby card one day back in the early 1980s.  It was one of a trio of completely disconnected (and ancient) cards added to my collection after I had first discovered baseball cards, and these were the oldest cards in my collection for a few years until the Magic Shoebox entered my life, jumpstarting the journey of collecting the 1956 Topps set.

The Card / Indians Team Set
This is Busby's first Topps card since 1952, as he had been exclusive to Bowman.  It looks as if Busby is wearing a White Sox uniform in the action photo and Topps also decided to remove any infielders in the background who may have been in the vicinity of second base.  He could be wearing a White Sox or Nationals jersey in the head shot, and a Topps artist did a decent job adding the Indians logo to Busby's hat.  The back of the card highlights his speed and "great fielding ability."

On October 25, 1955, Busby was traded by the White Sox with Chico Carresquel (#230) to the Indians for Larry Toby (#250).  Topps updated the cap logos on Busby's and Carresquel's cards, but surprisingly decided to leave Doby's cap logo as is. 

1956 Season

Busby was the opening day center fielder for the Indians, and he'd start 122 games overall at the position.  In 135 total games, he batted .235 with 17 doubles, 12 home runs and 50 RBIs.  He was not able to replace Doby's output for the Indians, as had been hoped, but he did hit grand slams in back-to-back games on July 5th and 6th.

1951 Bowman #302

1952 Topps #309

1953 Bowman Color #15

1957 Topps #309

1974 Topps #634

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1951 Bowman #302
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (9):  1952, 1956-60, 1973-74, 1977
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1983 Topps 1952 Reprint Series #309

55 - Busby non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 4/8/22.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database

SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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Set Order: #329 Lou Berberet - Washington Nationals / #331 Dick Hall - Pittsburgh Pirates

Order Collected: #72 Philadelphia Phillies Team Card / #42 Sandy Amoros - Brooklyn Dodgers

#311 Hal Naragon - Cleveland Indians

Harold Richard Naragon
Cleveland Indians
Catcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  160
Born:  October 1, 1928, Zanesville, OH
Signed:  Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent before 1947 season
Major League Teams:  Cleveland Indians 1951, 1954-59; Washington Senators 1959-60; Minnesota Twins 1961-62

Died:  August 31, 2019, Barberton, OH (age 90)

With his career interrupted two full years by military service in the early 1950s, Hal Naragon played in 10 major league seasons, mostly with the Indians.  Naragon appeared in only two roles during his years in the majors, catcher and pinch-hitter, and was a back-up for Jim Hegan (#48) and Earl Battey during his years in Cleveland and Washington/Minnesota.  Naragon caught the final inning in Game 3 of the 1954 World Series, in which the Indians lost to the Giants in four games.  His best season came in 1955 when he appeared in 57 games, batting .323 with a home run and 14 RBIs.  He'd eclipse that RBI total in 1956 with 18, and his most action during a season came in 1959 when Naragon appeared in 85 games between the Indians and Senators.  He was an original Minnesota Twin, starting 30 games behind the plate during the club's first season in 1961.  As a pinch-hitter, Naragon batted .159 (20 for 126) for his career.  Overall, he batted .266 in 424 games, with 262 hits, six home runs and 87 RBIs.

Naragon spent seven more seasons in the majors as a coach with the Twins (1963-66) and Tigers (1967-69).  He'd go to back to the World Series with the 1965 Twins and 1968 Tigers, with the Tigers prevailing over the Cardinals in seven games.

December 25, 2007

Building the Set
December 28, 2007 from Dad's eBay purchase - Card #338

I last shared this full story with the Foster Castleman (#271) post in late December, 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 Naragon card was one of the final 29.  It was one of the commons included in a memorable haul that included the cards of Pee Wee Reese (#260), Roberto Clemente (#33), Whitey Ford (#240) and a spotless checklist card for the 1st and 3rd Series.

The Card / Indians Team Set
Naragon's rookie card can be found in the 1955 Bowman set, and this is his first Topps card.  There's no telling whether or not that's actually Naragon sliding into second base, under the tag of what looks to be a Yankees infielder.  The cartoons on the back explain Naragon's role as the Indians' back-up catcher, and highlight his 1955 season.  The final panel focuses on his ability to catch base stealers.  For his career, Naragon threw out 35% of would-be base stealers, or 54 out of 153 attempts.  By comparison, current Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto has a career success rate of 32%, as of this writing.

1956 Season

In 53 games with the Indians, Naragon batted .287 with three home runs and 18 RBIs.  He made 33 starts behind the plate, second in the catching depth chart for the Indians, between regular Hegan and third-stringer Earl Averill.

1955 Bowman #129

1958 Topps #22

1959 Topps #376

1960 Topps #231

1962 Topps #164

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1955 Bowman #129
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7):  1956-62
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2011 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-HN

27 - Naragon non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 10/17/24.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database

SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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Set Order: #310 Steve Gromek - Detroit Tigers / #312 Andy Parfko - Milwaukee Braves

Order Collected: #308 "Chuck" Harmon - Cincinnati Redlegs / #324 "Rocky" Bridges - Cincinnati Redlegs

#300 Vic Wertz - Cleveland Indians

Victor Woodrow Wertz
Cleveland Indians
First Base

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  186
Born:  February 9, 1925, York, PA
Signed:  Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent before 1942 season
Major League Teams:  Detroit Tigers 1947-52; St. Louis Browns 1952-53; Baltimore Orioles 1954; Cleveland Indians 1954-58; Boston Red Sox 1959-61; Detroit Tigers 1961-63; Minnesota Twins 1963

Died:  July 7, 1983, Detroit, MI (age 58)

Vic Wertz was a four-time All-Star during a career that spanned 17 seasons in the American League, and his name is most associated as being the victim of "The Catch" made by Willie Mays (#130) in the 1954 World Series.  Wertz had his best seasons with the Tigers in the late 1940s and early 1950s, driving in 133 and 123 runs respectively during the 1949 and 1950 seasons.  He was an All-Star with the Tigers in 1949, 1951 and 1952, and later with the Indians in 1957.  Wertz began the 1954 season with the newly relocated Orioles, and was the right fielder for Baltimore's opening day line-up.  Dealt to the Indians that June 1st, Wertz would help Cleveland win the pennant and advance to the World Series against the Giants.  Mays made his historic catch in the eighth inning of Game 1 of the series, preserving a 2-2 tie.  The Giants would win the game in extra innings and ultimately sweep the Indians in four games.

Wertz spent the final years of his long career as a back-up first baseman and pinch-hitter, last playing for the Twins in 1963.  He drove in over 100 runs in five different seasons, and hit at least 20 home runs in six different seasons.  Wertz retired having played in 1,862 games, collecting 1,692 hits and batting .277 with 266 home runs and 1,178 RBIs.

Building the Set
September 25, 2005 in Ft. Washington, PA - Card #269
This was a late edition to our set and one of 11 cards we purchased at the 92nd Philadelphia Sports Card Show held at the convention center in Ft. Washington.  My records show we paid $5 for this card, which is surprising given I'd consider Wertz at least a semi-star. With the Ocean City baseball card shows long gone by now, our only options for local baseball card shows were the "Philly Shows" held in Ft. Washington at the time or the occasional mall baseball card show.

My Dad didn't like the drive to Ft. Washington, and this would have been one of only a few shows we attended together in this location.  Our next show together was a few months later in December, also in Ft. Washington.  Looking at my records of when and where we purchased our cards, a full year would go by before we'd add any more cards to the set after that December show.

The year-long hiatus in collecting the set came at a time my wife and I were expecting our first son and as we moved into our first real house, so we had a pretty good excuse not to be purchasing baseball cards at the time.  Amazingly enough, while composing this post, I remembered our son Doug had once played a game at Vic Wertz Field in Leesport, Pennsylvania.  Here are a few pictures from that weekend in October 2019, showing Doug up at bat and with his grandmother before one of the games, standing in front of Vic Wertz Field.

The Card / Indians Team Set
Exclusive to Bowman sets in 1954 and 1955, this marks Wertz's return to Topps.  Wertz wore #23 with the Indians, so that's likely him sliding back into second base.  I'm assuming the opposing infielder has either been painted out or is hiding behind Wertz's portrait.  The back of the card comments on his return from a bout with polio (see below), and his successful 1954 World Series.  There's no mention of "The Catch" on Wertz's card.

1956 Season

Wertz was the regular first baseman for the Indians, having moved in from the outfield a few years prior.  He had overcome a serious bout of polio which cut short his 1955 season, and resulted in manager Al Lopez frequently resting him during 1956.  Still, Wertz hit a career-high 32 home runs in 136 games, batting .264 with 106 RBIs.  He led the team by far in both power categories, as Al Smith (#105) was second on the club with 71 RBIs and Rocky Colavito was runner-up with 21 home runs.

1949 Bowman #164

1952 Topps #244

1954 Bowman #21

1957 Topps #78

1963 Topps #348

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1949 Bowman #164
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (11):  1951-53, 1956-63
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1991 Topps Archives 1953 #142

88 - Wertz non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 7/21/24.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database

SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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Set Order: #299 Charley Neal - Brooklyn Dodgers / #301 Marv Grissom - New York Giants

Order Collected: #267 Bob Nieman - Chicago White Sox / #18 Dick Donovan - Chicago White Sox

#281 Art Houtteman - Cleveland Indians

Arthur Joseph Houtteman
Cleveland Indians
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  188
Born:  August 7, 1927, Detroit, MI
Signed:  Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent before 1945 season
Major League Teams:  Detroit Tigers 1945-1950, 1952-1953; Cleveland Indians 1953-1957; Baltimore Orioles 1957

Died:  May 6, 2003, Rochester Hills, MI (age 75)

With major league rosters decimated by players serving during World War II, Art Houtteman was signed by the Tigers in early 1945 and made his debut with the club at the age of 17 on April 29th.  He was the youngest player in the majors in both 1945 and 1946.  Houtteman would soon become the ace of the Tigers' pitching staff, winning 15 games in 1949 and a career-best 19 games in 1950.  He'd pitch in that year's All-Star Game at Comiskey Park, allowing a home run to Ralph Kiner.  Houtteman missed the entire 1951 season while in military service and struggled somewhat upon his return in 1952.  He pitched a career-high 221 innings that season, but was 8-20 with a 4.36 ERA.

Dealt to the Indians in 1953, Houtteman was a member of the 1954 pennant-winning club and he pitched briefly in the 1954 World Series, lost to the Giants in four games.  Houtteman's output declined over the next few seasons and while his last major league action came in 1957, he pitched two more seasons in the Tigers and Athletics minor league systems before retiring in 1959.  In 325 career games, Houtteman was 87-91 with a 4.14 ERA, 78 complete games and 14 shutouts.

December 26, 2003 - Dad opening presents

Building the Set
December 25, 2003 from San Diego, CA (Kit Young Cards) - Card #248
My Dad/Santa brought me nine cards for our set for Christmas in 2003, with all but one of the cards coming from his dealer of choice, Kit Young Cards in San Diego.  The Brooklyn Dodgers team card (#166) was the lone non-Kit Young Cards addition, as that card came from TemDee in Turnersville, New Jersey.  It was a strange mix of commons from Kit Young Cards, with no semi-star or star card to balance out the lot.  We were admittedly in a lull collecting the set, with only 18 cards added during all of 2003 and only six cards added, as Christmas presents, in 2004.

Pictures from the Christmas of 2003 show us opening gifts at my Mom's house on December 26th, which has since become a tradition for us.  So while the official set records indicate these nine cards were added on December 25th, it was most likely a day later I opened the cards while in Millville.

The Card / Indians Team Set
Houtteman was exclusively with Bowman between 1953 and 1955, and this marks his first card in a Topps set since 1952.  The first cartoon panel on the back includes an uncorrected error as Houtteman made his debut with the Tigers at the age of 17.  The other cartoon panels include representations of Houtteman's teams with a tiger in uniform and a now-dated reference to the Indians.

1956 Season

Houtteman spent the entire season with the Indians, but was infrequently used by manager Al Lopez.  In 22 appearances overall, including four starts, Houtteman was 2-2 with a 6.56 ERA in 46 2/3 innings pitched.

1950 Bowman #42

1951 Bowman #45

1952 Topps #238

1955 Bowman #144

1957 Topps #385

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1950 Bowman #42
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (3):  1952, 1956-1957
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1985 TCMA 1949 Play Ball #29

27 - Houtteman non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/23/24.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database

SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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Set Order: #280 Jim Gilliam - Brooklyn Dodgers / #282 Warren Hacker - Chicago Cubs

Order Collected: #278 Chet Nichols - Milwaukee Braves / #282 Warren Hacker - Chicago Cubs

#268 Dale Mitchell - Cleveland Indians

Loren Dale Mitchell
Cleveland Indians
Outfield

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  195
Born:  August 23, 1921, Colony, OK
Signed:  Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent before 1946 season
Major League Teams:  Cleveland Indians 1946-1956; Brooklyn Dodgers 1956

Died:  January 5, 1987, Tulsa, OK (age 65)

After a stellar collegiate career at the University of Oklahoma, where he accumulated a career batting average of .467, Dale Mitchell signed with the Indians in early 1946 and made his big league debut a few months later.  Mitchell settled in as the club's regular left fielder between 1947 and 1953, earning his way onto two All-Star teams and receiving MVP votes in four different seasons.  Mitchell was a member of the World Champion Indians team in 1948, as Cleveland defeated the Boston Braves in six games.  He led the American League in hits (203) and triples (23) in 1949, and put together his strongest seasons in 1952 and 1953.  In 1952, Mitchell batted .323 with 58 RBIs, and he hit a career-high 13 home runs in 1953.  A back-up in 1954, Mitchell appeared in only 53 games, and he made three pinch-hitting appearances in the 1954 World Series in which the Indians were swept by the Giants.  He saw his last major league action with the Dodgers in 1956, appearing with the club in that year's World Series against the Yankees.

August 19, 2023 - Mitchell on the scoreboard during his induction
into the Cleveland Guardians Hall of Fame

Mitchell finished his career with 1,244 hits and a .312 average, with only Stan Musial and Ted Williams (#5) having a higher average between 1943 and 1960.  He rarely struck out, and his at-bat/strikeout ratio of 33.5 is currently 14th all-time.  A fine fielder as well, his .986 fielding percentage in left field is currently 45th all-time.  Mitchell was posthumously inducted into the Cleveland Guardians Hall of Fame in 2023, and the baseball park at the University of Oklahoma is named in his honor.

Building the Set

Summer of 1983 or 1984 in Millville, NJ - Card #36
This was one of the Original 44, and I re-told the story of how my Dad and I started collecting this set with the Walt Dropo (#238) post, back in February.  Seven of the Original 44 came from series one, with 11 coming from series two, and 16 from series three.   This is the second of ten cards to come from the final series four.

The Card / Indians Team Set
This won't mean anything to anyone other than my immediate family who happens to read this, but I always felt Mitchell looked like my late Uncle Dick on this card.  Mitchell returns to the Topps set here after a two-year absence as he had appeared exclusively with Bowman in 1954 and 1955.  This is also his final Topps flagship set appearance.  The fielder in the action shot looks like a Yankees player, so it could be Gil McDougald (#225), Phil Rizzuto (#113) or Billy Hunter, among others.

The first cartoon panel on the back is pretty cool, with Williams and Bill Skowron (#61) making cameo appearances.  Skowron's inclusion is questionable, as he only had two seasons under his belt, but he did have a .328 average following the 1955 season.  Williams was batting .348 for his career through 1955, and Mitchell was at .314.  The final cartoon panel is interesting too, as I've never heard of fielding percentage referred to as "infielding."  Mitchell led the league in 1948 and 1949 with marks of .991 and .994.

1956 Season

Mitchell began the season with the Indians, where he was used exclusively as a pinch-hitter, save for one appearance in left field.  In 38 games with Cleveland, he batted .133 (4 for 30) and was sold to the Dodgers on July 29th.  With his new club, again almost entirely as a pinch-hitter, Mitchell appeared in 19 games and batted a more respectable .292 (7 for 24).  He was included on the Dodgers' World Series roster, and made four pinch-hitting appearances against the Yankees, going 0 for 4.  Mitchell pinch-hit for pitcher Sal Maglie in the top of the ninth of Game 6 against Don Larsen (#332), and he struck out looking to clinch Larsen's perfect game.

1949 Bowman #43

1951 Bowman #5

1952 Topps #92

1953 Topps #26

1955 Bowman #314

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1949 Bowman #43
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (4):  1951-1953, 1956
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1991 Topps Archives 1953 #26

54 - Mitchell non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 11/20/23.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database

SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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Set Order: #267 Bob Nieman - Chicago White Sox / #269 Jack Meyer - Philadelphia Phillies

Order Collected: #263 Bob Miller - Detroit Tigers / #273 Walker Cooper - St. Louis Cardinals

#255 Bob Lemon - Cleveland Indians

Robert Granville Lemon
Cleveland Indians
Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  180
Born:  September 22, 1920, San Bernardino, CA
Signed:  Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent before 1938 season
Major League Teams:  Cleveland Indians 1941-1942; 1946-1958

As a Manager:  Kansas City Royals 1970-1972; Chicago White Sox 1977-1978; New York Yankees 1978-1979, 1981-1982
Hall of Fame Induction:  1976

Died:  January 11, 2000, Long Beach, CA (age 79)

The first 10 games Bob Lemon played with the Indians in 1941 and 1942 were as a pinch-hitter, pinch-runner or back-up third baseman.  He'd miss all of 1943, 1944 and 1945 while serving during World War II, and come back as a pitcher in 1946.  After a few mediocre seasons, Lemon emerged in 1948 as one of the premier pitchers in the game.  Lemon was 20-14 in 1948, leading the league with 20 complete games and 10 shutouts, including the no-hitter he threw on June 30, 1948.  He was 2-0 in the 1948 World Series, in which the Indians defeated the Braves in six games.  Lemon was an All-Star every season between 1948 and 1954, winning at least 20 games in seven seasons and helping the Indians reach the World Series in 1948 and 1954.  He was one of several future Hall of Famers in the Indians' pitching rotation during the 1950s along with Bob Feller (#200) and Early Wynn (#187).  Lemon led the league in wins three times, in complete games five times and in innings pitched four times.  The workhorse crossed the 200-innings pitched plateau in nine straight seasons between 1948 and 1956, hitting a career-high 309 2/3 innings pitched in 1952.

Lemon was 207-128 lifetime, with a 3.23 ERA and 1,277 strikeouts over 2,850 innings pitched.  After retiring as a player, Lemon began a long career as a big league coach and manager.  He was the pitching coach for the Indians (1960), Phillies (1961), Angels (1967-1968), Royals (1970) and Yankees (1976).  Lemon's managerial career saw him go 430-403 in eight seasons with three different teams, guiding the Yankees to a World Championship in 1978.  He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1976, and the Indians retired his #21 in 1998.

Building the Set

Summer of 1983 or 1984 in Millville, NJ - Card #34
This was one of the Original 44, and I re-told the story of how my Dad and I started collecting this set with the Walt Dropo (#238) post, back in February.  Seven of the Original 44 came from series one, with 11 coming from series two, and this Lemon card is the last of 16 from series three.   Lemon is one of eight Hall of Famers (or future Hall of Famers) from that Original 44 haul, along with Ed Mathews (#107), Yogi Berra (#110), Willie Mays (#130), Red Schoendienst (#165), Wynn, Larry Doby (#250) and Hoyt Wilhelm (#307).

The Card / Indians Team Set
Like a lot of the players featured in Series 3 of the set, and I'm keeping track of these, Lemon had appeared exclusively in Bowman sets in 1954 and 1955.  I'm assuming Lemon is standing in the infield of Cleveland's Municipal Stadium in the "action" photo, although I could be wrong.  The cartoon panels on the back highlight his league-leading 18 wins in 1955, and his six seasons of winning at least 20 games.  He'd have his final 20-win season in 1956.  The final cartoon panel mentions the start of his career as a "slugging infielder."  In 1942, while playing for the Double-A Baltimore Orioles, then a farm team of the Indians, Lemon batted .269 with 21 home runs and 80 RBIs.

1956 Season

Now 35 years old, Lemon was one of three 20-game winners for the Indians along with Wynn and Herb Score (#140).  Lemon went 20-14 with a 3.03 ERA over 255 1/3 innings pitched.  His 21 complete games tied him for the league lead with Billy Pierce (#160).  On September 11th, Lemon recorded his 200th career victory in a 3-1 win over the Orioles.  He hit a two-run home run in the second inning, the 36th of his career, which proved to be the margin of victory.  The Indians would finish in second place, nine games behind the pennant-winning Yankees.

Phillies Career

Lemon joined the Phillies coaching staff for their 1961 season, lasting only a year as the awful team's pitching coach.  He joined Gene Mauch's staff in Mauch's first full year at the helm, along with fellow coaches Peanuts Lowrey and Al Vincent.  

The Phillies were 47-107-1 in 1961, with Art Mahaffey by far the team's best pitcher with a 11-19 record and a 4.10 ERA.  Al Widmar would replace Lemon on the coaching staff for the 1962 season.

1949 Bowman #238

1951 Bowman #53

1952 Topps #268

1957 Topps #120

1979 Topps #626

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1949 Bowman #238
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10):  1952, 1956-1958, 1960, 1971-1972, 1977-1979
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2023 Donruss #215

383 - Lemon non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 6/21/23.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database

National Baseball Hall of Fame

The Phillies Room

SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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Set Order: #254 George Crowe - Milwaukee Braves / #256 Tom Hurd - Boston Red Sox

Order Collected: #252 Vernon Law - Pittsburgh Pirates / #263 Bob Miller - Detroit Tigers