#340 Mickey McDermott - New York Yankees

Maurice Joseph McDermott
New York Yankees
Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  170
Born:  April 29, 1929, Poughkeepsie, NY
Signed:  Signed by the Boston Red Sox as an amateur free agent before 1945 season
Major League Teams:  Boston Red Sox 1948-53; Washington Nationals 1954-55; New York Yankees 1956; Kansas City Athletics 1957; Detroit Tigers 1958; St. Louis Cardinals 1961; Kansas City Athletics 1961

Died:  August 7, 2003, Phoenix, AZ (age 74)

Mickey McDermott pitched in parts of a dozen big league seasons between 1948 and 1961, mostly with the Red Sox.  A swingman early in his career, McDermott joined Boston's starting pitching rotation for good in 1953 when he won a career-high 18 games.  Perhaps due to his off-the-field struggles, he was dealt to the Nationals following the season with Tom Umphlett for All-Star outfielder Jackie Jensen (#115).  McDermott found some success in Washington for two seasons, and then was on the move again in early 1956 to the Yankees.  He'd appear in only 23 games and pitch 87 innings in his one season with the Yankees, and he'd see his only postseason action, pitching three innings of mop-up relief in World Series Game 2, won by the Dodgers by a 13-8 score.  McDermott pitched almost all of the next three seasons in the minor leagues, before making one last return to the majors in 1961 with the Cardinals and Athletics.

He'd keep trying to make a comeback to the majors, while battling his alcoholic tendencies, making minor league appearances through the 1964 season.  McDermott coached with the Angels (1968-69) and was hired as a scout by the Athletics during the time Billy Martin (#181) was managing the club in the early 1980s.  McDermott was the first scout to recommend Mark McGwire to Oakland.  In 291 big league games, McDermott was 69-69 with a 3.91 ERA in 1,316 2/3 innings pitched.

Building the Set
Summer of 1983 or 1984 in Millville, NJ - Card #37
This McDermott card was the last of the Original 44.  Given it's also the last player card in the set, and the last card in the set overall, depending on your feeling towards checklists, I'll repeat the story of how my Dad and I started collecting this set, one last time.

June 1983 - Ocean City Baseball Card Show

Technically speaking, my Dad and I actually began collecting the set in the summer of 1987, but this card (along with the other Original 44) first entered my collection three or four years before that.

I think it was either the summer of 1983 or 1984 when a shoebox of vintage baseball cards, football cards and a few non-sports cards arrived into my world.  The box contained about a hundred cards dating between 1950 and 1956, and for the most part, they were all in excellent shape.  A friend of the family was in the process of cleaning up and moving into her new house when she found the old shoebox and she wondered if the only kid she knew who collected baseball cards (me) would be interested in looking through it – maybe even taking the box off her hands.

She dropped the box off to my parents and asked them to have me look through the box and take what I was interested in. Turns out, I was interested in everything.  Up to that point, the oldest cards in my collection were cards from the early '70s I had obtained through trades or cards that my Dad had picked up for me at yard sales or small baseball card shows.  (My Dad had given me a few dog-earred and rough Topps cards – Juan Pizzaro and Jim Busby – a few years prior, and I completely forget how or why he had purchased these cards for me.)

My parents asked me to pick out a few cards from the box, and then we’d return the rest to the family friend.  Problem was, I wanted them all.  I really wanted them all.  I diligently and meticulously went through one of my price guides and determined the “value” of the treasure chest. I probably used my Sport Americana Baseball Card Price Guide No. 4, edited by Dr. James Beckett, and I had no way to value the football or non-sports cards.  My memory is fuzzy, and I can't find the original tally, but I think I came up with the box being worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 to $400, which I knew my parents definitely did not have in their discretionary spending budget.  But they could tell how much I wanted those cards, as I lovingly studied each and every one and handled each as if it were some long-lost artifact.

I don’t know the exact details, but I believe my Dad went back to the friend and told her we’d take the whole box, but only if she let him give her some money for it.  I believe she was genuinely shocked that the box of old cardboard pictures had some value, and that someone was willing to give her cash for it.  My Dad shared the list I had created showing the “book value” of the cards and he mentioned how it was going to be close to impossible to get me to pick and choose which ones I wanted.  When all was said and done, the family friend, who had absolutely no intention of making money on this endeavor, walked away with (I think) something in the neighborhood of $100 for the whole lot.

Within the spoils were 44 cards from the 1956 Topps set – by far the most cards from any one set.  I studied them, I sorted them, and I pretty much memorized every detail of those 44 cards.  

And so a few years later, in the summer of 1987 while on a family vacation, I was giddy with excitement when we came across a few ’56 Topps cards in the Walker Gallery on the main drag in Cooperstown, New York.  My Dad and I studied the cards for sale and he casually asked me the question, “Why don’t we try to put together the whole set?” We bought four cards that day for $9.25.  Those cards, along with the 44 from the magic shoebox, became the basis for our 1956 Topps set.

The list below contains the baseball cards from the Magic Shoebox, as well as other "old" cards in my collection as of the summer of 1987.

The Card / Yankees Team Set
McDermott is likely wearing a Nationals' uniform and hat here, and a Topps artist was tasked with swapping out the W on his hat with an interlocking NY.  This card marks his return to Topps after exclusively appearing in the Bowman sets the prior two seasons.  The first cartoon panel on the back highlights the three lefties at the top of the Yankees' pitching rotation to start the season - McDermott, Whitey Ford (#240) and Tommy Byrne (#215).  Only Ford stuck around in the starting rotation, going 19-6 with a league leading 2.47 ERA, while Byrne made one less start (eight) than McDermott.  The middle cartoon panel highlights McDermott's hitting skills.  He was a lifetime .252 batter with nine home runs and 74 RBIs.

1956 Season

As mentioned above, McDermott joined the Yankees before the 1956 season.  On February 8th, the Nationals traded him and Bobby Kline to the Yankees for Lou Berberet (#329), Herb Plews, Dick Tettelbach, Bob Wiessler and player to be named later, Whitey Herzog.  Of his 23 appearances, nine were starts, and he was 2-6 with a 4.24 ERA.

Phillies Connection
McDermott spent part of the 1958 season pitching with the Miami Marlins, then the Phillies' top farm team in the International League.  With the Marlins, he was 3-7 with a 5.66 ERA in 23 games, including seven starts, and he'd depart the Phillies' organization without ever earning a promotion to the big club.

1950 Bowman #97

1952 Topps #119

1953 Topps #55

1954 Bowman #56

1957 Topps #318

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1950 Bowman #97
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (4):  1952-53, 1956-57
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1991 Topps Archives 1953 #55

25 - McDermott non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 9/24/25.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database

SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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Set Order: #339 Rance Pless - Kansas City Athletics / 1st Series / 3rd Series Checklist

Order Collected: #323 Willard Schmidt - St. Louis Cardinals / #225 Gil McDougald - New York Yankees

#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

SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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Set Order: #335 Don Hoak - Chicago Cubs / #337 Bobby Morgan - Philadelphia Phillies

Order Collected: #304 Frank Malzone - Boston Red Sox / #13 Roy Face - Pittsburgh Pirates

#335 Don Hoak - Chicago Cubs

Donald Albert Hoak
Chicago Cubs
Third Base

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  170
Born:  February 5, 1928, Roulette, PA
Signed:  Signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent before 1947 season
Major League Teams:  Brooklyn Dodgers 1954-55; Chicago Cubs 1956; Cincinnati Redlegs 1957-58; Pittsburgh Pirates 1959-62; Philadelphia Phillies 1963-64

Died:  October 9, 1969, Pittsburgh, PA (age 41)

A veteran of 11 big league seasons, Don Hoak had his greatest success in the majors in the early 1960s as the starting third baseman for the Pirates.  Hoak came up with the Dodgers in 1954 and started more games at third base for the club than Jackie Robinson (#30) or Billy Cox.  In 1955, Hoak served as Robinson's back-up, although he started at third in the decisive Game 7 of the 1955 World Series against the Yankees, won by the Dodgers on the strength of Johnny Podres' (#173) shutout.  Dealt to the Cubs in December 1955, and then again to the Redlegs in November 1956, Hoak would make his only All-Star team in 1957.  He'd lead the league that season with 39 doubles.  His career year came in 1960 with the Pirates, as part of the club that would eventually win the World Series.  Hoak batted .282 with 16 home runs and 79 RBIs, finishing as the runner-up in MVP voting behind teammate Dick Groat (#24).  He'd bat a career high .298 in 1961.

Hoak would finish up his playing days with the Phillies, pinch-hitting in six games before getting released by the club in May 1964.  He served briefly on the Phillies' big league coaching staff for one season in 1967.  In 1,263 career games, Hoak batted .265 with 1,144 hits, 89 home runs and 498 RBIs.  He was managing the Pirates' Triple-A team in 1969, passing away tragically from a heart attack following the season.

From the 1963 Phillies Yearbook

Building the Set

July 19, 1997 in Ocean City, NJ - Card #159
My Dad and I added this card to our set at the Ocean City baseball card show held inside the Music Pier.  We purchased 11 cards that July day - Hoak and eight other commons, along with the Warren Giles (#2) card for $10 and the Ray Boone (#6) card for $5.

I graduated college in the spring of 1997, and that summer was a good one as I worked on the Sea Isle Promenade at a few t-shirt stores.  My days were spent jogging, barely working, reading and sitting on the beach.  Dinner would usually come from Phil's on 37th and Landis Avenue, and ice cream was consumed nightly.

Dad was still working in Millville at the time, and we probably met up in front of the Music Pier prior to his show.  The baseball card collecting landscape changed drastically in the ten year period between 1987 and 1997, with autographed cards making their way into packs and multiple parallel versions of the same card confusing us as "old school" collectors.  Still, I'd give anything to be back inside the Music Pier with my Dad searching for the next 1956 Topps card to add to our set.  I'm sure he was thrilled to find a dealer selling a bunch of '56s in good shape and at around $2 a card.  

The Card / Cubs Team Set
Topps used the same photo for Hoak as the photos used on his 1954 and 1955 Topps cards, swapping out a Brooklyn logo for a Chicago logo.  The player diving into the base could be Hoak too.  He wore #43 with the Dodgers, switching to #7 with the Cubs, and Topps may have whited out the uniform number from his former team.  Hoak's SABR biography disputes the claim he was a prizefighter, from the first cartoon panel on the back of the card, finding no support to back up those claims.  The middle cartoon panel highlights his marriage in 1950, which ended in divorce in 1961, followed by a quick second marriage to singer and actress Jill Corey.

1956 Season

On December 9, 1955, less than two months after the Dodgers won their only World Series title while in Brooklyn, Hoak was traded with Russ Meyer (#227) and Walt Moryn to the Cubs for Don Elston and Randy Jackson (#223).  Hoak struggled with his new club, and on May 2nd he set a National League record by striking out six times against six different pitchers.  For the season, Hoak batted .215 with five home runs and 37 RBIs as the Cubs' regular third baseman.  On November 13th, he was on the move again, traded to the Redlegs with Warren Hacker (#282) and Pete Whisenant for Ray Jablonski (#86) and Elmer Singleton.

Phillies Career
After a successful four seasons in Pittsburgh, the Pirates traded Hoak to the Phillies on November 28, 1962 for Pancho Herrera and Ted Savage.  Phillies' incumbent third baseman Don Demeter was moved to the outfield to make room for Hoak for the 1963 season, and Hoak struggled from the outset.  Batting .187 by the end of May, he was benched in favor of Demeter and then briefly, Ruben Amaro.  Hoak would work his way back into the starting line-up through the summer and early fall, eventually starting 101 games at the position by the end of the season.  He batted .231 in 1963, collecting 87 hits, six home runs and 24 RBIs.  At the start of the 1964 season, the 36-year-old Hoak had lost his starting third baseman job to rookie Dick Allen.  After going 0 for 4 with a pair of sacrifices in six pinch-hitting appearances, the Phillies released Hoak on May 18th, ending his playing career.

He was kept on the Phillies' payroll as a special assignment scout throughout the disastrous 1964 season.  He'd come back to the team briefly in 1967 as the third base coach for manager Gene Mauch, but he was dismissed after the season.

1953 Topps #176

1955 Topps #40

1957 Topps #274

1961 Topps #230

1964 Topps #254

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1953 Topps #176
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (12):  1953-64
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2016 Panini Diamond Kings #25

101 - Hoak non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/25/25.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database

The Phillies Room

SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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Set Order: #334 Bob Miller - Philadelphia Phillies / #336 Ellis Kinder - St. Louis Cardinals

Order Collected: #317 Al Aber - Detroit Tigers / #15 Ernie Banks - Chicago Cubs

#327 Bob Wiesler - Washington Nationals

Robert George Wiesler
Washington Nationals
Pitcher

Bats:  Both  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'3"  Weight:  188
Born:  August 13, 1930, St. Louis, MO
Signed:  Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent before 1949 season
Major League Teams:  New York Yankees 1951, 1954-55; Washington Nationals 1956; Washington Senators 1957-58

Died:  August 10, 2014, Florissant, MO (age 83)

On the strength of several strong minor league seasons, Bob Wiesler was promoted to the Yankees in August 1951, pitching in his first four big league ballgames.  He'd miss all of the 1952 season while serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, and then spend the 1953 season back in the minors.  Wiesler pitched sparingly with the Yankees in 1954 and 1955, and a trade to the Nationals in early 1956 finally gave him a shot at regular appearances in the majors.  He'd see the most major league action of his career that season, going 3-12 with a 6.44 ERA in 37 games overall, and 21 starts.  Wiesler threw a career-high 123 innings, striking out 49 but walking an alarming 112. 

He'd spend a few more seasons bouncing between the minor leagues and Washington, pitching in his final major league game on May 10, 1958.  Wiesler spent the next three seasons attempting to mount a comeback, spending time in the Yankees, Angels and Twins minor league systems.  In 70 games in the majors, Wiesler was 7-19 with a 5.74 ERA, 113 strikeouts and 218 walks in 241 1/3 innings pitched.

1957 Topps #126

Building the Set

December 28, 2007 from Dad's eBay purchase - Card #341

This is the second to last card added to our complete 1956 Topps set.  I recently shared this full story with the Rocky Bridges (#324) post earlier this month, 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 Wiesler 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 / Nationals Team Set
Wiesler is wearing a Yankees uniform here, and Topps did an admirable job transferring him over to his new team's uniform.  The Yankee pinstripes can still be seen when you look at the card up close, and the Nationals only wore pinstripes in 1955 at home.  The cartoon panels on the back highlight his minor league success, his blazing fastball and his arrival at Griffith Stadium, the Nationals' home ballpark, for the 1956 season.  This is his rookie card.

1956 Season

On February 8th, Wiesler, Lou Berberet (#329), Herb Plews, Dick Tettelbach and player to be named later Whitey Herzog were dealt to the Nationals from the Yankees for Bobby Kline and Mickey McDermott (#340).  Wiesler and his former Yankee teammates went from the zenith of the American League to the nadir, with the Nationals losing 95 games and finishing in seventh place that season.  Wiesler slotted into the pitching rotation behind Chuck Stobbs (#68), Camilio Pascual (#98) and Dean Stone (#87), and he threw three complete games.

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1956 Topps #327
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (2):  1956-57
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2006 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-BW

5 - Wiesler non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/31/25.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database

The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card / Next Card

Set Order: #326 Connie Johnson - Chicago White Sox / #328 Preston Ward - Pittsburgh Pirates

Order Collected: #326 Connie Johnson - Chicago White Sox / 1st Series / 3rd Series Checklist

#322 Karl Olson - Washington Nationals

Karl Arthur Olson
Washington Nationals
Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'3"  Weight:  205
Born:  July 6, 1930, Ross, CA
Signed:  Signed by the Boston Red Sox as an amateur free agent before 1948 season
Major League Teams:  Boston Red Sox 1951, 1953-55; Washington Nationals 1956 Washington Senators 1957; Detroit Tigers 1957

Died:  December 25, 2010, Reno, NV (age 80)

Karl Olson was a back-up outfielder in parts of six big league seasons with the Red Sox, Nationals/Senators and Tigers.  He appeared in five games for the Red Sox in 1951, and then missed the entire 1952 season while in military service during the Korean War.  Olson appeared in 101 games for the Red Sox in 1954, making 44 starts, and being used primarily as a pinch-hitter or late inning defensive replacement for Ted Williams (#5) in left or Jim Piersall (#143) in right.  Dealt to the Nationals in November 1955 as part of a nine-player deal, he'd have his strongest season in 1956.  Olson was the club's opening day center fielder, and he'd play in a career-high 106 games for the 95-loss Nationals.  Batting .246, Olson collected hit his career bests for both home runs (four) and RBIs (22).

He'd play in just 16 more major league games following the 1956 season, spending most of 1957 playing for the Tigers' farm teams in Charleston and Birmingham.  In 279 games, Olson batted .235 with 25 doubles, six home runs and 50 RBIs.

August 1989 - Trip to Cooperstown

Building the Set
August 13, 1989 in Bridgeton, NJ - Card #89
We went nuts at the Bridgeton Baseball Card Show in August 1989, buying 12 different cards for our 1956 Topps set, all at $1.50 a piece.  That's an impressive haul for $18!

I have no other information on the location of this show, other than it was held in the nearby city of Bridgeton, New Jersey.  What I do have however is the checklist I brought with us to the show.  I believe this is the second full checklist we carried around, having retired the prior version I created in 1988 and posted with the William Harridge (#1) card.

Just looking at this checklist (shown here) brings back fond memories of finding the cards, deciding to make a purchase, negotiating a price and then finding a flat surface so that we could cross off the newest additions.

The Card / Nationals Team Set
We've got a rare, third series trifecta with Olson's card, given Topps had used the exact same photo of Olson on his 1954 and 1955 Topps cards.  They did have to replace the "B" on his hat with a "W" for this 1956 card, however.  Olson looks absolutely massive in the action shot, sliding back into first base after presumably a pick-off throw from the pitcher.  The cartoon panels on the back of the card highlight his minor league success, his .260 average in 1954 and his arrival in Washington during the 1955 offseason.

1956 Season

As summarized above, this was to be Olson's best season.  He made 75 starts in center field (Whitey Herzog had 79) and five starts in left field.  On opening day against the Yankees, Olson connected for a pair of home runs off Don Larsen (#332), but Mickey Mantle (#135) countered with two home runs of his own, leading the Yankees to a 10-4 victory.

1952 Topps #72

1954 Topps #186

1955 Topps #72

1957 Topps #153

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1952 Topps #72
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (5):  1952, 1954-57
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2006 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-KO

11 - Olson non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/23/25.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database

SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card / Next Card

Set Order: #321 Jim Konstanty - New York Yankees / #323 Willard Schmidt - St. Louis Cardinals

Order Collected: #316 Jerry Coleman - New York Yankees / #328 Preston Ward - Pittsburgh Pirates

#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