General Baseball Image Discussion

[MorganMiller1926]

Pete Burnside: 100th oldest living major leaguer (according to Wikipedia).
See Post # 1180 (the last post of the previous page - page 59).
Burnside's card below is a 1958 Topps card (# 211).

[SPORTSMEM817]

This was a post on his facebook page by his family
DON MOSSI
1/11/29 - 7/19/19
We lost the Sphinx today. His 90 years were well spent on this earth and he was ready to move on. Per his request, there will be no services and his ashes will be spread in the mountains of Idaho. In lieu of flowers, Don asked that donations be made to a place that helps and supports animals.
We have chosen:
Dr Joe's Animal Hospital
369 Caves Hwy (368.91 mi)
Cave Junction, Oregon 97523-9604

Dr. Joe goes above and beyond in treating and supporting animals, their families and other charitable organizations.

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

Joe Schultz from Pilots Timeline

[MorganMiller1926]

Originally Posted by SPORTSMEM817

This was a post on his facebook page by his family
DON MOSSI
1/11/29 - 7/19/19
We lost the Sphinx today. His 90 years were well spent on this earth and he was ready to move on. Per his request, there will be no services and his ashes will be spread in the mountains of Idaho.

Mossi was one of my earliest favorites. 1954, his rookie year was the year I really discovered baseball, baseball cards, how to interpret box scores, what a .300 year meant for a hitter and what a 20-Win Season meant for a pitcher etc. and Mossi was one of the first players that I followed closely. R.I.P., Don

[MorganMiller1926]

Roman Mejias, is the new #100 on the Wikipedia Oldest Living Major League Players List. Mejias played nine years in the in the majors (1955 and 1957 to 1964). He was a valuable reserve outfielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but could not crack their startng lineup of outfielders of LF - Bob Skinner; CF - Bill Virdon and /RF - Roberto Clemente.
Given the opportunity to be an everyday player in 1962, Mejias led the Houston Colts/Astros in their inaugural year of 1962 with 24 home runs, and 76 RBI, while batting .286 in 146 games and nearly 650 plate appearances.
Mejias is 88 years of age and is due to turn 89 in less than 3 weeks.
(August 9)
Can our members please submit photos and baseball cards of Mr.Mejias.

[MorganMiller1926]

Roman Mejias, 88, born 8/9/1930 - 100th oldest living major leaguer, whacked 24 home runs for the expansion
Houston Colt.45s (Astros) in their inaugural year of 1962, leading the team in several offensive categories..

[SPORTSMEM817]

photos from Lexi Files and the photos of cards came from another forum on this site years ago.

[MorganMiller1926]

Thanks very much for the Roman Mejias photos, plus the homemade cards. You covered every stage of Roman's big leagues career very nicely. Thanks so much! Your card of Mejias with the Colt .45s in 1962 is far superior to the one that Topps issued.

[Oriole1952]

I too think the 62 Topps style card is great.Nicely done! Are there more 62 or 63 customs out there??

[MorganMiller1926]

Third Baseman Willie 'Puddin' Head' Jones
Willie was a fielding star whose best years occurred before there was a Gold Glove award to honor fielding excellence.
He also had some power, hitting 190 home runs lifetime and he played in over 1,500 MLB games. He was a
National League all-star in 1950 & 1951.

[MorganMiller1926]

First Baseman, Earl Torgeson had a solid 15 year career and was an exact contemporary of Willie Jones. Their major league
careers spanned the same exact years 1947 to 1961, during which time Earl was an everyday player for most of those years.
Torgeson played for the Boston Braves in a losing effort against the Cleveland Indians in the 1948 World series (Cleveland 4 Wins, Boston 2).
Earl hit .265 in 1,666 games, hitting 149 home runs.
He was known for looking like George Reeves the actor who played Superman, really resembling the Clark Kent character
when he wore his glasses. . Here's a rare photo of him without his eyeglasses.

[MorganMiller1926]

Bobby Morgan alternated between being an everyday player or a bench player as needed by his manager
He was a good fielding middle infielder, equally adept at shortstop orsecond baseman..
His career spanned almost a decade (1950-1958), including 3 1/2 years with the Phillies (1954-1957).
Bobby hit .233 in 671 MLB games.
He turned 93 last month.

[MorganMiller1926]

Jack Sanford was included in the top minor league prospects section of the 1954 Phillies Yearbook.
He would not make his major league debut until 1956. Sanford would win the 1957 National League Rookie Of The Year Award
and would compile a 137-101 career record, winning 19 games for the Phillies in 1957 and 24 games for the N.L champion
San Francisco Giants in 1962.

[SPORTSMEM817]

They came from another forum on this site several years ago.

[MorganMiller1926]

Outfielder, Johnny Wyrostek had a fine eleven year major league career and made two National League All-Star teams.
He reached the majors with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1942 and remained with them through 1943 playing sporadically
until he entered military service. After two years of serving Uncle Sam through the end of World War Two he was traded to the
Phillies and he became an everyday outfielder in 1946 for the Phils. In fact, he quickly became both an offensive and defensive star
and led all National League Putouts in '46 Outfielders in Putouts, while hitting .281. Johnny was traded to Cincinnati before
the start of the 1948 season where he had some more success. He would make the 1950 and 1951 National League all-star teams
as a Red, hitting a career high of .311 in '51.
Wyrostek was traded back to the Phillies in 1952 where he remained through the end of his career. He was a slap hitter like
Richie Ashburn and typically batted second behind Ashburn, but there were some occasions where Phillies manager Steve O'Neill batted
Wyrostek as his leadoff man and pushed Ashburn down to the second spot in the batting order. 1954 turned out to be his final big leagues season
as the Phillies cut him at the very end of the Spring Training of 1955.
He went home to Palatine, Illinois where he eventually became the town's sheriff. Johnny hit .271 in 1,221 MLB games.

[MorganMiller1926]

Also from the 1954 Phillies Yearbook is a photo of RHP Bob Miller. He debuted in the majors in September 1949
and made a big contribution towards the "Whiz Kids" Phillies successful 1950 N.L. pennant drive. In his first full season
of 1950 he went 11-6. Although sent to the minors for parts of some seasons
Miller pitched for the Phillies for 10 seasons (1949 to 1958), his only major or minor league organization.
He later coached college ball for the University of Detroit. Bob was
42-42 lifetime for the Phillies, with 23 Complete Games and 6 Shut Outs.
Born June 16, 1926 Miller is 93 years of age, 13 days Bobby Morgan's senior.

[SPORTSMEM817]

All the photos came from the old Lexi files
https://www.providencejournal.com/sp...2q6jWMbvK_etHk

[MorganMiller1926]

Bill Virdon, who turned 88 in June is the latest addition to Wikipedia's list of the 125 oldest living major league ball players.
(Main list shows #s 1 to 100, but if you click on EDIT at top right of the page It will reveal another list that you can scroll down to #s 101 to 125.)
Between 1955 and 1965 (and with an activation from the coaching ranks in 1968) , Virdon hit .267 with 1,596 hits in 1,583 games for the
Cardinals and Pirates. He had 81 triples and 91 home runs and won
one Gold Glove Award as a Speedy Center Fielder for the Pirates in Pittsburgh's spacious
Forbes Field.. He strongly contributed to the Pirates upsetting the NY Yankees to win the 1960 World Series.
Virdon hit .319 one year and had several other solid years, but was never selected to play in the all-star game.
Later he managed the Pirates,Yankees and Astros, winning 995 games, compiling a .519 managerial winning percentage, winning
one division title for both the Pirates (1972) and Astros (1980), and having a near-miss with the Yankees, when the Baltimore Orioles eliminated
the Yankees from the A.L. East race on the penultimate day of the 1974 season.
The below image is Virdon's 1956 Topps baseball card (original in color, not b&w).

[MorganMiller1926]

Correction: At this time Bill Virdon is actually # 124 on the Wikipedia Oldest Living Major League Baseball Players List

[MorganMiller1926]

The Philadelphia Phillies were the last team in the National League to integrate racially. Through the end of 1958 they had used only five players of color in regular season games. April 1957 would see black Cuban shortstop, Chico Fernandez make the team along with American-born, infielder, John Kennedy, a veteran of the Negro Leagues. Later that year utilityman Chuck Harmon would be obtained from the Cincinnati Reds. The Phillies opened the 1958 season with the addition of Cuban-born, first baseman, Francisco Pancho Herrera, a Negro Leagues star, who had played on the same Kansas City Monarchs infield with a young budding star at shortstop, Ernie Banks and both Banks and Herrera would be chosen to play in the two Negro Leagues East Vs. West all-star games in August of 1953.
Finally, in September 1958, a fifth black player was added to the Phillies player roster. Righthander, Henry 'Hank' Mason, became the Phillies' first black pitcher. (pictured beloe in his 1958 Topps and 1960 Leaf baseball cards.)
Integrration remained slow, but in 1959 pitchers Ruben Gomez and Humberto Robinson were added to the team as were catcher Valmy Thomas and infielder, Solly Drake.
1960 saw the Phillies acquire second baseman Tony Taylor from the Cubs and Taylor became the Phillies first all-star, playing in both MLB all-star games that summer. Tony Gonazlez, was acquired in a trade with the Reds, and he'd become the Phillies' everyday Center Fielder for almost a decade. OF-Tony Curry, a Bahamian, also arrived in 1960.
In September 1963 third baseman, Richie 'Dick' Allen would arrive from the minors and he would become the 1964 National League Rookie Of the Year. From the start he was a real impact player. He hit 29 home runs and drove in more than 110 runs in '64 and he'd hit 40 home runs in 1966. He'd also be part of the Phillies 1976 NL East division champions, the first Phillies team to finish in first-place since
Henry Mason is the 125th oldest living major league baseball player according to the Wikipedia List. He turned 88 in June.
"The Whiz Kids" of 1950. Allen is largely recognized as the Phillies first black superstar.