#125 Juan Pizarro - Chicago White Sox

Juan Roman Pizarro
Chicago White Sox
Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  170
Born:  February 7, 1937, Santurce, Puerto Rico
Signed:  Signed by the Milwaukee Braves as an amateur free agent before 1956 season
Major League Teams:  Milwaukee Braves 1957-1960; Chicago White Sox 1961-1966; Pittsburgh Pirates 1967-1968; Boston Red Sox 1969; Cleveland Indians 1969; Oakland Athletics 1969; Chicago Cubs 1970-1973; Houston Astros 1973; Pittsburgh Pirates 1974

A veteran of 18 Major League seasons, Juan Pizarro was a two-time All-Star with the White Sox in 1963 and 1964.  Pizarro went 16-8 with a 2.39 ERA in 1963 and topped that performance with a 19-win season in 1964.  His ERA in 1963 was second only to his teammate Gary Peters (#430) who had a 2.33 ERA.  Prior to joining the White Sox, Pizarro pitched in parts of four seasons with his original team, the Milwaukee Braves, winning a World Series ring with them in 1957.

Pizarro was a journeyman towards the latter part of his career, and his Baseball Reference page shows an impressive display of the uniform numbers he wore throughout his career.  After being traded to the Pirates in 1966, Pizarro played for seven different teams over a nine-year period.  He wrapped up his big league career in 1974 with the Pirates, helping them win the N.L. East pennant.

Pizzaro finished his career with close to 400 professional wins - 131 in the majors, 66 in the minors, 38 in Mexico and 157 while playing winter ball in his native Puerto Rico.

Building the Set
December 7, 2019 from King of Prussia, PA - Card #10
Earlier this month, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sportscard & Memorabilia Show held inside the Valley Forge Casino.  After meeting Benito Santiago, Brad Lidge and Ryan Howard and having secured the first five cards for our 1965 Topps set, I continued scanning tables for the final two cards I needed to complete my 1971 Topps set.

I found a dealer with organized binders of vintage Topps cards, and I dug in.  Quickly finding the last two cards I needed from 1971 - #662 Mike Hedlund and #715 Horace Clarke,  both in great shape - I started browsing through binders from other years, in search of cards for my 1960s Phillies team sets.  I added five cards (all high numbers) for those sets and then decided to look through the 1965 Topps binder, figuring Doug wouldn't mind if I added a few more cards to our set.  I found four more sharp cards for our set, featuring players who all had some meaning for me personally.

This Pizarro card was the third of those four cards along with Robin Roberts (#15), Jim Fregosi (#210) and Harvey Haddix (#67).  For all 11 cards, the dealer gave me a price of $62, which I felt was fair given I had calculated a price of $75 in my head for the lot.

As told in my first post for the Joe Jay (#174) card, the 1961 Topps Pizarro card was one of the oldest cards in my collection for a while.  I vaguely recall my Dad had bought the card for me due to the similarities between our name and Pizarro's, but I never really knew anything about the pitcher smiling back at me.  When I came across his card in the binder of 1965 Topps cards for sale, I felt it fitting that it should be one of the first cards in our new set.

The Card
Pizarro was already a veteran of eight big league seasons when his card was released.  Given that Topps could have highlighted his 19-win season in 1964 or his 2.39 ERA in 1963, it's odd they decided to highlight his best minor league season in 1956.  Pitching for the Jacksonville Braves, Pizarro went 23-6 with 318* strikeouts over 274 innings pitched.  (*According to Topps, as his Baseball Reference page doesn't include a strikeout tally for 1956.)

According to the source for baseball logos, Chris Creamer's Sportslogos.net, the primary logo used by the White Sox in 1965 was the logo shown above with the batter superimposed over a floating white sock.  The team's alternate logo, and the one used by Topps, shows the flying white sock with a yellow circular background.

Pizarro is in the harder to find 1965 Topps Transfers insert set, but he's not in the 1965 Topps Embossed insert set.

1965 Season
Pizarro's 1965 season was cut short by an arm injury and a salary holdout.  He struggled over his first seven starts, not lasting more than five innings in any appearance and going 1-2 with a 7.32 ERA.  He was shut down for a month and returned at the end of July, going 5-1 with a 2.44 ERA.  On August 11th, he threw a one-hitter against the Senators.  The White Sox finished second in the league, seven games behind the Twins.

1957 Topps #383

1961 Topps #227

1963 Topps #160

1968 Topps #19

1972 Topps #18

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1957 Topps #383
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (14):  1957, 1959-1969, 1971-1972
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1980 TCMA 1957 Braves #18

86 - Pizarro non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 12/17/19.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year.  Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.

Prior Card:  #124 Tom Satriano - Los Angeles Angels

Next Card:  #126 Los Angeles Dodgers Team Card