Monday, March 2, 2020

#107 Phillies Rookie Stars - Pat Corrales / Costen Shockley


Patrick Corrales
Philadelphia Phillies
Catcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  180
Born:  March 20, 1941, Los Angeles, CA
Signed:  Signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent, June 26, 1959
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Phillies 1964-1965; St. Louis Cardinals 1966; Cincinnati Reds 1968-1972; San Diego Padres 1972-1973
As a Manager:  Texas Rangers 1978-1980; Philadelphia Phillies 1982-1983; Cleveland Indians 1983-1987

John Costen Shockley
Philadelphia Phillies
First Base

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  200
Born:  February 8, 1942, Georgetown, DE
Signed:  Signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent, July 16, 1960
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Phillies 1964; California Angels 1965

Pat Corrales played in parts of nine seasons in the Majors as a catcher for the Phillies, Cardinals, Reds and Padres.  He appeared in 134 games over five seasons with the Reds, serving as the back-up to Johnny Bench and appearing with the Reds in the 1970 World Series.  In 300 career games, Corrales batted .216 with four home runs.  Following his playing days, he managed the Rangers, Phillies and Indians in parts of 10 seasons, compiling a lifetime managerial record of 572-634.  He also served as a coach for the Rangers (1976-1978), Yankees (1989), Braves (1990-2006) and Nationals (2007-2008, 2009, 2011).

Costen Shockley appeared in 51 games for the Phillies and Angels as a left-handed first baseman and occasional right fielder.  He owned a career average of .197 (28 for 142) with three home runs.  Demoted by the Angels in mid-June 1965, Shockley refused to report and retired from baseball at the age of 23.  His successful minor league career earned him an induction into the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame in 1998.

Building the Set
December 26, 2019 from Cincinnati, OH - Card #31
Doug had asked his grandmother for 9-pocket pages for Christmas as he had run out at some point over the summer and had a backlog of cards to add to pages and binders.  His Mimi obliged with a box of 100 9-pocket pages, and on the first page on top of the box were several "surprise" cards for our 1965 Topps set.  This Phillies Rookie Stars card and the Phillies team card (#338) were two of the cards.  Mimi also gave Doug cards of Bobby Wine (#36) and Dallas Green (#203), which we had previously added to the set, and those will be added to our trade pile.  (We'll also work to get my Mom an updated checklist in case the mood strikes her again to purchase additional cards in the future.)

Mom's baseball card dealer of choice is Dean's Cards, located in Cincinnati.  She came across Dean's through eBay purchases over the years.  Their website is easy to use and their sales people have always been helpful and friendly to her.  This card, along with the next five cards to be featured were all purchased from Dean's Cards.

The Card
This is the rookie card for both Corrales and Shockley, and it's also Shockley's final card.  Corrales' .304 average for the Arkansas Travelers in 1964 was third on the team with Alex Johnson (#352) and his .316 average leading the club.  The Travelers were the Phillies' top farm club for two years in 1964 and 1965.  Shockley was a promising prospect for the Phillies in the early 1960s, especially after his 1961 performance for the Magic Valley Cowboys of the Pioneer League.  (That's an amazing minor league team name!)

By the time this card was issued, Shockley was already property of the Angels, having been sent with Rudy May (#537) to California for pitcher Bo Belinsky (#225) on December 3, 1964.  (Topps and Baseball Reference differ on the exact date of the trade.)

Phillies Team Set

1965 Season - Corrales
With 53 starts, Corrales shared catching duties with Clay Dalrymple (#372) and Gus Triandos (#248) who had 85 and 24 starts behind the plate respectively.  Corrales appeared in 63 games, hitting .224 with a pair of home runs and 15 RBIs.  There must have been a sparse crop of rookie catchers in 1965, as those numbers were good enough to earn Corrales a spot on the Topps All-Star Rookie team.  His trophy appeared on his 1966 Topps card showing him with his new team, the Cardinals.  On October 27, 1965, the Phillies traded Corrales, Johnson and Art Mahaffey (#446) to St. Louis for Dick Groat (#275), Bob Uecker (#519) and Bill White (#190).

Phillies Career - Corrales
As a player, Corrales hit .223 for the Phillies over two seasons and 65 games.

He was named the team's manager in 1982, succeeding Green.  Corrales kept the Phillies in the play-off race until mid-September, but they cooled off and were passed in the standings by the Cardinals, the eventual World Series winners.  In 1983, Corrales had the Phillies in first place at the All-Star break when he was fired and replaced by general manager Paul Owens.  To date, he's the only manager in history to be fired with his team in first place.  In his short tenure as Phillies manager, Corrales had a record of 132-115.
1965 Season - Shockley
Shockley appeared in 40 games for the Angels, and was their opening day first baseman.  He couldn't shake an early season slump and eventually lost his starting job first to Joe Adcock and then to Vic Power (#442).  As mentioned above, Shockley refused his minor league demotion in early June, ending his professional baseball career.  He hit .187 (20 for 107) for the Angels with two home runs and 17 RBIs.

Phillies Career - Shockley
Shockley made his Phillies debut on July 17, 1964, and he'd start nine games for them as the team never quite settled on a starting first baseman throughout the season.  He lost his chance at more playing time when the Phillies acquired Frank Thomas (#123) from the Mets on August 7th.
1966 Topps #137
1971 Topps #293
1974 Topps #498
1983 Topps #637
1987 Topps #268
Other Notable Baseball Cards - Corrales
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #107
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (16):  1965-1967, 1969-1974, 1979-1980, 1983-1987
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2005 Topps Rookie Cup #1

63 - Corrales non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 12/30/19.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Other Notable Baseball Cards - Shockley
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #107
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1):  1965
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #107

3 - Shockley non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 12/30/19.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
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:  #106 Gene Oliver - Milwaukee Braves

3 comments:

  1. I think Corrales was called up in mid-season 1965 (with Triandos traded to make room for him), so technically Pat only shared time with Dalrymple.

    Maybe it was his 2nd-half surge that caught Topps' eye.

    ReplyDelete
  2. When Corrales was the Phillies manager, I bought his 1966 Topps card at a baseball card show thinking it was cool he had been an All-Star rookie. I had no idea he had "earned" the trophy as a member of the Phillies until I saw his 1965 Topps rookie card a few years later.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Didn't the Phillies fire him while they were in 1st place, or was that Nick Leyva?

    ReplyDelete