#13 Pedro Ramos - New York Yankees

Pedro Ramos
New York Yankees
Pitcher

Bats:  Both  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  175
Born:  April 28, 1935, Pinar del Rio, Cuba
Signed:  Signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent before 1953 season
Major League Teams:  Washington Senators 1955-1960; Minnesota Twins 1961; Cleveland Indians 1962-1964; New York Yankees 1964-1966; Philadelphia Phillies 1967; Pittsburgh Pirates 1969; Cincinnati Reds 1969; Washington Senators 1970

Playing for some awful Senators teams in the mid to late 1950s, Pedro Ramos held the dubious distinction in often leading the American League in losses, hits allowed, and home runs allowed.  He reached the 200-innings pitched plateau six years in a row between 1957 and 1962 and was an All-Star for the Senators in 1959.  Playing in parts of 15 seasons, Ramos was primarily a starter the first part of his career, but then he switched to full time relieving and occasional closing.  He was a crucial member of the Yankees bullpen late in the 1964 season, acquired in a September deal with the Indians.  In his 13 appearances that September with the Yankees, he saved eight games, helping the team clinch the American League pennant.  As the Yankees closer in 1965, Ramos appeared in 65 games and recorded 18 saves.

He was the last pitcher to start a game for the old Washington Senators in 1960, and the first to start a game in 1961 after the team had relocated to Minnesota and re-branded themselves as the Twins.  As a batter, he accumulated 15 career home runs and owned two multi-home run games.

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1956 Topps blog.

Building the Set
December 26, 2019 from Cincinnati, OH - Card #33
My Mom did a little surrogate Christmas shopping for my Aunt Louise and Uncle Terry, both lifelong Yankees fans.  They were kind enough to give Doug four more cards for our set the day after Christmas - all related to the Yankees, and the first Yankees cards we've added.

Given our proximity to New York, and the popularity of the Yankees overall, I've found their cards are usually the toughest to track down whenever I've built a set.  Even non-set collectors have been tracking down older Yankees cards for years, building team sets or player collections.  With the biggest card in the set also being a Yankee - Mickey Mantle (#350) - I imagine the last cards we'll need from the set will be Yankees cards.

The Card
Ramos was acquired from the Indians on September 5, 1964, and Topps wouldn't have had time yet to get a good picture of him in Yankee pinstripes.  This photo is most likely from the same session that yielded the photo for his 1964 Topps card and Ramos was probably asked to remove his Indians hat by the photographer for just such a need.

Yankees Team Set

1965 Season
Ramos was with the Yankees for the entire season, the most successful of his career as a closer.  He went 5-5 with a 2.92 ERA and 18 saves over 65 appearances.  The Yankees suffered a sharp drop-off however after losing the 1964 World Series, finishing in sixth place in the American League well behind the pennant winning Twins.

Phillies Career
On December 10, 1966, the Phillies acquired Ramos from the Yankees for Joe Verbanic and cash.  Ramos was used sparingly in late April 1967 and throughout the month of May, appearing in six games and tallying eight innings pitched.  The Phillies lost all six games in which he appeared.  On June 5, 1967, Ramos and his 9.00 ERA were released and he spent the remainder of the 1967 season pitching in Vancouver for the Kansas City Athletics' Triple-A team.  Still, his short stint with the club earned him a Phillies card in the 1967 Topps set and I've included his page from the team's 1967 Yearbook above.

1956 Topps #49

1959 Topps #78

1963 Topps #14

1964 Topps #562

1967 Topps #187

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1956 Topps #49
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (12):  1956-1967
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1978 TCMA The 1960s I #38

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

Sources:  
1956 Topps Blog
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:  #12 1964 N.L. Strikeout Leaders

Next Card:  #14 Len Gabrielson - Chicago Cubs