#389 Don Larsen - Houston Astros

Don James Larsen
Houston Astros
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'4"  Weight:  215
Born:  August 7, 1929, Michigan City, IN
Signed:  Signed by the St. Louis Browns as an amateur free agent before 1947 season
Major League Teams:  St. Louis Browns 1953; Baltimore Orioles 1954; New York Yankees 1955-1959; Kansas City Athletics 1960-1961; Chicago White Sox 1961; San Francisco Giants 1962-1964; Houston Colt .45s 1964; Houston Astros 1965; Baltimore Orioles 1965; Chicago Cubs 1967
Died:  January 1, 2020, Hayden, ID (age 90)

1961 Topps #402

Regardless of whatever he would do for the rest of his playing career, Don Larsen would forever be linked, and rightfully so, for the perfect game he threw in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series.  That performance has earned its place as perhaps the greatest pitching performances in World Series history and it earned him World Series MVP honors.  It's the only perfect game to be thrown in the postseason and one of two no-hitters thrown in postseason history with the other coming from the Phillies' Roy Halladay in the 2010 NLDS.

Larsen never won more than 11 games in a season in the Majors and his best seasons came during his rookie year with the Browns (7-12 with a 4.16 ERA and 7 complete games) his magical 1956 season with the Yankees (11-5, 3.26 ERA, 107 strikeouts) and with the Colt .45s in 1964 as a reliever (4-8 over 30 games with a 2.26 ERA).  It should be noted that at the plate during his rookie season, Larsen batted .284 with three home runs.  He followed that up with a 21-loss season in 1954 for the newly located Baltimore Orioles and he came to the Yankees in a massive 17-player trade in November 1954.

A popular player who enjoyed the New York City nightlife, Larsen spent five years with the Yankees winning rings with the club in 1956 and 1958.  He retired after 14 seasons with a 81-91 record and a 3.78 ERA over 1,548 innings pitched and 412 appearances.

Building the Set
January 8, 2020 from Tomball, TX - Card #37
When Larsen passed away on New Year's Day, I read all the tributes and spent some time reviewing his baseball card appearances.  I don't have any proof of this, and there may be photo evidence buried within old family photo albums, but I believe I met Larsen at an Ocean City baseball card show back in the 1980s.  Reviewing his baseball cards in early January, I had always known that his first Topps card can be found in the 1956 Topps set.  But as that's one of the last cards in the set, I most likely won't cover that card for my 1956 Topps blog until years from now.

What struck me about Larsen's baseball card legacy is that I had no idea he had pitched anywhere other than New York.  So the fact that he had an Astros card, and that it happened to be in the set my son and I had recently started collecting, surprised me.  And of course I immediately needed it.

While taking an early January break at work and browsing eBay, I found this card with a reasonable $10 price tag from The Battersbox, located in Texas.  I must have ordered from them before, as I regularly receive e-mails from them.  Not wanting the Larsen card to travel from Texas by itself, I browsed other 1965 Topps card for sale from The Battersbox, and I also bought an Al Lopez card for $10.  I had become recently interested in Al Lopez while writing about the 1956 Indians team card for an upcoming post.  (In hindsight, it would have been more appropriate to have ordered the Yogi Berra card from the set - #470 - as Berra was the one who had caught Larsen's perfect game.)

As a young baseball fan in the early 1980s, I thought Larsen was the same guy as Dan Larson, who had pitched for the Phillies between 1978 and 1981.  I believe it was my Dad who gently informed me that Larsen and Larson were in fact two different people.

The Card
Larsen is shown hatless, wearing a Giants jersey, in a photo taken from the same session that yielded his 1964 Topps card.  It's an unremarkable card, but Topps has reprinted it twice - once in its 2001 Topps Archives set and again in its 2014 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs set, which Larsen signed.  No disrespect to Larsen here, but the photo makes him look a lot older than his 33 years at the time.

His World Series perfect game is the subject of the cartoon on the back, and I would have to think this gets mentioned on almost all of his post-1956 baseball cards.

Astros Team Set

1965 Season
Larsen appeared in only one game for the Astros, making a start on April 18th and lasting 5 1/3 innings against the Pirates, while giving up three runs on eight hits.  On April 24th, he was traded to the Orioles for infielder Bob Saverine (#427) and cash.  Larsen pitched relatively well for the Orioles, appearing in 27 games (all but one in relief) and earning a 2.67 ERA over 54 innings.  He was released by the Orioles prior to the start of the 1966 regular season.

1954 Bowman #101

1956 Topps #332

1959 Topps #205

1961 Topps #177

1964 Topps #513

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1954 Bowman #101
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (11):  1956-1965, 2001
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2019 Topps Archives #64

356 - Larsen non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/10/20.

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:  #388 John Blanchard - New York Yankees

Next Card:  #390 Bill Freehan - Detroit Tigers