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Leslie Ferdinand Narum
Washington Senators
Pitcher
Born: November 16, 1940, Philadelphia, PA
Signed: Signed by the Baltimore Orioles as an amateur free agent before 1958 season
Major League Teams: Baltimore Orioles 1963; Washington Senators 1964-1967
Died: May 17, 2004, Clearwater, FL (age 63)
Les "Buster" Narum pitched for five seasons for the Orioles and Senators, compiling a lifetime record of 14-27 over 96 games. He was a mainstay in the Senators pitching rotation in 1964 and 1965, starting 32 and 24 games respectively and going 9-15 and 4-12 in those seasons.
Although he had no connection to the Phillies (that I could tell), Narum was born in Philadelphia and graduated from Clearwater High School, where the Phillies hold their spring training. He passed away in Clearwater in 2004.
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| The late January 2020 eBay winnings from Greg Morris Cards |
January 25, 2020 from Los Angeles, CA - Card #40
Some January days are longer than others, and on a particularly long January day at work a few months ago, I decided I needed a few more 1965 Topps cards for our set. I've been familiar with Greg Morris Cards for a while now, as I've been using a lot of the images of old Topps cards scanned for their eBay auction listings in these posts and within the posts over at my 1956 Topps blog. The images are always centered and clear and for all the help Greg Morris has indirectly provided me, I thought I'd browse his eBay store.
Given the vast inventory available, I figured there had to be at least a few 1965 Topps cards up for auction, and I was correct. I stumbled upon a set break and I set about finding auctions with no current bidders and cards graded at least EX-MT. I bid on a total of 20 auctions, winning 10 of them shown above, including this Narum card. I was the first and sole bidder on the Narum card with a winning bid of $0.79.
The Card
Narum had appeared on an Orioles Rookie Stars card in the 1964 Topps set with Darold Knowles (#577), and this is his first solo card. It's also his final Topps card as "Les" as Topps would use his nickname "Buster" on his 1966 card.
As the back of the card indicates, Narum hit a home run in his first big league at-bat, becoming the first Orioles player to accomplish the feat. He hit if off Don Mossi of the Tigers on May 3, 1963. It was mostly downhill from there for Narum's offensive heroics as his career average was .059 (7 for 118). However, three of those seven hits were home runs.
Senators Team Set
1965 Season
On March 31, 1964, the Orioles traded Narum to the Senators for a player to be named later, who ended up being Lou Piniella. Narum was third on the team in games started in 1965 behind Pete Richert (#252) and Phil Ortega (#152) who both had 29 starts to Narum's 24. Narum split his time evenly between the starting rotation and the bullpen as 22 of his 46 appearances came in relief. He threw two complete games for a Senators team that lost 92 games, kept out of the American League basement only by the Red Sox (100 losses) and Athletics (103 losses).
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First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #418 (with Darold Knowles)
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (3): 1964-1966
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA The 1960s I #44
10 - Narum non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/30/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
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: #85 Willie Smith - Los Angeles Angels
Next Card: #87 Nelson Mathews - Kansas City Athletics
Heh heh, Buster's giving the Vulcan "Live long and prosper" salute on his 1966 card.
ReplyDeleteHa! I didn't notice that until you pointed it out.
ReplyDelete