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Tyrone Alexander Cline
Milwaukee Braves
Outfield
Born: June 15, 1939, Hampton, SC
Signed: Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent, May 31, 1960
Major League Teams: Cleveland Indians 1960-1962; Milwaukee Braves 1963-1965; Chicago Cubs 1966; Atlanta Braves 1966-1967; San Francisco Giants 1967-1968; Montreal Expos 1969-1970; Cincinnati Reds 1970-1971
A backup outfielder during his 12-year big league career, Ty Cline is best remembered for helping the Reds defeat the Pirates in the 1970 NLCS, sending the Reds to the World Series. Cline's best season came with the Braves in 1964 when he hit .302 over 101 games, serving primarily as a pinch-hitter or late inning defensive replacement. Of his 101 appearances that season, only 13 were starts. Before his heroics with the Reds, Cline was an original Montreal Expo, claimed in the expansion draft in 1968 from the Giants.
In Game 1 of the 1970 NLCS, Cline tripled and scored the winning run in the 10th inning on a Pete Rose (#207) single. In Game 3, he again scored the winning run after he had walked with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, went to second on a Rose single and scored on single to left from Bobby Tolan (#116). His big games netted him appearances on two of the three NLCS highlight cards found within the 1971 Topps set.
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January 25, 2020 from Los Angeles, CA - Card #46
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.
The Card
There's no way that cartoon on the back would make its way onto a modern card, and rightfully so. In case you're wondering, the other four Braves to top the .300 mark in 1964 were Rico Carty (#305) at .330, Hank Aaron (#170) at .328, Joe Torre (#200) at .321 and Lee Maye (#407) at .304. With only 116 at-bats, Cline's .302 average in 1964 wouldn't technically qualify with the other four players but Topps needed something for the back of Cline's card and went with it.
I can't argue with the assertion Cline had his best season to date in 1964. In his only other full seasons, Cline hit .248 with the 1962 Indians and .236 with the 1963 Braves. The trade mentioned originally happened on November 27, 1962 with the Indians getting Joe Adcock and Jack Curtis from the Braves for Don Dillard, Frank Funk and a player to be named later. Cline was that player to be named later on March 18, 1963.
Braves Team Set
1965 Season
Cline appeared in 123 games for the Braves, making only 39 starts - 16 in center field, 12 in left field, 8 in right field and 3 at first base. He hit .191 (42 for 220) with three home runs and 10 RBIs. He finished the season in a terrible slump, hitting just .128 (6 for 47) in September. Left unprotected in the rule 5 draft following the season, Cline was selected by the Cubs on November 29th.
He'd play just 7 games for the Cubs in 1966 before being offered back to the Braves, who had relocated to Atlanta.
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First Mainstream Card: 1961 Topps #421
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (11): 1961-1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA The 1960s I #191
That's a whole lot of sky on Cline's 1961 Topps rookie card!
47 - Cline non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/9/20.
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: #62 Jim Kaat - Minnesota Twins
Next Card: #64 Lou Burdette - Chicago Cubs
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