#486 Angels Rookie Stars - Tom Egan / Pat Rogan

Thomas Patrick Egan
Los Angeles Angels
Catcher-Third Base

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'4"  Weight:  218
Born:  June 9, 1946, Los Angeles, CA
Signed:  Signed by the Los Angeles Angels as an amateur free agent before 1964 season
Major League Teams:  Los Angeles Angels 1965; California Angels 1966-1970; Chicago White Sox 1971-1972; California Angels 1974-1975

Patrick Andrew Rogan
Los Angeles Angels
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  195
Born:  November 29, 1943
Signed:  Signed by the Los Angeles Angels as an amateur free agent before 1962 season

Egan and Ryan, following Ryan's 3rd no-hitter

Tom Egan appeared in 10 big league seasons as a backup catcher with the Angels and White Sox.  He played in a career high 85 games for the Angels in 1971, also hitting his career high batting average at .239.  A lifetime .200 hitter, he's best known for catching Nolan Ryan's third no-hitter on September 28, 1974 against the Twins.

Pitching prospect Pat Rogan never made it to the majors, and he spent seven seasons in the Angels minor league system, making it as high as Triple-A twice - in 1964 and again in 1968, his final season of professional baseball.  Primarily a starting pitcher, Rogan won a career high 13 games in 1967.  His career minor league record was 66-57 with a 3.98 ERA over 196 games and 131 starts.  He threw 48 complete games, including nine shutouts.

Building the Set
February 13, 2020 from Los Angeles, CA - Card #59

eBay can be a dangerous place during long work days in the winter, and on a long work day in early February I found myself once again browsing through listings from a 1965 Topps set break from Greg Morris Cards.  I again bid on 20 cards, placing my maximum bid on each of the 20 and then vowing not to go back and increase my bid if someone else came in over me.  I stuck to my vow, and came away with another 11 new cards for our set, including this Angels Rookie Stars card.  I didn't track my original minimum bids, but I won this card for $1.81.

The Card
This is one of five Angels Rookie Stars cards in the 1965 set, which seems like a high amount for any one team.  The back of the card references that Egan was signed as a third baseman, but the Angels saw his future as a catcher.  He played 61 games at third base in 1964 and never again played the position professionally.

This is the one and only baseball card for Rogan.  If you're only going to appear on one baseball card during your professional baseball career, appearing within the 1965 Topps set is a pretty good way to go.  Rogan had a career high 137 strikeouts in 1962 while pitching for the C-Level San Jose Bees.

Angels Team Set

1965 Season - Egan
Egan made his big league debut on May 27th, a little over a week away from his 19th birthday.  It appears as if he was on the Angels roster for most of the year, but he only appeared in 18 games.  He hit .263 (10 for 38) with a triple and one RBI.  Buck Rodgers (#342) was the team's primary catcher, with Phil Roof (#537), Merritt Ranew and Tom Satriano (#124) seemingly ahead of Egan on the catching depth chart.  Of Egan's 18 games in 1965, 12 were starts.

1965 Season - Rogan
As the back of the card indicates, Rogan spent the entire season with the El Paso Sun Kings, the Double-A farm team for the Angels.  He struggled, appearing in 36 games and compiling a 5-10 record with a 5.53 ERA.  15 of his appearances were starts and he tossed three complete games.  The Sun Kings were managed by Chuck Tanner in 1965 and went 53-87 to finish in last place in the Texas League.

1966 Topps #263

1970 Topps #4

1972 Topps #207

1973 Topps #648

1975 Topps #88

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Egan
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #486
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (9):  1965-1967, 1969-1973, 1975
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1975 Topps #88

28 - Egan non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/25/20.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Rogan
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #486
Topps Flagship Set Appearance (1):  1965
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #486

1 - Rogan non-parallel baseball card in the Beckett online database as of 2/25/20.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
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:  #485 Nellie Fox - Houston Astros

Next Card:  #487 Woody Woodward - Milwaukee Braves