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George Stuart Brunet
Los Angeles Angels
Pitcher
Born: June 8, 1935, Houghton, MI
Acquired: Obtained by the Kansas City Athletics from Seminole (Sooner State) as part of a minor league working agreement, before 1955 season
Major League Teams: Kansas City Athletics 1956-1957, 1959-1960; Milwaukee Braves 1960-1961; Houston Colt .45s 1962-1963; Baltimore Orioles 1963; Los Angeles Angels 1964; California Angels 1965-1969; Seattle Pilots 1969; Washington Senators 1970; Pittsburgh Pirates 1970; St. Louis Cardinals 1971
Died: October 25, 1991, Poza Rica, Mexico (age 56)
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| Sports Illustrated - August 18, 1980 |
But his career in the Mexican League was just beginning. His Baseball Reference statistics aren't complete, but Brunet pitched into his 50s finally retiring in the late 1980s. Known as "El Viejo" or "The Old Man," he pitched a no-hitter with Petroleros de Poza Rica on June 20, 1977 at 42 years old. On June 10, 1984, at 51, he set the Mexican record for shutouts with 55. In total, he pitched for 36 years in professional baseball. He died of a heart attack in 1991 a few years after his retirement and was posthumously elected into the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.
Building the Set
July 8, 2020 from Los Angeles, CA - Card #111
In need of some cardboard therapy as we approached the four month anniversary of the start of our social distancing, I went on a mini eBay binge the first week of July. We had a vacation planned for the last week of June, first week of July, and that vacation had been unceremoniously cancelled at some point in April. Major League Baseball was showing signs of coming back, the Black Lives Matter movement was finally gaining momentum, the pandemic showed no signs of going away any time soon and a complete lack of intelligent national leadership wasn't helping anything or anybody. I needed some old baseball cards.
17 cards arrived on July 8th, including this Brunet card won from Greg Morris Cards with a winning bid of $2.25. I bid on 15 cards from Greg Morris Cards' eBay auctions, winning 7 of them. A batch of 10 more cards entered my eBay cart from Dean's Cards on the same day. Over the next several weeks, I'll review each of the 17 cards acquired, putting us just over the 20% mark for completion of our 1965 Topps set.
The Card / Angels Team Set
That's not a particularly flattering photo of Brunet, but Topps liked it so much they cropped it closer and re-used the photo for Brunet's 1966 card. The piping around the neck means Brunet was wearing an Orioles road uniform in the photo, taken back in 1963. On the back, Topps had no way of knowing Brunet's 15 club trek since his professional debut in 1953 was to be only the beginning! As an 18-year-old, Brunet appeared in 7 games in 1953 for the D-Level Shelby Clippers in the Tar Heel League.
1965 Season
This was Brunet's best season in the majors as he went 9-11 for the Angels and his 2.56 ERA was fourth best in the American League. He was the reliable fourth starter on an Angels pitching staff that also consisted of Fred Newman (#101), Dean Chance (#140) and Marcelino Lopez (#537). Brunet pitched 197 innings including a 10-inning shutout against the Senators on July 21st.
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First Mainstream Card: 1958 Topps #139
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1958, 1963-1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2009 TriStar Obak #54
38 - Brunet non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 7/11/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
Sports Illustrated
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Prior Card: #241 Mack Jones - Milwaukee Braves
Next Card: #243 Reds Rookie Stars
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