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Curtis Leroy Blefary
Baltimore Orioles
First Base-Outfield
Born: July 5, 1943, Brooklyn, NY
Signed: Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent before 1962 season
Major League Teams: Baltimore Orioles 1965-1968; Houston Astros 1969; New York Yankees 1970-1971; Oakland Athletics 1971-1972; San Diego Padres 1972
Died: January 28, 2001, Pompano Beach, FL (age 57)
John Ernest Miller
Baltimore Orioles
Pitcher
Born: May 30, 1941, Baltimore, MD
Signed: Signed by the Baltimore Orioles as an amateur free agent before 1961 season
Major League Teams: Baltimore Orioles 1962-1963, 1965-1967
Died: June 5, 2020, Westminster, MD (age 79)
Curt Blefary edged out Marcelino Lopez (#537) for A.L. Rookie of the Year honors in 1965, hitting .260 with 22 home runs and 70 RBIs. In 1966, and at 22 years old, he was the every day left fielder for the Orioles team that would go on to sweep the World Series against the Dodgers. Nicknamed "Clank" by teammate Frank Robinson (#120) for his questionable fielding skills, Blefary made the rare move to first baseman and catcher after starting his career as an outfielder. He was behind the plate for Tom Phoebus' no-hitter against the Red Sox on April 27, 1968. After a season as the regular first baseman for the Astros in 1969, Blefary spent the last three seasons in the big leagues as a back-up with the Yankees, A's and Padres. He hit .237 over 974 games with 112 home runs and 382 RBIs.
John Miller pitched for his hometown Orioles in five different seasons between 1962 and 1967. He appeared in a career high 23 games in 1966, making 16 starts and earning a record of 4-8 with a 4.74 ERA. In 46 career games, Miller was 12-14 with a 3.89 ERA. Sold to the Mets in 1967, Miller spent that entire season in the minors pitching for the Jacksonville Suns. Following a year in independent ball in 1968, Miller retired.
Building the Set
July 8, 2020 from Los Angeles, CA - Card #108
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 Orioles Rookie Stars card won from Greg Morris Cards with a winning bid of $3.25. 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
This is Blefary's rookie card, and he'd earn a Topps All-Star Rookie trophy on his first solo card in 1966. As noted on the back, Blefary began is professional career in 1962 with the Greensboro Yankees in the Carolina League. He was selected off waivers from the Yankees by the Orioles in April 1963.
Miller's rookie card came a few years earlier as the pitcher was featured on a floating heads Rookie Stars card within the 1963 Topps set. The back of the card alludes to his control issues, and for his career Miller had 138 walks to 178 strikeouts over 227 innings.
Orioles Team Set
1965 Season - Blefary
His rookie season, 1965 was perhaps the best of Blefary's career. He started 131 of the Orioles' 162 games, splitting those starts between left field (62 games) and right field (69 games). This was also the first season in which Blefary openly complained to the media about a lack of playing time, criticizing manager Hank Bauer (#323) for not playing him enough in spring training. "Sometimes my mouth would get into gear before my brain was engaged," he's quoted as saying in his SABR biography.
His rookie season, 1965 was perhaps the best of Blefary's career. He started 131 of the Orioles' 162 games, splitting those starts between left field (62 games) and right field (69 games). This was also the first season in which Blefary openly complained to the media about a lack of playing time, criticizing manager Hank Bauer (#323) for not playing him enough in spring training. "Sometimes my mouth would get into gear before my brain was engaged," he's quoted as saying in his SABR biography.
1965 Season - Miller
Miller entered the Orioles' starting pitching rotation in late June, sticking around until the end of the season. He replaced future Hall of Fame Robin Roberts (#15) in the rotation and Roberts would ultimately be released by the Orioles on July 31st. Miller's best start came on July 21st against the Athletics when he pitched a complete game, allowing two runs on five hits, earning the win. Miller went 6-4 on the season with a 3.18 ERA, walking 58 and striking out 71 over 93 1/3 innings.
Before his promotion, he had appeared in 14 games with the Indianapolis Indians, going 6-2 with a 3.36 ERA.
Miller entered the Orioles' starting pitching rotation in late June, sticking around until the end of the season. He replaced future Hall of Fame Robin Roberts (#15) in the rotation and Roberts would ultimately be released by the Orioles on July 31st. Miller's best start came on July 21st against the Athletics when he pitched a complete game, allowing two runs on five hits, earning the win. Miller went 6-4 on the season with a 3.18 ERA, walking 58 and striking out 71 over 93 1/3 innings.
Before his promotion, he had appeared in 14 games with the Indianapolis Indians, going 6-2 with a 3.36 ERA.
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Other Notable Baseball Cards - Blefary
First Mainstream Card: 1965 Topps #49
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8): 1965-1972
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1981 TCMA The 1960s II #412
60 - Blefary non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 7/11/20.
Sources - Blefary:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
First Mainstream Card: 1965 Topps #49
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8): 1965-1972
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1981 TCMA The 1960s II #412
60 - Blefary non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 7/11/20.
Sources - Blefary:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Other Notable Baseball Cards - Miller
First Mainstream Card: 1963 Topps #208
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (4): 1963, 1965-1967
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2016 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-JM
17 - Miller non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 7/11/20.
Sources - Miller:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
First Mainstream Card: 1963 Topps #208
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (4): 1963, 1965-1967
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2016 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-JM
17 - Miller non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 7/11/20.
Sources - Miller:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
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Next Card: #50 - Juan Marichal - San Francisco Giants
Odd that any team would move a defensive liability to catcher. That's reserved for sandlot games.
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