#597 Twins Rookie Stars - Joe Nossek / Dick Reese / John Sevcik

Joseph Rudolph Nossek
Minnesota Twins
Third Base-Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  178
Born:  November 8, 1940, Cleveland, OH
Signed:  Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent before 1961 season
Major League Teams:  Minnesota Twins 1964-1966; Kansas City Athletics 1966-1967; Oakland Athletics 1969; St. Louis Cardinals 1969-1970

Richard Benjamin Reese
Minnesota Twins
Infield

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'3"  Weight:  185
Born:  September 29, 1941, Leipsic, OH
Signed:  Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent before 1962 season
Major League Teams:  Minnesota Twins 1964-1972; Detroit Tigers 1973; Minnesota Twins 1973

John Joseph Sevcik
Minnesota Twins
Catcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  205
Born:  July 11, 1942, Oak Park, IL
Signed:  Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent before 1964 season
Major League Teams:  Minnesota Twins 1965

Joe Nossek's Baseball Reference page lists his primary positions as centerfielder and pinch-hitter which immediately clued me in as to how Nossek spent the bulk of his six seasons in the big leagues. In 295 games, he made 128 starts in the field, getting a career high 59 starts with the Twins and A's in 1966.  He also had a career high 27 RBIs that season.  Nossek retired with a .228 career average, batting .215 (17 for 79) as a pinch-hitter.  Following his playing days, Nossek was a long-time coach with the Brewers (1973-1975), Twins (1976), Indians (1977-1981), Royals (1982-1983) and White Sox (1984-1986, 1990-2003).

Rich Reese played 10 years in the majors, serving as the Twins regular third baseman in the late 1960s and earning some A.L. MVP votes in 1969.  That was by far his best season as he hit career highs in average (.322), home runs (16) and RBIs (69).  Reese is tied with three other players (one of whom is Willie McCovey - #176) for the most pinch-hit grand slams all-time with three.  He struck out to end Catfish Hunter's (#526) perfect game on May 8, 1968 and he was also the 383rd strikeout victim of Nolan Ryan in 1973, when Ryan set the single season record for strikeouts.

John Sevcik enjoyed a long cup of coffee with the Twins in 1965, appearing in 12 games and going 1 for 16 (.063), all while spending the entire season on the active roster as a bonus baby.  He spent most of the year watching the game action from the Twins bullpen, serving as an extra bullpen catcher.  It seems as if he was also on the Twins' World Series roster, but he didn't get into any games.  In seven minor league seasons, Sevcik hit .266 with 22 home runs and 196 RBIs over 504 games.

Building the Set
May 11, 2020 from Bowling Green, KY - Card #97
Having added the Al Downing (#598) card and a few others through eBay auctions, I continued working my way backwards looking for this card - the second to last card in the set.  I found a copy in great shape and at a reasonable buy it now price from Blue Grass Treasures in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  The seller had a few other cards available from the set and I pushed the buy it now button on those too, adding four total cards to our set.  The four cards arrived on the same day as the three I won from El Paso, Texas, so it was a fantastic mail day.  I've already started hunting around for card #596 and I have a feeling that card will be entering our set before our state's stay at home order is lifted.

The Card
This is the rookie card for Reese and Sevcik, and Nossek had previously appeared on a Rookie Stars card in the 1964 Topps set.  Topps used Dick for Reese's first name here but would switch over to the more familiar Rich with his 1967 Topps card.  This is also the final card for Sevcik, and other than an appearance in a 2005 Donruss set celebrating the 1965 Twins, this is his only mainstream baseball card.  The photo used for Sevcik could have been moved up a little to avoid the light blue wedge floating above his head.  Topps was determined to cram as many prospects and rookies into the final series of the set as possible, and there are six three-player rookie stars cards to be found along with five four-player cards.

Twins Team Set

1965 Season - Nossek
Nossek appeared in 87 games for the Twins, hitting .218 and serving as the team's primary back-up outfielder.  His fine defense earned him five starts in center field during the seven-game World Series against the Dodgers.  He hit .200 (4 for 20) in the Series, and he mentioned he was proudest of the fact he had only struck out once.

1964 Topps #532

1966 Topps #22

1967 Topps #209

1969 Topps #143

1974 Topps #99

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Nossek
First Mainstream Card:  1964 Topps #532
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7):  1964-1967, 1969, 1973-1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1974 Topps #99

33 - Nossek non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/18/20.

Sources - Nossek:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia

1965 Season - Reese
Reese appeared in only 14 games for the Twins, going 2 for 7 (.286) with a double in April, May and as a September call-up.  In 105 games with the Charlotte Hornets, the Twins Double-A farm team, Reese hit .226 as the team's regular first baseman.

1965 Season - Sevcik
Sevcik had several sporadic appearances with the Twins throughout the season, appearing in exactly one game in April, May and July, six games in June and three more games in late September/early October.  His rare playing time meant it was easy to assign him different numbers throughout the season as needed and he wore #20, #25 and #41.  I'd love to know the reason he bounced around with uniform numbers throughout the year.  He collected his first and last big league hit on September 28th with a double off the Orioles' Wally Bunker (#290).

1968 Topps #111

1969 Topps #56

1970 Topps #404

1971 Topps #349

1972 Topps #611

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Reese
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #597
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7):  1965, 1967-1972
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1989 Pacific Legends II #112

32 - Reese non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/18/20.

Sources - Reese:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Sevcik
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #597
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1):  1965
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #597

2 - Sevcik non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/18/20.

Sources - Sevcik:  
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.

Previous Card:  #596 Don Landrum - Chicago Cubs

Next Card:  #598 Al Downing - New York Yankees