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Stephen Boros
Cincinnati Reds
Third Base
Born: September 3, 1936, Flint, MI
Signed: Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent, June 15, 1957
Major League Teams: Detroit Tigers 1957-1958, 1961-1962; Chicago Cubs 1963; Cincinnati Reds 1964-1965
As a Manager: Oakland Athletics 1983-1984; San Diego Padres 1986
Died: December 29, 2010, Deland, FL (age 74)
Signed by his hometown Tigers as a bonus baby in 1957, Steve Boros spent almost 50 years in baseball, retiring in 2004 as an executive with those same Tigers. Boros won MVP honors in the American Association in 1960 and enjoyed his best season as a player in 1961. That season, as the regular third baseman for the Tigers, he appeared in 116 games and hit .270 with 5 home runs and 62 RBIs. He hit a career high 16 home runs the following season. Known for his steady defense, Boros set a Reds franchise record with 50 consecutive errorless games at third base in 1964. He spent the entire 1969 season playing for the Omaha Royals (the top farm club for the expansion Royals) before retiring as an active player and beginning his second career as a coach, manager, scout and front office executive.
Embracing new computer technology, Boros was one of the first to use analytics for an edge in his team's games. He was also a huge proponent of the stolen base as an offensive weapon, and he used that to aid Tim Raines and Rickey Henderson in their Hall of Fame careers. Boros served as a coach with the Royals (1975-1979), Expos (1981-1982), Royals again (1993-1994) and Orioles (1995). He managed the Athletics (1983-1984) and Padres (1986) compiling a managerial record of 168-200. Between coaching and managerial duties and up until his retirement, he worked either as a scout or in the front office for the Dodgers, Orioles, Royals and Tigers. His scouting report on Dennis Eckersley was credited with providing intelligence to Kirk Gibson prior to Gibson's famous pinch-hit home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.
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| At Doug's first baseball game of the year, June 27th |
July 8, 2020 from Los Angeles, CA - Card #112
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 Boros card won from Greg Morris Cards with a winning bid of $0.79. 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 / Reds Team Set
This is Boros' last baseball card appearance as an active player, and he'd return to a Topps flagship set with his appearance as the A's manager in the 1983 Topps Traded set. This photo was taken during the 1964 season and clearly shows the #10 worn by Boros as a member of the Reds. The back of the card highlights his league-leading 128 runs during his MVP season of 1960.
1965 Season
Boros would appear in only two games for the Reds, on April 13th and May 8th, both times entering the game as a defensive replacement at third base for Deron Johnson (#75). Demoted to the minors, he was the everyday third baseman for the San Diego Padres, the Reds' top farm club, appearing in 117 games and hitting .269. He was second on the team in runs scored with 73, behind Lee May and his 83 runs scored.
Boros would spend the entire 1966 and 1967 seasons playing third base for the Buffalo Bisons (the Reds' new top farm club) without a promotion. He was sold to the Oakland Athletics in mid-June 1968, but he'd linger in the minors there too, ultimately retiring after the 1969 season and stops with the Reds and Royals farm teams.
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First Mainstream Card: 1958 Topps #81
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (11): 1958-1959, 1961-1965, 1983-1984, 1986-1987
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1987 Topps #143
50 - Boros non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 7/13/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Prior Card: #101 Fred Newman - Los Angeles Angels
Next Card: #103 Harvey Kuenn - San Francisco Giants
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