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Robert Belinsky
Philadelphia Phillies
Pitcher
Born: December 7, 1936, New York, NY
Signed: Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent before 1956 season
Major League Teams: Los Angeles Angels 1962-1964; Philadelphia Phillies 1965-1966; Houston Astros 1967; Pittsburgh Pirates 1969; Cincinnati Reds 1970
Died: November 23, 2001, Las Vegas, NV (age 64)
I clearly remember seeing copies of the biography, Bo: Pitching and Wooing for sale at old baseball card shows as a young collector and thinking Bo Belinsky must have been one of the greats from the 1960s. Turns out he was just a larger than life personality who relished the spotlight, dated a bunch of women connected to show business and had a quick rise and quicker fall from grace as a pitcher in the Major Leagues. He won his first five starts with the Angels in 1962 and pitched a no-hitter against the Orioles in his fourth start on May 5th. It was all downhill from there.Belinsky pitched for three seasons with the Angels, going 21-28 with a 3.74 ERA. Seemingly focused more on the Hollywood lifestyle than pitching, the Angels quickly soured on the pitcher and traded him to the Phillies in December 1964. That began a six-year trek for Belinsky through the Phillies, Astros, White Sox, Cardinals, Pirates, Angels (again) and Reds systems before he retired following the 1970 season at the age of 34. In 146 games over 8 seasons, Belinsky compiled a 28-51 record with a 4.10 ERA. He contributed to the aforementioned biography, published in 1973 and written by Maury Allen.
Building the Set
July 8, 2020 from Cincinnati, OH - Card #117
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 Belinsky card purchased from Dean's Cards for $4. I browsed the Dean's Cards eBay store, setting a reasonable budget and determined to click Buy It Now on 10 cards. Another group of 7 cards were won in eBay auctions from Greg Morris Cards on the same day. The 17 cards added put us just over the 20% completion point for our 1965 Topps set.
The Card / Phillies Team Set
Belinsky is wearing an Angels jersey on the card, and he'd appear in an actual Phillies uniform on his 1966 Topps card. The back of the card focuses on his no-hitter as a rookie and the fact he was "a favorite with the fans." His 47 wins in the minor leagues, at the time, far outweighs his eventual 28 wins in the majors. He'd pitch in the minors through the 1970 season, eventually tallying 77 wins.
1965 Season/Phillies Career
Belinsky was traded to the Phillies for Rudy May (#537) and Costen Shockley (#107) on December 3, 1964. Earlier in the year, Belinsky had punched a sports reporter, been demoted to the minor leagues and refused to report. The Angels suspended him without pay. Inserted into the Phillies starting rotation, he started the season with seven rough starts (1-3, 6.58 ERA) and manager Gene Mauch (#489) shifted him to the bullpen. He'd bounce back and forth between starter and reliever throughout the season, missing most of September with a broken rib. Belinsky appeared in 30 games for the Phillies in 1965, making 14 starts and earning a 4-9 record with a 4.84 ERA. He vowed not to the return to the Phillies' bullpen in 1966, blaming Mauch for his pitching woes.
Belinsky's performance suffered further in 1966, appearing in 9 games with the Phillies (0-2, 2.93 ERA in 15 1/3 innings) before getting demoted to Triple-A San Diego in June. With the Padres, Belinsky appeared in only 13 games. The Phillies left him unprotected following the season, and the Astros drafted him on November 28, 1966 in the annual rule 5 draft. Mauch said of Belinsky, “He could pitch. He just wouldn’t work out. I wish I had a thousand guys with his arm and none with his head.”
Belinsky appeared in the 1965 and 1966 Topps sets with the Phillies, and he has a third mainstream Phillies card within the 1989 Swell Baseball Greats set.
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First Mainstream Card: 1962 Topps #592
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7): 1962-1967, 1969
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game #29
Belinsky's final Topps flagship set appearance shows him with the Cardinals, a team for which he never pitched. He was selected by the Cardinals from the Astros in the 1968 rule 5 draft and then sold to the Angels on April 3, 1969. A reunion with the Angels never happened as he was sold again to the Pirates on July 30, 1969.
30 - Belinsky non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 7/14/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
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