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Robert Dean Lee
Los Angeles Angels
Pitcher
Born: November 26, 1937, Ottumwa, IA
Signed: Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent before 1956 season
Major League Teams: Los Angeles Angels 1964; California Angels 1965-1966; Los Angeles Dodgers 1967; Cincinnati Reds 1967-1968
Died: March 25, 2020, Lake Havasu City, AZ (age 82)
An All-Star with the Angels in 1965, Bob Lee was one of the team's top relievers for the span of three seasons between 1964 and 1966. It had taken him a while to arrive in the Major Leagues, as he pitched for eight seasons, between 1956 and 1963, within the Pirates' organization. He appeared in at least 60 games in each of his first three seasons with the Angels, compiling an incredibly impressive 1.99 ERA with 58 saves for the club. His marks earned him top 10 finishes in the American League during those three seasons in appearances, games finished and saves. Lee set a record with a 21-inning scoreless streak between 1964 and 1965 that wasn't broken until 2013 when Jered Weaver surpassed the mark.
Lee wouldn't match his three-year success with the Angels following his trade to the Dodgers for Nick Willhite (#284) on December 15, 1966. Over his last two seasons in the majors with the Dodgers and Reds, Lee appeared in 75 games with a 4.87 ERA and only six saves.
July 20, 2020 from Scottsdale, AZ - Card #134
I continued to be fairly active with my eBay purchases in July, as we prepared for the abbreviated 60-game baseball season to start. Having been somewhat haphazard in my eBay hunts up until this point, I decided to focus and specifically try to complete the first series of our 1965 Topps set. I added 10 cards to our set from the first series (cards #1 through #88) from Scottsdale Baseball Cards, and the envelope with our new cards arrived on July 20th. As of this writing, we need 39 of the 88 cards from the first series so we're more than half-way there. The priciest card still needed is the A.L. Home Run Leaders card (#5) featuring Mickey Mantle. This Lee card entered our collection for $2.
I'm composing this post on the day it was announced the September Philly Show would be officially cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic. With the next major baseball card show in our area not until December (at least) it seems as if I'll be heading back to eBay as we continue to slowly build this set. I'd like to see if we can complete the entire first series and make a nice dent in the second series before the end of 2020. A minor accomplishment in a year I'm going to prefer to forget.
The Card / Angels Team Set
This is Lee's first solo Topps card appearance, having shared a Rookie Stars card in the 1964 Topps set with Bobby Knoop (#26). Flipping to the back, the write-up isn't accurate as Lee recorded 19 saves in 1964, not 17. It wouldn't have been hard to set the Angels' franchise record at the point, as the team had come into existence in 1961. Art Fowler saved 11 games for the club in their inaugural season, Tom Morgan saved 9 games in 1963 and then Lee broke Fowler's club record in 1964.
Francisco Rodriguez currently holds the Angels franchise record with a whopping 62 saves in 2008.
1965 Season
Lee was arguable the Angels' most valuable pitcher, appearing in 69 games, converting 23 saves and finishing the year with a 9-7 record and a 1.92 ERA. His 131 1/3 innings pitched were tops among all Angels relievers, as manager Bill Rigney (#66) didn't hesitate to use him often. Lee was the sole Angels representative at the All-Star Game in Minnesota, but he didn't get into the game.
Phillies Connection
The Phillies and Angels shared a Triple-A team in the American Association in 1962, the Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers. Lee pitched in 54 games for the Rangers that season, playing alongside future Angels teammate Jim Fregosi (#210) and future Phillies Pat Corrales (#107) and Cookie Rojas (#474).
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First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #502
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (5): 1964-1968
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2017 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-BLE
25 - Lee non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 7/30/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #45 Roy McMillan - New York Mets
Next Card: #47 Tommy Harper - Cincinnati Reds
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