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Daniel Osinski
Milwaukee Braves
Pitcher
Born: November 17, 1933, Chicago, IL
Signed: Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent before 1952 season
Major League Teams: Kansas City Athletics 1962; Los Angeles Angels 1962-1964; Milwaukee Braves 1965; Boston Red Sox 1966-1967; Chicago White Sox 1969; Houston Astros 1970
Died: September 13, 2013, Sun City, AZ (age 79)
Dan Osinski pitched for parts of eight seasons in the majors as a durable middle reliever and occasional closer. Nicknamed "The Silencer," Osinski was one of the original firemen as closers in baseball were becoming popular in the early 1960s. His best seasons came with the Angels in 1963 (3.28 ERA in career high 159 1/3 innings pitched), the Braves in 1965 (see below) and the Red Sox in 1967 (3-1, 2.54 ERA over 34 relief appearances).
He pitched in a pair of games for the Red Sox in the 1967 World Series, giving up a run on two hits in 1 1/3 innings. After spending the entire 1968 season pitching for the White Sox' top farm team in Hawaii, Osinski bolstered the White Sox bullpen in 1969, with his 51 appearances second on the club to only Wilbur Wood (#478) with 76. Osinski appeared in a few games with the Astros in 1970 before calling it a career. In total, he went 29-28 over 324 games with a 3.34 ERA and 18 saves.
August 21, 2020 from Charleston, SC - Card #155
In my largest (by volume) purchase to date, I spent an enjoyable hour or so in mid-August browsing the eBay store of seller mantlerulz and clicking Add to Cart on 30 different cards. We had previously added 29 cards to our set back in February from the Philly Show. The 30 cards, all commons, cost me $52 total (before shipping and taxes) with the cards ranging in prices from $1 to $6. I love this haul and I found the seller's store by accident when I was browsing eBay in an attempt to add a few more cheap cards from the set's first series. With this purchase, we've now passed the quarter mark for completion of the set. We still have a long way to go, and quite a few pricey cards to add, but any day I can add 30 commons in excellent shape and at very low prices is a great day. This Osinski card was $1.50.
For some context, I'm composing this post on September 8th - my sons' virtual first day of school. I'd like to thank this Osinski card for being a nice, calming distraction from trying to decipher both boys' schedules and dealing with Zoom technical issues. Unable to focus on my chosen profession (I'm also working from home) while they navigated the start of a new school year, I decided instead to focus on the post for this card.
The Card / Braves Team Set
Osinski is wearing an Angels jersey in this photo. That's a lengthy write-up on the back detailing Osinski's minor league odyssey. He pitched in the Indians organization between 1952 and 1956, missing all of the 1957 and 1958 seasons while serving in the Army. The White Sox signed him in 1959 and he'd pitch in that team's system for three seasons before being drafted by the A's in the 1961 minor league player draft.
1965 Season
On November 29, 1964, the Angels traded Osinski to the Braves as the player to be named later in the earlier deal that had sent Ron Piche (#464) and Phil Roof (#537) to the Angels. In his only season in Milwaukee, Osinski enjoyed one of his best seasons, appearing in 61 games and recording 6 saves with a 2.82 ERA over 83 innings pitched. Only Braves' closer Billy O'Dell (#476) appeared in more games with 62.
On July 30th, Osinski was ordered by Braves manager Bobby Bragan (#346) to throw nothing but spitballs in his appearance, to counter the spitballs being thrown by Giants' pitcher Bob Shaw (#428). Osinski threw two shutout innings and was asked the next day to demonstrate how to throw a spitball by broadcaster Howard Cosell on national television. The publicity caused his walk totals to increase as umpires were reluctant to call strikes for an alleged spitballer.
Osinski was traded to the Red Sox on December 15th with Bob Sadowski (#156) for Arnold Earley, Lee Thomas (#111) and Jay Ritchie (#494).
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First Mainstream Card: 1963 Topps #114
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7): 1963-1969
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1969 Topps #622
24 - Osinski non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 9/8/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #222 Bob Tillman - Boston Red Sox
Next Card: #224 Bob Chance - Washington Senators
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