 |
 |
Richard John McAuliffe
Detroit Tigers
Shortstop
Born: November 29, 1939, Hartford, CT
Signed: Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent before 1957 season
Major League Teams: Detroit Tigers 1960-1973; Boston Red Sox 1974-1975
Died: May 13, 2016, Farmington, CT (age 76)
Dick McAuliffe spent all but two seasons of his16-year big league career with the Tigers, where he was an All-Star for three straight seasons between 1965 and 1967. He was the regular second baseman for the 1968 Tigers team that defeated the Cardinals in seven games in the 1968 World Series. Known for his unusual batting stance, McAuliffe enjoyed one of his best seasons in 1968 when he led the league with 95 runs scored and went the entire season without grounding into a double play - still an American League record. He struggled at times defensively, leading the league twice for errors committed as a shortstop in 1964 and as a second baseman in 1967. He finished in the top 10 in triples in the American League 8 times.
McAuliffe was traded to the Red Sox in October 1973 for Ben Oglivie. McAuliffe had started the 1975 season as the manager for the Red Sox' Double-A team in Bristol, but was recalled and activated by the Red Sox in August appearing in seven games. He retired following the 1975 season having appeared in 1,763 games and accumulating 1,530 hits with a .247 average. He had 197 lifetime home runs.
 |
| November 17, 2020 - First day of in-person school |
November 19, 2020 from Brunswick, OH - Card #177
I hit a lull with our 1965 Topps set additions in the September, October and November timeframe as the postseason ended and we faced another long winter without baseball. This late fall/early winter would be different of course as we were still dealing with the pandemic and unable to gather inside without being safely masked up and without social distancing measures in place. Our family continued to find happiness in small things, catching up on television shows together (The Mandalorian, Amazing Race), watching movies and planning for things we'd do in 2021 once things started to approach some sense of normalcy. Like most of the country, we were glued to our TV in early November as the election results slowly arrived and like most of the country we celebrated the outcome with a sense of genuine relief and hope. It felt good to be able to hope again.
In mid-November, straddled with a case of general ploppiness, my wife Jenna suggested I look for some new baseball cards to help raise my spirits. I gladly obliged and decided to try to knock a few more cards off our first series checklist. I had set a goal for myself to try to complete the first series by the end of 2020, and while I won't accomplish the goal I did come relatively close. As of this writing, we need 22 of the 88 cards from the set's first series and I'd like to pick up the pace a little once the calendar turns to 2021.
This is one of five cards from the first series purchased from Robbies Cards via eBay and this McAuliffe card was somewhat pricey at $5.50. Our remaining additions to the set for the year would arrive in the form of Christmas presents.
The Card / Tigers Team Set
This is McAuliffe's fourth appearance in a Topps flagship set, with his rookie card found in the 1962 set. Flipping to the back, I wanted to try to find the games in which he had seven straight hits in 1963. It looks like this happened May 24th, 25th and 26th against the Red Sox. McAuliffe collected two singles in his last two at-bats on May 24th, went 3 for 3 (with a walk) on May 25th and singled and homered in his first two at-bats on May 26th. His home run came off Red Sox pitcher Jack Lamabe (#88) and reliever Mike Fornieless finally got McAuliffe to ground out to first in the seventh inning to stop the streak.
1965 Season
This was to be the first of McAuliffe's three All-Star seasons, although he was limited to only 113 games due to a broken hand. His high on-base percentage and ability to draw a walk led manager Chuck Dressen (#538) to transition McAuliffe to the lead-off spot in the batting order. As the regular shortstop for the Tigers, he hit .260 with 15 home runs and 53 RBIs. McAuliffe shared the Tigers' infield with Norm Cash (#153) at first, Jerry Lumpe (#353) at second and Don Wert (#271) at third.
He led off for the A.L. All-Stars, going 2 for 3 with a pair of RBIs in a 6-5 loss to the N.L. All-Stars. McAuliffe singled off Jim Maloney (#530) in the fourth, and came around to score on a Rocky Colavito (#380) single. He hit a two-run home run in the fifth off Maloney to temporarily tie the game at 5-5.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1962 Topps #527
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (13): 1962-1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2004 Upper Deck Legends Timeless Teams #74
78 - McAuliffe non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 11/24/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
|
|
|
|
|
First Mainstream Card: 1962 Topps #527
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (13): 1962-1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2004 Upper Deck Legends Timeless Teams #74
78 - McAuliffe non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 11/24/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #52 Ed Roebuck - Philadelphia Phillies
Previous Card: #52 Ed Roebuck - Philadelphia Phillies
Next Card: #54 Joe Gibbon - Pittsburgh Pirates
No comments:
Post a Comment