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Willie Charles Kirkland
Washington Senators
Outfield
Born: February 17, 1934, Siluria, AL
Signed: Signed by the New York Giants as an amateur free agent before 1953 season
Major League Teams: San Francisco Giants 1958-1960; Cleveland Indians 1961-1963; Baltimore Orioles 1964; Washington Senators 1964-1966
Willie Kirkland played professional baseball for 20 years, first as an American League outfielder primarily with the Indians, Giants and Senators between 1958 and 1966, and then with the Hanshin Tigers in Japan between 1968 and 1973. He was the first right fielder and the clean-up hitter in the Giants' first game in San Francisco, opening day 1958. Kirkland's highest batting average came in 1959 when he hit .272 and his career highs for home runs (27) and RBIs (95) came during his career year of 1961 as the Indians' every day right fielder. In the major leagues, Kirkland hit .240 over 1,149 games with 148 home runs and 509 RBIs.
Building the Set
December 25, 2020 from Belvedere, IL - Card #203
This is one of 32 cards (mostly commons) I received from Jenna and our sons on Christmas morning, as I was asked to do some surrogate shopping on their behalf and I gladly obliged. I generally went hunting for first series cards, but this is one of several later series cards that snuck into my eBay cart. This Kirkland card was only $1 and it's one of 11 cards I added from eBay seller mavmil from Belvedere, Illinois.
This is one of 32 cards (mostly commons) I received from Jenna and our sons on Christmas morning, as I was asked to do some surrogate shopping on their behalf and I gladly obliged. I generally went hunting for first series cards, but this is one of several later series cards that snuck into my eBay cart. This Kirkland card was only $1 and it's one of 11 cards I added from eBay seller mavmil from Belvedere, Illinois.
The Card / Senators Team Set
Unbeknownst to me, Kirkland was featured with a toothpick on a baseball card long before the Royals' U.L. Washington achieved the feat. He's wearing an Indians uniform here, and the photo is from the same session that yielded the pictures used for his 1963 and 1964 Topps cards. The toothpick makes an appearance on Kirkland's cards for three years in a row. Flipping to the back, I found the four straight homers came before and after the 1961 All-Star break. Kirkland hit three home runs against the White Sox on July 9th, victimizing Cal McLish all three times. On July July 13th, following the All-Star break, he homered again off the Twins' Pedro Ramos (#13).
1965 Season
This was Kirkland's second to last season in the majors, and he appeared in 123 games for the Senators, batting .231 with 14 home runs and 54 RBIs. He was the team's opening day right fielder, but lost playing time as the season progressed to Jim King (#38).
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First Mainstream Card: 1958 Topps #128
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (9): 1958-1966
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1966 Topps #434
43 - Kirkland non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/15/21.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
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