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Billy Rolland Cowan
Chicago Cubs
Outfield
Born: August 28, 1938, Calhoun City, MS
Signed: Signed by the Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent, January 12, 1961
Major League Teams: Chicago Cubs 1963-1964; New York Mets 1965; Milwaukee Braves 1965; Philadelphia Phillies 1967; New York Yankees 1969; California Angels 1969-1972
The regular center fielder for the Cubs in 1964, Billy Cowan then spent four seasons bouncing around before finding a home with the Angels from 1969 to 1972. His best season in professional baseball came in 1963 when he was named the MVP of the Pacific Coast League after batting .315 with 25 home runs and 120 RBIs for the Salt Lake City Bees. The opening day center fielder for the Cubs in 1964, Cowan struggled throughout the season, batting .241 with 128 strikeouts (second in the National League) while leading all center fielders with 10 errors. The Cubs traded him to the Mets in January 1965, beginning a five-team, four-year odyssey before he landed with the Angels in July 1969.
Building the Set
December 25, 2020 from Belvedere, IL - Card #207
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 Cowan card was only $1 and it's one of 11 cards I added from eBay seller mavmil from Belvedere, Illinois.
The Card / Cubs Team Set
Cowan first appeared in the 1964 Topps set, sharing a Rookie Stars card with John Boccabella, and by the time this card was issued he had already been traded to the Mets. The back of the card highlights his team-leading 12 stolen bases in 1964, which was better than the 10 bases all swiped by Billy Williams (#220), Jimmy Stewart (#298) and Lou Brock (#540). The dramatic home run referenced came on September 18, 1963 when Cowan hit a two-run home run off Pirates' pitcher Joe Gibbon (#54) in the top of the 9th inning in an eventual 2-1 Cubs win.
1965 Season
Cowan was traded to the Mets on January 15th for George Altman (#528), and he was the club's opening day center fielder. He appeared in 82 games with the Mets, batting .179 and was traded to the Braves on August 5th for a player to be named later. (The Braves sent Ernie Bowman to the Mets on September 25th.) With the Braves, Cowan appeared in 19 games, batting .185. In 12 of his 19 appearances with the Braves he was used as either a pinch-hitter or pinch-runner.
On April 28, 1966, Cowan was briefly traded back to the Cubs from the Braves for Bobby Cox and cash. The Cubs then flipped him to the Phillies on June 22, 1966 for Norm Gigon. Cowan spent the rest of the 1966 season playing for the San Diego Padres - then the Phillies' top farm team. He got his shot back in the majors when he was recalled by the Phillies in late June 1967. Appearing in 34 games, and making 13 starts in left field and 3 starts in right field, Cowan batted .153 (9 for 59). He'd spend the entire 1968 season back with the Padres where he batted .280 while leading the team in both home runs (19) and RBIs (73). Left unprotected that offseason, the Yankees selected Cowan from the Phillies in the annual rule 5 draft. Cowan has no Phillies baseball cards to mark his short time with the club.
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First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #192
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (5): 1964-1965, 1969, 1971-1972
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA The 1960s I #282
18 - Cowan non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/26/21.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #185 Max Alvis - Cleveland Indians
Previous Card: #185 Max Alvis - Cleveland Indians
Next Card: #187 Casey Stengel MG - New York Mets
The Phillies started the 1967 season with Jackie Brandt as the only right-handed outfield sub. Then he was dealt to the Astros in June to make room for Dick Groat, who was coming off the DL.
ReplyDeleteGroat hardly played after that, and was basically immobile, so was sold to the Giants in late-July.
With Johnny Callison, Tony Gonzalez, Johnny Briggs, and Doug Clemens all being left-handed, I guess the Phillies decided they needed another right-handed outfielder after all (having only Don Lock) so Cowan was recalled.