#94 Charlie Lau - Baltimore Orioles

Charles Richard Lau
Baltimore Orioles
Catcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  190
Born:  April 12, 1933, Romulus, MI
Signed:  Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent before 1952 season
Major League Teams:  Detroit Tigers 1956, 1958-1959; Milwaukee Braves 1960-1961; Baltimore Orioles 1961-1963; Kansas City Athletics 1963-1964; Baltimore Orioles 1964-1967; Atlanta Braves 1967
Died:  March 18, 1984, Key Colony Beach, FL (age 50)

As a player, Charlie Lau appeared in parts of 11 seasons primarily as a back-up catcher with four different teams, with over half his career spent with the Orioles.  While with the Braves, Lau caught Warren Spahn's (#205) second career no-hitter on April 28, 1961.  He had two different stints with the Orioles, and had perhaps his finest season in 1965 when he appeared in 68 games and batted .295.  Lau earned a lifetime batting average of .255 with 16 home runs and 140 RBIs and he never played in the postseason.

As a hitting coach, Lau was revered by some the game's greats as he taught from a list of his hitting "Absolutes," including "A balanced, workable stance," and "having the bat in the launching position as soon as the front foot touches down."  He spent 15 years a big league coach with the Orioles (1969), Athletics (1970), Royals (1971-1978), Yankees (1979-1981) and White Sox (1982-1983).  Lau's hitting pupils counted among their ranks Hal McRae, Willie Wilson, George Brett, Lou Piniella, Greg Luzinski, Carlton Fisk and Harold Baines.  The #6 he wore while a coach with the White Sox has been unofficially retired by the team with no player wearing the number since 1980.  Walt Hriniak, a Lau pupil and the White Sox hitting coach between 1989 and 1995, wore the number in honor of his teacher.

April 3, 2021 - With one of Lau's pupils,
Greg Luzinski, at Citizens Bank Park

Building the Set
April 3, 2021 from Roaring Spring, PA - Card #250
It's a strange time.  Spring has arrived, we finally attended a Phillies game in person and it seems as if with the arrival of the vaccine the pandemic could soon be behind us.  But I still find myself anxious, occasionally having trouble sleeping at night, and I know many of my friends and family feel the same way.  I went the entire month of March without adding to our 1965 Topps set, and as the month came to a close I decided to start off April with the purchase of a group of commons.  In search specifically for series two cards, I veered into the higher series when I found sellers on eBay auctioning off batches of cards from recent set breaks.  Over the course of a few days, I ended up winning 16 cards for $48 for an average of $3 per card.  

This Lau card came from eBay seller Mom and Pop Card Shop from Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania for a winning bid of $1.99.  With the weather getting warmer, having enjoyed a beer at a few Phillies games and 16 new cards in our collection, the month is starting off on the right foot.

The Card / Orioles Team Set
I'll have to pay closer attention to this, but I don't recall seeing a card yet with a batter posing with a batting glove on.  It stood out to me on Lau's card here.  The four doubles in a game highlighted on the back of the card came on July 13, 1962 against the Indians.  Lau went 4 for 5, doubling twice off Jim Perry (#351) and twice off Frank Funk.

1965 Season
Lau started 1963 with the Orioles and ended the season with the Athletics.  The following season, he started with the Athletics and ended with the Orioles.  In 1965, he got to spend the entire season in Baltimore.  Lau was third on the catching depth chart on the Orioles in 1965, starting 32 games to the 73 started by Dick Brown and 55 started by John Orsino (#303).  As mentioned above, he batted a career high .295 over 68 games and had two home runs with 18 RBIs.  He split his time almost evenly between catching and pinch-hitting with 35 games behind the plate and 36 appearances as a pinch-hitter.  He found some success as a pinch-hitter, batting .276 (8 for 29).

1958 Topps #448

1961 Topps #261

1964 Topps #229

1967 Topps #329

1974 Topps #166

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1958 Topps #448
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (11):  1958, 1960-1967, 1973-1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1974 Topps #166

38 - Lau non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 4/15/21.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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