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John Joseph Keane
New York Yankees
Manager
Born: November 3, 1911, St. Louis, MO
Signed: Signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent before 1930 season
As a Manager: St. Louis Cardinals 1961-1964; New York Yankees 1965-1966
Died: January 6, 1967, Houston, TX (age 55)
It was fascinating to read about Johnny Keane, the manager who led the Cardinals to the 1964 World Series, only to lave St. Louis to take over the team they defeated, the New York Yankees, the following season. Keane played 15 seasons in the minor leagues, all in the Cardinals' organization, never earning a big league promotion. His 1935 season was cut short when he was beaned in the head with a pitch, and he spent almost a week in a coma and six weeks overall in the hospital with a fractured skull. Keane began his managerial career in 1938, spending 17 seasons working his way up through the Cardinals' minor league system before being named the big club's third base coach for the 1959 season. His minor league managerial record was 1,357-1,166.
Building the Set
May 13, 2021 from Marco Island, FL - Card #267
After adding a number of star cards in April, I decided I should focus on a group of commons for our set in May. I set out specifically to add reasonably priced cards from the set's second series and I found a few eBay sellers running specials on recent set breaks. In total, I added 23 cards over three-day period with this Keane card coming from Super Bowl Auctions located in Marco Island, Florida for $2.75. As of this writing, and after adding a few star cards late in May, we're the proud owners of a complete series two from the 1965 Topps set.
The Card / Yankees Team Set
I have to hand it to Topps for rushing this card of Keane as the new Yankees' manager into the set. Keane is wearing a Cardinals' jersey here, and the photo is from the same session that yielded his 1964 Topps card. The back of the card does its best to sum up "one of the most surprising sports stories of the year." I wonder if Topps planned the placement of Keane's card right before the World Series subset on purpose? The card for the new Cardinals manager, Red Schoendienst (#556), would appear in the final series of the set.
1965 Season
Keane guided the declining Yankees to a 77-85 record, their first losing record in 40 seasons. In Jim Bouton's (#30) Ball Four book, the former Yankees pitcher notes Keane was always viewed as an outsider by the Yankees players and it didn't help matters that he replaced the popular Berra.
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First Mainstream Card: 1960 Topps #468
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6): 1960, 1962-1966
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1981 TCMA The 1960s II #371
20 - Keane non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/28/21.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
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