#215 Pete Ward - Chicago White Sox

Peter Thomas Ward
Chicago White Sox
Third Base

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  185
Born:  July 26, 1937, Montreal, Canada
Signed:  Signed by the Baltimore Orioles as an amateur free agent before 1958 season
Major League Teams:  Baltimore Orioles 1962; Chicago White Sox 1963-1969; New York Yankees 1970

Born in Montreal, Pete Ward is the son of former professional hockey player Jimmy Ward, who played 11 seasons in the NHL.  Ward came up through the Orioles system, but with Brooks Robinson (#150) ahead of him in the team's third base depth chart, a change of scenery was needed.  He was swapped to the White Sox before the 1963 season with Hoyt Wilhelm (#276), Ron Hansen (#146) and Dave Nicholson (#183) for Luis Aparicio (#410) and Al Smith.  Ward had a fantastic rookie season in 1963, batting .295 with 22 home runs and 84 RBIs and finishing second in the A.L. Rookie of the Year voting behind teammate Gary Peters (#430).  He had an even better season in 1964, batting .282 with career highs in both home runs (23) and RBIs (94), finishing in sixth place in the league's MVP voting.  His production fell off after that season and the rest of his playing days were marred by a back injury.  Ward played in 973 big league games, batting .254 with 776 hits, 98 home runs and 427 RBIs.

After playing a final year with the Yankees in 1970, he stayed with the club as a minor league manager between 1972 and 1977.  Ward also served on the big league staff of manager Bobby Cox with the Braves in 1978.  He was a long-time manager of the Portland Beavers and was ultimately inducted into both the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

Building the Set
June 5, 2021 from Tomball, TX - Card #300
To celebrate the unofficial beginning of summer, I took advantage of a 15% Memorial Day Weekend sale hosted by one of my favorite dealers, The Battersbox, from Tomball, Texas.  With the second series now complete, I spent an enjoyable hour or so over the long (and rainy) holiday weekend picking 20 commons from the third series to add to our set and I'll feature those cards in the next 20 posts.  The package of cards arrived on June 5th and in total, the lot cost me a little more than $63.  This Ward card cost a little less than $3 after applying the discount.

As luck would have it, I'm composing this post on Ward's 84th birthday and it will be scheduled for a future date for publishing.

The Card / White Sox Team Set
Ward looks happy on most of his baseball cards, and this card is no exception.  The cartoon highlight on the back is referring to Ward's status as the The Sporting News A.L. Rookie of the Year.  As mentioned above, he was runner-up to Peters for the award voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.  His 23 home runs led the team, and bested shortstop Hansen who hit 20 home runs for the White Sox in 1964.  Ward, at card #64, is one of 72 players featured within the 1965 Topps Embossed insert set and one of three White Sox in the set.  He's also in the harder to find 1965 Topps Transfers insert set.

1965 Season
Ward was still the White Sox regular third baseman, briefly missing time in June and July with his back injury.  He appeared in 138 games, batting .247 with 10 home runs and 57 RBIs.

1963 Topps #324

1964 Topps #85

1966 Topps #25

1969 Topps #155

1971 Topps #667

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1963 Topps #324
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (9):  1963-1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1978 TCMA The 1960s I #120

83 - Ward non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 7/26/21.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #214 Bob Purkey - St. Louis Cardinals

Next Card:  #216 Al Worthington - Minnesota Twins