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John Robert Tillman
Boston Red Sox
Catcher
Born: March 24, 1937, Nashville, TN
Signed: Signed by the Boston Red Sox as an amateur free agent, January 18, 1958
Major League Teams: Boston Red Sox 1962-1967; New York Yankees 1967; Atlanta Braves 1968-1970
Died: June 23, 2000, Gallatin, TN (age 63)
For all but two of his nine big league seasons, Bob Tillman served as a back-up catcher for the Red Sox, Yankees and Braves. His best season came in 1964 when he earned an opportunity to serve as the Red Sox regular catcher, and he delivered with a .278 batting average, 17 home runs and 61 RBIs. He was the Red Sox opening day catcher again in 1965, but offensive struggles caused manager Billy Herman (#251) to give more starts to either Mike Ryan (#573) or Russ Nixon (#162). Tillman was briefly a member of the Impossible Dream Red Sox team in 1967, as he appeared in 30 games for the club but was sold to the Yankees on August 8th. Following the 1967 season, Tillman was dealt to the Braves with Dave Roberts for Bobby Cox. He'd play his final three seasons in the majors with Atlanta. Tillman was dealt to the Brewers in December 1970, but the club released him the following February and his big league career was over. In 775 big league games, Tillman batted .232 with 79 home runs and 282 RBIs.
June 19, 2021 from Moorestown Mall Baseball Card Show - Card #316
Following our youngest son Ben's flawless performance of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy at his piano recital, our family headed to the Moorestown Mall in New Jersey to browse a real live baseball card show. Traditionally, I only venture into malls for baseball card shows and I can't honestly remember the last time, pre-pandemic, I had stepped foot into a mall. The show was small, hosted by S&B Sports Promotions, with about a dozen tables and not much vintage to offer, but it was a sight for sore eyes. It took us only about 15 minutes to scout the whole place out and I was lucky enough to find a friendly dealer with 1960s and 1970s Topps cards in great shape, in order and (best of all) reasonably priced. I took my time going through his 1965 Topps commons, settling on 29 cards we needed and adding a card from the star pile to give us 30 new cards total. I spent an even $100 (after a generous dealer discount) and this Tillman card was a little over $2.
The Card / Red Sox Team Set
It's nice to see an attempt at an action shot here, as the photographer had instructed Tillman to watch the ball fly over the fence (maybe). It's a pose Tillman probably struck quite a few times during the 1965 season as the Red Sox were on their way to losing 100 games. The back of the card calls attention to Tillman's career year in 1964.
1965 Season
As mentioned above, Tillman began the season as the regular catcher for the Red Sox. He'd ultimately start 102 games behind the plate with Ryan and Nixon each getting 30 starts. Tillman's .215 average was the lowest on the team, and he had six home runs with only 35 RBIs. For the third season in a row, he led all American League catchers in stolen bases allowed.
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First Mainstream Card: 1962 Topps #368
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1962-1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA The 1960s I #172
44 - Tillman non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/21/21.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
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