#270 Milt Pappas - Baltimore Orioles

Milton Steven Pappas
Baltimore Orioles
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'3"  Weight:  190
Born:  May 11, 1939, Detroit, MI
Signed:  Signed by the Baltimore Orioles as an amateur free agent, June 26, 1957
Major League Teams:  Baltimore Orioles 1957-1965; Cincinnati Reds 1966-1968; Atlanta Braves 1968-1970; Chicago Cubs 1970-1973
Died:  April 19, 2016, Beecher, IL (age 76)

Long-time pitcher Milt Pappas was a three-time American League All-Star who won at least 10 games or more in all but three of his 17 seasons in the majors.  Pappas was a mainstay in the Orioles' pitching rotation between 1958 and 1965, and he was the starting pitcher for the American League in the 1965 All-Star Game.  Following the 1965 season, Pappas was part of the often criticized trade that sent Frank Robinson (#120) to the Orioles.  Pappas endured 2 1/2 mediocre seasons with the Reds, never quite able to shake the resentment of Cincinnati fans after Robinson found immediate success in Baltimore.  Pappas made his sole postseason appearance with the Braves in 1969, pitching 2 1/3 innings in relief against the Mets.

2021 Topps Heritage
Baseball Flashbacks #BFB-MP

Sold by the Braves to the Cubs in June 1970, Pappas enjoyed perhaps the best consecutive years of his career in 1971 and 1972 when he won 17 games in each season.  On September 2, 1972, Pappas was one strike away from a perfect game against the Padres when home plate umpire Bruce Froemming called two straight balls against pinch-hitter Larry Stahl - both borderline pitches.  Stahl walked, ruining the perfect game, but Garry Jestadt popped up and Pappas had pitched a no-hitter.  Pappas was released by the Cubs before the 1974 season and he retired with a record of 209-164, an ERA of 3.40 and 1,728 career strikeouts.  His 43 career shutouts currently rank him 37th on baseball's all-time leaderboard.  He was also a fine fielder, having four seasons with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.  Pappas was inducted into the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame in 1985.

Building the Set
June 19, 2021 from Moorestown Mall Baseball Card Show - Card #326
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 Pappas card was about $3.25.

The Card / Orioles Team Set
This is another Orioles card with a photo taken during their spring training, as there's a palm tree poking through behind Pappas here.  Pappas is shown wearing the #32 he would sport with the Orioles between 1958 and 1965, with the Reds in 1968, with the Braves and finally with the Cubs.  His brother Frank Pappas is referenced in the cartoon on the back of the card.  Frank was a catcher who played in the White Sox and Yankees minor league system between 1962 and 1966.

Pappas, at card #20, is one of 72 players featured within the 1965 Topps Embossed insert set and one of four Orioles in the set.  He's also in the harder to find 1965 Topps Transfers insert set.

1965 Season
Pappas was arguably the ace of the Orioles pitching staff, making a team-leading 34 starts and going 13-9 with a 2.60 ERA for the third place club.  He threw 221 1/3 innings, which included nine complete games and three shutouts.  Steve Barber (#113), Dave McNally (#249) and Wally Bunker (#290) received the bulk of the remaining starts for the Orioles in 1965.  As mentioned above, he was selected as the American League's staring pitcher for the 1965 All-Star Game.

1958 Topps #457

1962 Topps #75

1967 Topps #254

1972 Topps #208

1974 Topps #640

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1958 Topps #457
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (17):  1958-1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2021 Topps Heritage Baseball Flashbacks #BFB-MP

155 - Pappas non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 9/4/21.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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