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Charles Thomas Schilling
Boston Red Sox
Second Base
Born: October 25, 1937, Brooklyn, NY
Signed: Signed by the Boston Red Sox as an amateur free agent, September 1958
Major League Teams: Boston Red Sox 1961-1965
Died: March 30, 2021, West Chester, PA (age 83)
Chuck Schilling's big league career peaked during his rookie season of 1961 when he attained career highs in just about every offensive category, finished third in the American League Rookie of the Year voting and was named the Red Sox team MVP by the Boston Chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Schilling batted .259 over 158 games that season as the club's every day second baseman, with 167 hits, 25 doubles, five home runs and 62 RBIs while leading the league with 738 plate appearances. He began the 1962 season slowly and things got worse on June 8th when he was hit on his left hand by a Gary Bell (#424) pitch, breaking it. Schilling never again found the success of his 1961 rookie season. He continued to serve as the Red Sox regular second baseman in 1963 and 1964, but was relegated to a utility role in 1965, his final season in the majors. He was dealt to the Twins prior to the start of the 1966 season and while he made their opening day roster, he never got into a game with the club. When rosters shrank from 28 to 25 players on May 15th, Schilling retired rather than accept a demotion to the minor leagues.
Building the Set
June 19, 2021 from Moorestown Mall Baseball Card Show - Card #327
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 Schilling card was a little over $2.
The Card / Red Sox Team Set
Schilling appeared one last time in the 1966 Topps set, as card #6 in the set's first series. On the back of this card, it's mentioned Schilling was also known as a fine fielder. In his 1961 rookie season, he led all American League second baseman with 449 assists and also had the top fielding percentage for second baseman in the league with a .991 mark.
1965 Season
The 1965 Red Sox would lose 100 games under manager Billy Herman (#251), and Schilling saw limited playing time as a back-up to new regular second baseman Felix Mantilla (#29). He played in 71 games, with 41 appearances at second and 31 pinch-hitting appearances. Schilling batted .240 (41 for 171) with three home runs and nine RBIs in his final season.
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First Mainstream Card: 1961 Topps #499
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6): 1961-1966
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2015 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-CS
35 - Schilling 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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