#283 Fred Whitfield - Cleveland Indians

Fred Dwight Whitfield
Cleveland Indians
First Base

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  190
Born:  January 7, 1938, Vandiver, AL
Signed:  Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent before 1956 season
Major League Teams:  St. Louis Cardinals 1962; Cleveland Indians 1963-1967; Cincinnati Reds 1968-1969; Montreal Expos 1970
Died:  January 31, 2013, Gadsden, AL (age 75)

His Baseball Reference page notes when Fred Whitfield made his big league debut with the Cardinals on May 27, 1962, he became the 12,000th player in major league history.  He was dealt to the Indians on December 15, 1962 for Jack Kubiszyn and Ron Taylor (#568), and Whitfield would enjoy the most successful seasons of his career in Cleveland.  Between 1963 and 1967, he was the Indians' most used first baseman, hitting at least 20 home runs in 1963, 1965 and 1966.  Whitfield drove in a career-high 90 runs in 1965 and his big season resulted in him being named as the first baseman on The Sporting News American League all-star team.

Whitfield was dealt to the Reds following the 1967 season and he'd spend 1968 and 1969 in Cincinnati backing up Lee May at first base.  He closed out his big league career with four games with the Expos in 1970, having spent most of that season playing for Montreal's top farm team in Buffalo.  Whitfield was a career .253 batter with 578 hits, 108 home runs and 356 RBIs.

Building the Set
June 19, 2021 from Moorestown Mall Baseball Card Show - Card #332
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 Whitfield card was a little over $2.

The Card / Indians Team Set
Whitfield looks glum on most of his Topps cards, including this one, and he finally let lose with a smile on his final Topps card appearance in 1969.  The back of the card references his trade from Cardinals to the Indians in 1962.

1965 Season
As mentioned above, this was Whitfield's career year.  He appeared in 132 games for the fifth place Indians, starting 110 games at first base.  Chuck Hinton (#235) was the Indians' opening day first baseman, but with manager Birdie Tebbetts (#301) hoping to insert more power into the line-up, Hinton was moved to the outfield and Whitfield was inserted at first.  Whitfield batted .293 with 90 RBIs, second on the team to Rocky Colavito (#380) and his 108 RBIs.  Whitfield and Colavito were tied for second on the team in home runs with 26, behind Leon Wagner (#367) who hit 28.

1963 Topps #211

1964 Topps #367

1966 Topps #88

1967 Topps #275

1969 Topps #518

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1963 Topps #211
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7):  1963-1969
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1969 Topps #518

36 - Whitfield non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 9/8/21.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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