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Lawrence Alan Yellen
Houston Astros
Pitcher
Born: January 4, 1943, Brooklyn, NY
Signed: Signed by the Houston Colt .45s as an amateur free agent before 1963 season
Major League Teams: Houston Colt .45s 1963-1964
Larry Yellen appeared in 14 games for the Colt .45s in 1963 and 1964, never getting a call-up after the team had changed its name to the Astros. He made his big league debut on September 26, 1963, starting and pitching five innings in a no decision against the Pirates. He retuned to the Colt .45s in 1964, appearing sporadically throughout the year and making 13 appearances, including one start. Yellen appeared in his last big league game on October 3, 1964, pitching a pair of innings against the Dodgers in a 7-0 loss and recording a strikeout against Willie Davis (#435) as his final act in the big leagues. Yellen pitched 26 total innings, had no record and recorded 12 strikeouts to go along with 11 walks.
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| 1964 Topps #226 |
June 19, 2021 from Moorestown Mall Baseball Card Show - Card #334
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 Yellen card was about $3.25.
The Card / Astros Team Set
Yellen is wearing a Colt .45s road uniform here, and Topps went to the trouble to cover up the "45" on his cap. This is his first and only solo card, as he shared a Rookie Stars card in the 1964 Topps set with catcher Jerry Grote (#504). The write-up on the back of the card contains way more information than what's currently found on Yellen's Wikipedia page. A native of Brooklyn, Yellen attended the same high school (Lafayette) as Sandy Koufax (#300) and Bob Aspromonte (#175). Yellen signed a reprint of the card for the 2014 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs insert set.
1965 Season
Yellen spent the entire season in the minors, his last season playing professional baseball. He appeared in four games for the Triple-A Oklahoma City 89ers and 27 games for the Double-A Amarillo Sonics. Combined for the two teams, Yellen was 3-12 with a 4.82 ERA over 127 innings pitched.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #226Topps Flagship Set Appearances (2): 1964-1965
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2014 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-LY
11 - Yellen non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 9/9/21.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
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