 |
 |
James Franklin Stewart
Chicago Cubs
Shortstop-Second Base
Born: June 11, 1939, Opelika, AL
Signed: Signed by the Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent, June 2, 1961
Major League Teams: Chicago Cubs 1963-1967; Chicago White Sox 1967; Cincinnati Reds 1969-1971; Houston Astros 1972-1973
Died: November 24, 2012, Tampa, FL (age 73)
Jimmy Stewart truly enjoyed a wonderful life in baseball, playing in parts of 10 seasons in the majors and then serving as a long-time scout for the Reds and Phillies. He peaked in his sophomore season, appearing in 132 games for the Cubs in 1964 while batting .253 with 17 doubles. He was valued for his versatility and he'd ultimately spend time playing every position except pitcher. He was sold to the White Sox on May 22, 1967 and would languish in the White Sox minor league system until the Reds selected him following the 1968 season in the annual rule 5 draft. He appeared in at least 100 games for the Reds in 1969 and 1970, where he earned his "Super Sub" nickname. Stewart reached the postseason for the only time in his career in 1970, with the Reds falling to the Orioles in five games in the World Series. He was sent to the Astros following the 1971 season as part of the blockbuster deal that saw Joe Morgan (#16) join Cincinnati's Big Red Machine. In 777 career games, Stewart batted .237 with 336 hits.
Stewart rejoined the Reds organization in 1980, serving as either a minor league manager or scout until 1991. He joined the Phillies organization in 1992 as a major league special assignment scout, a position he held until retiring in 2006.
 |
| From the 2005 Phillies Media Guide |
Building the Set
June 19, 2021 from Moorestown Mall Baseball Card Show - Card #335
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 Stewart card was about $3.25.
The Card / Cubs Team Set
Stewart, or someone in the Cubs' clubhouse, wrote his uniform number 19 in the middle of the C on his batting helmet. This is his first solo card, as he shared a Rookie Stars card in 1964 with pitcher Fred Burdette. On the back of the card, Topps deems Stewart's 10 stolen bases in 1964 worthy enough to be called "daring." That total tied him for second on the club with future Hall of Famers Billy Williams (#220) and Lou Brock (#540), with Billy Cowan (#186) leading the team with 12 stolen bases.
1965 Season
Stewart and outfielder Doug Clemens were the two Cubs bench players to make it into at least 100 games in 1965. Stewart played in 116 games, batting .223 and he made 56 starts in the field. He started 37 games in left field as the Cubs spent the season attempting to find a regular for the position. George Altman (#528) made 42 starts in left, five more than Stewart, and overall the Cubs tried seven different players at the position throughout the season.
Phillies Connection
As mentioned above, Stewart spent 14 years working for the Phillies and the scan above is his biography from the team's 2005 media guide.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #408
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8): 1964-1967, 1970-1973
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1973 Topps #351
36 - Stewart non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 9/9/21.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
June 19, 2021 from Moorestown Mall Baseball Card Show - Card #335
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 Stewart card was about $3.25.
The Card / Cubs Team Set
Stewart, or someone in the Cubs' clubhouse, wrote his uniform number 19 in the middle of the C on his batting helmet. This is his first solo card, as he shared a Rookie Stars card in 1964 with pitcher Fred Burdette. On the back of the card, Topps deems Stewart's 10 stolen bases in 1964 worthy enough to be called "daring." That total tied him for second on the club with future Hall of Famers Billy Williams (#220) and Lou Brock (#540), with Billy Cowan (#186) leading the team with 12 stolen bases.
1965 Season
Stewart and outfielder Doug Clemens were the two Cubs bench players to make it into at least 100 games in 1965. Stewart played in 116 games, batting .223 and he made 56 starts in the field. He started 37 games in left field as the Cubs spent the season attempting to find a regular for the position. George Altman (#528) made 42 starts in left, five more than Stewart, and overall the Cubs tried seven different players at the position throughout the season.
Phillies Connection
As mentioned above, Stewart spent 14 years working for the Phillies and the scan above is his biography from the team's 2005 media guide.
|
|
|
|
|
First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #408
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8): 1964-1967, 1970-1973
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1973 Topps #351
36 - Stewart non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 9/9/21.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #297 Dave DeBusschere - Chicago White Sox
Previous Card: #297 Dave DeBusschere - Chicago White Sox
Next Card: #299 Jerry Zimmerman - Minnesota Twins
No comments:
Post a Comment