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Vada Edward Pinson
Cincinnati Reds
Outfield
Born: August 11, 1938, Memphis, TN
Signed: Signed by the Cincinnati Redlegs as an amateur free agent before 1956 season
Major League Teams: Cincinnati Reds 1958-1968; St. Louis Cardinals 1969; Cleveland Indians 1970-1971; California Angels 1972-1973; Kansas City Royals 1974-1975
Died: October 21, 1995, Oakland, CA (age 57)
Vada Pinson put together a solid 18 years in the majors, relying on his combination of power, speed and strong defensive skills. Pinson spent much of his big league career with the Reds, where he was the team's starting center fielder between 1959 and 1968. He was a four-time All-Star in 1959 and 1960 (two games were played each year) and Pinson won a Gold Glove in 1961. He led the National League in runs scored with 131 in 1959, and led the league twice in hits with 208 in 1961 and 204 in 1963. Pinson also topped the league twice in doubles and triples. He was reliable and durable, appearing in at least 100 games every season between 1959 and 1975. Pinson retired with a career .286 average, 2,757 hits, 485 doubles, 256 home runs and 1,169 RBIs. His hit tally is currently 56th all-time, and his 2,403 overall games played in the outfield is currently 13th all-time.
Pinson remained in baseball after retiring as a player, and was a long-time coach with the Mariners (1977-1980), White Sox (1981), Mariners again (1982-1983), Tigers (1985-1991) and Marlins (1993-1994). He was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1977.
Building the Set
The Card / Reds Team Set
That looks to be a Zippo billboard on the outfield wall behind Pinson, and that would make sense as the lighter company has been around since 1932. The cartoon on the back celebrates the 205 hits Pinson collected as a rookie in 1959, but I don't know how accurate Topps is here with their indication he had tied a record. First, Pinson didn't qualify as a rookie in 1959 as his 96 at-bats in 1958 were more than the 90 at-bat threshold for rookies. Second, a quick Google search turns up quite a few rookies with more than 205 hits in a season prior to 1959. Ichiro Suzuki holds the current record with 242 hits as a rookie in 2001. The rest of the text on the card is correct as Pinson was second on the Reds in hits, home runs and RBIs in 1964 behind Frank Robinson (#120).
November 6, 2021 from Cooperstown, NY (Seventh Inning Stretch) - Card #380
Needing a quick vacation and wanting to take our sons to Cooperstown for the first time, we took advantage of the annual NJEA Teacher Convention in which public schools are closed for a few days in early November. We loaded our car on Thursday morning with a loose plan of spending two days in Cooperstown and the surrounding area, shopping in the village, soaking in the Hall of Fame exhibits and eating a few good dinners. The 4 1/2 hour drive to Otsego County was scenic and enjoyable. Most of the day Friday was spent in the Hall of Fame and Saturday was dedicated largely to shopping in the many stores, mostly baseball related, located in the blocks surrounding the Hall.
We had spent a little bit of time in the multi-level Seventh Inning Stretch, located adjacent to Doubleday Field, on Friday. But on Saturday I wanted to dig in to their haphazard, loosely alphabetical, collection of baseball cards for sale on their second floor. I spent close to 45 minutes going through the boxes, and this Pinson card was one of about a dozen cards I picked out among the glorious mess of cards covering all eras between early 20th Century the late 2010s. Pinson was a good deal at $10. One card was added to my growing 1935 Diamond Stars set and I also couldn't resist picking out a few low-priced cards for our future 1959 and 1969 Topps sets.
The Card / Reds Team Set
That looks to be a Zippo billboard on the outfield wall behind Pinson, and that would make sense as the lighter company has been around since 1932. The cartoon on the back celebrates the 205 hits Pinson collected as a rookie in 1959, but I don't know how accurate Topps is here with their indication he had tied a record. First, Pinson didn't qualify as a rookie in 1959 as his 96 at-bats in 1958 were more than the 90 at-bat threshold for rookies. Second, a quick Google search turns up quite a few rookies with more than 205 hits in a season prior to 1959. Ichiro Suzuki holds the current record with 242 hits as a rookie in 2001. The rest of the text on the card is correct as Pinson was second on the Reds in hits, home runs and RBIs in 1964 behind Frank Robinson (#120).
Pinson, at card #42, is one of 72 players featured within the 1965 Topps Embossed insert set and one of three Reds in the set. He's also in the harder to find 1965 Topps Transfers insert set.
1965 Season
Pinson enjoyed another great year with the Reds, appearing in 159 games and batting .305 with 22 home runs and 94 RBIs. He was one of the club's top hitters, along with second baseman Pete Rose (#207) and right fielder Robinson. Pinson and Robinson hit a combined 404 home runs between 1958 and 1965, their final season as teammates. Pinson had 147 of the total with Robinson hitting the other 257.
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First Mainstream Card: 1958 Topps #420
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (20): 1958-1977
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2014 Panini Golden Age #76
195 - Pinson non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 11/17/21.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
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